The Long Weekend

ANZAC Day - Ryan and I hosted our own little dawn service. He's been waking at crack of dawn lately for no conceivable reason, which is just about killing me. We hung around watching Dora the F'ing Explorer until it was light enough to head off to the park to feed the ducks, which turned out to be an adventure all of it's own. Apparently there is now a bloody great black swan residing at the river which makes the normally grumpy ducks even grumpier. Lets just say Ryan was lucky to come home with all his digits... Later that afternoon we had an impromptu BBQ with one of my best friends from school with her lovely partner. Many beers and wines were consumed, which when a certain boy-child decides to repeat dawn service the following morning does not make for a happy start to the day.

Saturday morning saw our hungover selves heading off first thing for Matthew's rountine blood test. He's now collecting the knitted bears donated to the Red Cross by volunteer knitters - our latest arrival is the green stripey dude in the front.

Note the bear in Bronco colours that's played one too many games of football...

We then struggled through swimming lessons, clutching our dreadful McDonald's coffees tightly before heading off to buy Ryan a proper big kids bed - the rest of the day was obviously spent assembling the blessed thing and re-arranging furniture to accomodate it.

Sunday - our day of rest. Hallelujah & Praise the Lord. (And yes, I am aware that that sentence alone has guaranteed my place somewhere hot for all of eternity...) Actually, it wasn't all just lolling around. T did wave the chainsaw around for a bit up the back yard and I did some decluttering of ugly furniture and baby items that were clearly just taking up valuable real estate so we were a teeny bit productive. Just nothing that makes you feel like you actually accomplished anything. (Shel, we might need your help...)

So there you go, another fascinating weekend in the life of the Us. Could any of you have possibly been even more boring than we were?

I don't know where he gets this stuff but it couldn't be from me...

Grandad: Hey Ry, come over here for a minute.
Ryan: Piss off.

It was at this point I chose to make myself scarce.

Annual JIA Family BBQ

Every year the wonderful Montrose Access host a BBQ for families living with JIA. It's a great way to catch up with all the other families in an informal setting and see how all the kids are going and also to meet new families. Our first BBQ was three years ago but I remember vividly the rush of emotions I felt- relief at discovering we are not alone, devastation when I realised that just how many kids are afflicted by the disease and how cruel it can be, a spark of hope watching how well the older kids cope with their disability.

Yesterday we met for the first time a seven year old girl who also has Uveitis. Until now, Matthew had been the only child registered with Montrose with the eye condition associated with JA so it was indeed exciting find another mother who could relate to our situation. Her daughter has had a total of 15 surgeries in her seven years, six of which have been on her eyes. Around 12 months ago she had the lens in her right eye removed due to cataracts and now wears a contact lens in the same eye as Matthew.

~~~

On a related topic, my thoughts this weekend are for my dear friend Jodie, who also had JIA as a child. J noticed yesterday that her gorgeous little girl has a swollen knee. She's off for a blood test Monday to rule out Arthritis. Fingers crossed for a clean bill of health. xx

Before it gets too far away from me...

...I thought I'd better blog about the momentous event that occured on Saturday. Ryan had his very first swimming lesson in the "big boys" class. The one that doesn't require me to don my baggy faded togs and jump in with him. Praise the Lord.

I predicted disaster from the get-go. Our Ryan is not keen on separation from his parental unit at the best of times but to dump him in a pool with a strange woman (yes, one stranger than I) and three other unfamiliar tiny-tots was probably pushing the friendship. I escorted him over to his new teacher, who boomed in a friendly, but firm voice, "Hi Ryan. I'm M. You going to come for a swim with me?". What choice did the boy have? He nodded with wide eyes and went to her, possibly too afraid to consider doing the bolt.

It went well. He dived, paddled, kicked and blew bubbles. He Humpty Dumpty-ed from standing when the other boys opted to sit. He monkey-ed for his life and only asked to get out once and thankfully, there were no tears at all. From him, anyway...

Appointments - part two

Amazing how quickly 8 weeks goes, isnt' it?

Opthalmologist
Left eye - cataract stable.
Right eye - inflammation & retinal swelling stable.
General sight - 6/9 Right eye, 6/6 Left eye.
Eye Pressure - well within normal range. (No glaucoma, thank Christ.)
Meds - no change.
Follow up 12 weeks.

Did you get that, friends & neighbours? I said, 12 weeks. This the longest we've gone without an opthal appointment in 2.5 years. Happy days indeed...

Muddy toes & tantrums

And I can assure you there were plenty of both.

5 glorious days of swimming, fishing, sand, yabbies and water so cold it seized our internal organs. It was wonderful.

Not written by me but I'll take the credit all the same...

The muddy toes part of the title, obviously.

No spinal injuries were reported, thankfully.

Awww...

The token tourist-y shot. The boy children in front of the barges to Fraser Island.