And another year passes...

The smallest boy turned 4 on Saturday and we celebrated in true Ryan style - no fuss & very matter of factly.

(His official cake was a rocket but I'm too scared post a picture of it in case it features as this months disaster on CakeWrecks)

I suppose I should take a moment to reflect on what life has been like since he made his dramatic arrival. In a word, he is cheeky. He has the most amazing sense of humour and loves nothing more than a bloody good joke (preferably practical). He is quick to anger but thankfully, quick to recover although he is reknown for moodswings that until now I'd only seen in hormonal 14 year old girls. He is currently living vicariously through Matthew at school and soaking up information like a walking sponge - it is seriously amazing how much he has learnt just by observing, even when he isn't obviously paying attention. He is extremely quick-witted and has a comeback for every occasion, just has to have the last word. He's rough & wriggly, dirty & sweaty and loud & impatient. He's also cuddly & sweet and loves his family fiercely. He compliments Matthew perfectly and I hope they will be great friends for many years to come.

Matthew's questions

1. What is something mum always says to you?
Matt: I'm nice
Ry: not going to say it.

2. What makes mum happy?
Matt: Me doing the right thing
Ry: I'm not going to say it.

3. What makes mum sad?
Matt: When I am doing the wrong thing
Ry: I said, I'm not going to say it! {insert massive just-woken-up tantrum here}

4. How does your mum make you laugh?
By tickling me

5. What was your mum like as a child?
I can't really answer that one because I don't know it.

6. How old is your mum?
31

7. How tall is your mum?
10 metres

8. What is her favourite thing to do?
going to Dreamworld

9. What does your mum do when you're not around?
play games with Ryan

10. If your mum becomes famous, what will it be for?
Singing (WTF?? Bless him anyway)

11. What is your mum really good at?
Washing

12. What is your mum not very good at?
Playing computers

13. What does your mum do for her job?
Ummmm, I don't know what you do.

14. What is your mum's favourite food?
Lasagne

15. What makes you proud of your mum?
Getting me a good toy on my birthday (nice try, buddy)

16. If your mum were a cartoon character, who would she be?
Mr Tickle

17. What do you and your mum do together?
Have a little chat on the way home from school

18. How are you and your mum the same?
We both like eating passionfruit

19. How are you and your mum different?
I'm smaller & she's bigger.

20. How do you know your mum loves you?
By hugging me

22. Where is your mum's favourite place to go?
The zoo

If only it was always that easy

Isn't it funny the way things just sort themselves out? Only yesterday I was whinging to various people about how there were just no jobs out there. This morning, I found one online that was right up my alley. I literally spent 5 minutes applying for it while I was waiting for the boys to finish packing their bags this morning and by 10.30am, I was offered the job. I was still not out of my pajamas. Hey, I'm nothing if not productive... ;p I'm going down tomorrow to work out what hours suit best; he has offered me school hours with the ability to come and go as I please, so long as the work is done. Can't beat that, right?

Chatting to Ryan

In the car on the way home from daycare this afternoon:-

Me: How was kindy today?
Ryan: Not good. Jack just hit me on the back.
Me, with my best sympathetic tone: Ohhhh. That's not nice. It's not nice to hit your friends, is it? Do you ever hit anyone?
Ryan: No!
Me: But sometimes you hit Matthew when you are angry with him, don't you?
Ryan: {silence}... I don't want to talk about Matthew.

Statistic

Sorry, I've been rather well... absent from here lately, haven't I? You probably think it's because I've been off going glamorous things like holidaying or re-tiling the roof but in reality I've just been sitting around drinking a lot a coffee. I've thought about posting a lot but couldn't bring myself to actually do it.

Things have been rather stressful here at The Shack lately. Matthew has been unwell, Ryan attempted some DIY dental work when he launched off a lounge chair and I was made redundant at work with less than 4 days notice.

I've never had trouble finding work in the past but then again, the world wasn't in economic crisis when I was doing so either. There are a couple of jobs out there that I intend to apply for but sadly, I suspect that the many other Queenslanders that have been laid off this month will have the same idea.

Thank god for little boys...

...that disobey their mothers and deliberately rat around in places they have been told to stay out of.

If it wasn't for Ryan up-ending the box of old birthday cards that I was going to throw out, I would never have found Matthew's birthday money ($80 worth, if you please!) that I had hidden. I'd been looking for that money for 18 months...

Grade One

First day of Grade One was a big success. He apparently made lots of new friends, helped the new boy find the toilets, learnt sight words, made an Australian flag (he's dictacting here, by the way..) and counted to 108.

They also drew pictures of their family. Please do note my fetching orange skirt:

The first line apparently says "My little brother is small". Ryan is not amused.

17 hours...

before my holiday ends and I'm back at work. Dear God 4 weeks goes quickly when you are having fun. T has also been off all this time so we've actually managed to spend the time with the kids productively, rather than just bludging around the house. I can probably count on one hand the days we had at home - mostly we were out & about having fun. We kids were probably bundled in to bed in the clothes they spent the day in a few too many times but that's what holidays are all about, right? We did a day trip to Somerset, the beach (both north & south coasts), Montville & Maleny, had a round of mini golf, spent time playing games in The Parlour & learning to balance spinning plates in The Circus to name just a few.

Out to dinner with the lads.

Gadding about the city

An inpromptu stop at Kilcoy for lunch after Ryan decided car sickness was back in Vogue.

In Montville, smelling very much like vomit.

Golden Beach, Caloundra

K-9 Flyers Frisbee dogs

Appointment #1 - Opthalmologist

I had hoped that 2009 would be a year of fantastic news, instead we've been dealt a blow first up. Results of his latest eye exam are:

Left eye– 6/6 (perfect vision!)
Right eye – 6/24 (dismal)

This result from his right eye really floored me. I was keen to see how well he was going after his last appointment as he'd gone very well with his lens these last few weeks. He has worn it almost non-stop and it seemed so settled. I wasn't quite expecting 6/6 vision but I had hoped for pretty close. 6/24 is barely the third top line on the eye chart.

Dr D was also stumped and after examining him thoroughly, discovered Matthew is retaining fluid at the back of his eye. Again. This isn't the first time - almost 12 months ago he experienced the same problem after we dropped his steriod dose and he recovered quickly once the steriods were increased. The problem this time is that his dosage hasn't changed since that last increase. She has now doubled his dose of Redipred and we now cross our fingers and hope. If this intensive burst of oral steriods doesn't work, he will need steriod injections in his eye.

Meds- Drops unchanged. Naprosyn unchanged. Redipred - 2ml for one week, 1.5ml for one week, 1ml for one week.
Follow up – 3 weeks.

He rides

Teaching Matthew to ride a bike was one of the hardest, most frustrating & nerve wracking experiences of my life. There were days when that bloody bike threatened to tear the very fabric of our family to pieces and we all came home in foul moods, grumpy from the heat, frustration & skinned knees. But today we watched him ride around the path at the river and down the slope (that only yesterday afternoon had him in a panic) and discovered that it was also one of the most gratifying and rewarding experiences as well. Definitely a proud parent moment.

Well done, Boy. xx