So long, farewell...

I have decided to take a blogging break. My intent was to keep my family and friends up to date with the happy goings on with our American life. I do not want this to turn into a negative blog, and as I am having a hard time with positive right now (hence the lack of posts lately), I will be taking a break. Keep in touch, email when you can. I will post a few pictures here and there of Sean's progress - he is growing so fast! There just won't be regular posts for a while.

Have you discovered Funny Or Die?

Unbelievably awesome website www.funnyordie.com
Here is a sample of the brilliance....

"Prop 8 - The Musical" starring Jack Black, John C. Reilly, and many more... by Jack Black

Enjoy - and, you're welcome!!!!

It's official!

My Mum is coming to visit! We have been talking about it for a while but it is now official! This photo is from her last visit - Sean was a month old! This time she will be here for his 4th birthday! We have been home twice since but this will be the first time she has been back. How time flies! Sean and I are SOOOOO excited!!!

Can't blog...laughing!

Ricky Gervais is a comedic genius! I watched the first three episodes of the first season last night, and the next two episodes tonight. His little comments are completely hilarious! This is not a comedy for the faint hearted...
Extras is to The Office as Curb Your Enthusiasm is to Seinfeld. Brilliant!!

Another year over...and a new one's just begun

Hooray for 2009!!!

2008 was not my year...though come to think of it, 2007 wasn't all that great either. I am excited at the prospect of starting a new year. I have painful memories that I hope to leave behind. I am looking at 2009 with a fresh view.

Sean and I love the movie 'Meet The Robinsons'. The movie's motto "Keep Moving Forward" has become my mantra. My wish is that it will become a mantra of hope, rather than a reminder to merely get out of bed on the morning. One foot in front of the other, one issue at a time, breathe...

I love Sean more than I ever imagined I could love another being. I know that I can not shield him from life's disappointments, but more than anything, I wish for him to grow up knowing how to trust, to see the best in people, to love.

Perhaps 2009 will the year that I learn to do that again.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!

I have never been more glad I found couponing...

As I was leaving work last Tuesday, I got a call from daycare saying that Sean had just thrown up 4 times. Phew! Poor little guy was screaming in the background and the first thing that crossed my mind was "I hope his tonsillectomy wound has healed"!! Could you imagine? Scary stuff. He was completely miserable and pale as a ghost when I arrived. He snuggled with me for a little while then we bundled up and drove home.

Once we arrived home he said he was feeling better, ate some pretzels and two bananas and slept all night long. Nevertheless, he could not go back to daycare the following day so (as his ever-helpful father said he couldn't possibly) I stayed home with Sean on Christmas Eve Day, even though it meant with no pay as I am OUT of vacation time. It wasn't until later that I remembered our policy at work...if you call in the day before or the day after a holiday, you don't get paid for the holiday. It was confirmed today - ZERO pay for TWO days!!!!! Awesome.

And the winner is...ME!!!!!!

My friend Jenny hosts a great (and very funny) blog called Mommin' It Up (www.momminitup.com - tell her I sent you!). She is also the wonderful buddy of mine who has saved me a fortune this year by introducing me to couponing - she is the Queen of couponing!! But I digress...
She has now gone one step further - I won the latest contest on her blog!!!
There are so many fantastic prizes that you will just have to check it out for yourself...
http://momminitup.com/?p=1241
Thanks Jenny and Emily! You guys rock!!!!! Sean is going to be so excited!!!

Are we back in Australia???

It is going to be 71 degrees tomorrow! It should be snowing and freezing cold but if all goes to plan, we will be at the zoo - without the need for jackets, scarves and gloves! It's either going to be a very mild winter...or it will be hitting us really hard later in the season! In the meantime, I will be taking advantage as much as possible!!!


***Update: The severe wind warnings in Cincinnati scared us away from the zoo I'm afraid, but we did head out to Easton in Columbus and score some incredible deals at Gymboree, Crate and Barrel, Pottery Barn and Williams Sonoma!!! Not a wasted day by any means...

Merry Christmas to all!

Extra Extra!! Read all about it...

You can say that I am corny all you want, but Wondertime paid me $75 for this submission!! Yeah, baby!!!

Read all about it!!!!  Wondertime - January 2009

Those were the days, my friend...

Pop, you are forever in our hearts and memories. You lived an incredible life. You were loved for a lifetime by one of the kindest women on earth. You have a large, wonderful family and I have the honour of being your first grandchild. I have a life full of memories of time spent with you. Sean will hear stories throughout his life of the things you accomplished and of the memories I have. You will always be loved. You will always be missed.

Such a sad sight

Isn't this just the saddest picture? Poor little Seany sleeping off his surgery. It has been a very rough recovery for him (and me!). I would not recommend the surgery to anyone unless it is ABSOLUTELY necessary...the pain my little boy has been in is unbearable to see. On Sunday I thought I was going to have to take him back to hospital as he would not eat or drink anything. His first 'good' afternoon was Monday (yesterday), 5 full days after his surgery. And, his night was still terrible. I went back to work today while he stayed with his Dad. When i visited after work (he will stay with him for a couple of days) he fell asleep in my arms. I can't tell you how many times I have cried in the past week! It is so very difficult to watch your child writhing in pain, full body shaking at the thought of taking a drink of water. I have never wanted anything more than for my son to be free of this pain. As much as I thought I had prepared myself, I had no idea it would be this hard for him.

Maybe this will cheer him up...

Meet Lucy.....

Tomorrow, tomorrow...

Last night, I (finally) told Sean about his surgery...you know...since it's tomorrow and all! We had a couple of errands to run then we ate a healthy dinner and I told him we had to have a chat before bed. We ran upstairs, got him all snuggly in his jammies, brushed his teeth, grabbed Jellie (his beloved elephant) and snuggled in the rocking chair. I explained about how his doctor (that we had seen earlier in the day) had decided that the only way to make his throat feel better all the time, was to take out the "things he uses the light to look at in your throat". He understood that much! We talked about the hospital, about how he will be asleep and they will take them out and how his throat will hurt when he wakes up but we will give him medicine to make him feel better, how we will be staying there for one night, and that Mummy will be with him the whole time...

How I didn't burst into tears myself is beyond me! He seemed to grasp the concept and told me that he wasn't afraid of the doctor, "just the hospital a little bit". He was so sweet all snuggled up in my lap, curled up with his head on my chest and looking up at me with trusting eyes. He was excited when I told him that I was making some special cupcakes that looked like turkeys so he and his friends at daycare could have a little party before he went to hospital. Sure enough, when we got to daycare he proudly showed off his little turkeys and said "I am going to hospital". I hope he handles it this well tomorrow...

Anthony Edwards and ER

I have not watched ER since they killed off Anthony Edwards character. I cried and cried when that happened. As this is the very last season (I think it's their 724th season...), they are attempting to bring back as many original characters as possible. Last night was Anthony Edwards (along with a group of the older characters to make it more plausible - and wonderful - and nostalgic!). I had to watch to see how they did it...you know, since he was dead and all! It was absolutely brilliant. Seriously. I cried about as much as I did way back when he died. It was a look back to the past involving the current chief, and then chief Edwards. They flipped back and forth between past and present and I couldn't look away! I had intended for it to be background noise while I did other things around the house but ended up mesmerized, teary eyed and in love with Anthony Edwards all over again! If you missed it, I highly recommend checking NBC.com to see if they have it online - and watch it. Even if you have never watched ER, it was such a powerful episode. It may have something to do with one of the children involved being a 5 year old boy, not much older than Sean, but regardless...excellent. Great job ER writers. You did a brilliant job.

Out of the mouths of babes...

Baby's daddy has developed a habit of lettng Sean watch wildly innappropriate movies...the latest was "Hellboy". Now, I have never seen this movie, but the premise is that he is a 'good monster' who fights the 'bad monsters', at least according to my 3 year old. Doesn't sound too terribly different from most cartoons! However, the said 'bad monsters' have started to invade my son's psyche and he is now convinced that "there is a monster under my bed"..."in my closet"..."in my toybox"...and so on. This has made for a very lengthy bedtime routine.

This morning, Hellboy issue #2 surfaced...
I was tickling Sean while I was trying to get him dressed when he kicked out his leg. I stopped everything and told him that kicking is never ok. To which he replied..."but I just gotta kick your ass".

I didn't know what to do! My first instinct was to laugh my said "ass" off!! Of course being a responsible Mummy (who does not screen wildly innappropriate movies for her 3 year old), I did not laugh (much), and we discussed how this was never going to be something Sean was allowed to say. He seems to understand that it was wrong and that he will be in big trouble if he says it again...his Mummy will kick his ass!!!

He's a big boy now...

October 2007





October 2008

I need peace of mind...

My 3 year old baby has been scheduled for surgery. He will be having his tonsils, adenoids, and remaining (ear) tube removed. Simply stated, I am terrified. It was nervewracking enough when he was 11 months old and went in for his tubes, an outpatient surgery; this time it's serious enough that they will be keeping him (and me!) overnight. It has been tentatively scheduled for the day before Thanksgiving...

How do I talk with Sean about it and make him comfortable with the thought of being in hospital and having an operation, when I am so scared? I know that the chance of anything serious happening is slim, I know that it's - generally speaking - a routine surgery, but the thought of my tiny boy (because he is still that tiny boy to me) being put under and operated on makes me sick to my stomach.

I really do like his ear (nose and throat...) doctor, I do. But when he started talking about the surgery, the recovery and how much pain Sean will be in, I wanted to punch him. How dare he do that to my baby!!! The thought of it has dominated my mind all day and, after my initial flood of tears, I have been on the verge of tears ever since it was scheduled. I know that it is a good decision, a necessary decision, but that doesn't make me any less of a nervous wreck.

If the question is "How messy can you get when eating cupcake mix?"

Here is the answer.....

To infinity and beyond!

Is he not the cutest Buzz Lightyear you have ever seen??????