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.

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!!!

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!!!!!

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!

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...

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??????

Heigh Ho, Heigh Ho...

...It's back to work full time I go...
I have had such fun with Sean over the past 13 months, working part time. I am very sad at having to return to work full time but I take comfort knowing that the bond we share is even stronger having spent that extra time together each and every week. My memories of playgrounds, spraygrounds, museums, parks, movies, festivals, farmer's markets and so much more will always be with me. Now we must take full advantage of our weekends together and make time each evening for special Mummy and Sean bonding. He is growing up so fast and I am very fortunate to have been able to witness so much at such a crucial learning period in his life. He knows that his Mummy loves him and will always be there for him and that's the most important lesson I could have taught him.

Everything I know I learned from Toy Story

As I yanked open the sliding door of the moving truck, a wide-eyed Sean said, amazed..."Mummy! It's just like Woody Buzz!!!"

A haircut he did need!

Cookie Cutters is the greatest kids hair cut place out there! Sean was, at one time, absolutely TERRIFIED of having his hair cut. Someone, not me, insisted upon taking him to the cheapest place there is. Once they nicked his ear, he always ended up with a less than perfect haircut, and they were not qualified, nor did they have the temperament to deal with kids. His cries of fear made me cry too so I took over the haircutting duties. We went to Cookie Cutters, Sean screamed until he was blue, the wonderful stylist calmed him down and he sat there like an angel while she gave him the cutest haircut he had ever had! We have been back 5 times since then and I will never look back. They are most definitely not the cheapest but some things are worth the splurge! Sean sits in the red airplane, watches Toy story and sits there like the angelic boy he (sometimes!) is and I leave one happy Mummy! They even have a giant slide he can play on while we wait and once he is done!

This is from our visit a week ago....

BEFORE


DURING


AFTER


Sean is always so proud of his haircuts. I heart Cookie Cutters!

Our fun day out!

A couple of weeks ago Sean and I had such a great, simple day out in Lebanon, Ohio. I read about a farmer's market there earlier in the day and we decided to check it out. Lebanon is about half an hour south of us and we made the trip there not too long ago to see the trains (they are a rarity in Ohio!!). We found the farmer's market and were a little disappointed to see that it was rather small. We shouldn't have been though as we had a great time! There were samples galore and we tried everything from homemade jam on mini tarts to fresh honeycomb! Yum! When we left, Sean said "Mummy, can we come back here? I really like it!"




We had our lunch by the trains, walked up and down the main street (it's a small town!) and stopped to grab some shade under every tree! It was a really hot day but Sean insisted upon wearing his jacket! We danced in the gazebo (who cares who's watching?!?!) and crossed the street to the library to read a few books and rehydrate in the air conditioning.


Before leaving, we checked out the fountain across the street from the library and ate a tiny turtle shaped chocolate at a local chocolate shop. Yummy! The farmer's market starts up near us this week so hopefully it will be as much fun!

A great start to the Summer!

Finally the warm weather is here (with a bang!) and we have had a fun start to the Summer! On Saturday 7th (Happy Birthday Tiffy!), I took Sean to Kettering's annual "Touch A Truck" event. We started going last year and Sean has a great time! The kids get to climb up in trucks and cars from businesses (and city departments like police, fire etc) all over the city, they get to beep the horns, pretend to drive, sound the sirens....so much fun to watch! This year it was a little rainy but it really didn't make it less fun - just less crowded! Needless to say, Sean had a wonderful time...

When we left the trucks, we went to our local bookstore for a "Corduroy" storytime and craft event. I thought Corduroy was actually going to be there so Sean was a little disappointed but we had fun anyway. He loves the Corduroy stories so enjoyed listening to them. We signed up to be in their Summer Reading Club too so he will earn a few little goodies throughout the Summer.

We had a light lunch then went across the street to Friendly's restaurant for their free ice cream afternoon! No catch, just free ice cream! Sean's was enormous and it dripped EVERYWHERE!!! We ended up swapping cones as mine was significantly smaller, but a good deal of his was thrown in the trash, even I couldn't eat it all! He is quite the ice cream fan so enjoyed his hot afternoon treat.

While we were there, another Mum told us to go back to the mall where the bookstore was as there was a health fair going on inside and they were giving away free bike helmets to kids! We went back to check it out and even though the sign said for kids 4 to 16, they gave Sean one anyway as he is already riding a bike :) He was so proud of his new helmet that he asked to wear it out of the mall!

It was a good day! All for free! Can't beat that!

Tuesday we went to Regal theatres to see the first of many free movies for the Summer! Every Tuesday and Wednesday they are showing two movies completely for free! I guess this is not the first year for it but it wasn't anything I had heard of before! We saw the movie "Doogal" which was actually cuter than I thought it would be. It was a fun little animated movie with the voices of John Stewart, Jimmy Fallon, Chevy Chase, Whoopi Goldberg, and strangely, Kylie Minogue. Sean liked it and considering it was free, what's to complain about??? There are some great ones coming up, including "Night At The Museum" which is one of Sean's favourites, so we will be regulars at these free screenings! Yeah baby!! It's shaping up to be a great Summer!!

My famous boy!

Last Sunday, I opened the paper to find Sean on Page 3!! You can imagine my gasp! He had been at a festival with his Dad the previous day and the one and only photo they printed of the festival was of the two of them! They finally put it online....





31 May 08 Photo by Ron Alvey. Sean, 3yrs old, and his dad, Steve, look at each other's blue tongue as they were sharing a blue Hawaiian Ice treat. They were at the Alpine Heritage Festival, taking place at Carillon Historical Park, in Dayton. The festival included kids games, a climbing wall, food vendors and live music.