MWNews 86

Copy of a letter to Poppy,

I have had an eye infection for the past month or so. Can't wear my contacts. It was supposed to have cleared up in two weeks, but I still have red in my eyes. Might have to go back to the doctor and see if there is something else they can do. Since they did nothing except tell me to stop wearing my contacts for two weeks the last time, there probably isn't something else they can do about it. I can still see, but I did not update my glasses the last time I had them checked, only ordered contacts, so my glasses are only good for seeing things far away. Have to take them off to read or look at anything close up. I could see with them on but my nose is not long enough to rest them on to bring everything into focus. I take them off and read about two inches from my face. Makes it hard to read the computer screen but at least, with the glasses, I have that option. With contacts, if I cannot see something close up, I cannot just take them off and read it that way. I am thinking of getting reading glasses when I wear my contacts, assuming of course, that I ever get to wear them again.

For once, everyone is fine right now. No one is sick. Been having repeated bouts of flu and stomach flu and other little ailments all the time for the past few months. Not just me, but the kids and Juanita as well. But, for now, no one is sick. Juanita's mother had a bad report from the doctor but I don't know any details, so I will just say it was a bad report or something. Possibly cancer of the uterus but I am not sure and I am not sure they have completed that diagnosis either. We should know by the time we get down there.

We leave next week. To Tasmania until the end of January. I have about four weeks vacation during that time, if they allow me to take that much time off. As I told my boss, over here, a vacation under a month long is not normal, whereas in the states, a vacation longer than a week is frowned upon. I have never taken a vacation this long but am looking forward to it. I am fairly sure I will still be required to do some work, attend some meetings or something like that, but have not heard anything yet. Should get word this week, probably tomorrow.

We are driving to Melbourne and then taking the boat across to Tasmania . Takes about ten hours to drive to Melbourne. We are going to drive and stay the night someplace along the way and then go to the boat the next day. The boat goes across overnight so the kids can sleep and will not be bored with the trip. I have never had a bad trip across the Tasman sea, but the last time Juanita and the kids went, they said it was really rough. The Tasman sea can get rough at times but I have only heard of them turning back the boat on one occasion and they have never had an accident. The did leave a flood door open once, a few years ago, but no damage was caused and they fixed it on the way over. Hopefully, there will be no problems for us. As I said, I have been across four or five times and have never had any problems at all.

We should get to see some more of Tasmania than I have seen before. Having so much time off, we are taking the camping gear and will take a couple of weeks to just drive around and set up camp in different places. I have never been anywhere on the east cost, so we will drive up there somewhere, maybe all the way to the top of Tasmania. The boat arrives at the top of Tasmania but it is more in the middle. It might be nice driving from Devonport to Geeveston. I don't remember if we have done it in the daylight before. Devonport is where the boat arrives and Geeveston is where Juanita's parents live. Takes about four hours. I know we have done part of the trip during the day, when I was there the first time, but I think every time since then, it has been dark for most or part of the trip. I remember one time going through a plague of locusts and they kept hitting the windshield for about 5 miles, but it was dark and we could not really see how many there were or how big the swarm was.

We should get some good pictures while we are there. I am still looking for a new computer for me so I can set up and update my own web pages. We have Juanita's Mac computer, but I have never really figured out how to do anything on it and have been waiting to get back to a Windows machine so I know what I am doing before I set up a family web page. I have been waiting for a year and a half now to get the computer, maybe after Christmas. I can start to save up for it and get it running. To run something like that, you need a fairly beefy computer, so it costs more than I have been willing to spend, but in the next six months, I should have it.

We are looking at getting a new car, wanted to get it before we went on the trip but the payout of the lease was too big. We are looking at a Kia van. I am not sure it is a good idea, but the van is nice and it fits our needs. I am looking at a new Ford Territory. That is what we drive now but I don't think they sell them in America. Right now, we can get into a luxury model of the Territory, with more features and the third row of seats for about the same money as the Kia van. It is a much better car and we have a good dealership we have dealt with our last two cars but the deal ends at the end of the year and I am not sure it will still be available when we get back from Tasmania. If it is, I think we will go that way, but if not, the Kia is OK. It is big enough, with three rows of seats, and we can add some options to it that make it nice. I just think it feels like a plastic car and I am not sure of the reliability of it, nor the trade in value when we give it back. I will lease whatever car we get so it will be expensive but all costs are included in the lease which makes it easy to maintain.

Hope everyone is doing OK. Don't hear a lot from anyone, of course, they do not hear a lot from me either. I have neglected the blog for many months and I always say I am going to get back to doing it, but I never seem to be in the mood when I have the time. I am either in the mood to do it and don't have the time, or have the time and don't feel like doing it. Takes about two hours each time. Then again, if I do not re-read this one, it will only have taken about 20 minutes to do, but I will probably go back and re-read it and then make adjustments or additions and it will end up being an hour. I will probably just post it to the blog as is after that, so I can get an new entry in there. I keep thinking they are going to delete my blog if I do not keep it updated and I do not have all the entries saved anywhere so I am always afraid I will lose everything. Maybe I should back it up now. That would be another advantage of going to my own web page, it will be automatically backed up and it will never go away, but that is a few months away.

Talk to you later. It was good writing to you, I really enjoy doing it. Just wish I did it more often. Tell everyone I love them and we all miss them, even if no one has ever met William. He is looking forward to it. He starts school when we get back, so hopefully, he will not be in constant trouble when he gets there. He is still very active and tends to ignore everything except what he wants to do. We will see how it goes. Maybe he will calm down, probably not.

Maeghan has her school awards program tomorrow. We were just told she is getting some kind of award. They said they sent us a letter about it but we never got anything. I have no idea what it is for, surely not as big as the one she got a couple of years ago, but it will be nice if I can get there to see it. I was scheduled for a meeting at the time of the awards program. I have always missed these programs but I have asked if I can miss the meeting to attend this time. Long story with my office, but lets just say I am working from home on a permanent basis for a while due to upgrades at the office. I will let you know what kind of award she is getting. She doesn't know about it but it is probably just a normal good student award, which will be good as she misses a lot of school and it will be nice if they can show her she is still doing well. Don't get a lot of feedback from the school but it is only the second grade, so there is not a lot they can say. She is a very good reader and is getting better at math. She can read almost anything now and she enjoys it. She still has trouble with some types of math, but I am not sure where she is supposed to be right now, so it is hard to judge if she is ahead or behind.

William likes to have books read to him and he can count and do some math. I am sure it is from watching us work with Maeghan on it. He should do well if he can just keep himself interested and follow the instructors. I think he will be fine and Maeghan will be going to the third grade next year, so her homework will probably get harder but she should do well also, if we can keep her in school most of the time. I think she goes back to the doctor in February.

We will need to ask about her teeth, another worry but probably nothing. She lost her two front teeth almost a year ago and they have still not grown back. The bottom ones have grown back but the two on the top have not. We asked about it last time but they said it was nothing to worry about. Now, it has been a year, so I am starting to worry. William keeps saying his teeth are loose but I am sure it is just so he can be like Maeghan. He has not lost any teeth but he is only five. Maeghan has not had any other problems since the last doctors visit. She is still getting bigger, not a lot, but she will never be very big, or that is what they say. Since no one knows anything about her condition, they have no idea what to expect in the future. Hard to imagine her getting any bigger with her condition but it is harder to imagine her staying this small. She still weighs more that William but William is a full head taller than she is. They tell us she needs to diet, but if she diets, she will not grow, so I am not sure what needs to be done. She does not eat a lot, so I can't imagine limiting what she eats. Just more healthy food, I guess. She does try more things now but she almost always says she does not like it.

Have to go now. I actually ended this letter a long time ago, but went back and re-read it, like I said I was going to. I added everything after the talk to you later paragraph. Could probably go on for some time but I need to finish some work before Juanita gets back from Williams school. Not sure what time that will be, but it should be soon.

Bye for now,

MWNews 85

Thought I would include a picture of all of us, we have so few. We went away for my birthday this year. I'll be 39 next year. Didn't go very far and just for a couple of days, but it was nice.

That was back in April. Been so long away from this, I forget what I was doing here. Something about the kids and stuff. Just lack the time and effort to keep this up. Will post as I can I suppose.

A little about where I am. I completed the big project I was working on. Ended up in the hospital with stress related issues. Lots of headaches, dizziness and generally not feeling well. I got better but it was worrisome for a while. Didn't get a lot of reward or recognition for the project and I probably made the mistake of spreading the congratulations around too much. I guess it made it look like I did nothing on the project and the others got all the rewards, but maybe somewhere, someone knows what I went through to get it in on time.

Enough about me. By the way, this picture is from what I was led to believe was an air walk type of thing we wanted to see. It is near Coffs Harbour in New South Wales. About 6 hours from Sydney. Look it up. We drive through there on the way to Brisbane and have only stopped a couple of times. We decided to spend some time there and see what was around. I read up on it and found this air walk. Turns out it is about 200 meters long and just ends in this hanging platform overlooking basically nothing. A real disappointment. I think there were some interesting things on the hiking path but they are not wheelchair accessible and we did not go very far down the paths.

Which brings us to Maeghan. Hate to say too much here but I think we are seeing the problems that have always been there in the background ready to happen. She is still the best little girl around and, with her front two teeth missing, she is really gorgeous when she smiles and laughs. Of course, I think she knows how cute she looks when she smiles so she has a tendency to pose a lot. It is cute, but I think she overdoes it sometimes.

Not that she is really having a lot of problems, but the doctors are really worried about her weight. She is just not growing taller but she is getting heavier all the time. The doctors say her legs cannot handle the weight and we need to do something about it. But she does not eat all that much and I am not sure if the weight is from the food she is eating. I just think her upper body is growing and her lower body is not keeping up, but we have to try to do something. She is over a meter now, 103 centimeters, and she weighs around 24 kilos. Not a lot for a girl her age, but a lot for her size. She gets tired these days and says her legs hurt. We bring the wheel chair with us everywhere. Some of it might be just the desire to ride all the time, but she gets frustrated with not being able to keep up, so she gets in the chair so she does not have to try to walk as fast as everyone else.

I think I might have mentioned I think it is just the beginning but as no one can predict what will happen, we can always hope for the best. She has so exceeded everything the doctors have said she would ever be able to do, I just think we are happy she is so happy. Hard to write, I will have to take a break from this.

William has started pre-pre-school. It is the ready, set, go program. The same one Maeghan went to before she started school. Basically, they go once a week to get them used to the kids they will be going to school with, instead of the kids in day care. They do some crafts and things and it is held at the real school he will be going to next year.

William thinks it is great. He gets to go to big school with Maeghan now. He doesn't understand that it is only one day a week. After we took him the first day, he had to go back to day care a couple of days later. He cried and protested the whole way saying he goes to big school now and does not go to the day care. It was hard to get him out of the car and take him in, but he finally went.

Both the kids like school, for now. Maeghan spent a couple of weeks at home while we waited to get into the doctor for a checkup. She thinks she was being home schooled but she really did not do a whole lot while she was at home. She went back after the winter break and does not seem to mind taking her chair anymore. She did have some issues with bringing it for a while, but I think she is ok now.

Maeghan has also started reading better. Not that she ever had any problems, but she has gotten to the top of her class now, along with a few others. She reads everything and seems to like doing it. She is ok with math, but missing school, I think, has made her a bit behind there. Not that the teacher has said anything, but she seems to not have a grasp of some of the homework she brings home. Not sure if that is because she has missed the lessons in class or maybe they just never explained it in class. I have found that some of her homework has nothing to do with what they are doing. It is just sent home with the kids to give them something to do.

We think we are going to get William into soccer or something next year. Something to help him burn off some of that endless energy he has. We have noticed lately, that he will go and go and go, and then just crash. Goes from talking a mile a minute to being asleep in about 30 seconds. And he does talk all the time. He is always telling stories and trying to get your attention. And, he still gets in trouble a lot. He has this thing about always telling you he wants to be the good boy, mostly immediately after he has done something bad. Juanita thinks this might be a problem in school next year but I think he is fine. He gets in trouble in day care for not listening a lot, but I think he knows it and he knows what he is supposed to do. Once he is in a more structured environment, he will do what he needs to do.

He did finally get the gold star at day care. For a while, he would tell us every day that he was good all day but he did not get the gold star. He got stickers but no gold star. Apparently, they give that to the best kid for the day. He finally got one last Friday, so he is happy now.

I am having a lot of trouble typing for some reason, so I am going to leave this for now. It is 5 am here and I had a couple of minutes free on the computer, so I thought I would type a few notes. Now, I cannot type anymore, so I will leave it for later.

As always, it good to hear from you. Until next time.

Talk to you later

MWNews 84

It's been another day and all is well, although William has just come in to tell on Maeghan for doing something to him. Not sure what it was, but it was probably real important. Now he is telling me his game doesn't work. I think the batteries might be flat. It is only a Leapfrog game. He wants a DS but that will have to wait for his birthday. Until then, he has to be content with playing Juanita's or Maeghan's.

We had the grandkids over last night. Juanita is sick, so they were free to run amuck. Someone should have controlled them. By the time I got here, baby William was here also, so there were seven kids here last night. Since Juanita is sick, I sent them all home. Two of them have gone already, Anna and baby William. They are coming back for the rest later in the day.

Anyway, you might be asking why I am not watching them. If you are, you might not have been paying attention. There are seven of them. Seven. I am much too old to be watching that many kids. I made them breakfast, pancakes. I made approximately 400 pancakes and they ate all but three of them. I would have had those, but a bird came down and swooped them away before I could get to them.

Another side trip, I cook the pancakes out on the BBQ. Now, you might wonder how I cook pancakes on a BBQ grill but the answer is, they don't use BBQ grills over here, they use sheet metal. Or, in my case, a big piece of iron. Now, if you are in Texas, you might be starting to shout Blasphemy! and I would agree, but that is how they do it. They look at me strange when I use the grill side of the BBQ. It is just not done that way, apparently. The reason could be that when an Australian uses the grill side of the BBQ, you get charcoal on the outside and raw in the middle. Not that it really matters with what they call sausages over here, but sausages are typical BBQ fare. Hard crusty outside, soft mushy inside. I have done it a few times myself. Set fire to everything, I mean. I tend to do it with lamb chops and sometimes pork ribs. These are the big meaty pork ribs not the traditional 3 and down ones you see in America. You can get the typical American ribs over here, and they even call them American ribs, but they are kind of pricey and usually very small. The big meaty ones are getting to be pricey also, we have not had them in a while, but since I never get my smoker out to cook the 'real' ribs, we never buy those either. Maybe someday I can cook on my smoker again, just haven't found the time in a very long while.

Now that was a side trip. Not sure what I was talking about that got me started on it. OK, I remember, it was cooking pancakes on the BBQ. The reason I do that is there is this big iron plate in the BBQ and it makes a perfect griddle. And, when I have a big crowd, I can cook four pancakes at once, so it makes a good place to keep them all fed while still keeping the pancakes fresh. We do a lot of breakfasts on the BBQ. Eggs, bacon, pancakes, sometimes even hashbrowns and cooked onions. I have even been know to throw some mushrooms on there from time to time. I still use the grill for everything else, and occasionally set fire to everything, but most of the time it works.

Which does bring up the story of Christmas dinner. I had a big rolled pork roast I was going to cook on the spit in the BBQ. I had done it a few weeks before Christmas and it came out really well, so I thought I would try a bigger one for Christmas. The problem was, I did not take into account the limited power of the rotisserie. It just does not have the power to turn that big of a piece of meat. I got it working, but it was flakey at times and I had to keep an eye on it to make sure it did not get stuck in one place. At one point, I left it to go inside to take a shower. I had been up most of the morning cooking, and while I was in there, I seemed to smell something burning. I asked someone to have a look at the BBQ but apparently fire coming out the the bottom of the BBQ and its being enveloped in smoke is normal to whomever it was that checked it as they reported no problems. So, 15 minutes later, I came out, saw flames shooting from the bottom of the BBQ and the afore mentioned smoke problem and immediately had to turn everything off and fight my way through the smoke to get to the BBQ.

When I got there, I opened the lid, big mistake by the way, and was engulfed in flames. At this point I have to interject a public service announcement on the merits of cleaning the grease trap under the BBQ more than once in the lifetime of the BBQ. It would seem a lot of grease gets trapped in there and if some big piece of meat falls to the bottom of the BBQ and catches fire from being right on top of the burners, it tends to shed flaming pieces of itself that then fall in to the grease trap. Hence, the flaming BBQ I have mentioned.

With the gas turned off and the meat removed, it only burned for another four hours, a much shorter time than it took for the fireman to get there. I had it basically under control when they arrived and we we settling down to trying to recover what was left of Christmas dinner.

Actually, the firemen did not come and most of the meat was salvageable. And we had plenty of other things to eat. But it was an adventure and not something I will try again for a while. The spit roaster has been sitting against a post ever since then. I am not sure it was damaged in the fire as I have not tried it since then.

We had a good time at Christmas. All the kids over plus some friends. Natalie had to work, so we tried to eat early. That did not work out so well and we ended up eating a little after they had left. It was fun though. It being Christmas and this being the south part of the world, it was hot and muggy but everyone jumped in the pool and cooled off for a while. Everyone except me as I was doing the cooking but they were all in most of the day.

Maeghan and William were spoiled again. Too many presents and too many toys. I think they might even still play with a couple them. Most of them are just in their rooms. Fancy ornaments to decorate their walls and drawers. They don't have closets or I am sure the toys would be shoved in there never to be seen again. But they enjoyed it, which is the important thing.

Guess I should start rapping this up. Haven't talked a lot about the kids but they are in the other room fighting with each other so I am trying to avoid going in there. Hopefully, Nat and Adam will be back soon to take them away and I can try to get some work done. I doubt I will get any done but I can always start my computer and pretend I am working.

Have to go now, the fighting in the other room has turned violent. William appears to be crying but as he is the biggest one, I am not sure who could have taken him. Probably Maeghan as he lets her get away with hitting him and does not hit back. He is a good boy and loves his sister, even if they fight most of the time. He is just glad she lets him be part of her world.

Until next time

Talk to you later

MWNews 83

As hinted at, I am copying the email I send to Daddy the other day. Since it is addressed to him, it might contain personal information not normally shared in this blog, but as no one reads this anyway, I am sure it is pretty safe to post it.

Maybe someday I will get back to writing original material, but maybe not. Depends on whether the moon is in the sky and the worms are in the ground. Well, something like that.

Anyway, enjoy. Look for comments at the end that help explain where we are and what we are eating. But you knew that.

I am at the office and am eating my toast. I will try to type at the same time. Not sure if the email you sent to Juanita will go through, it looks like there is an extra space in it, but my eyes are failing so I can never really be sure.

And yes, I can't see most of the time anymore. They say it is old eyes, but it is fairly harsh if you have to work on a computer all day. I can see well enough for most things, but it is all fuzzy and I have difficulty reading my screen. When I get my eyes examined, they say my vision is the same as it was before, so I am at a loss to explain why I cannot see. I might go back to contacts so I can use reading glasses. My current glasses are bifocals but I have never seen any difference. I think they just said they were bifocals so they could charge me more money.

Maeghan had her birthday last Sunday. She is seven now. She is getting bigger but not really taller, although she is over a meter tall now. She is getting really heavy. The doctors say we need to watch that as she should not put on weight very fast because her body will not be able to cope. She is back to going to the doctor every six months, although when they said it would change to once a year, it never did. Her surgeon has retired and her main doctor is about to retire, so we are seeing new people now. I only met him for a couple of minutes but he seemed nice.

They are x-raying her spine every time now. They want to watch for signs of scoliosis, which she already has a little bit but they want to monitor it and make sure it is not progressing too fast. I am not sure what they will do about it if it does, but maybe there is something they can do.

I know it will upset you and it really upsets me, but I think we are seeing the beginning of the problems she is going to face. I pray that I am wrong, but I have always tried to prepare for it. I am sure it will not be as bad as I keep imagining, but we have to know she will face problems and some of them might be severe. I don't know what else to say about it, it hurts too much, but I am sure she will be just fine. She is still a precious little girl.

She loves swimming and will stay in the pool for hours. Not sure what she is going to do in the winter, but for now, she is in the pool almost everyday. I think the Mingara pool is heated, so we can take her down there when the weather is cold. Mingara is the local club we belong to. They have gambling and restaurants and a big swimming pool and other things to do there. They just opened a new kids area and both Maeghan and William love it in there.

William is swimming now. He loves the pool as well. When you open the gate to let them inside, he immediately runs to the pool and jumps in. He loves to jump in and out of the pool. He is getting to be a very good swimmer. Not as polished as Maeghan, but he can beat her in a race. He still is not able to swim and come up for air and keep swimming, but he goes fast enough under the water that he can stop, take a breath and then dive back under and keep going.

He is getting big also. A head taller than Maeghan and still only four years old. He is bigger than most of the kids in his day care. He will start school next year, or maybe not. He never sits still, so we might wait another year to send him, so he has a chance to settle down. I don't think he will ever settle down and be a quiet kid, but maybe he will learn to sit still long enough to be in a classroom. He goes to day care twice a week, so he can get used to being there. He loves it and the teachers are saying he is getting better at sitting still and listening.

Maeghan is getting her new teeth. From what we can see, she will probably need braces. The doctors told us to come to them when that happens and they can get some help for her. I don't know what that means but I assume it will some kind of special funding. Her school already gets special funding for another teacher for her. There will be a lot of things she will be eligible for. She doesn't really need the special teacher and she copes with everything as well as anyone, but you have to get these things established early so they are available if she ever needs them. It took two years for her condition to be recognized by Centrelink (the welfare office) so Juanita could get special funding for her and she could get her wheelchair. She hardly ever uses her wheelchair but she has an outing to the zoo in the next couple of weeks so she will need it then. Too much walking for her. Juanita will be allowed to go along to push her.

I turn 50 in a couple of months. We have no plans for my birthday and will probably just go out to eat or something. Maybe go somewhere for the weekend. I have to work the whole time as my co-worker has taken the whole month of April off. I can still work as long as anywhere we go has internet connections. I have a 3G modem, so anywhere there is cell phone coverage, I should be able to connect. Even if we do go somewhere, it will only be for a couple of days or something. Nothing fancy, just get away for a while.

Not that I can get away. I have a huge project at work that takes up most of my time. Lots and lots of things to do and the deadline is fast approaching. If I don't get it done before my partner leaves, then I will be doing it on my own in April. It is a major project and will determine if I have a job or not if it does not finish on time. Not that anyone has said anything, but the impact of failing will run into the millions of dollars to fix. The fact that no one can fix it except me does not seem to be a factor. It is on a system that was built in 1995 and the code we are converting is so old, no one understand how it works anymore. My recommendation was to start over instead of trying to convert, but of course, that was shot down. Having no one that has even seen the code, let alone understands it, other than me, makes getting help with the task of converting very difficult. But, we will see.

Other than Maeghan's back problems and my eyesight, everyone is healthy and well. Juanita fell a couple of months ago and her leg still hurts from that, but there is nothing anyone can really do about it, so she lives with it. William has been well with no major problems, other than he keeps hurting himself at the day care. Running into poles and falling off things mostly, but by the time we see him, he has forgotten about it. He had a nasty bruise and cut on one eye once, but that healed quickly and he was fine.

Guess now that I have finished my toast and my coffee is cold, I should finish this up. I don't have a computer anymore that can handle a skype account. I do have the Mac, which I will setup on skype. I don't remember how to do it, but it has a built in camera so it should not be too hard. I will see what I need to do and how to use it in the next couple of days. I don't think it has a built in microphone, but I am sure we have one laying around somewhere. Maeghan got a microphone for her birthday, but it does not work for some reason. We are taking it back tomorrow and getting her the Wii game that has microphones with it. She likes to sing along in the microphone, mostly her own made up songs, but all the kids that come over love to sing into her microphone she got for Christmas. That is why we got her another one, so she can sing with her friends, but as I said, it does not work.

She loves Hannah Montana by the way and keeps saying she wants to be a singer. She likes Barbie also and has all the Barbie movies. And Tinkerbell, and anything else that has fairies or mermaids or dancing or just about any of the girlie type movies that are out. She doesn't dance as much as she used to, but she sings a lot now.

I have been asked a question at work, so I will have to go look into it. Hope this fills in some of the gaps I have left by not communicating. I always say I will get to it, but never do. Kind of hard in the situation I am in but I will try harder.

Well, that was it. I hope you enjoyed it. I haven't gone back and re-read it, so I have no idea what it says. I am sure it makes you feel all warm and fuzzy, or that might be the spider on your neck. The comments I promised at the beginning of this post are located here. As you can tell, there aren't any, except what I just typed, and what I just typed then, and again. You get the idea. That's all I have to say. Be more next time. Let me know if you need help with my birthday present. I turn 39 this year, so it is a big one. Close to 40 now, so I have to slow down and pretend I am getting old. Not that you can tell to look at me. Tall, good looking, and fit as a wombat. And by wombat, I mean small, furry and can roll myself into a ball.

OK, until next time.

Talk to you later

MWNews 82

Hard to find pictures of the kids together anymore. They don't stay still long enough to get the camera. And, they don't get along that well. Most of the time they do, but not for very long. Brother and sister, you know.

Well, Maeghan has turned seven and William is four. Next year, they will be going to the same school. Maeghan is in second grade now. William still goes to day care twice a week. We were hoping to hold off another year to allow William to calm down, but I think he is as good as he will ever get.

William is a cute boy most of the time. He will call your name and call your name, over and over again. When you reply to him, he just says 'I love you'. Hard to be annoyed with a kid like that. It is also difficult to remember he is only four. He is so much bigger than Maeghan, you think he is the big brother. Then you hear Maeghan talk and you know she is much more mature than she looks.

Maeghan is a little princess now. Complete with all that goes with that. Cute and friendly most of the time, bossy and sassy when she doesn't get her way. A typical little girl.

We had a couple of parties for them, on their birthdays. Since it has been so long, again, I have a lot to catch up with. I won't be doing it now, so assume I probably will never do it. We are getting ready to go out. We've been getting ready all day. It is 1:00 now but I knew, as soon as I started doing something that might take a while, they would all be ready to go. So I started this entry and now they are waiting on me.

Christmas has passed, and new years, and the family has come and gone and Juanita was over there for a while, lots of news. Guess I will just have to keep you wondering. I did send an email to Daddy that had a lot of information in it. If I can recall it, I might cut and paste it in here. Hold on a second while I look for it.

I sent it from my work email, so I would have to sign on there, send it here, and then copy and paste it. Not going to happen in the next few minutes so I guess you are stuck with this little blurb. Maybe I will open another one when I get back.

As a teaser, there is Maeghan news from the doctor, William news from William, and Juanita news from her parents. Not sure if I typed all that correctly, so ignore it until I can straighten it out.

Going to be going now. Lots of work to do and even more work I haven't done. I did just install Skype on this computer, so if anyone knows my name, they can find me and call. Not that I am ever here, it is Juanita's computer, but you might find her here occasionally. And, just for the fun of it, I installed the app on my iPhone. So if I start it up, I can see if anyone has tried to call me.

And just as a quick annoyance, can't go without complaining about something, I have my iPhone sitting next to the keyboard and I keep trying to use it as the mouse. Very annoying but not worth moving it.

Talk to you soon,

Later

MWNews 81

Maeghan can swim on her own now. She has always worn a floaty when swimming but she doesn't have to anymore. She can swim from one side of the pool to the other all on her own. We are really proud of her. She spends all her time in the pool just ducking her head under the water and then coming back up. She used to do that with the floaty on, but now, she will just stay under for a few seconds and then come back up. She really loves the pool. It has not really been warm enough to go swimming yet, but she wants to get in everyday. The only days she does not get in is when it is raining, which is kind of weird since she will be getting wet anyway, but it is just too cold to go in the pool when it rains, so she stays out.

William is still a bit afraid of the water. Ever since his near accident, he has been really afraid of getting his head wet. Even in the shower, he refuses to stand under the water. Not sure if I related the incident when he went into water over his head without his vest, but I know he still has nightmares about it. He tells us sometimes that he had a bad dream about being stuck under the water. It makes me really afraid and I have bad dreams about it too. Since it was my fault he was in the water when it happened, I am really afraid of him being in the water over his head, but he is getting better. I am hoping he will forget it someday and be able to have fun in the water, but I am in no hurry for it to happen. Just let him take his time and go in when he is ready.

He still has fun in the water, but never with his head getting wet. Just floating around in the pool and pretending he is swimming. Maeghan, as I said, can swim better than me at this point. Not that I am a bad swimmer, well actually I am, but Maeghan is basically fearless. I still insist someone has to be within a few feet of her anytime she does not have the vest on and I still worry every time she takes off swimming, but she can keep herself afloat and seems to do ok. I am always ready to reach her just in case she gets tired.

William will be four next month. Juanita's birthday is also next month. I am not sure what we will be doing. Maybe have a party for William's birthday and then go out for Juanita's. I have not made any plans yet. William thinks he already had his birthday. He is waiting for Christmas. We got him the new Roary DVD the other day and some other car or something. He thought they were his birthday presents, so he thinks he is now four. He tells you he is four now and he is ready for more presents at Christmas. Not sure how he will react when it actually is his birthday.

He is still hyper as ever. Sometimes, he takes a nap for three or four hours during the day, but mostly, he just goes and goes. We were having dinner tonight and I was sitting next to him. He did not stay still the entire time. Kept moving around in his chair, kicking me and constantly getting up and down. I kept asking him if he was ever going to calm down and just sit there, but he thought I was joking and kept moving around. I have no idea how he is going to handle school when the time comes. He wants to go to school, but having to sit still for any length of time will be a real challenge for him. Maybe he will have calmed down by then. Probably not.

Maeghan thinks Daddy is the funniest guy around. She always laughs at whatever I do. She is a really good girl. I think we got used to Maeghan being so calm all the time and that is why William is such a handful, but Maeghan has always been a good girl. Oh, she has her moments, and can be really naughty at times, but not a lot. That happens mostly when she is playing with William and gets frustrated with him. Since he is so much bigger than she is, she tends to think he is just as old as she is and doesn't understand when he does not listen to what she is telling him to do. She gets kind of bossy then and when he still does not cooperate, she tries to get him in trouble by yelling at him until he yells back.

Not that William ever talks in any voice that is not a yell. He is one of the loudest kids I have ever heard. He can whisper sometimes, but most of what he says is at the top of his voice and he never lets up talking. A constant stream of chatter is his way of life. He has gotten into the habit of saying Mom, Mom, Mom, all the time. It is one question or statement after another and he never lets up. He doesn't do it to me so much, but the words Mom, Mom, Mom are part of every conversation.

The grandparents are still here. I think they are staying until the end of November. Karen gets here sometime in November. She is staying for a week. I don't think she will be here for Juanita's birthday, so we might have to do something early so that she can go with us. We will have to see what we are doing once she arrives.

The dog is still here also. Always jumping and trying to get into the house. He never stops sitting at the door, either jumping up on it or whining to be let in. You cannot walk outside without him jumping up on you. One of his annoying habits is to bite at your feet while you are walking. The kids hate that, although Maeghan does not let the dog come near her at any time. The dog likes to jump up on you and that scares Maeghan, so she stays away from him whenever possible.

We have had a big contract at work so I have been having to work a lot of weekends and a lot more hours than I normally do. I spend a lot of time out in my office at home. It has a bed and a couch and a TV and the Xbox out there, so when I take a break from work, I never really leave the my office. William likes to come out there and sit with me sometimes. Of course, William does not sit for very long and begins to make up games like jumping over the couch and the bed. That makes it hard to work or to watch tv, so I end up having to yell at him. It then becomes the saddest thing as he hangs his head and walks out. I hate it when that happens but he is just so hyper that it is impossible to work with him around. He needs constant attention and I can't always give it to him.

Maeghan rarely comes out to sit with me. I think she would like to, but with William there, he demands so much attention, she retreats into the house to get away from him. They like playing together, but Maeghan sometimes gets slighted with William always getting into trouble. I am sure it looks like, to her, that he is what we are watching and not paying any attention to what she is doing. I am sure she gets it, that he is always getting into trouble, but sometimes, she just wants to be cuddled and it makes it hard when you have to keep one eye on William so he does not do something stupid and she can't get your full attention.

As of this writing, I am officially in the country illegally. My passport expired a few days ago and I have not sent it in to be renewed. I have it all ready, but I need to find a place that will give me an American money order. The US state department only accepts American money and they do not accept cash or credit card. A money order is the only way to pay them. It is said that some post offices will let you buy an American money order but I have not checked into it yet. I need to do that tomorrow so I can mail in my passport and get it renewed. They say it only takes two weeks, but I am afraid they might find something wrong and then have me deported or something. I am sure I am just being paranoid, but the thought has crossed my mind several times. I am hoping my taxes are in order over there as I am not sure they are and one of the things the state department does is send in the application for approval to the IRS. If there are any problems, they do not grant the new passport and what happens after than, I have no idea. It is a worry, but probably will turn out to be nothing.

Once I have the new passport, I am not sure what happens to my permanent residence visa. It is on one of the pages in my current passport. I don't know if I have to go through the same process again to get a new one or do I just take it to the Australian Immigration office and they put a new stamp in it. I have read the original letter they sent me concerning my permanent residence, and it says I need to have something called an RVA in my passport if I ever leave the country or I will not be able to get back in. It doesn't say anything about what I do if I do not leave the country. I will try to find out what I need to do once I have the new passport.

Guess I should be going now. I need to get to bed so I can get up early and do some work. Have to have some proposal out by tomorrow and I have not started it yet. One of the biggest jobs I have ever attempted and I am the only 'expert' on this system, which is really a shame since I inherited it from someone who retired and I never really understood it before he left. Way too technical to get into in this blog, but it is a big job and I am not so sure that after it is done, they will have no use for me anymore. Once I get it converted, anyone will be able to support it and that means I have no job security as the only 'expert' left on this account. I am trying to get my project management certification done before that happens so I can fall back on that if needed.

So, after saying all that, the kids are in bed and I am ready to go there myself. It is goodbye from me and it is goodbye from him (an old two Ronnies routine).

Until next time,

Talk to you later

MWNews 80

Maeghan lost her first tooth. It had been loose for a long time and it finally fell out. We were at the shops having KFC and she said it was just hanging there. After a few minutes, she showed it to me and said it had fallen out. Apparently, she had actually twisted it until it came out but we were telling her to pull it out anyway, so we were happy she did. I was afraid she was going to swallow it while she was eating. It is really small. About the size of two pieces of rice. Very small. I went over to the jeweler that was next to the food court and got her one of those little plastic bags to put it in. One of the girls over there thought it was gross but the other was happy about it and wanted to see.

I think Juanita tried to send pictures via a text message but I am not sure who or if they made it to everyone she sent it too. We took several with the phones. Over here, they put the tooth in a cup of water overnight and the tooth fairy comes and replaces it with money. I didn't suggest putting it under the pillow, I thought they might think I was crazy. (And as a side note, this computer is acting up again in that it is not typing what I am typing. Meaning, I type a whole bunch of words and they do not appear on the screen for several seconds. It makes it hard to catch spelling mistakes and things, but I will muddle through. As an example, I finished typing this whole sentence before I could see it on the screen.)

I think Maeghan was a little scared about her tooth. As I said, it had been loose for a long time and I think she was afraid of having it fall out. I can understand that as it is a little scary to have things falling off of you. I prefer adding more bulk as it then becomes a good thing if something falls off. You lose weight that way.

Another sign has occurred that I am getting old. My three, soon to be four, year old son now gives me advice on how to play video games. I think I have mentioned he has become addicted to the DS and carries it everywhere. Occasionally, he gets stuck and asks me to help him with something. I never play the DS, so I have no idea how to play any of the games but I give it a go and can mostly figure out how to get past whatever he is trying to do. Sometimes, I can't, and he gets an exasperated expression and tells me to give the game back and he will do it or he keeps saying you have to do this and you have to do that and then gets frustrated and takes the game away to show me what I am supposed to do.

I hate when grownups tell me how to play the games, or what passes for grown ups around here, but to have a three year old be better at the games than I am, well I am sure it is just a matter of time before he is able to push me over and tickle me instead of the other way around. He is already big enough that it hurts when he hits me or wrestles with me. We have to keep telling him to be gentle when he plays with the other kids and he is bigger than most people his age.

William and Maeghan get along most of the time, (and this typing thing is driving me crazy) but they generally end up fighting. I think Meaghan has figured out ways to get him in trouble all the time. She knows he is bigger and stronger and she cannot always get her way, so she goads him into doing something that gets him in trouble to make up for not being able to push him around.

Right now, Maeghan is on school holidays for two weeks. Actually, she has one week left. She is at a birthday party right now, so William is bugging me constantly. In addition to the typing thing, William is driving me crazy. He found the Xbox last night. Maeghan wanted to play the Pinata game. While I was getting it out, William found the Cars game. He has been asking to play it constantly since then. Since Maeghan is gone, he has a chance to play, so I set it up for him. Unfortunately, he does not know how to get from one game to another. When one ends, he is in my ear asking me to change it to another. Amazingly, if he tries to follow the game, he can usually win, but he doesn't do that often, so it takes him a long time to finish any one game.

The other problem is he wants to play all kinds of things that are not unlocked on the game. I have to constantly explain that he can't play as that character or play that race until he wins the other ones. It is a lost cause trying to get him to understand.

Well, this has bugged me long enough. I am sure there are other things to write, but I can't stand it anymore. I am going to close this. William is here bugging me again and the mother in law wants the computer. She hasn't said anything, but she is sitting behind me and I am sure that is a subtle hint that she want to play on Facebook or something. Guess I will be going.

So, until next time

Talk to you later