It was hard, damn hard to say goodbye to someone who was never meant to be leaving so young, leaving his 2 young girls. Suprisingly, my sister held up pretty well, I dont know if it was bec she was trying to hold it together for her daughters, or the angst she was experiencing due to the fact his parents and her wage a little battle, as they have for quite some time sadly, or because she was simply worn out from all the dealings.

I suspect it was a bit of all three. The service was lovely. His uncle is an Anglican priest. He spoke so lovingly about his nephew, at times, barely holding it together as he gently delivered the eulogy. It was simple, no frills and splashy goings on. Just the way Chris would have liked it.

I will miss him so very much, his laughter and smiles, the way he treated people with respect. The strength he found to be there to help others without want of return favour. The way he loved to take endless photographic memories of his family and friends, and I tell you, he has taken a stack of photos!!

But most of all I will miss him simply because he was my brother (in law). He loved everyone. And from what I saw today, they all loved him back.

RIP my brother. No more pain to endure. So long, and enjoy your journey into the afterlife wherever it takes you.

We will miss him dearly, but he is now at peace..

RIP Chris.

He is on life support at the moment and it doesn't look good. A routine op, and off to ICU. He is only 48 years old with 2 young girls. He did have cancer in the past, but despite being in remission, he has never really been the same, and this op was supposed to fix some of his current trauma with the fluid around his heart. He picked up a bad cold when the weather went feral recently here in SA.

So here he is, I think he's dying, mulitiple organ failure, but I wouldnt dare tell my sister that. I even try to convince myself otherwise. I hope I am so wrong.

Why is it that bad things seem to happen to good people?

I just never really got the chance to say goodbye....

Councils, recognise the need for embankement barriers or some damn thing, before it happens AGAIN!

I dont like to give panadol too much, have a homeopathic medicine for teething. He seems colicky too. Hope we can settle him down before I get back to work in a few months, but I wont count on it.

Oh well. Life revolves around sleep..don't now why... hmmmm

So I have myself and Minti for company for a little bit, and I am feeling reflective, and a little down I guess. We are slowly trying to get out of this place, doing little things to get it ready to sell. Contemplating on where to live, or whether we should move interstate or what.  I am more than a little concerned for hubby's state of mind, with his work slowly chipping away at his resolve, typical DEWR job with too much to do and never enough money to go around.  I too work for the Government, and whilst the pay is pretty good, the stress is incredible, makes you wonder if it's worth staying there really.

Often times I question myself and my ability to be a good parent. I try really hard, I do, it's just that sometimes I look at all the hard work, and feel like it gets thrown back in my face.

I guess I just feel alone at times. I thought about going to a Mother's and Babies group, but I recall the last time I went to one with my first son, I was the example to all the other Mum's how NOT to have a good night's sleep. All I remember is hearing Mum's say how good their babies were, and how well they slept etc. I went 6 times, and had enough. So you can understand why I am a little retiscent to return to one of these again.

I worry my young baby is not wanting to progress, he hates solids, he wont sleep a decent night's sleep, he doesn't even want to roll over. But I must say he is a happy baby generally, full of smiles that make his whole face light up...and mine. I need to chill and he will get there when he gets there.

Enough for one night's babble... someone out there say hello? Please? I feel needy, and I am tugging on mummy's skirt, saying "pick me up"....

Jordan, 12 years old, and almost as tall as me!

He will always be my little boy...sigh!

And he just loves his little brother...

I am just glad hubby stood up to his father though, I don't reckon his Dad was expecting him to.

My hubby comes from a family of 4, having one younger brother. My hubby is Hearing Impaired, has been all his life, and as such his parents have, to some degree, molly-coddled him growing up. They have always been there to make sure he makes the right decisions, or makes them for him, checks up on him by picking him up from a friends place one Saturday night because he didn't come home early, never mind he was 17 years old by this time, and did it in front of all his friends. They didnt let him have a car til he was 18 years old, then having to borrow his Mum's car, until he got his own. The first time they let him drive with his P Plates without his parents, was to the local park with his brother for a few hours, in his mother's car.

Now so what you might think?

When my hubby was learning to drive, his Dad would take him and his brother to the local car park. When the "lesson" was over, the Dad would let his younger brother (14 years old) have a little drive too. My hubby would get ticked off, as he felt it wasn't fair as he had to wait til he was 16 to get his licence, or to even drive for that matter,so his brother should wait too.

My hubby worked part time to get a car, saving like mad, and when he was finally allowed to have one at 18 years old, his Dad said to buy some old Ford he had found through a friend. My hubby said he wasn't interested in it, and wanted an older Commodore he had found in better condition. So then his brother pipes up and says he is interested in it, so rather than make the younger brother wait til he was allowed to have a car at 18, he gives him the money to let him have it, giving the same money to my hubby to go towards his car. His brother was 15 YEARS OLD! This really angered my hubby, as the Dad had 2 different sets of rules for each brother. These days his Dad said the only reason he let his brother have the car then, was because that car was good, and wasn't around when my hubby was 15 years old. BUT HE WASN'T LOOKING FOR A CAR WHEN HE WAS 15 YEARS OLD, NOR WAS HE ALLOWED ONE UNTIL HE WAS 18! The day his brother got his 'L's", he could already drive, so soon went for his P's. Rather than only being allowed to drive in Mummys car to the park the first time he drove on his own, he went into town with his mates  up and down the main city drag in Adelaide. This was all ok with the parents. Getting the picture here??

Now my hubby's little brother is getting married in May, and he is one of the groomsmen. When we got married we paid for virtually all of the expenses, his parents and my parents kicking $1000 each toward it. That was nice as we weren't expecting it, nor planning on it.

When I was preggy with the latest baby, we had a little hatchback, which would have been too small for 2 older kids and a baby seat. We were saving to get another car. Just as we were going so well, my hubby lost his job, so we were in a bit of a pickle. We needed another car, and fast. His parents were in the process of upgrading their vehicle, so offered the one they had to us, to pay off interest free. We gave them the pay out from the job as a down payment, agreeing to nake regular monthly instalments. All good. We still have about $5000 or so to pay, no problem.

Now little bro has planned their wedding. Big plans. Thinking they would be getting money from the parents of the bride, they over budget for it. Now they have been caught out, and are short $4000. So Daddy to the rescue says they will give them the money, and as a "fair gesture" will take off the same on the car we are paying off.

Well, that did it.... my hubby was so hurt. We scrimped and saved for our wedding, my parents were not even well enough to attend it, but still managed to give us some money. We couldn't go overseas for our honeymoon, and we had to leave the kids behind. We made our own candelabra and table decos, hired everything and set up the reception ourselves with help from my sister and her friend. We had a spit roast dinner and dessert, and only invited enough that we could afford, leaving out a lot of my family and friends. We had a lovely day, really enjoyed planning it, and it was great, but we went without the stuff we could have had. His brother is going to Phuket, having all the family he wants there, laid on at a grand reception centre, and his folks are bailing him out with $5000 and even staying the night at the same motel as a number of family are doing that, despite the fact they only live half an hour from the reception. So we said ok, give him the money, that's fine. But we would rather have the money for something we really need, maybe in the future, when we really need it, like for renovations so we can sell this house and get a bigger one for our growing family.

They basically said that it was up to them, we had no choice, and if we didn't agree to take the money off of the car, which was an interest free neccessity, not a luxury, then they would only pay the brother $1000, and he would have to get a loan to pay for the rest. Well this set up the burden of guilt too, but my hubby stood his ground and said no. We dont know what they have decided to do yet, but my hubby was adamant the parents should give the money to his brother, and we would have it another time. The point is we didn't get a choice. The decision was made for us. If we were offered $5000 for our wedding, we could have gone to a better resort, and taken the kids, or gone overseas. But they said $1000 was it. We are not jealous, but just angry over the inconsistency of his parent's decisions. One set of rules for the hearing brother, one for the poor little deaf boy. It's patronising and hurtful. And he is sick to the back teeth with it. And so am I. The car is a depreciating neccessity, not a memory filled luxury.

Thankyou to whoever had the patience to read this, I just had to get it off my chest.

I will let you know what happens next......

Stay tuned for part 2 of the Saga of the In-Laws!!

Took Levi to the pool yesterday, 40 degree heat, so didn't go until late in the afternoon so the car wouldn't cook.  Levi LOVED the pool, despite it only being moderately heated. He had to contend with the occasional splash from kids jumping around, but he was fine. I tried to put him on his back to swim, and he was a bit apprehensive about it, then I tried pulling him along holding under his arms on his tummy. This was much better. We must have stayed in the pool for nearly an hour, but he didn't seem to mind. It was great meeting other mums and bubs too. Must do it again very soon, I recommend it to anyone.

Ciao!

This is my first day on this site, and I have spent a few hours (oops, sorry kids!) browsing the advice, photos and information on the site. I can see how you could spend a lot of time chatting etc, but it is really interesting.

I am still learning about how to use the various features, so it will be a little while before I can really get into it, but it's fun trying.

Finally! An easy way to post photos, some sites are so complicated.

Congrats to a great site, and I am looking forward to years of support and advice on family stuff.