 | Diary Navigation:
|
February 4, 2005
4 February 2004
Ryan is 26 months old
IPARENTING CHANGES
I have to say I am very pleased to see all the changes on this site – the new diaries, new photos and a general feeling of renewal. I check the site several times a day (yes, I know, I have no life plus it’s been super quiet at work) and it’s great to see new entries or active boards. Not that mine has been very active of late but hey, I understand! We are all so busy these days, juggling a million different demands on our time. I’m as guilty as the next person of not posting enough to other people’s boards. I’m really going to make an effort to do that more often, as it seems the most effective way of getting people to stop by my own board. One thing that really frustrates me though is when diary writers don’t update for months or respond to messages left on their board. This is understandable at certain times when people are busy with their day to day lives but some of these entries goes unanswered for weeks, maybe months on end so inevitably people just stop posting altogether. Thankfully these boards are few and far between.
If you’re reading this entry you would have noticed Ryan’s photo at the top. I’m trying to get IP to put the photo into the main index as well. Having a face to put to the name is so much better and I for one generally read more diaries where there is a photo attached. Not really fair but a fact. I’m still trying to work out how to attach Ryan’s photo to my posts and to my signature on posts – bear with me!
WHAT’S BEEN HAPPENING?
DH & I aren’t taking any leave from work until the end of March so we have all been stuck in the old work/day-care routine so far this summer. Ryan’s day carer had a week off at the end of January but my mum stepped in to take Ryan for an extra day and DH had a day off work. He really enjoyed his day with Ryan actually, even though it was raining and they couldn’t go outside. Ryan seems to behave differently when he is with one parent rather than both. He tends to act a little sillier when we are both around (bigger audience?). He is a definite ‘mummy’s boy’ when we are all at home, preferring to be fed, changed and cuddled by me but loves to play with his dad on the floor, building towers of blocks and practicing their wrestling holds! I keep telling DH that he needs to do more of the everyday things with Ryan, like giving him his bath, so that Ryan will not just EXPECT me to do it and get upset when daddy tries.
The thing that really gets my back up is arriving home from day-care around 5.45pm, trying to get Ryan sorted out, dinner to prepare, bags to unpack, we’re all tired (that’s a given these days!) and DH wants to sit down and watch the evening news from 6.00pm – 6.30pm, totally uninterrupted. He does not want to budge, talk or even listen to me until that news is over……grrrr. They don’t call it Arsenic Hour for nothing. To be fair, once the news is finished he will start getting dinner ready while I bathe Ryan and get him ready for bed. But he is way too obsessed with that TV. I always expected the mornings to be frantic once I went back to work but they are a BREEZE compared to the evenings.
Last week I won a weekend accommodation voucher on a local radio contest. I’ve had amazing luck with winning things on this particular radio station over the last couple of years - $1000 cash (where I had to guess the song within the first 5 seconds of playing – thankyou REM, for writing such an easily recognisable song as ‘Losing my Religion’), dinners at various restaurants, numerous double passes to movies and CD’s. We always joke here at work that I have the magic phone that seems to get through on my first try. We will need to work out with my parents when they can have Ryan so that we can use up our accommodation voucher before the expiry date. It is for a new resort-style hotel at St Helen’s on Tasmania’s sunny east coast, a popular summer holiday destination so I am looking forward to that. I have yet to win a big trip somewhere but watch this space. At the moment they have a competition to win a new car so I am trying to get into the draw for that too!! It’s a bit of fun to pass the working day, during quiet times.
MOVING?
The real estate market has been absolutely booming here and I’m starting to feel like we will miss out if we don’t do something soon. I’m also spurred on by our neighbours who are currently selling their house and are expecting a GREAT price for it. Their house has 4 bedrooms, a tiny kitchen, good living area, nice views but the back of their house looks straight at ours. Our house has 3 bedrooms upstairs, a spacious modern kitchen with parquetry flooring, spa bathroom and another room downstairs that could be used as a bedroom and unobstructed views of the river and mountain, so I suspect we could get even more than our neighbours might get. More than 2.5 times what we paid for it. Oh, what to do, what to do? Who knows what the market will be like in 6-12 months time – will we regret not selling? But where do we go if we sell? DH is thinking that we could rent until the prices come down but of course there’s no guarantee of that. My parents have said we could stay with them but I really don’t think that would work. They have a regular 3 bedroom home in a very rural area, 45 minutes from where I work whereas now I’m 15 away. I know that’s not a huge difference but I think we would want our own space, instead of sharing living areas/kitchen etc. I just like my own space and privacy.
I do love my house but the thought of making a big profit is very tempting. I would like a bigger house with a bit more land around us and maybe that type of home would be more within our reach in 12 months, IF the market eases off. It’s a gamble, isn’t it? Buying our current home was the first time I’d played the real estate game so I didn’t really know the ins and outs of it. I’m SO tempted to sell, then buy somewhere a bit bigger, borrowing the difference so that we’re making the same payments we are now. I think I need to get a valuation of the house done, discuss it with the real estate agent (who will of course advise us to sell, sell, sell!) and then do some sums. I have to be careful because I might be cutting my nose off to spite my face, committing myself to years more of full-time work when I would ideally like to work only 2-3 days a week.
OWN THAT CAMERA, BABY!
Ryan did very well at a recent photo session. I made the appointment for 9am so he would be bright and sparky. He was entranced by all the ‘props’ in the room, the photographic equipment and the different backdrops. They did 4 different poses, including one with me where he is standing behind me while I’m sitting on a block and Ryan has his arms wrapped around me and I’m holding his hands. If you would like to see the photos, here is the address: www.babiesonline.com/babies/r/rg . His newest shots are on the front page while the pic of Ryan and I is in the Photo Gallery. I love getting new photos of Ryan but there are no cheap options over here, no coupons, no vouchers. This session cost me $240 and this was with a complimentary sitting. Needless to say, we don’t go that regularly. We also have to wait for the photographs to be processed and then delivered in the post – they took about 2 weeks. I was so annoyed as the postman left them on our front doormat and it absolutely POURED with rain that day, in fact all week long, and the outer envelope was soaked through – not a piece of plastic wrap in sight. Thankfully the photos were all okay and I will keep them all. DH thinks I spend far too much money on photos – well, it’s not as if I go every month. There are hardly any photographs of my stepdaughter when she was a baby as they did not bother to have professional shots done. I just love to record Ryan’s growth and development and they are wonderful to send out as gifts to my family in the U.K. who cannot watch him grow up.
WHAT WE’RE READING, WATCHING & LISTENING TO.
I always seem to have 2-3 books on the go at once which frustrates DH no end!!
Currently I’m reading the trilogy by Dave Pelzer which starts with ‘A Child Called It’. Also, ‘Blowfly’ by Patricia Cornwell and ‘Toddler Taming’ by Dr Christopher Green (a classic in Australia). I like to watch reality TV shows, like Extreme Makeover (love it!), Survivor, Trauma – Life in the E.R. plus shows like Third Watch, ER and British comedies like ‘The Royle Family’ (hilarious). Movies – haven’t been in AGES, but I really would like to see ‘Mona Lisa Smile’. We watched a re-run of ‘The Green Mile’ last weekend, I also love ‘The Bone Collector’, ‘The King and I’ (what a contrast, huh?), Disney movies with Ryan and ‘American Beauty’. My favourite bands/singers are U2 (I saw them in London in June 1987 on the Joshua Tree tour – awesome, and in Australia in 1989, 1993 and 1998 – what can I say, I LOVE this band), REM, Coldplay and Robbie Williams.
DH – he has diligently read all the Harry Potter books (!) over the last month or so, he’s currently reading an autobiography by Lance Armstrong about his battle with cancer and of course his cycling career. He enjoys CSI, Without A Trace, Malcolm in the Middle, Home Improvement re-runs and, have I mentioned this, the NEWS! He likes to listen to 70’s stuff, some 80’s (eg. the Stranglers, Queen) and not much recent stuff!
Ryan enjoys looking at books with me but only for short bursts. He’d much rather play with his Bob the Builder tools or his megablocks. His favourite books are (sorry, I can’t recall the authors) :
§ The Bad Babies Counting Book (“one bad baby, bouncing on his bed! Two bad babies, with their breakfasts on their heads” - you get the drift). I have had to sticky tape this book back together in various spots on numerous occasions because it is so well loved.
§ Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear (“touch the ground, Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, spin around!)
§ Goodnight Mr Moon
He loves his Hi-5 videos, Bear in the BBH, Miffy and Friends (mega cute – do you have Miffy in US?), Play School and of course it goes without saying that he adores Bob the Builder. He is totally entranced by commercials on TV and has his definite favourites….sigh…! He LOVES a show called ‘Australia’s Funniest Home Videos’ which shows clips sent in from viewers and is very well put together, with voice-overs etc. It is the only show Ryan will sit through from start to finish and he does not move a muscle apart from those required to laugh!
ME
§ Still wanting to have another baby, still no AF (what is going on there??) – I guess I should get myself along to the doctor for a check-up. I have worked out that the best angle to keep throwing at DH is the ‘playmate for Ryan’ one. It seems to provoke more of a positive response. Nothing to report yet though…
§ Still working fulltime but looking forward to a few weeks off in late March and early April, including Easter. My co-worker has been on leave for several weeks so I am keeping busy at work although it has been fairly slow in terms of new ‘cases’. The population must be getting healthier.
§ Still trying to lose weight and getting depressed at the thought of buying bigger winter clothes. That’s the problem – I despise shopping for ‘bigger’ clothes so I don’t buy much and then have nothing to wear. I always kid myself that ‘I will lose weight so I won’t buy that expensive jacket in a size 14/16’ when I really do need a new winter jacket for work. Sigh. I know the answer but it is such a never-ending battle.
§ Still totally head over heels for my little boy and eternally grateful that he is in my life. There’s nothing like when he wakes up and puts his arms up towards me and says “Mama!’ so lovingly.
That’s about all for now! PLEASE stop by my board, just to say that you’re around. I feel like I’ve received a parcel in the mail with each new post. I promise to update more regularly.
Until next time
Sue & Ryan
 |  |
|
want to keep a diary on iParenting?
Authoring a diary on the iParenting network allows you to chronicle your family's story, preserving it for years to come. It's also a great way to get the most out of the iParenting community. Click here to start...
|
The iParenting Media Awards program helps parents find the best products for their families. 
