Glasses

We got an official diagnosis on Ben's eye - severe astigmatism, probably because of his prematurity (contrary to what our family said, but I'm more inclined to believe the pediatric ophthalmologist who sees preemies every day). Looks like that glasses bullet we thought we dodged 3 years ago has come back around! But after reading up on other possibilities of a child's eye suddenly turning, astigmatism is not a big deal.

Here's a good explanation I found online:
Astigmatism occurs when the cornea is shaped more like an Australian Rules football than a spherical tennis ball, which is the normal shape. In most astigmatic eyes, the oblong or oval shape causes light rays to focus on two points in the back of your eye, rather than on just one. This is because, like an Australian rules football, an astigmatic cornea has a steeper curve and a flatter one.

So basically Ben's left eye is getting really confusing images and his brain is basically starting to ignore it and see everything through his good right eye. The muscles aren't working as hard and that's why we're seeing it turn in. To correct the turn and the vision, we'll start with glasses.

Okay, not the 3-D glasses but a real pair. Luckily Ben really likes to wear sunglasses and pretty much anything else on his head so hopefully these will go over well since he'll need to wear them all day. I'm talking them up a lot right now!

And Alex can't get left out of the action:

This is more along the lines of what we've ordered. There is no 1-hour service here so we're expecting them to be done next week sometime. And Ben's will be blue, not pink! They're incredibly flexible and will have plastic lenses so hopefully we'll make it at least a few days before either of the kids destroy them. After he's been wearing them about 6 weeks we'll see the doctor and evaluate his progress then decide if he needs to patch the good eye for a while.

While we're waiting on the big day, we're keeping entertained with all the usual activities. Only now there are two boys raiding our closets for shoes!


And one more cute picture from this morning!

It's weird to be talking about Ben's prematurity again after forgetting it for so long. I really thought we'd made it past all the problems and complications but have been reminded we may see effects for years. I'm thankful all over again for how well Ben has done and for what a healthy and normal little boy he has grown to be. My sister just crossed the 24 weeks and 5 days mark this week in her pregnancy (jump over to her blog if you want to read about it) and it still blows me away at how early Ben was born.

Buddies

These two are quite a pair most days. They're pretty inseparable and are nearly always playing with (or fighting over) toys together. I guess I should call them "mates" since we're in Australia, but whatever you call it I love watching them grow up into friends. My sister and I are two years apart and she is still my best girlfriend, even from 10,000 miles away, and I want so much for these guys to have lifelong friends in one another. Here are their latest addictions - little cars they picked out at the toy library. There was no discussion and has been no fighting over the fact that Ben's is blue and Alex's is red...they seem to go for those colors frequently and when we can find a red something and blue something it works out well.

"cheese!" Ben piled a bunch of junk in the back of his truck "so it would be like Grumpy's". Even at 3 years old he noticed that Grumpy keeps a LOT of stuff in his truck!


Hmm...not sure if he's exceeding the weight limit on the bed of this truck.

And sometimes they do sit down and play together, but about 10 minutes later the playdoh all ended up in the cars.

Of course, not all their interactions are pleasant. Here is the perfect example which I happened to catch while I was trying to get some smiles on camera. Alex was busy pouring water on Ben's head in the bathtub and I think ended up whacking Ben with the cup.

Yep, pretty sure there was some violence involved! But more drama than pain so it was just one of many situations I had to referee for the day. Thank goodness they still don't usually hit or push one another yet, but I know those days are coming.

Alex LOVES corn right now. He won't eat it by hand anymore since he discovered he can eat it straight off the cob and he puts some muscle into it to get every piece.

After he finally quits saying "cheese", you can see how excited this little guy is over some fresh sweet corn.

And later with a full tummy, he was ready to streak around the house a little before getting his pajamas.

Demonstrating his ability to get the door open in 2 seconds flat. Silently. The monitor never picks up his ninja moves in the morning when he wakes up so it's a surprise when he arrives in our room.

The 16th tooth has finally cut through so I think we'll have a reprieve from teething for a while now until the 2-year molars make their debut. Click on the picture to get a good view of all those little teeth.

A couple of days ago we went to an outdoor cafe/playground so the kids could play in a nice, fenced area. Much easier than chasing them in all directions in open playgrounds! Poor Ben and those crossed eyes...we're seeing the pediatric ophthalmologist on Wednesday and I'm anxious to find out what's causing the problem and how we can fix it.


Puppy still goes most places these days. And because of experiences like this, he's going to start getting baths while Ben is at school. He got his first one today and no longer smells like dirt and sweat.

Remember Ben's old shopping cart? He never went anywhere in our old condo complex without it so most people knew his as the "blue cart boy". It's on its last legs so we finally got a second cart and Ben insisted on pushing the new one (and ordered Alex to push the old one, of course) down to the beach last weekend. I think now we can say the cart has been everywhere.

Sweet baby toes in the sand!

And long little boy legs in the sand!

Mmmm...orange juice and milk...together!

Last weekend was the annual swim to Rottnest Island, 19km (11.8 miles) from Cottesloe beach. The swimmers left in 15 minute heats starting at 5:45am and lucky for me, Alex had me up already so we sat out on the porch watching all the action. Notice the helicopter...not for photographs, looking for sharks. Shark sightings aren't uncommon and people have been fatally attacked right out there. Just one more reason for me to sit on the porch and not swim!

Each swimmer has to have a boat accompany him the entire swim in case of emergency so there were tons of boats and kayaks out as well.

About 4 hours later the entire party have moved way off into the distance but most still had a ways to go. The winners made it in about 5 hours but most take around 6. That's a loooong swim!

6 Months

It's been half a year now since we moved to Perth and I've been reflecting on our lives here. I really love having this blog because it's also a journal for me and it's fun now to look back and read about what we've experienced. Hopefully one day the kids will enjoy looking at all the fun things they've gotten to do, even if they're too young now to remember a lot of them.

After 6 months I was totally in love with Singapore and was so excited to get back there after our first home leave. I wouldn't say I'm in love with Perth exactly, but I'm adjusting to life here. It's the smallest city I've lived in (with the exception of College Station, but it was only a few hours to all the big cities in Texas) and by far the most remote place. It feels like we're so far removed from the rest of the world, especially when you look at the fashion and technology here and think you're still in the 1980's. People still wear parachute pants, mullets, and rat tails. A lot. Or are those making a comeback everywhere else in the world?

We live in a lovely neighborhood called Cottesloe with tree-lined streets, hills, and a great beach. It's a narrow strip between the ocean and rail line that connects Perth city and Fremantle, and as soon as I drive across the tracks I immediately feel calmer here. Maybe it also has something to do with the terribly timed stoplights at the rail crossings, too, because I get irritated waiting up to 5 minutes for the trains to pass. Unfortunately for us, Cott ranked as Australia's most expensive suburb last year so, as you may imagine, it's not the friendliest place in the world. I've found it very hard to meet local women or even strike up a conversation on the playground. Thank goodness for the American Women's Club and the ladies I've met through it.

There are some things I love about it here. The beaches are among the best in the world and there are just so many of them here, and it doesn't hurt to live across the street from a beautiful one. The animals and birds are amazing and for a nature lover it's so exciting to see rainbow lorikeets, parrots, and cockatoos every day.

Galah parrots (I thought for a long time they were cockatoos). These guys are LOUD.

Endangered black cockatoos. We don't often see them in the neighborhood but love watching them fly by.

I think this is an Australian Ringneck. We tend to see a lot more of these when we drive south but they're around the city as well.

This is my favorite little bird here, the restless flycatcher, probably because it reminds me of a mockingbird. It's smaller but also catches insects and has a pretty song. We have several around the house all day.

I'll never get tired of spotting kangaroos or seeing other interesting marsupials running across the road. It's pretty fun to hear a kookaburra "laughing" first thing in the morning. The summer weather is ideal because the highs average in the 80's or 90's with little humidity so it cools off quickly in the evenings. There are no pennies to deal with here. There are few stop signs in the suburbs and instead they use roundabouts and yield signs so it's quick to navigate across the neighborhood. The Margaret River area just south of here has a perfect climate for growing grapes so we've enjoyed some terrific wines at great prices. Even better, Australians like to bring their own wine everywhere so many restaurants are BYO. (and ironically, the grocery stores are closed on Sundays but the drive-through bottle shops and wine stops are open. go figure) And one of the best things about being in Western Australia is that we enjoy the sunset every day. Last week we saw a particularly beautiful one because there were some clouds in the sky and the entire world turned pink for a few minutes.

Just gorgeous.

The next morning at sunrise the clouds were still around and the ocean reflected the salmon color in the sky.

This is a more typical evening without a cloud in the sky and a bit of color after the sun slips into the ocean. In another couple of weeks sun should move back into our view at sunset.

There are still some things that drive me crazy. The money is huge here. My wallet has revolted and split a seam on these monster coins. Below is my wedding ring next to a 50 cent, 20 cent, 10 cent, 1 dollar (large gold), and 2 dollar (small gold) coin. A US quarter is between the sizes of the 10 and 20 cent coin, so the 50 cent here is ridiculous. Most machines won't take them, either.

Everything is so expensive, but you still have to sack your own groceries most of the time. We don't get many imported groceries so the kids don't eat things like goldfish or animal crackers unless friends from Singapore are kind enough to bring us some. We don't get any fruit out of season, which I find particularly frustrating since I know there is lots of good tropical fruit in Indonesia which isn't all that far away. People like to go barefoot to places like the mall, the grocery store, even the doctor's office. I saw it more in the winter than in the summer, maybe because the concrete is too hot to cross barefoot now? Dogs are like some kind of religion (and the only religion...church is definitely not popular) here and they are not on leashes all the time...that bothers me a lot when the kids are around them. I've finally gotten used to the old-time shopping hours of 9-5 M-F and maybe a few hours on Saturday, but I still don't like it. I'd love to be able to grocery shop occasionally in the evening after the kids are in bed or hit up Big W on a Sunday afternoon.

All in all, Perth is a very nice place to live. It's a much slower pace and might have been an easier adjustment coming from Houston but it felt like a dead stop coming from exciting Singapore where the opportunities were endless. Everyone says it's a terrific place for kids and I agree, but more for school-aged kids who enjoy sports. Not an ideal place for preschoolers because of the dearth of activities for 0-3's except for all the playgrounds scattered in the neighborhoods. I had hoped to be able to go to the beach a lot more but I can't possibly take them near the water myself at their ages. There are definitely things I'll miss whenever we leave but I don't think it will every steal my heart the way Singapore did.

Surprise Pictures

I got a wonderful gift from my friend Suasti, a very talented photographer in Singapore. Suasti Lye Photography for anyone needing portraits! We were models for her several times when she was playing with new equipment and hired her for family portraits in 2008. When we got to visit with her during our quick trip through Singapore she was sweet enough to give me a disk of old pictures, including several I'd never seen. I thought it would be fun to share my flashback...

Ben at 2 1/2...


Alex at about 4 months...



I just LOVE this face!! Ben completely wore himself out playing in the heat.

All my sweet boys...

And for the real flashback...I think this was at 36 weeks just before I had Alex. How is that belly humanly possible? But man, I loved being pregnant and carrying a baby in there.

Ben at 2 years old looking for the baby in his belly.

Our family of nearly 4.

Thanks, Suasti, for such a special gift!! Pictures mean so much to me.

Happy Valentines Day

I've never been a huge fan of valentines (maybe because I was usually the one without a date? hmmm) but it was fun this year because Ben is old enough to get excited about the cookies and candy. It was also a milestone for Matt and I because we celebrated our first valentines together ten years ago at Messina Hof...how time flies!

I hosted our Friday playgroup this past week and we did it up for the holiday. I wanted to make heart-shaped sugar cookies and decorate them but it turned out to be more of an undertaking than I'd realized. First, couldn't find any refrigerated cookie dough here so I had to make it myself from scratch. Then I realized I have no idea where my cookie cutters are because I haven't seen them in years (probably in storage somewhere) so I made a desperate search for heart-shaped cutters in a country that doesn't care much about Hallmark holidays. Thankfully a friend came through with one at the last minute so I didn't have to try my hand at freestyle hearts. My last big challenge was inviting Ben to do it with me. He was really excited about the process but help was not the word I'd use to describe his efforts.

His attention drifted after I'd used some flour and a minute later I realized he'd been spooning water into the flour canister. Damage done...I let him keep playing.

Next he dropped a sugar-coated lemon in there, too. At least the lemon was still very useful for the icing.

Ben was terrific at using the cookie cutter and we managed to get a few dozen hearts cooked and several colors of icing made. That was also a challenge because the confectioners sugar here is not powdered so the consistency was totally different. Baking familiar things in another country is such a challenge that I vow never to do it again but forget several months later and try something else.

I had to give Ben his own counter for decorating because our styles are quite different. He got the cracked cookies to ice and cover in sprinkles.

A few minutes later I noticed I'd been hearing lots of sprinkling but didn't see much on the cookies...turns out they're pretty tasty!

Meanwhile, Alex was busy throwing things down the stairs and I had to draw the line at the big car. Enough baking for the year at our house!

Playgroup was great fun with a dozen moms and lots of kids running around wired on sugar. I saw Ben with 4 different cookies! But it was hard to scold him because every time he got one for himself he also got one for Alex so he was at least being thoughtful in his gluttony. And he had been really patient to make so many cookies and wait until the next day to eat them.

We decorated valentines cards and had a little exchange. Since the kids are 4 and younger, I guess it was more work on the moms' parts but it was still fun.

The mornings here have been gorgeous lately. It's usually right around 70 when Alex and I get up (some days 5:30, better days around 6) and I enjoy some coffee while he has a snack out on the balcony. It's the quiet before the day really begins. I also love to wrap up my day with a glass of wine at sunset out there after the kids have gone to bed.

And then a few minutes later Ben is up and the circus resumes for another day!

Alex learned the word cookie very quickly after our baking afternoon and the boys invented a game with the word.

Every morning now, we wake up to a tiny person standing next to the bed staring at me. Alex is up with the birds, out of bed, and ready to see Mama, but I'm not quite so excited to be getting up. I've tried books, toys, games, and snacks in his room to distract him but he's out the door first thing. If he can't open the door he screams and ends up waking Ben, who gets up to open the door for him and doesn't go back to sleep. Any moms out there have advice on early risers and morning greeters? Please leave a comment. Or at least tell me he'll grow out of this eventually!