Priceless

We love Alex so much. He is charming, funny, creative, and incredibly strong-willed. There are days he makes me want to pull out my hair. Here are a few more photos that are worth remembering:

(yes, he's just showing me his band-aid, but I'm sure we'll need this picture again one day!)

"Mama, I sad."

His self-designated time out area for times when life just doesn't go his way.

Ahh, never a dull moment with this one. But on the flip side, when he's happy he is SO happy! Check out his ABC song that somehow morphs into Chicka Chicka Boom Boom.

Coldplay

Matt and I were fortunate enough last week to win FREE tickets to a Coldplay concert in Austin. Not the Austin City Limits Music Festival (which I was tempted to try, until I saw the last minute 1-day passes were almost $200 each) but a taping at the ACL Live venue for a show that will air on new year's eve. We didn't care anything about the fact that it was being taped...to us it was an intimate concert with our favorite band in the world with an added bonus of watching in on TV in December!

This is not zoomed in at all. We were about 10 people back from the stage so only a handful of people were in between me and Chris Martin. I looked everywhere for Gwyneth but she was nowhere to be seen.

They said no taping or photography at the concert but everyone was doing it so I couldn't resist a few clips. I didn't want to spend too much time fiddling with my phone so they're not great but you get the idea. Here's my current favorite, their new single Paradise:

And my all-time favorite, Fix You. It was fun watching Chris dance around on such a small stage after seeing him in two huge arenas.

We got to hear several new unreleased songs from their album due out next month and even got to count down to 2012 for the TV event. What an amazing night! And for FREE!!

Ben's Surgery

We've known for a while that Ben would require surgery to correct his lazy eye and the big week finally arrived. On Monday we went for the pre-op appointment. Looking at Ben in the chair, I was wondering exactly how much the surgery could improve his vision - enough to realize the outfit he picked was terrible? I didn't have the heart to tell him his silly socks and crocs were an eyesore so we just went with it. (but to my credit, he didn't go to school so only the doctor got to see this gem of an outfit)

Alex enjoys these appointments, too, because it's become a little bit of competition as to who can identify the letters first. Ben has the advantage of knowing his entire alphabet while Alex has the advantage of 20/20 vision and a chair much closer to the screen.

While we were waiting, Ben serenaded us with an original song. I had no idea how lovely it would be until I was already recording.

The doctor got all his measurements and answered all our questions, then at 6am Wednesday morning we were headed in for the procedure. This is the new West Campus that is less than half an hour from us.

We love Texas Children's so much! Each waiting area had toys, bikes, games, puzzles, and even Wii's for the kids.

Ben was pretty excited about his new pajamas but asked to be able to stay a dragon on the bottom.

When I broke the news that Mama and Daddy weren't going in the room with him Ben began to get pretty nervous. He mostly watched SpongeBob (a treat since it's a show we don't watch at home) and enjoyed himself but got pretty anxious during the commercials.

One last look at the turn in his left eye. After hugs and kisses, the anesthesiologist carried Ben with his Puppy and blankie into the OR with her. I was so glad they let him take his buddies with him for comfort and even more relieved to know the first thing he would get in there would be cotton candy flavored happy gas. Our little guy didn't feel or remember a thing. I'm not sure he even realized he had an IV.

About an hour later, the doctor told us everything went really well and he was pleased with the results. We'll go back next week for a follow-up to see if his vision has improved and if the eyes are working together. (There's a decent chance he may need another surgery or two to fine tune the alignment but we won't worry about that yet ) In recovery, our little rock star was waking up and enjoying a popsicle and gatorade. Once he had stabilized and the nurse was pleased, we were already headed home.
He cruised on the mini cooper to the car! We were all done a little after 10am.

Back home our little guy was worn out and slept most of the afternoon. When he was finally up and around to play with his new toy I finally got a good look at his eyes. Definitely puffy.

And definitely red! But they look much better when he's not making silly faces. He's really concerned about how red they are so hopefully it won't last too long.

Today he's completely back to normal and not in any pain but I'll keep him home through the weekend just to make sure he's not rubbing his eyes or going anywhere dusty or dirty. We are so happy that everything went well and Ben is already feeling fine. Thanks everyone for your prayers!

In the Groove

Everyone has settled nicely into our school routine but I can't believe how fast the weeks fly past. Alex still misses Ben during the day but he's surviving because he gets me all to himself. No frowns on this face!

Ben loves school but complains that he doesn't get enough time to play at home. He really doesn't have more than a couple of hours each day (what happens when he starts getting homework??) so we try to make the most of them. We've had some really beautiful evenings lately, a little taste of fall, and Ben has loved riding his bike around. This is the park-to-be, just behind our house and two lots down. Can't wait to play here when it's all finished! And those are NOT clouds in the background - that is smoke coming from last week's wildfire in Magnolia, about 60 miles from here. Even from that distance we still got ash falling here and could smell the smoke. Thank goodness it's finally under control and we even got some rain to hopefully put it out completely.

The boys both go to swim lessons after school one day a week and they're both doing really well. The difference between May and today is incredible. But sometimes I wonder how they learn anything when they're constantly playing with each other over the ropes.

Matt got invited to a duck hunt last weekend and came home with four teal. Our boys were pretty interested in the loot, but our neighbor Thurman was even more excited.

No, they're not toys but these boys didn't seem to mind! Thurman's parents are not hunters so hopefully we didn't do any damage to our neighborly relations by exposing him to dead animals in our garage. No matter what, they sure tasted good!

I wouldn't be a good mom unless I had at least a few blackmail pictures of my kids, right? This one isn't too bad...Alex wanted to borrow Ben's glasses, only his head is a tiny bit bigger so they don't exactly fit.

This one has me almost in tears every time I look at it! Putting it in his senior yearbook for sure. As long as all his business is going in the potty, I really don't care what he's doing in there. Life is so wonderful without diapers :) I think I can actually downsize my purse again.

Poor Ben picked up some kind of stomach bug yesterday and spent the entire morning throwing up. Amazingly, it's the first time our kids have really had something like that so we considered ourselves very fortunate and were happy to see he perked right up after a nap on the couch. I still kept him home from school today just to be considerate to the other kids but we're enjoying a little "Ben holiday" together.

First order of business - dig out the rain coats and boots and enjoy the morning's rain! I bought these coats over a year ago and they've been worn just a handful of times. That is how much rain we've seen over the past couple of years. A record breaking 18-month dry spell in Perth (which usually has very dry summers anyway) and then this historic drought in Texas. I never thought I'd be so excited to hear thunder.

Now we're just enjoying a quiet afternoon together and then a visit to Ben's ophthalmologist. He's scheduled to have surgery to correct his lazy eye on Wednesday so please say a prayer for our little guy!

5 Years

Even though Ben's birthday has long since passed this year, today marks the fifth anniversary of the day we truly became parents because we brought our little Ben home. This year I've been reliving a lot of the drama from that summer, maybe because it's our first summer in Texas since then or because Ben is in school and I'm still amazed at his start in this world. Just a few weeks before he was born my grandmother passed away, then we spent months juggling our jobs and hospital visits, and just a few days before Ben made it home my grandfather passed away, too. Not an easy summer.

But that all changed on September 13th, 2006 when Matt and I brought our son home for the first time. We became a family. What a wonderful day to celebrate! And tomorrow Matt and I will celebrate 10 years since he proposed and we decided to make this thing official. I am so blessed with a loving husband and healthy, beautiful boys!

Welcome home, Ben!

On my playlist this week - John Mayer's "Heart of Life"
Pain throws your heart to the ground
Love turns the whole thing around
No, it won't all go the way it should
But I know the heart of life is good

Texas Road Trip

Lots of people have asked us if we'll be visiting the beaches in Texas after being so spoiled to the pristine beaches in Australia. This past weekend with Tropical Storm Lee churning in the Gulf, we decided it was a great time to answer that question. There is no better time for a surfer to hit the waves than with a big storm around, so we decided on Friday afternoon to take a road trip. This was our boys' first time on a beach in the continental US!

Less than two hours away we found the tiny town of Surfside and had a great seafood dinner before checking out the waves.

The storm was well east of us but the waves and very high tide showed it was still close enough to influence the Texas coast. We heeded the sign and decided not to park on the beach.

The boys always love staying in a hotel and I let them pack their bags after I threw in the essentials. I think it's hilarious that they think a toaster, a popsicle, teddy bear hat, and box of fake macaroni were also necessary for a successful trip.

On Saturday the boys and I relaxed in the room while Matt enjoyed some waves, then a little later we all went out to Quintana beach together. Nothing says happy to these boys like sand and shovels!

I'm not going to say it was the prettiest place we've ever been but it was a lot better than I thought. It was fun avoiding Galveston because we had most of the beach to ourselves.

The shallow, gentle waves were perfect for the kids because Ben could swim around and boogie board.

Alex played on his board a little, too, and both kids had a few turns on Daddy's long surfboard in the shallows. I even took a turn myself a little farther out and caught a wave or two.

Ben's official opinion: Texas beaches are better than Australia beaches because they have sand AND mud.

It was a great little getaway for all of us and wonderful to know we didn't have to give up our fun beach days just because it's farther away now.


Back home, the boys have been getting some boxing lessons.

I have the feeling this won't be quite as much fun for Matt when Ben is a little bigger!

No idea what game was going on this day but the glasses were a big part of it. These guys are hilarious!