Datcat

And the start of adolescence.

Nathan turned 13 today. I wasn’t going to go to any great lengths with regard to a party, but I decided that if he wanted, he could invite 3 friends over, see a movie, and then have Wii games and pizza. He though that was great, and so plans were made.

Boys arrived at 1pm … and immediately settled down to play on the Wii.

We let them play for a while and then head out to the movies. The boys saw ZooKeeper, while I wandered around the shops, picking up stuff for xmas and some clothes for myself. It was quite a nice afternoon, and I got a couple of things I wanted, which was good.

We got home, and of course the Wii was back on at top volume again. Along with the TV, the boys were at top volume. It was hilarious … all are 13, Nathan and W. have super deep voices, P. is warbling up and down, but D. still has a child’s voice. And all were talking at the same time of course. Tony dealt with it by escaping to the shed. Naomi had more direct means.

I, meanwhile ….. got to work making the pizzas. Hawaiian, Chicken and Bacon, Meatlovers, and a Supreme for the grownups.

In hindsight ….. probably a bit over zealous with the bocconcini

They sat outside on the patio, and ate out there, which was a great idea, as it was good to get the noise out of the house for a while. For the record, the most popular pizza was the chicken and bacon pizza.

Being outside, they were encouraged to play on the air hockey table and trampoline, and after taking a couple of photos, I decided not to watch. I know its a pretty good game table, but the mum in me worries about them jamming their fingers. Nathan is wearing his new birthday clothes, which include adult sized pants and shirt. Good lord that child is tall.

But the call of the Wii was too strong. Soon they were back inside, and on the console. They worked out a system for sharing turns, and except for the volume, and W’s tendency to repeat the same set of noises over and over (he has mild aspergers, so I figure it was a reaction to the stimulation), they played quite happily for ages. And the best part …. no late night, and no sleep overs. All three went home by 8pm, so my evening is my own.

Overall, son had a great afternoon. It wasn’t as stressful as a full blown party, and it was easy to cater for and prepare.

I have written about manland before. My husband has never been a “shed” type of guy. His more geeky pursuits of computers and photography, have meant that his shed, has been his study. And certainly that is full to the gunnells with cords, computer bits, more lenses and tripods than he will ever use, and I tend to close my eyes when I look in there.

But, a new hobby has resulted in the development of manland…… electric vehicles. Suddenly he is spending heaps of time, out in the shed, wiring things up, adjusting things, wedging stuff with scraps of wood. Good quality bodger stuff. He is building his own electric motor bike, hopefully as a commuter vehicle for work, (puzzled as to what that means for the regular bike). Apparently it is going to be called Surge. *serious eye rolling happening here* In addition to his own stuff, he has been garaging a racing bike for Chris Jones, who has been racing in the burgeoning electric racebikes competition. This bike is called Voltron ….. yep, I can’t even begin to express the geekiness of it all. He has been acting as pit crew, driver and general helper also, going to the race meets, transporting the bike, ensuring batteries are charged (I wonder what our electricity bill will be like this quarter? etc.

Today, the race bike is being prepped to go home to Perth. So hubby and Chris have spent the afternoon, apparently working in manland. This has required beer, and the small TV, to watch the racing, as apparently Casey Stoner will be crushed if they don’t. LOL … I should be thankful, at least I don’t have to listen to the sounds of motor bikes racing for the last 4 hours.

Chris is in front, hubby is at the back. The race bike is on the left (as evidenced by the number painted on it), and hubby’s project bike is on the right (as evidenced by the chunks of wood holding the battery). They are both watching the TV, so you can see an awful lot of work is getting done. Still, its the key indication of a good manland.

My children are such geeks …….

Naomi: See this is Io, and its under such great pressure, that there are loads of volcano’s that explode so violently, they send lava into space.
Nathan: So that creates meteors
Naomi: Well no not really, although the particles are small, so they might get attracted into one of the rings around the bigger planets.
Nathan: You can’t see any meteor hits on that one
Naomi: Well that Europa, and there is a reason for that. Europa is all ice
Nathan: Oh I see, so the meteor is hot, and melts the ice when it hits
Naomi: This is Jupiter, do you see the red dot
Nathan: Thats a giant tornado huh?
Naomi: Yep. That dot is big enough to swallow the whole earth
Nathan: Well if it did that, we’d be dead
Naomi: If the planet moved out of its own orbit, we’d be dead just from that
Nathan: oh yes, we’d have to be hit by something pretty big to do that

To my special man, my soul mate, and most of all …. my best friend. Happy birthday baby. I couldn’t get out to buy your present this year, but I managed a cake ….. type….. thing. Luv you!

Again ….. I will save you icky wound photos, but it does look like I will have at least one keloid scar. No surprise there, I scar up very well. But, considering the damage my kids did to my belly (stretch marks that look like river country in a flood), I am not overly concerned.

So how am I feeling? Well today is the first day that I have felt truly comfortable. The drain wound appears to have stopped oozing finally, and my upper abdomen is not having a great deal of residual pain. I am getting a bit of an ache when pressed, but I imagine my liver got quite a shock, so I don’t expect miracles. My lower belly is quite a bit more sore, with pain and pulling all around my belly button. Considering the surgeon repaired a hernia as well as the surgery, I assume that the pain I am feeling is muscles being pulled into position, although its not limiting my movement too much. Still, its there, and able to be controlled with regular pain relief. I don’t feel that all consuming lethargy that came after surgery, although my stamina is still a bit limited. I feel well, I feel comfortable, and I feel like I am recovering.

Thankyou to everyone who has sent well wishes and positive thoughts. It means a lot to me, that so many care.