He Did it!!!

Yay Brad had his final exam today for his course and passed with flying colours. He is now a qualified driving instructor. I am so so proud of him and I have been having conversations with Nickie about how hard Daddy has been working and how we need to give him big cuddles to show him we think he is amazing. Nickie just loves his DaDa it's beautiful. His face lights up when Brad comes home and he dives into his arms for a cuddle and buries his head into Brads neck. It makes my heart melt.

On Friday the 11th of December (which is also Rhea's due date and no appearance from bubba yet!) Brad has a job interview with one of the big drive schools in Melbourne. I am praying that it goes well and he gets a position with their school. He says he will go to any area they want him in, because the school is so well known and has a great reputation it would be great to get a start with them. It would look great on a resume. So even if he starts off in an area that is a bit of a travel he is willing to do that to get a good start in the industry.

The other half of me is scared. If he gets the position then he needs to get a car to teach in. We do have a car but Brad's car doesn't fit the schools standards. Their cars need to be less than 5 years old, which Brad's is 10 years old. They also need to be white as they will then pay to get the signage of their school logo put on the car. It is also very scary to think that where as Brad's wage paid our mortgage every month, now it will be my wage paying the mortgage and Brad's wage which will be a bit unsteady for a while while he is establishing a client base will be what pays our bills and buys us food. Since I really do like eating (haha) I am really hoping he gets the client base up and running and it doesn't take too long. I don't mind things taking a while and struggling a little while things pick up, as long as they do pick up! Brad is so excited and enthusiastic about this new career. I haven't seen him enthusiastic about his job for a long time. I want it to work out. I would hate him to go through the disappointment of it not working out and having to go back to his old job. Prayers people, Prayers!!!! haha Brad is currently at the shopping centre buying a shirt for the interview. He works a manual labour job where he gets very dirty and messy, he is not used to getting dressed up and wearing a shirt and tie.

Just a few other bits and pieces to update you on before I go:

I have had a bit of a mystery virus the last few days which thankfully I am getting over now. It started like a flu. We had my work Christmas party (remember the one I told you about that was $100 a head and caused a lot of tension at work?) and I wasn't sure if I could go because I didn't feel the best, but I didn't want to miss out after paying so much money for both Brad and I to attend. If we hadn't have been able to go then we would have lost all that money - the restaurant were not prepared to refund any portion of it. So I powered through, got ready and we went. It was a seven course meal I'm not kidding! But each course was tiny and bite sized and fancy. By the time we got to course 4 it had taken a couple hours and I was really starting to feel sick. I felt like I had a fever and also it became hard to look at light. It felt like knives piercing my eyes, the pain in my eyes and head were so bad. So Brad thought it best to take me home and I happily agreed. For the next day I was so sick with raging fever, headache, coughing etc. I went to the doctor and he said it was a virus. Thankfully today I feel a whole lot better and only really have cold like symptoms now like a cough and runny nose.

Lastly some news about Nickie, his daycare called me into the directors office when I came to collect him the other day for a chat. The director said that she wanted to make a time for Brad and I to come in to discuss Nickie as she is concerned with his gross motor development. Nickie was very slow to roll over and he is almost 11 months now and still can't sit up and doesn't crawl yet. He is completely alert, happy, intelligent, responsive etc though but he's just not a big mover. He is just so content to lay on his tummy on the floor with some toys, it's like he doesn't feel the need to put in any extra effort to do anything else. I don't know how things work in the states but here in AUS when you have a baby you get assigned a health nurse and you bring your baby in to that nurse every few months for a check. You can also call the nurse if you have questions or concerns. It is not compulsary but 90% of people do it. My health nurse was an old lady who had acted like she had read everything she knew about children out of a book and there was only one answer for everything. For example, when Nickie was cutting his first tooth I called her and said "I think Nickie is getting a tooth and it seems to be very painful. I am giving him cold wash cloths to chew on and some paracetamol, can you suggest anything else I can do for him?" She looked at his file and informed me that Nickie was only 5 months so he wouldn't be getting a tooth yet as babies don't teeth till they are 6 months. I said to her I was pretty confident that he was getting a tooth but she practically hung up on me. The next day there was a little tooth in Nickie's mouth, so I was indeed correct that he was teething.

After that I wasn't too keen on going to her but I perservered and at one stage months ago I brought up my concerns that Nickie was not attempting to crawl and that no matter what I tried he didn't seem interested. Her answer to this was to say "well you need to make him". I didn't find this at all helpful so I called the health centre and asked to change nurses. My next appointment with Nickie, I go off to the new nurse hoping to get some better advice. well, I got a complete cow of a nurse. Sorry to say that but she spoke to me rudely and was very critical of my skills as a mother. It was like she had it in her head that the reason he was slow at moving is because I must not spend any time with him. Like I put him in a bouncer in front of the TV all day. That couldn't be further from the truth. Nickie has watched TV maybe 3 times in his life. We have an Elmo DVD wrapped up under the Xmas tree for him and it will be his first ever DVD. She said to me "don't you know you have to do activities with your child!!??" I got so offended I started to cry and walked out of the appointment. I felt like the biggest fool but I thought how dare you say that to me. After I got home I rang the health centre and complained and told them I wouldn't be back to any of their nurses and that I would take Nickie to my GP for his checks from now on.

Later that week I took Nickie to my GP who was lovely and said Nickie was just a happy, content boy who was taking his time. He said he could see no developmental problems with him, he was just very chilled out and in no rush to crawl. The doctor said sometimes kids are as old as 20 months when they begin to crawl, and then again there are kids as young as 8 or 9 months who are walking. He told me to relax and said Nickie would be fine, and he would catch up down the road. Now it's two months later and the day care centre has brought it up with me.

The day care centre manager is so lovely and she said to me once again, that Nickie by no means has anything "wrong with him", but that she just doesn't want him to struggle later on down the road. She said there are a number of goals with gross motor skills that children aged 1 are "supposed" to have achieved and so far Nickie has not achieved any of them. She said she thinks he might just need a little push in the right direction to get him motivated. With our permission they can get a special qualified person come in to work with Nickie at the day care centre on a one to one basis. It won't cost us any extra as it's all government funded. Brad and I are going to go to the meeting and talk with them about it further before we decide. It's very nice to know the option is there.

I must say it is really hard when someone tells you your child is not up to the standard of other children. As parents we want to believe (and often do believe) that our child is the best at everything. The brightest, the cutest etc. When someone says to you "actually your child is behind the others" it is a big blow to your confidence as a parent and it is hard to hear. When I was telling my mum about it I got a bit teary and told her I didn't want people to think I was a bad mother because my child can't crawl. Mum pointed out to me that Nickie doesn't crawl yet because he obviously hasn't found the need to. He is happy and content. When you are happy and content why would you feel the need to strive for anything more? I have just been trying to remember that. My son is happy.

Sorry for the long post guys, I'll sign off now. Have a great weekend.