Growing up...

How did life get so complicated?  And so busy?  We seem to spend the terms rushing from one activity to the next and the weeks seem to fly by in no time at all.  How can it already be September?  And Christmas is just around the corner.  Again.  They say that, as you get older, time moves faster and it's quite frightening that our kids are already noticing how fast life moves. 

When we were kids, it felt like time moved in slow motion.  We had time to swim all afternoon and enjoyed countless hours riding bikes and playing with our friends at the park across the road.  We made up games and ran around the garden, making fairy gardens under my parent's pampas grass.   We used to use empty snail shells as flower pots in our fairy garden.  We used to have sleep overs and watch movies and parties where all of our friends were welcome.  Somehow it feels that a lot of that is lost on our kids today.  They just don't have the time.

I'm very aware of the fact that our children are living in a fast-paced society, but every now and then I just wish that I could press pause and slow life down a bit.  Move into the country for a year or two.  Do you know what I mean?  It seems that the year moves from Christmas to New Year, to Valentine's Day, Easter, birthdays, school holidays and back to Christmas again.  It's a blur.

This year has been a fairly tough year for Jake and I in many ways.  Jake took Marius' break up very hard and he misses Michael and Cameron so much, it's so sad to watch.  I've learned a lot through that whole ordeal too.  It's taken months of counseling for Jake and we're slowly starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel.  Jake seems much happier in himself too, which is great.  I think our holiday helped us deal with a lot of our issues that we were trying to be brave about; it just gave us time to be us and to talk things through.

Jake's also been trying out a much lower dosage of his Concerta this year - he's gone from 36mg to just 18mg and he has a lot more bounce in his step!  That said, his concentration is definitely lacking a bit and I don't think that he's coping as well as he says he is.  We've been giving 27mg a go this week and he's had to admit that he feels that this dosage helps him concentrate better.  He doesn't like having to take his meds, but they are essential if he wants to pass.

Other than that, believe it or not, we've started exploring high school options and went for a tour of a BEAUTIFUL private school this week.  Unfortunately, it was just too far out of our price-range and so we have to keep looking until we find the right school.  I would really have liked for Jake to have gone private, as I think that he would benefit hugely from being in a smaller class and obviously moving from our government syllabus to Cambridge curriculum would be awesome, especially as it would give him an internationally recognised qualification.  Either way we go, at this stage, it looks like we will be traveling outside of our area for high school.  So many choices and decisions - all boys vs co-ed, private vs public.  Oh the joys of being a single mom!

Jake and I are also staying with my mom and dad again.  We had a last minute rental offer on our house and moved out last weekend, with our new tenant moving in yesterday.  We love being with my folks and so this is a great way for us to earn extra money to pay school fees, or save up for the next holiday!

Anyway, I guess what I'm sort of trying to say is that I'm sorry for being an absent blogger lately.  My mind's been distracted in a thousand different directions!  We're good though and moving forward and, most importantly, we're happy!

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend!
Sending love, Sue XXX