Dalekboy

So where to begin? ( Long post that is just about general life stuff. Some mention of bodily functions because I live with small children. Some stories about small children because I don't get the chance to do much that doesn't involve them in some way. You have been warned. )

Just wanted to put the word out early that all our Continuum 7 plans may suddenly be cancelled. Both kids are sick, but Lex is really unwell, poor little bugger. He's been out of sorts for a couple of days, but today he's bad enough that he's voluntarily staying in bed, moaning, dozing, and asking me to come in and hold him every 20 minutes.

It's no good dragging him down to Melbourne if he's like this. It won't be fun or comfortable for him, and it certainly won't be fun for us. Mind you, with both kids at the con we were keeping our hopes for fun at fairly low levels. :)

Original plan was to leave Thursday. If Lex isn't substantially better by Wednesday arvo, then we start to cancel 90% of our travel plans. The remaining 10% will be me driving down to Melbourne on the Friday, doing the Chronos Awards, staying the night, then leaving Saturday after the Continuum 101 panel so Sharon isn't stuck with looking after a sick child and a baby on her own.

I have suggested to Shaz that she can head down with MaybeZoe, deliver the awards, do the whole con, and I'll stay here and look after Lex. I doubt she'll go for it, but have made the offer. It'd let her get to a con, and give her a few days off, albeit looking after one child. She could leave MZ here, but it would destroy our frozen breast milk supplies and leave us no reserves.

Naturally, if we do cancel Wednesday arvo, Lex will be right as rain Thursday. If we wait until Thursday to cancel, he'll be well Friday. If we go to Melbourne, he'll be sick and miserable the whole time. This is the nature of parenting :)

Fingers crossed he gets better and we can all travel down. I know he was looking forward to the trip as much as we were. And it's shaping up to be a fantastic con, so it'd be nice if we could see parts of it around children.

Most years since my faux-stroke I've managed to post around April 1st (the day the migraine that did all the damage started) on how I've been going. This year, the fifth since it all started, I've been way too sick/busy/run down to do so. And even not posting here, I'm still behind on everything!

So this is the short-ish Stroke-Boy Update. ( Read more... )

So, yesterday (it's actually taken a while to write this, so a day or two ago, in fact) found time/energy to post, and to deal with a couple of emails. Most non-child/household related stuff I've managed in a while.

Last night, MaybeZoe kept me up until 1:30, then kept Sharon up until 4:30, then Lex awoke at 8:30. And the sleep I had was broken.

So, now I'm zombie boy. And Sharon is zombie girl. But both our children are awake and happy!

( Other stuff, some cheery, some not, kind of long, and some pics of the demon offspring... )

Nomination for the 2011 Chronos Awards for excellence in Victorian science fiction in 2010 are now open. The awards will be presented at to Continuum 7.

To lodge a nomination please click on the Read more link below.

( Read more... )

Been meaning to make this post since September, but as you're all aware, life has been hectic. Getting around to posting has been a lesser priority than 47 other things.

Something Sharon and I discussed at WorldCon (and more or less ever since) was how blessed we are to have such awesome and brilliant friends.

We were room-bound for a good chunk of the con thanks to the kids. This was something we expected and were fine with, knowing we'd only see small sections of the con, and some of our friends. But then we had all those lovely folks that made the time to come up and say hi, to sit with us, chat, and give us the pleasure of their company. We were really grateful for this, because some of these folks we'd have not seen at all if they hadn't come to us.

We had a couple of folks who offered to babysit Lex for us, which was fabulous and gave us a chance to see a little more of the con. And then when Sharon hurt her back, the help and assistance given to us by so many was an absolute Godsend. People went and got painkillers, helped organise food, and just came up and gave us company once again seeing as we wouldn't get to any more of the convention.

We also had help packing our stuff and loading up the car.

More recently, I had help cleaning the house, packing and loading the truck, and unloading and unpacking.

And just this week, in light of a couple of my recent posts, two people sent us presents for Lex - a pink monster, and an Upsy Daisy top.

So this is just a quick word to those people mentioned, those folks I've missed, and to all the others out there that have been there for us over the years, as help or company.

We really appreciate your friendship and help, it means the world to us.

Thank you.

After 10 weeks incorporating over half of them being enforced weekends away for various reasons, and other weekday madness... I've stopped.

My plans for while Sharon was at Swancon were that I would only do the basics required to care for Lex - everything else could go to hell. The last couple of weeks especially, I've been so busy that playtime with him has been minimal, so it's nice to get back to my real priorities again.

Some of you may have noticed I'm doing a lot more on Twitter than on here. It's about being time poor. I always feel I have to make a 'proper' post on LJ (yes, I know, it's stupid, but I'm odd like that), whereas I have a random thought and I can just pop it up on Twitter. All the silly drivel I chuck up on Twitter is the same drivel that I'm tempted to put on LJ, and rarely do. So this is either a good thing or a very bad one.

Also, given how busy I've been of late, I've just not had time to read LJ. Started trying to catch up yesterday. So if there's important news you like I should, or would like to know, fill me in.

Spoke to Sharon yesterday. She was confused at having nothing to do. This is exactly why I sent her away. Oh, BTW, her PDA is dying, and her phone isn't going well. Any of you with advice for her on either, both, or devices that combine the two, please chat with her about them. She works best with info and needs to be looking into this, so you may help give her a great starting point.

My love to all of you at Swancon. Wish I was there, but you can all see me at WorldCon or next year's Swancon, or Continuum 7. *big hugs*

I shall be at Continuum 6: Future Tense this weekend. Sharon and Lex will not, because of Sharon's work.

This has worked out to be a good thing since she seriously sprained her ankle last Friday and likely wouldn't do well at the con. As it is she will be having to cope with a very active toddler, while on crutches, and pregnant, while I'm away. So any of you in Canberra with experience looking after children could earn her eternal gratitude if you come over for a few hours and change one of Lex's nappies. Or you could just take him for a bit of a walk and give her a break.

I have to be in Melbourne for at least the first night, as I'm bringing down the awards. Naturally I'll see how she's doing and if the drive down and Friday night's program doesn't kill me, I may be leaving the con Sat. If she's doing well, I'll leave Sun night or Mon morning.

I will not be at Swancon this year. Neither will Lex. But Sharon will! It will be her first true holiday since Lex was born, since all the others have basically returned her to work a complete wreck. I will be staying home over Easter and teaching Lex Maori swear words.

The four of us will be at Aussiecon 4.

Oh, and today is Sharon's birthday, gifts of large sums of money will be gratefully accepted. Or hugs.

Way back in '91, (or was it '92?) I ran a convention and very deliberately insisted on a panel about being a parent and staying active in fandom. It had two two fan mums on it. Back at that point, I think I knew three people with kids that were still active fans. ( A little long, and a bit of swearing... )

So, we've looked at finances, holiday logistics, Lex logistics, and a bunch of other stuff, and have had to divvy up the convention going for next year. We've been nutting out ideas for a while, but Sharon's work commitments and our finances have meant we've had to firm up our plans. ( Read more... )