The week that was.

Hi all,

Not to much to report this week, we received heaps of welcome rain over the last week, although it has made the grass grow very quickly.

Chris has been visiting doctors all week and has finally got the okay to resume his umpire training, he ended up a bit sore from umpiring two games yesterday but as his fitness improves that will become less of a problem.

Caitlyn and Rosie are busy with their studies, Caitlyn goes on a Biology trip on Wednesday with school. Rosie has an Indigenous Cultural Awareness day on Tuesday, so we will be heading off to her school again then. She is looking forward to seeing her classmates again and learning more about our Indigenous history.

Athalie's Mum went home on Tuesday and she is being missed. Rosie is missing her the most because they spend so much time together when she is here.

Well thats all the news this week. Oh Jessica and Abby Sunderland are just about on opposite sides of the world as the both try and make history.

Take care everyone

Tim

Back to school and Pebbles' Puppies

With Chris starting Uni on Tuesday, It's official everyone is back at school!!!!! Here is a photo of Rosina doing a phone lesson with her teacher.

Everything is back to normal in the O'Sullivan household, Athalie's recovery is going well and all scans remain clear. Chris also is recovering well after spending nearly a week in hospital in Ayr with pancreatitis . He started Uni life this week and seems to be really enjoying it and can't wait to get his license. I don't think it's very cool for Dad to be dropping him off. LOL

Caitlyn is doing Year 12 this year and has a heavy work load of study. She is off to Stradbroke Island in a couple of weeks for Biology Camp. She seems to be settling back into school life again.

Rosie is doing really well, we spent the last couple of days in at her school meeting her teacher and fellow class mates. Her little dog Pebbles has just given birth to three little puppies and she is soooooo excited.

Well that leaves me, all is going well Athalie's mum has been down for the past six weeks helping get the kids back to school. She heads home next week and we will all miss her. Aussie Rules starts up in a couple of weeks and my weekends will be busy doing grading for the juniors. I feel more confident leaving Athalie alone for a few hours while i'm out. She always seems to get visits from friends while i am away (only takes a quick call but all her friends are only to happy to spend time with her). Ssshhh :-)

Anyway must go it's starting to get late, oh Jessica Watson is on the way home, she just passed under South Africa and is now in the Indian Ocean heading for Australia. If you havn't already you can catch up with this amazing young lady at http://jessicawatson.com.au/ . It is really worth going back to the begining of her adventure and see how much sailing and planning went into this trip.
Ok bye for now

Tim

Merry Christmas

Well Christmas has come and gone and the tree is packed away. The kids have left for a weeks holiday in North Queensland with Grandma and Athalie is resting up after a busy couple of weeks shopping.Whew!!!
We had a great Christmas Day with just us this year. Don't know haw many more we will get as the family is getting older and the two bigger kids are wanting to spend time with their girlfriends and boyfriends as well.
Rosina had everyone up nice and early (she was really excited this year) at 5.30am, that was after me finding her awake in the lounge room at 3.00am waiting for Santa to arrive. She crashed at 1.30 in the afternoon and woke up at six the next morning.
Athalie is enjoying the relatively cool weather we are having at the moment, hope it last a lot longer.
Well just a short one today,
Will try to be a bit more regular in the future.
Tim

Catching up

Howdy all,

Just a quick catch up to let you know whats been happening in the O'Sullivan household.

Well Athalie is doing really well. She is starting to do more around the house and i think it makes her feel a bit more independent. It still tires her out but she feels like she is achieving something by helping out. It's funny how some of us view some jobs as chores, while others view them as little challenges.

Chris has finished his year twelve exams and only has one week of school to go (officially), he is only required to attend a first aid course on Tuesday and graduation on Friday. He has applied to go to Uni next year and has a real interest in Multi Media, specialising in Television and Film editing. It's been a big year for him with his mum being sick and me needing him to help out more and more. It's taken it's toll because he is a bit of a worrier like me, so it didn't surprise me when he got sick half way through the year. But i am proud of him and he has done really well.



Now Caitlyn (KT) is just starting her year eleven exams on Monday and has one week of school and one week of work experience to go. Now KT is in "Love" with Rodney and has him on the brain from sunup to sundown. So it will be interesting to see how her grades are this term. She too has stepped up to help me in the house (not so readily as Chris) but lately she has been wearing Rodney coloured glasses and that is all she is focused on. hope it wears off soon. LOL



Rosie (the baby of the family) is still a little traumatised from Ath being sick, but she seems to be improving slowly. She is still being home schooled and is starting to be integrated back into a school two mornings a week. She really enjoyed it at first but i think the novelty has worn off a bit lately. She also started nippers this year and loves it.



Finally me, myself and I. last weekend was the first weekend i had away for a very long time, now i know this is going to sound selfish but i needed it. I don't know if your are aware or not but i am a Director on the AFL Brisbane Juniors Board of management and last weekend we had our Presidents conference at Marcoola on the Sunshine Coast (my first one). It was so good to be surrounded by people with the common goal of improving Junior football in Brisbane. Oh and to talk on my favourite topic AUSSIE RULES. lol

By all reports Ath and the kids survived the weekend without me. Although i must admit my mobile bill is going to be a little high next month (from ringing every break to make sure everything was going OK). Hey i'm a worrier!

OK have to sign off now

Tim

Sleepless Nights and Lazy Days

Well here it is again, 11pm at night and still wide awake. So this is the third night in a row now and i am getting sick of it.

So we did some investigating today (with the new Doc) and the problem could go all the way back to my shift working days.

There is a small gland in the centre of the brain called the Pineal Gland and it's a quite interesting little critter. It seems that this gland is responsive to light and dark and it releases a drug called melatonin. The Pineal Gland is thought to control things like body rhythms including the day/night cycle. What happens is during daylight hours the pineal gland inhibits the release of melatonin into the blood stream and at night time it allows it to be produced so we can sleep. When we start screwing around with our sleeping patterns our body clock gets all out of whack and melatonin is allowed in to the body during the day causing lethargy and stress and at night it's not there to help me sleep causing insomnia.
Melatonin is also produced in some plants and there are pharmaceutical companies producing it, but no significant testing has been done to see if it will help people like me. But there is always hope.
Good night
Tim

The First Blog

Hi all,
Original title but it is the first, i will be more creative as the days go by.
Well i started this because of the inspirational Jessica Watson. If you haven't caught up with her blogs yet i urge you to do so as she is so creative for someone so young.
Why am i doing this? As an outlet i suppose, i have so many thoughts going through my head that i can't sleep at night sometimes. So hope this will keep me busy.
Ok got to go, will update my profile and add some photo's later.
bye for now
Tim