A Blog About a Bloke-Living with WHS

Source: None via Anna on Pinterest

What a weekend we just had!! Busy Busy Busy. But so much fun. On Saturday was my darling husband's attempt to play football after a 2 and 1/2 year break. Turns out he still has it in him. He won a meat voucher for being best on ground or something. He couldn't walk afterwards. But that was his problem, not mine. We had quite the gang of supporters up in the old spot near the scoreboard. The kids had an absolute ball (they got to hang out with the Wheeler kids and a couple of cousins). It was really nice to see some familiar faces out there. Most people hadn't seen Ryley walking before! So a big thankyou to the Lexton Football Netball Club for supporting us yet again and helping raise money for the conference (and to those special mates who organised it all). Sunday I left David at home with the boys while I took off to IKEA to catch up with a couple of WHS Mama's (it seemed like the best thing to do really, it meant I didn't have listen to the moaning and g...

I wish I had a photo to share, but I haven't had the chance to take one. (Edited to add some photos my Mum sent me after reading this post! Thanks Mum!!) Lately though, Ryley and Braeden have become inseparable. Braeden has decided he wants to sleep in with Ryley and they cuddle each other until we finally pry Braeden away because he is keeping Ryley awake telling him stories. This morning, I had to walk away from Ryley as I just.couldn't.dress him. The more I got cross, the more Ryley wriggled and squirmed. When I returned, Braeden was trying to put Ryley's pants on him and telling him that he "had to stop being silly". I thanked Braeden for his help, but told it wasn't his responsibility to dress Ryley. It is always a worry of mine that Braeden will think it is his job to do the things that I do. Siblings of kids with disabilities tend to become 'little parents' and this is not the path I want Braeden to take. If only Braeden had reminded me...

So the full transition will take a couple of days, but we are now: http://www.blogaboutabloke.com/ !!! I am going to attempt (!) to find the archives of http://www.ryley.net/ and transfer them over to here if I can. Ryley.net was our first blog/website years ago. It archived somewhere in the internet library so I am going to hunt it down. I tried to do it last year and failed. So hopefully I can do it this time?!

I have a hundred and one blog posts running through my head at the moment (usually in the middle of night or early in the morning when I can't sleep). So, I am going to make an effort to start writing them down. They may not be cohesive, they may only be dot points, or they may just be pictures. But I will try! I have been looking back at my statcounter over the past week and just looking at how people get to my blog. It is very interesting. For those who don't know what a statcounter is, it is basically just a thingy that logs all the IP addresses and information of people who visit my blog. I don't actually know everyone's IP addresses (well I don't know any of them really), but the thing I find most interesting is the words people type into search engines. Did you know that most people are searching for ryley's blog, or blog about a bloke, or information on WHS? Every now and then I get some random search for weird stuff. But usually people are lookin...

How boring is this blog right now? Not much being written here is there? I just don't feel like I have anything much to write about that wouldn't bore everyone to death. So maybe I will just dot point life for us right now. Busy fundraising. Busy organising WHS Conference Did I mention fundraising? It's cold. And yes. I do know I live in a notoriously cold place, and not to mention it is winter. But still...Some days I just can't get warm, no matter how long I stand in front of the heater. We can haz a new car. I do love my new car. Mainly because it doesn't break down on us. And it is blue. I like blue. My darling husband is coming out of retirement for a footy match next weekend. Which should be good for a laugh. Being the celebrity that he is, this one off football game is to help raise funds for the conference. So, if you feel like laughing with me, feel free to join me on the sidelines as I yell encouraging lines such as: "You are too old for thi...

Right now, a darling little girl Magnolia is in a critical condition. She needs our prayers. You can read about her here: Magnolia Hilary, Brian and Toller-please know we are all thinking of you.

As a Social Worker, our pay is basically really bad. Despite the fact that we work with some of the most vulnerable and desperate people in the community, our work is often not recognised. Every single day, we talk to people, help them and empower them. Not only is there inequality in pay within our sector, but also between genders. All too often we are given the line "you do what you do because you love it". Yes. Mostly, I enjoy the work that I do. If I didn't, then I wouldn't be a social worker, right? But that doesn't mean that I don't deserve a fair and equitable pay does it? The emotional toll that being a social worker takes on you is one of the hidden costs of the sector. Without proper supervision and self-care, you will never survive more than 5 years as a social worker. Sometimes I shudder as I remember the things I have seen. The things I have been told. The ethical dilemmas I face. All on a daily basis. The constant position I am in,...

We are proud to announce 3 new additions to our family. Their names are Steve, Hopper/Poppa and Car. They are all brown and they cluck a lot. So far, so good. They seem to like their new home and have been busy eating bok choy, zucchini and green tomatoes.  They have threatened to peck Rex's nose if he is so silly as to put it through the wire. They have already given Charley dirty looks. They fit in beautifully. Now to just get them laying and then they can stay. Braeden wanted me to take a picture of him and Stanley. All rugged up. The chook motel at the Taj Mahal Hopper, Car and Steve

Have you noticed I haven't been here for a while? Some people did notice actually. Thanks! Ryley has been sick, and then he got better and twisted his ankle. So it has been a long few weeks really. But his foot was better today, in that, he is able to walk on it at least. So onwards and upwards. It can only get better from here. Er...right? As you all know, our family is hosting the Australian Wolf-Hirschhorn Syndrome Support Group's next conference. Which is in November this year!! We are busy fundraising at the moment and are hoping to raise enough money to pay for Dr John Carey to come out from the US. Our major fundraiser is going to be July 23rd and will be a trivia/auction night. We have already had some wonderful businesses who have donated goods and services, but need a lot more. So, if you are a regular reader of this blog and may be able to help, or know of someone who could help, can you please get them to email me at dridans@hotmail.com ? Thankyou in adva...