Welcome to 2008

That was by far the quietest New Year's Eve since I was a child. All 3 of us Byers in Brisbane were either ill, recovering from being ill, or coming down with the same illness the other two had. Honestly, there wasn't a Byer awake in Brisbane after 10pm on NYE. And we didn't even leave the house at all on New Year's day.

...not that we had the weather to tempt us out of the place, either. It's been unseasonably cool this festive period, with plenty of showers and overcast skies, the temperatures have rarely gone above 25 degrees and there's been plenty of rain and strong winds from the south to make it all feel much cooler. Most of this weather has been caused by a large surface low that's been sitting off the east coast of Fraser Island happily generating some epic surf conditions all along the SE Qld coast. Photos on coastalwatch.com have shown double overhead waves barrelling at takeoff points that are normally gentle 2 foot sliders, and waves and currents too big and heavy for anything other than tow-in surfing.



Christmas was also a low-key affair this year, with a pleasantly relaxed christmas eve barbie on our back deck, and casual lunch and afternoon over at Nat and Al's on christmas day. Unfortunately, that was when Levi started to show signs of being sick, and by the end of the day he was sneezing and spluttering away. This is the first time he's been ill, so we kept a very close eye on him, and had a doctor come to visit on boxing day. Turns out he had bronchiolitis, a viral infection. Also turns out that you can never be too careful with young babies, so when he was sounding worse the next day, we were at the hospital to see another doctor by 6am. Thankfully, The Boy's strong enough to tough his way through being ill, (and cute enough to charm all the nurses and doctors) and it didn't develop into anything worse.

All that sitting around the house too ill to go out actually turned into quality family time together. Worried about Levi getting bored of his usual toys, we dug deep into his toybox and pulled out toys he hasn't seen yet - including a soft red and white football, which it turns out he loves. Check out the video below showing Levi's footballing talents.



Speaking of videos, I should also mention that Skye and I had our first night out without Levi when we went to see Daft Punk at the Riverstage here in Brisbane. One of the best gigs I've ever been too, Daft Punk were simply amazing. The music, the lightshow, the outdoor venue, and just the atmosphere all added up to a fantastic night out. To top it off, Levi stayed fast asleep all night, so we didn't get any calls from the babysitters. See below for my video of the gig.



...and, today is officially my last day of contracting. As of monday, I'm a permanent, salaried member of staff. I've never taken a pay cut before, so looking that in the eye is an unnerving feeling (especially now that my income is the total income for my family...). But. The company pays for income protection, and very importantly pays me while I'm sick or on holiday - what a relief! It's also quite strange not to have a date in mind for the end of my contract.... it took me a while to get used to being a contractor, but it's been 2 years now and without realising it, I've got comfortable in that way of thinking and now switching back to permanent may take me a while to get used to!