Vixen

As promised...

Fri, 13 Jan 2006 14:48:37 GMT

I am about to inundate you with pics of the boy and nothing else, so if you don't wish to see them, please move forward to the next window. There are a few, as it has been so long and he is so cute!

Us!

Hang on mum you've got a zit

Sigh...

Are we done yet??

All i need now is a crownie...

Righto...I'm ready...bring em on!

Here mum, ill help you unwrap the tree

What's cheese??

If anyone from playgroup sees me in these cock jocks im dead...

A perfectly captured bit of drool

First solids...special thanks to aunty loz for the bowl & spoon!

ewww....i aint too sure about this...gimme boobies!

Do i have something on my face???

Tue, 10 Jan 2006 08:35:42 GMT

Well aloha! Yes, I'm still alive. Barely. Had a fab xmas and New Year - just returned from 10 days up north on Sunday, so I've been up to my eyeballs in unpacking/washing/food shopping etc, not to mention returning to work this morning, so that's why things have been a bit grim on the update front. Apologies to all of those who have sent me emails, sms's etc that I haven't replied to yet - I'm getting there! Our mobiles are with Optus now and we discovered AFTER arriving in Kalbarri that they didn't have Optus coverage, so I was out of contact range for over a week.

Had xmas lunch for the family at our place, which was great but a shitload of work - don't know if I'd be in a hurry to do it again! Maybe on a smaller scale - 15 ppl was more than I'm used to catering for. That was Round 2 anyway - Round 1 was a few of Ben's family spending xmas eve with us as they're French and the Europeans do a lot of celebrating on xmas eve. His mum & grandma arrived on Friday 23rd and then his aunty and uncle the next day, so I was basically cooking and cleaning for those two entire days, although his mum & grandma did help a lot. We had roast turkey and vegies for xmas eve dinner, as well as these spesh eggs that bens grandma does that we all love - she usually does them with tuna and a homemade mayonnaise but for xmas she did them with prawns - yummo. We had Ben's mum pick us up a whole crapload of seafood on her way down, which formed the basis of our seafood & salad lunch on xmas day. We also had leftover turkey and ham, as well as a whole new turkey that we roasted and sat in the oven uneaten! Topped off by trifle, pav, sponge cake and fruit kebabs for dessert, we were all decidedly full!

It was so much fun having Braydens first xmas and he got well and truly spoilt! I think we were still opening presents at about 11am when my family arrived for round 2. Unlike a lot of babies, he was actually quite interested in all the goings on and gave the opening thing a fair bash and didn't get too bored. I'm still trying to find homes for the stack of toys and bloody truckloads of clothes he recieved, but I'll get there eventually. I think a new chest of drawers is in order. I do have some pics to post up, but I have to transfer them over from the laptop so as soon as I do that, you can share!

The only downside of xmas weekend was losing our beloved Tyson - a freak accident that left us all a bit shellshocked. We have since found out that cross-breed rotties have a genetic defect known as the 'wobbles', where they have a small bone missing at the base of their neck that weakens their spine. I had gone to Coles bright and early xmas eve to pick up the fresh fruit etc and Ben was fluffing around getting the outdoors ready and while Ben's mum was sweeping the back decking, she was throwing his ball for him. Now, anyone who has ever met Tyson or who partook in a Winthrop party of the ben'n'kel variety will know how goddamn obsessed he was with his ball. Anyhoo, bens mum had brought her little poodle with her and while Tyson was chasing his ball in one instance, he leapt up to catch and as much as we can gather, sort of tried to turn his head around mid-air to make sure the poodle wasn't in pursuit as well. He landed funny and Ben's mum (her name is actually Trish) said he just tried to get up and had no back legs. He was trying to run back to her but nothing was happening and he was all a bit confused - she yelled for Ben who was inside doing something and he came running out in in socks, only to slip on the deck and stack it down the stairs in the process (oh dear!). Anyway, next thing I know I get a phone call while I'm loading the shopping into the car saying I had to come to the vets and say goodbye to Tyson. When I got there Trish filled me in and I went inside and found Ben inconsolable and Tom the vet saying we had to put him to sleep :( I was so expecting him to be in pain after I heard the story, but he wasn't - he had in effect broken his back and had no movement or feeling from about half way down his spine, so he was the equivalent of a paraplegic in humans and couldn't move his rear legs or tail. He could still move his front legs but he messages from his brain trying to operate the back half were working overtime and as a result his front legs kept stiffening and his head arching back. He was so happy though panting away with his head in Ben's lap and just wondering when Tom would fix him so he could go back chasing his ball. Tom said that there was only one surgeon in Perth who would even attempt to operate and try to repair the damage but it would cost a fortune and didn't rate the chances of it being successful very highly, plus with xmas and what not it would take days to even organise, so Ben and I decided that it wasn't fair to put him through that anyway and he would never be the same, so we had to say goodby to him. I've grown up with animals all my life and being a farm girl have been around my fair share of dogs, but Tyson was a very special one. I can understand if animals are sick or ailing or old or whatever, but having to put such a young, healthy, happy dog to sleep when he had been so well only an hour before just broke my heart. Even Tom and Kirsty, the other vet, were in tears as they've had a lot to do with Tyson (and Mishka) and loved him too. I really wanted to sit with him while they gave him the needle so he wasn't around strangers but I couldn't, so I just gave him a kiss and left Ben with him. We miss him heaps and poor Mishka just keeps looking for him everywhere, and I got so used to him being with me and Brayden during the day that it's going to take a while before I stop expecting to see him at the door, but time will make it easier I guess. Poor Ben had to enlist a few helpers in my uncle Gavin and cousin Craig to finish getting the lawn mowed and gazebo up etc for xmas day as he just couldn't seem to function properly, but we got it all done and had a nice tea that night with bens family and drank a little toast to tyson and his ball in doggy heaven.

Anyhoo, on a brighter note, we were all pooped by xmas night but had more visitors after everyone left when Gary & Leanne came to visit for a while, then Trish & bens grandma went home on boxing day and I had to whip around the spare room changing the bed etc for when Ben's friend Benny (his best man) arrived that afternoon. Benny has been stationed in Oman but has just transferred to Holland, so was home on hiatus between jobs and it was the first time he'd been back to Oz since our wedding, so it was great to see him. Having Gary in Manji at the same time for xmas with his family meant all three of the boys were able to catch up at the same time and boy, did they ever catch up. It was great to see him though and we were sorry he couldn't stay longer, but he had to spend time with his mum etc in Perth so went home the next day. Didn't have any time to dwell though, as we were heading off on our holiday the next day so I had about a weeks worth of washing and packing to cram into 24 hrs. Now you can probably understand why I haven't updated. We finally headed to Perth at about 1pm the next day for yet ANOTHER dinner at Trish's - as it was her birthday and seeing as Ben's sis and a few other of his family members couldn't join us for xmas we had a double celebration. It was also the first night Brayden slept through - 11 hrs 7.30 to 6.30 (yay!) and has done so ever since (double yay!!), with the exception of last night as he has a cold and was having trouble getting enough air into his lungs poor tike. We then headed to Geraldton the next day for 2 nights where we met up with Paul & Katrina and their baby Chanelle (same age as Brayden), then we all headed to Kalbarri on NYE. Had a nice night just relaxing with a few drinks and listening to the bands at the pub, but I was so tired I was in bed by about 12:20! Did the usual touristy things during the week - spent a bit of time at the beach, played a couple of rounds of mini-golf, visited the Rainbow Jungle parrot breeding oasis, Katrina & I went horseriding and the boys hired a boat and went fishing (came back sunburnt and with 1 fish - a north west blowie! bwhahha) and did wayyyy too much drinking and eating. In the end, we were looking forward to getting home and having a bit of time to ourselves. It was nice sharing the holiday with other people but it can sometimes stretch the friendship a bit and things got a bit strained a couple of times towards the end there! We left Kalbarri after dinner on Friday night as we figured while Brayden was sleeping through, we may as well chuck him in the car at bedtime and hopefully he'd sleep all the way, which he did. We arrived in perth at about 2.30am Saturday and although he did wake up then, I just gave him a feed and put him back to bed and he went back to sleep until 9am. Then I got to have a bit more of a sleep-in while Trish carted him around to show off to all her neighbours as she does.

Since then, I've just been trying to wind down and get back into routine and get this bomb site of a house cleaned up - the frikkin xmas tree is still up atm - and get ready for going back to work which I did this morning. Looking forward to a nice relaxing few weeks ahead and hopefully a generally uneventful 2006, just lots of time with hubby and our gorgeous little boy, who is still growing and learning and discovering at a rate of knots. He's currently smearing his rusk all over the filing cabinet drawer and thinking its quite funny. He isn't quite crawling yet but still manages to cover a bloody lot of ground squiggling along the floor, and quite quickly too! I'm finding I'm really starting to have to keep eyes on him or he ends up wedged under the coffee table or behind a door or with his head between the couches or something. As we speak he has squiggled out of the office door into the kitchen as he spotted a bit of paper hanging out of the bookshelf where my recipe books are, and he loves paper.

Better go and rescue him and also get the washing off the line and start organising dinner! Hopefully I'll transfer the xmas & holiday snaps over tonight so I can post them all up tomorrow, so stay tuned!

Loved and Lost...

Mon, 26 Dec 2005 03:28:11 GMT

RIP Tyson Latter

3/7/2000 - 24/12/2005

You captured a great many hearts in your short life boy and we will love and miss you always.

Boo!

Sat, 17 Dec 2005 13:42:39 GMT

YAY FOR SUMMER!! And not a moment too soon I might add. I think I can now safely pack away my ugg boots...that were last worn all day on Wednesday...bwhwha. If someone had've told me a few months ago that I'd still be wearing ugh boots at night 2 weeks into December I think I would have had them incarcerated.

I had my hair cut today...it's just starting to recover from an horrendous razor-cut incident of about 3 months ago when I had to book at the last minute and couldn't get my normal hairdresser...won't be making that mistake again. Anyhoo we are having some family photos taken tomorrow to give to the parental and grand-parental units for xmas, plus one or two to keep for ourselves too so I'm looking forward to that. Mind you I must do something about Ben's hair first as he went for the mohawk look a few weeks back and it has now grown back sufficiently enough that it now looks like he has a ferret on his head.

All sorted for xmas - just have to take delivery of ben's new bbq during the week (NO-ONE MENTION THIS TO HIM PLS!!) and pick up a digi camera for my bro (expecting a bub in march..well, his other half is) and a cordless phone for my sis (moving out on her own in the new yr) and wrap them, and then get some frames for the photos and wrap them and we're all done n dusted. Need to get this out of the way early in the week so i've got time to start shopping/cooking for the chrissy day onslaught at our place, beginning with the arrival of half of ben's family on friday morning, followed by a few more on saturday, with festive feasting commencing on saturday night with xmas eve roast (bloody europeans who celebrate on xmas eve), then an all day feast on xmas day starting with a pancake & champagne breakfast...followed by the opening of presents when all of my family arrive, at which point I assume ben will be promptly out setting up and testing his new addition to the outdoor entertainment family in preparation for the MEGA seafood and cold meat/salad lunch we have planned (at this point we have 10kgs of prawns, 8kgs of squid, 9 crayfish, 5kgs of marron and 3kgs of scallops...mmmm). Along with the turkey & chook followed by my nan's famous trifle, some pavlova, custard puffs and fruit platters, we should all still be eating well into next winter.

Ok wayyyy past my bedtime now, will try to update more during the week about other stuff and post up some more pics of the boy :)

Thanks to Lou...

Mon, 12 Dec 2005 04:38:06 GMT

Your 2005 Song Is

Feel Good Inc by Gorillaz

"Love forever love is free.
Let's turn forever you and me."

In 2005, you were loving life and feeling no pain.

What Hit Song of 2005 Are You?

Stuph

Tue, 15 Nov 2005 07:35:32 GMT

Once again I apologise for not upda....nahhhhh stuff it...not apologising anymore :) I'll update when I'm bloody good and ready! So there :P

LOVIN this weather...feels like its been so long coming but I'm glad it's finally here. Going outside to do my first lot of weeding for 4 months. YAY. Been dying to get stuck into that...I have thistles that look like karri trees. Just waiting for squirt to wake up before I go out there coz otherwise I can't hear him from out the front...having a champion sleep, as he's been down since 11am *waiting waiting*. Very unusual, but I'm not complaining.

Went to Perth 2 weekends ago for our annual post office staff social outing to the big smoke thingy and had a great time. Stayed at Broadwater Pagoda apartments and I must say, as nice as the Pagoda resort is, the apartments leave a little to be desired. Nice enough, but I've definitely stayed in cleaner places. And the room service man was ROOD ROOD ROOD. Anyhoo, Ben & I headed up on the Friday arvo (with enough shit to take on a 3 month safari I swear) with the intention of making it to a family photo shoot we had booked for 2pm, but alas, we didn't even get onto the freeway until 1pm and I still had to get Brayden fed & changed, me fed and changed and made up and us checked in and car unloaded etc, so unfortunately we had to cancel. On the upside, it freed up our afternoon for a bit of relaxing and a walk around the foreshore. Headed off to Gary & Leanne's for tea..was good to see them again...and got back to the hotel about 11ish to find everyone else had arrived and was making mucho noiso around the pool. Needless to say I left them to it and went to bed. Saturday morning we had to ourselves, so us 3 plus my aunty & uncle (my aunty works at the post office too) who we were sharing an apartment with, headed into the city for a spot of shopping. Somehow became completely trapped in Toys'r'Us, and I think this xmas Brayden will be the most over-indulged 5.5 month old to ever grace the earth. My god.

Headed back to the apartments for lunch and then met up with everyone else for our zoo trip. About this time, Brayden decided to start complaining about the humungous amount of formula my mum decided to pour down his neck on the previous thursday (300mls in one sitting folks..geezus..you'd think someone who had had 3 kids would know better, wouldn't you? Especially for a breastfed baby). I had noticed that he hadn't done number 2's for a lot longer than normal, and it seems the excessive feed really clogged him up and he wasn't going to stand for this sitting in the pram bizzo. Pick up and carry around = happy, put in pram = scream. Considering the little squirt is over 7kgs now, carrying him around the whole zoo wasn't really feasible so Ben & I spent the majority of the afternoon amusing ourselves and him on the lawn while everyone else did the sightseeing thing. POO POO POO. And on Sunday morning, after the most restless nights sleep he's had in a while, it all came out. POO that is, and lots of it :) Two days worth, to be exact. No more tummy aches anyway, and yes, my mum got a right old serve the next time I saw her. Anyhoo, went to visit ben's mum for lunch, stopped at harbourtown quickly to spend my pumpkin patch vouchers, then headed home. Was an interesting, rushed and exhausting trip all up!

On the weekend just gone we went up to Bunbury for the night on Saturday as I was going to A Day on the Green with some gf's. Ben was babysitting but we booked a hotel for the night coz I cant get away with not feeding for that long just yet.
I left him and went and met up with the girls at about 3 and he managed to get bub fed, bathed and into bed without too much fuss so I was quite impressed. Meanwhile, it was an absolutely stunning day at the Sanctuary and I was having a right ripper old time downing a whole bottle of wine to myself (woops!) and dancing away to Kasey and Pete. Kasey was on at 5.30 (right on dusk - was so nice) and Pete at 7.30 so I didn't get back to the hotel until 10, and lets just say my attempt at feeding left a little to be desired *ahem*. Luckily Ben thought it was quite hilarious and I just ignored him, had a nice long shower and thankfully Brayden decided he wasn't that hungry anyway (either that or he didn't fancy pickled milk) and went back to sleep until 3am. For that I was eternally grateful, because I don't think I was capable of much before then. As it was I had to open one eye at a time and just make sure my vision had returned to normal before getting up. Felt slightly off in the morning but not too bad at all...fixed up entirely by a maccas breakfast :) There was a Telethon thingamebobby on at Bunbury forum so we were actually able to mosey around on Sunday and do some shopping before heading home. I managed to lose my good sunnies at the concert, so if nothing else it was a good excuse to buy some more. Also brought the new Patricia Cornwell book, gawd only knows how long it will take me to get through it though. Gone are the days of me finishing a book in a matter of hours...this one will probably take me the better part of a year.

It is still going okay with work, but I do find myself completely and utterly bushed come Fridays, so I have been considering asking if I can job share with another girl they have put on and do 5 day fortnights on a 3-2 rotation, but it will all depend on how it will affect their budgets etc. Depends on how it will affect our budget too, so will have to have a chat to husband dearest about his spending habits :P

Actually have a totally free weekend coming up, which I am looking forward to immensely, as the last few free weekends we've had it has been pissing down/freezing cold/both. The weekend after that Ben's mum & sis are coming to stay and I also have my 10 yr school reunion so the girls are coming down from Perth as well, so it will be full on. Then a couple of weekends after than Ben's friend Benny who was the best man at our wedding is coming over for xmas and its the first time he's been back since the wedding, so we are looking forward to seeing him. Then the weekend after that of course is xmas and we are hosting the big family do at our place this year, so I'm getting myself all in a tizzy making sure that I'm going to be organised for that. Not that there will be a lot to do, but I want to be able to relax and enjoy the day for the first time that we don't actually have to pack up and drive somewhere, so I want to have it all sorted beforehand.

Anyhoo I have a staff meeting tonight and its taken me about 2 hrs to actually get this entry posted, in between ben coming home for lunch, brayden waking up and wanting to be fed and me starting on the weeding, so now I'd better get stuff organised for tea etc seeing as I'm going to be out and Ben has pistol shooting tonight.

ciao luvvlies :)

Approx 15 weeks

Same same..apologies for the focus issues!

Yesterday...jolly jump jump jumping awayyy

Mon, 10 Oct 2005 05:14:01 GMT

Good golly gosh I actually have 5 mins to update. Actually I don't really coz Brayden is on the floor at my feet and has grown tired of laughing at the bright orange bit of paper on the pin-up board and has started to announce his boredom, but I'm ignoring him.

Life atm = motherhood and I'm loving it, but damn if the days/weeks don't fly by faster than I can look at the clock. Our visit to Perth last month was great, although we were flat fucking tack the whole time. Even though we lived there for nigh on 10 yrs, we still never seem to take into account the time wasted by traffic and/or red lights, and consequently were late for everything and it just snowballed into one big fat lateness trip. Apologies to Kristy and the three other people we (or I) had visits scheduled with that we had to cancel. One was actually with a gf I lived with when I first moved to Perth, who wanted to use my visit to tell me she is up the duff with No. 5 (yes folks, FIVE), so she had to make do with the phone once I got home. Brayden had had it up to the eyeballs with his capsule by the time we were ready to head home, as he had been inoutinoutinout of the dumb thing for 4 days, so yes, we were all glad to get home in the end.

Next visit is scheduled for 4/5 Nov when we have my annual post office pissup in the big smoke, and we are all staying at the Broadwater Pagoda Apartments in South Perth and doing fun things like visiting the zoo and all that, so should be fun. Ben and I are also doing our very first xmas shopping at Toys'R'Us, *yay* and the credit card is starting to quiver. Fark nose what I'm going to get Ben, but I'll think about that later. Hopefully I may get time to catch up with previously cancelled ppls, but will see how we go. Maybe I'll just say 'ill be here at such n such a time' and let everyone come to me.

Started back at work Wednesday before last and its going okay so far, so fingers crossed. Brayden has slept through the night a couple of times but isn't doing it consisently yet, so it does make for a pretty long day if I have to do a 4am feed or some such thing, but we're coping. Ben stays home for the 3 hrs I'm at work and looks after him, and I arrive home a little after 9.30 at which point we swap and he goes off to earn some moolah. There were a few days there when I wondered if it was all worth it coz I was so knackered, so I did make some enquiries with centrelink and asked how much our family assistance would be if I stopped work all together, and based on their response (BLAH) promptly decided I would perservere.

Can't believe its bloody nearly half way through October already...it has now officially been over a year since I last had a period...bwhaha how good is that. I giggle every time I walk down the tampon aisle at Coles. I'm sure I'll be giggling on the other side of my face before too long so I'd best shutup.

Our little man is growing like a mushroom at the mo and as soon as the weather warms up a bit, will be transitioning from bassinette in our room to cot in his own room...the nursery is at the front, cold end of the house and the nights are still just a bit too cool for him to be in there, so even though he's practically head-to-toe in the bassinette we will have to stick it out a bit longer. He's just precious and every day makes us laugh with some funny face or noise or something new he has learnt. He's a very happy, smiley laid back little fella and never misses the opportunity to grin it up (especially when I'm dancing to his fave ABC songs CD), so I really must get my A into G and take some more pics. I do have some that I will post up for you, but they are from when he was 6 weeks old and he is 12.5 now, so yeah. There are a couple of more recent ones with friends/rellies but they aren't the best.

The way winter has been dragging out is starting to piss me right off, coz I'm just sick to death of rain and want to get outside and garden and walk and swim and enjoy a wine whilst watching the sunsets and lay on the lawn and play with the dog and all those things that it feels like a millenium since I've been able to do. It is near on impossible to distinguish between my weeds and the Karri forest at the minute, so itching to get stuck into that. Xmas day for the fam is at our place this year, so I want to get the joint all schmicko before that.

Ok, I need to have a shower and fold some washing and put squirt to sleep and all that stuff, so enjoy the pics and I promise I will try to update again soon!

6 weeks or thereabouts

Same same

I like to call this one the Joey "How U Dewennn'

With my gf Lisa at Amanda's bday on Sept 10th in Perth... I don't think he's very sure about the perfume she's wearing bwhaha

With his gf Chanelle (she was born 3 days after him) looking like a fat buddah tomato head...horizontal stripes and overhead shots are bad mmmkay mum?

With my aunty Karen on Fathers day this yr

Hip Hip...

Sat, 01 Oct 2005 04:24:40 GMT

HOORAYYYYY!! Happy Birfday Kristyyy!! Welcome to the 27 club :) Hope you have a fantabulous day (even if the weather is shittypoo).

Hi all!

Mon, 12 Sep 2005 04:05:44 GMT

Apologetics for the big sahara desert that is my journal...I am currently stuck in Perth at Ben's mums so given that I don't have any housework to do, I have a minute to update :) We came up on Sat for my gf Amanda's cocktail party do for her bday and we're staying till Wed, as there are a couple of technology roadshows on up here that Ben wished to attend. Consequently, he has gone out and about with the car this morning seeing suppliers and picking up/dropping off shit and I am therefore housebound with Brayden given that it is pissing rain and we can't get out for a walk. It was beauuutiful yesterday - typical. Anyhoo Manda's bday was fun...it was great to catch up with everyone again and indulge in a few drinkypoo's..her sis went to town with the cocktail recipe book and blender. I have since realised how much we get ripped freakin off in pubs for cocktails, as she followed each ingredient and measurement to the tee and hers were wayyyyyy stronger than the watery tasteless shite we get dished up to us at 11 bux a pop.

It is good to be here tho, been so long since we were up in the big smoke. We were talking about it yesterday and we can't even remember the last time Ben & I were both up here at the same time. I've been up a couple of times on my own before brayden was born, but methinx it was about xmas last year since Ben's been up. Enjoying all the hubub and activity and fooooddd mmmmm but yes, it does make one realise how spoilt we are in the country. Lookin foward to the sushi he's bringing me for lunch tho!

Yesterday we just spent chillin and laxin around the house (hence why I am desperate to get out now) and Ben's sis and her other half came over for lunch, then we ordered gourmet pizza's for tea. I was knackered, due to the fact we were out and Brayden was the resident pass the parcel, plus all the noise n stuff meant he didn't get an awful lot of sleep and didn't go down properly till about midnight when we got home. It was only a couple of hrs later than what me n him normally go to bed these days, but jeez it made a difference to my eyeballs. I felt like I'd been awake for 3 days yesterday. He did sleep thru till 6.30ish, but still.

Gonna go visit some friends tonight and go to a supplier function thingy at AQWA, then a bit of shopping and stuff tomorrow but not much else on the agenda.

Generally things are good...Brayden slept thru the night last tues and i got all excited, but he hasn't really done it again since. He does go about 5 hrs at a time though which is apparently pretty good for an 8 week old. He now weighs 12lb 8oz and is growing like a mushroom..already popping out of his 000 wondersuits goddamit. Gonna cost me a fortune in clothes and shoes this kid. Enjoying being a mum to the max, although I am looking forward to going back to work in 2 weeks time and enjoying some nice adult company and grown up conversations and getting busy with something other than huggies-with-pooh-bears-on-them. Would love to post some more pics as we do have the camera here, but I forgot the computer cord so yeh, will have to wait till I get home now.

My son has once again shat his bum and is grizzling, so I must sign off. Will try and update more soon. Many, many spanx and RBT's to lozza for the beautiful prezzie we received on Friday - it is just awesome! One can tell you have a niece & nephew - such cute yet practical stuff!! So stoked at the thoughfulness you have put in and the moolah you have spent and feeling like crawling into a hole now for not ever getting around to posting your oh-so-boring bday card over...I bloody lose track of the days so fast at the mo. Anyhoo, promise I will write a proper snail mail letter and sent some piccies for your fridge and some spesh things very soon!

ciao all
xx

Routine...

Sat, 06 Aug 2005 08:15:52 GMT

Hi all, haven't updated for a while because there really isn't much to report. My life at the moment basically consists of me running a household in between whenever my beloved offspring decides to sleep/eat/shit/all of the above. Really not overly exciting :)

Also been trying to squeeze in some work wherever I can as our books are wayyyy behind at the moment...managed to do some last week and thought I was going great guns until I got to the reconciliation for June and discovered Ben had been mucking around with a heap of figures prior to doing our last BAS. PFFT. So now I have to wait for him to fix it before I can continue. Never let a man near the accounts I say.

Ben has gone fishing today so I'm banking on some yummy fresh fish and salad for tea, as I really can't be arsed organising anything else. Nor have I been to the shops in what feels like a frikkin millenium, but that's a whole other story.

In other news, I logged onto my bank account today to purchase a u-beaut electric steam steriliser, and discovered a nice little deposit of $3,079. Big cheers for Mr Howard and his baby bonus payment *yay*. Considering I only lodged the form last Tuesday and it wouldn't have arrived in Bunbury till Wednesday, to say I was shocked to find the money there so soon would be a slight understatement. I've put most of it into our St George high interest savings account so we can buy Brayden some nice things for Christmas (Ben's already eyeing off those 'oh my god thats such a BOY thing' pages in the Toys'r'Us catalogues), plus we are having Christmas Day at our house this year, so it will help us make it an awes day food wise etc for all the family :)

Anyhoo, I now must stop procrastinating and get on with lodging my latest tax return, not that I'm likely to get a single cent back *sigh*.

Here are some more pics of my bootiful boy, one with his great aunty Catherine (ben's aunty) who came to visit with Ben's mum last weekend, and a couple of him splishin and splashin around in his bath (aka my laundry sink), which he just loves to bits. Considering Ben and his Dad were both swimmers at a state level, I must wonder if we have a real little water baby in our midst. He also has canoes for feet already (the relief of not having them stuck in my ribcage is indescribable), so watch out Thorpie I say!

</lj cut>

Mon, 25 Jul 2005 03:59:49 GMT

As promised, here are some snaps of Brayden - varying between a few hours and a few days old when we were still in hospital. Believe it or not I haven't taken any decent ones since we got home (only a couple of him looking like a midget in his rocker chair which I haven't uploaded yet), so I will endeavour to do so ASAP and keep endeavouring to endeavour to keep posting them up :)

Dad with his boy - approx 4 hrs old. Silly photobucket won't let me rotate the pic atm so everyone turn sideways :)

With his Aunty Nat (Ben's sis) - still lookin a bit pink at this stage!

Silly dad playin dress ups with a way-too-big beanie - 2 days old.

Golly gosh, do I really have to go home?? Just before leaving hospital last Mon

All ready to go - his hair actually looks red in these pics but it's actually quite dark now like Ben's

Tue, 19 Jul 2005 02:14:25 GMT

Haha! Well,well, after re-reading my last post it makes you realise how quickly things can change! I think I wrote that at about 4.30 in the arvo after we got back from Bunbury and a bit over 12 hrs later our beautiful baby boy had been born :)

I went into labour at about 10:00pm that night just after Ben & I went to bed - I only had a couple of contrax in bed (laughing at Ben with his pen and paper and stopwatch) before I had to get up and walk around. Ben went off to sleep and I just bumbled around, walking, rocking, crawling, whatever I felt was helping. Labouring at home for as long as possible was exactly what I wanted so I was really happy it turned out that I was able to. I had a long, long hot shower, walked around some more, laughed at the cat trying to work out wtf I was doing rocking on all fours on the loungeroom rug, did the dishes *hehe* (I thought fark if this is happening now, I aint comin home to a sinkful of dirty dishes - mind you it took me a while doing plate by plate between contractions), until about 12.45am Thurs morning when I decided it was all getting a bit much and I'd better ring the hospital. They said to come straight through so I woke Ben up, who reachef for his pen and said "have you had another one??", to which I said "yes, I've actually had several fucking thousand and we have to go NOW", and he said something like "oh crap" and was suddenly wide awake. Anyway we still had most of our stuff in the car from our trip earlier that day, so he got whatever else we needed, I sweated it out through a couple more and we left home around 1.30am. The trip only took about 55mins, but I was pretty focused on what I was doing in the back seat and not paying much attention to anything else. I tried really hard not to be vocal coz I knew it would freak Ben out and we might not make it in one piece hehe, so I used means other than my voicebox - visualisation/imagery helped a lot. I could hear Ben asking me every now and then if I was ok but it was just impossible for me to speak and I couldn't answer him, so he had a bit of a lonely drive. I actually managed to go right until the turnoff from southwest highway onto bussell highway before I asked if we were there yet, and was very pleased to find out we were literally 2 mins from the hospital. Had a ripper contraction in the carpark while Ben was trying to load up all the bags into his arms, which he dropped and ran for the emergency entrance, where the midwife I spoke to on the phone met us and took us into what would be our room for the next 5 days. Had 2 contrax that rocked me to the core within about 3 mins (and had me screaming for some pain relief), she examined me and said I was already 8cm and it was too late for anything, then loaded me into a wheelchair and literally ran down to the birthing suite. Ben said when she starting fully sprinting he freaked a bit, but managed to keep up hehe. Anyway, at this stage it was 2.30am and without going into too much detail it was full action stations from that point on. Ben never left my side and was amazing :) Here's me thinking I'd be on my own coz he'd be passed out on the floor or outside every 2 mins for a smoke hehe but not the case at all. He was brill. The only pain relief I could have was the gas so he was holding the nozzle for me and feeding me water and very glad to have something to do so he didn't feel so helpless. Also had the tiniest amount of pethidine coz I didn't want any, but the midwife said I should so Ben told her only the lowest dose possible (it crosses the placenta and can affect bub - they can be born a bit dopey and out of it if they get too much).

So about 2.5 hrs after I was wheeled into the birthing suite, Brayden Ric came into the world :) The feeling of utter relief overwhelmed everything else and all I could do was laugh hehe, especially at the look on Ben's face when they said it was a boy. I thought he was going to crack his face open. He cut the cord (not a bad effort for someone who nearly passed out when he had a blood test), I had a couple of stitches and got sorted out and we went back to our room to start our first day as a family. I think mum and dad and my sister turned up within hrs of Ben ringing them - Dad said mum would have been in the car as soon as he rang if it was up to her but he made her wait an hour or so. Either way they arrived before lunch, and Ben's mum and sister and grandma arrived from the other direction and they were our main visitors for the day. All over the moon of course. Anyway, we had a lovely stay in hospital, bub is a breastfeeding champion and we all came home yesterday and it's all going well. They kept tellin me our first night at home would be the most unsettled and not to expect too much sleep, but I actually got the most sleep I've had yet!! He fed at around 1am and slept though till 5, went straight back to sleep after his feed and is still asleep now! He did stir a bit earlier when Ben left for work but dropped back off again so I'm not going to interrupt him. He's not a big crier either - only time he's really screamed is when he had his Guthrie test in hospital and when the paediatrician was practically pulling him apart when he was getting checked before discharge yesty. He just grizzles and squeaks a bit, gets what he wants and thats it. All in all, we have a very good little baby so far :)

Many thanks to everyone who sent flowers and texts and pressies and came to visit - especially Kristy whose flowers and teddy were first to arrive within a few hours!!

I can hear someone squeaking now so I must go, will post a pic later on :)

Is July 18th a good birthday?

Wed, 13 Jul 2005 08:43:29 GMT

Just a quick note to let you all know that after my docs appt in Bunbury today, I am now booked in for an induction on Monday if nothing happens in the meantime. I did want to avoid this if possible - and not because I don't agree with it because I think it's an extremely necessary procedure - but just because the first time round I would prefer the gradual onset of labour and being able to go through the initial stages at home as opposed to being all hospitalised n shite (which usually results in things taking longer than they normally would in your familiar environment) and the quick and FULLY INTENSE onset of labour that comes with it *yikes*. Of course, it's still possible (although I don't feel it's very likely) that bump will decide to arrive of his/her own accord before then, so we'll just have to see what happens.

I have to admit that it is kinda nice actually knowing when/where things are going to happen and being able to prepare a little bit more, instead of bumbling around playing the waiting game like I have been doing. It has also been starting to worry me that I'm due to go back to work on Sept 6th, so the longer this baby takes to arrive the younger it's going to be when I have to go back. Not going back isn't an option either, even though I can take another 9 months unpaid, but yeah financially thats not really viable for us so the sooner junior is here the better.

Aight, just thought I'd keep you all informed :)

London Falling...

Thu, 07 Jul 2005 11:03:41 GMT

Lauren please come home! :((( Hope you're okay....get in touch ASAP

Update...

Tue, 05 Jul 2005 06:35:28 GMT

Still no baby for those that are eagerly awaiting news (going on the number of SMS's I'm getting saying 'have you had it YET??'). My due date is tomorrow but I'm not actually *technically* 40 weeks until Monday, so I'm aiming for somewhere between now and then. Baby is engaged and ready to go, but other than that there have been no outwardly signs that he/she is in a hurry to arrive. In fact, it is highly possible and even likely that I will go over and will probably be writing similar things this time next week *sigh* I hope not though, and not because I'm uncomfortable or sick or anything, just coz im IMPATIENNNT and ready to get it all over and done with and meet the little takker now please! I hate waiting and I'm borrrred. There are only so many times I can clean the house. I have an appt with my obstetrician in Bunbury next Wednesday morning so if I get that far, he has said to make sure I bring my bags and my husband coz I will be camping in Bunbury! I want to avoid having to be induced if possible (owchy), so if need be I've planned to stay with my aunty & uncle who live like 2 mins from the hospital until things start to occur naturally. If they try to admit me to hospital I'll no doubt end up induced so I'm not hogging the bed for too long.

Just came into the office to do some mail & banking and my gf Amber just happened to be in town with her mum to do some shopping - they live 2 hrs out of town - as she is down for the school holidays (I should have been a teacher with the amount of holidays you get these days) and called past to see if I was here, so I've just killed a lovely 2 hrs drinking coffee and chatting with her which was lovely. Even though I did only see her a couple of weeks ago when we were both in Perth, but there is no such thing as too much gossiping I say. Gary just emailed me a pic of myself and Leanne at their engagement party I briefly made an appearance at when I was in the city, and I would post it if I didn't look like a beach ball with a pumpkin for a head. It is the most disgusting photo, pregnant or otherwise, I have ever seen of myself and I'm not showing it to anyone, so I'll just have to get Ben to take another one of me tonight to satisfy everyone's curiosity, so I can stop getting emails that say PICS PLEASE! :P

Nothing else exciting enough to write about has been happening in my life of late - just been making the most of resting at home. We just got Foxtel hooked up too (via the sly method *ahem*) which helps immensely. Can't beat a few SATC/Seinfeld/Buffy re-runs to help pass the time. Anyhoo, must go and do some banking so we can pay some bills *story of my life*, then get some chicken for the curry I am going to make for dinner in the hope it will dislodge the bump :P If that doesn't work I will get Ben to take me 4wd'ing through the massive puddles along the railway tracks that have formed from all the friggin rain we have been getting down here lately, like he has been wanting to do since he spotted them. If that doesn't make it come flying out, nothing will.

So stay tuned folks!

Thu, 23 Jun 2005 07:13:05 GMT

Well aren't I the slackest LJ updater ever to grace the earth??? But I think you all knew that...

Have been enjoying my time off, although I have still been doing quite a bit of work and have been in the office, albeit briefly, almost every day. Thankfully now I just come in to do mail and banking type things and anything else minor-ish that needs doing and then leave again. I am in this afternoon for a few hrs as Ben needed to go to Pemby and take our trainee technician with him, so I've been madly pulling my hair out trying to work out a way out of what can only be described as our current state of financial disaster...I've given up trying for a while coz it seems pretty much impossible at the moment. It gives me stress headaches just thinking about it so I've decided to switch off for the time being. It's all well and good for dear husband to tell me it's my job to manage the money, but when he spends half our mortgage payment on stupid Playstation Portable thingo's for no good reason (other than the fact they aren't released in Oz till Sept so of course he had to have one), there's ony so much 'managing' I can do before throwing myself off the nearest cliff seems the best option.

Have achieved small amounts of the things I wanted to get done at home before bub arrives, but still have a bit to do. The major one being cleaning out mine and Ben's wardrobe/cupboards of no longer wanted and/or no longer fitting clothes. Me predicts a uber large donation to the Salvo's coming up! Will offload as much as poss onto my sister too, which I'm sure mum will be happy with *not*. Like she doesn't have enough clothes as it is. I was tempted to have a garage sale as we have so much stuff that is still in perfect condition and stuff that was also quite expensive and we could probably make a few hundred dollars at least, but I just don't have the time or the energy a the moment to organise something like that. Also don't want to risk an outdoor clothes-type sale with the weather as it is presently.

Down to weekly docs appt's now, alternating between my GP down here and my obstetrician in Bunbury, therefore both of which take up most of the scheduled day, with driving to and from Bunbury for those ones and sitting in the bloody waiting room for 2 hrs for the ones down here (we only have 2 docs on down here atm and they are both fully under the pump as you can imagine). Went to Bunbury last Tues and all is well - I think I'm the most boring obstetrics patient ever. I can't even get a *slightly* high blood pressure reading. I need some excitement! Will be 38 weeks on Monday so the countdown is definitely on - indeed it wouldn't be unlikely for me to pop early so you never know what the situation could be in another weeks time! Returned from Bunbury for 1 day at home before heading to Perth on Thursday for a few days rest, relaxation, catching up and shopping which was lovely. The original idea was that Ben would come with me and we would catch up with his mum etc and see a movie, go out for dinner and all those nice things that we probably won't get a chance to do for the next 100 years, but unfortunately it turned out that we couldn't shut the shop on Friday and he had some work to do on Sat morning, so I ventured up all on my lonesome. It was my gf Lisa's bday on Thurs and as her husband had to leave for his 2 week offshore stint on the wells (rigging engineer) she was a bit down, so it was nice for me to be able to cheer her up. Our other gf Amber was also in town from Wagin for a teachers conference and as Amanda lives in Perth, we were all able to catch up together under the one roof for the first time since our wedding. Spent lots of time gossiping, eating too much, indulging in the odd glass of vino and in my case, having my tummy poked and prodded and ooohed and ahhhed at. Went out for dinner on Thurs night with Amber, Lisa and her family to InCentro in South Perth which was lovely, then again to The Vic on Sat night with Lisa & Amanda. From there I headed to Box Deli to make an appearance at Gary & Leanne's engagement party and they were very stoked to see me as I thought I'd surprise them and didn't tell them I was coming. They were most impressed at my ability to still get around the city in high heels on a Saturday night and even more impressed that Ben actually let me drive to Perth alone. I had to confess that he was not at all willing to do so and I had to promise to take my hospital bag and arrange for someone to drive me to Bunbury should the inevitable occur. I have to admit that even though everything was a-ok, it did make me a bit nervous being so far away and the driving did make things a tad uncomfortable in the old rib cage region by the end of the trip. Anyhoo, arrived home safely with new ugg boots for Ben (FINDING SIZE 13 MENS UGG BOOTS IN BLACK IS NO EASY TASK PPLS), lovely plush new towels from the Myer 30% off Sheridan sale, and a couple of baby blankets n things I got with vouchers I had been accruing. Arriving home safely was one thing, but arriving home to a household of drunk ppls attempting to make sushi for dinner and ending up snorting wasabi up straws was not my idea of a relaxing Sunday night, so I just glared evils at them all and showered and went to bed *humpfh*.

Monday saw me unpacking/sorting/cleaning up the pigsty which took up the best part of my day, Tuesday saw another docs appt here, which was booked for 11.15am and which I finally got into at 1.15pm, leaving me a couple of hrs to do the food shopping etc, yesterday I had a morning tea date with my friend Vanessa so got up early to make some scones, then spent a lovely morning/early afternoon before returning to do more housework and get dinner ready, then lo and behold its bloody Thursday again already and here I am! Not enough hrs in the day I tells ya. Haven't got anything planned for tomorrow or the weekend, except washing my floors at some point (which I've been trying to do for the last month I swear) and maybe getting around to the wardrobe thing *shudder*. At least there are no Eagles/Shockers games this w'end to distract me for a change.

Other than that, my only other plan is to enter everyone's mobile numbers and/or email addresses onto the Palm so that we can do a global message/sms when junior arrives, so hopefully I've got everyone's details. If you think I may not have yours and would like to be included, let me know :)

Ok, must do some filing and get to the bank and then get home and make sure the fire is still going. No rest for the wicked!

Ahhhh...

Tue, 07 Jun 2005 08:20:27 GMT

Chillaxing! My first official day of maternity leave type holidays today and damn it's nice. It was ohsogood waking up at 5.30am this morning (as per my annoying body clock), going to the loo and actually being able to jump back into bed and snuggle and go back to sleep. Having said that, I've had quite a busy day (waiting 1.5 hrs in the docs surgery for my checkup took a big chunk of it), but have managed to clean the house and get some exercise and stuff as well, so feeling good.

In other news, MY NURSERY IS FINALLY FINISHED. Uber yay. When I say finished, I mean in the painting and new window sense. Still have some Winnie the Pooh stickarounds for the walls and some glow in the dark stars for the roof, but they are just two of my jobs for the upcoming four weeks of supposed rest :) Anyhoo, it looks awesome and I am very impressed with my husband and his bevy of talented helpers. I will endeavour to get some pics up ASAP. I have discovered that it is rather difficult to get a proper view of it all due to the position of the outer wall vs the doorway and a great deal of manouvering is required, but I'll do my best. It probably won't mean much without seeing what it was like before (silly me failed to get any shots of that), but let me just say it was two different shades of purple with a dodgy glued-on picture rail a third of the way down and all the way around. That should suffice. Hubby went on a furniture-building frenzy yesterday against my wishes - you know what boys are like as soon as they spot a ready-to-assemble box of bits and have tools within a 1km radius - so there is now a cot, change table and bassinette all sitting prettily in the room which I am going to have to drag out on Thursday when the carpets get cleaned and the window measured up for some blinds. But at least it's all done. Now all I need is a bambino to make use of it all! Everyone keeps telling me I have a 'nice, compact little bump', which I don't really know as a good or a bad thing? Will get Ben to take more pics tonight so I can get second opinions. Given that I still have 5 weeks to go, thats a lot of bump-growing time and I think everyone is a bit premature in saying I'm having a midget, but time will tell I guess.

Ben's first day at the office by himself today, so it will be interesting to hear how he went tonight. Speak of the devil...the phone just rang and now I have been summonsed to the office to save the day by delivering a keyboard to someone or other. I have a funny feeling we may have to look at employing someone Mon-Wed when Ben will be there by himself from now on. Must go!

Fri, 27 May 2005 10:59:15 GMT

I never thought I would say that I hate anything about Fridays (other than the fact its still a work day), but I REALLLY miss being able to partake in the odd alky bevvy or five. I used to look forward to nothing more than the tick tock finally hitting beer o'clock and then heading home and relaxing in front of the idiot box enjoying a nice chilled glass of wine, or a midori splice or sumthing yummy, eating something equally as yummy and bad for you and just chilling the fuck out. Surely someone else out there must concur. Not that the thought I would miss doing such things ever crossed my mind when I went and got myself all knocked up. I CANT WAIT UNTIL I CAN DRINK AGAIN! As it is, I now sit here munching on almonds and sipping my glass of water. How depressing. The sooner this bun pops out of the oven the better I tells ya.

Haven't got much planned for the weekend - weather submitting I have full intentions of getting stuck into the garden and giving it a much needed overhaul. Time to weed and prune and chop and mulch and rip shit out and then just let the bare basics lay comfortably dormant until Spring when I can plant lots of new colourful stuff.

Ben has to work for most of tomorrow (and he's still at work now..pfft), but then we should be able to finally finish off the nursery if he actually lets me do anything. Next weekend is when the Manjimup 15000 and MotoMadness are both on down here and we have ppl coming to stay as per usual, so I want to get all of the boxes and crap out of the middle of the loungeroom floor and actually set up where it's supposed to be.

This time next week I will be finished work indefinitely...YAYNESS! I just know its going to be the longest week of my life and drag on and on foreverrr. At this stage I'm actually due to go back on Sept 5th coz thats when my paid leave finishes, but I have 4 weeks rec leave owing which I can take concurrently if I want, or I can take up to 12 months unpaid, so I'll just have to see how things are going. Will all depend on how the rugrat is sleeping/feeding and hence how I am sleeping. Don't really fancy being up 4 times a night and then having to start work at 6.30am. Sept 5th is also Ben's bday so I don't know how he will feel about carrying out his first day of babysitting duties all on his lonesome that day!

Decided after the Schapelle verdict today that I won't be going to Indonesia again...not that I have any problem with respecting the various judicial systems of the world and the cultures/customs of other countries, but listening to the whole summary and the evidence they used to reach the verdict was just the biggest load of bollocks I have ever heard. How anyone could ever be expected to prove beyond doubt that their baggage had been tampered with and/or actually NAME those responsible is just *PFFFFFFFFFFFFT*. And to have the testimony of every single defence witness dismissed does make one wonder where the 'fair trial' bit comes in. Wonder whose pockets that 100,000,000 rupiah fine is going to line. Like, a 20 yr sentence AND a 13 grand fine?? geezus...one or the other would be sufficient thanx. So yeah anyway, I'm boycotting :) As much as I love Bali, next time I'm going to Fiji or something. And I guess writing down the names of every single person who touches my luggage at every airport along the way?? Ridiculous.

Looking forward to a trip to Perth in about 3 weeks, provided I don't drop my bundle by then. Have an obs appointment in Bunbury on the 14th and Gary & Leanne's belated engagement party on the 18th, so figured that my gf Lisa's bday is right in the middle on the 16th and I'm not going to be working, thought I'd just continue on from Bunbury and spend a few days and the weekend up there. Will hopefully be able to talk Ben into it as well as it will give us a chance to catch up with his family, see The Longest Yard which will have opened by then and maybe enjoy a nice dinner out somewhere for the last time before two become three. Lisa's hubby is also going offshore (drilling engineer) on her actual bday which is a bit sucky for her, so seeing as Amber will also be in the city for a teachers conference we've conspired to do something nice for her.

Been flat out at work this week as we had a slow month last month and did a flyer drop to see if we could generate a bit of business...let's just say the result was a bit unexpected. We sold 15 computers in 2.5 days and the boys are now running around like hairy arsed goats installing them all. Not to mention just all the general shit like printers, stationery etc that got snapped up as well. Good for business life, BAD for home life hhuhuh. Don't know what time I'll get to eat tea tonight *sigh*.

Ok, enough babbling from me. BIG SPANX AND RBT'S TO LOZZA for my bday card which I received today :P Guess I'll have to churn out some more happy snaps now! Have a bonza weekend all :)

Three Cheers

Fri, 20 May 2005 02:00:40 GMT

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MR FELLOW TAURUS BENSKI!! Hope you have a wonderful day. ITS FRIDAY...how could you not??

As promised...

Wed, 18 May 2005 06:11:22 GMT

Here are a few pics to start ppl off...I still have to get some of the house but I'm gonna wait until a) it stops bloody raining b) the lawn is mowed c) I have weeded the garden d) I have fixed up my poor rosebush that was blown over in the storm, then I will get some of inside and out :)

The bambino at my first scan...12 weeks

The slightly bigger bambino at 32.5 weeks...in my tigger jarmies that Ben gave me for my bday :) Scuze my face as it was at 11.30pm last night :P

My pussy cat Mishka in sepia tone heheh...just testing out the new camera

Tyson at bedtime

Sorry for the size of a couple...can't be arsed tryna reduce them!

Tue, 17 May 2005 07:18:47 GMT

Have had a good couple of weeks...sorry for the slack posting! Many thanks to everyone who LJ'd/SMS'd/Rang on my bday...I felt nice and warm and fuzzy all day! Staying in Bunbury for the w'end and couple of days prior to my bday was nice...Grittleton Lodge is beautiful and I actually had the best night's sleep there that I've had in yonks. Finally got to meet my actual obstetrician instead of the a'la dodge locum I got last time, and he did a wonderfully thorough consult and Ben and I were both uber happy. He even dragged out a mobile sonograph machine for an impromptu ultrasound to make up for my disappointing trip last time so that was a nice bday present :) All bits present and accounted for, and the 'down there' bits clear as a bell apparently! Right at the end of the scan he said 'annnnd I know the sex of the baby' and then quickly turned it all off so we couldn't see. I've never seen Ben's head spin around so fast in my life but he still missed it :P All the doc would say was that he can definitely see the difference between hot dogs and hamburgers and we are either having one or the other! How interesting...

Only had a couple of days at home after Bunbury before heading back to Perth on Friday morning with mum for the weekend. Purpose of the visit was to buy out Baby on a Budget and I think I managed quite nicely :) Have just about everything now except some linens for the cot and a bouncer/rocker which I meant to get but forgot, so mum is going to pick those up for me when she goes up on the long weekend. I think she's going to have to adopt another baby just to use all the crap she is buying for her house! She even brought her own porta-cot to keep there *sigh*. Anyhoo, managed to get all that shopping, plus check out a new bed I like in Forty Winks and get mum an exercise bike at Orbit all before lunch...how impressive. Did a bit more shopping at Whitfords and then mum met up with a friend of hers and I met up with a couple of the girls I used to work with at Consultech for afternoon tea. Was awesome seeing them again and Kerry's new house in Gwelup, which is a Webb & Brown-Neaves double story and just the ducks nuts. I'm gonna have a house like that one day (this is the lady I used to housesit for at her old place in North Freo for those of you who remember). She also has a holiday house in Yallingup that they built that is better than most people's normal houses...I'm also gonna have MONEY like that one day *pfft*.

Anyway, arrived home from Perth to a nice surprise, being that Ben had actually progressed on the nursery painting front :P Wonders will never cease. He even said 'i didn't even go to the pub!'..like he should get a medal huhuhuh. Looks cute anyways...now just waiting for the new windows to go in tomorrow, then he can prime and paint the window frames and other woodwork bits and do the last coat on the feature wall and its pretty much done. Then I actually get to do some stuff, like sticking the wall freizes and curtains and stuff up and putting everything in it so it I don't have a zillion boxes in the middle of my loungeroom anymore.

We finally got a new digi camera the Friday before we went to Bunbury, so I PROMISE some pics of house/bump/mog & dog/whatever else you wanna see soon! Might take a 32 week progress pic tonight so you can all say OMG geez can she put on any more weight??? huhuh

Gotta go food shopping now and pay some bills...all that fun stuff...creamy chicken in white wine with vegeroni spirals for tea tonight. I love Tuesdays coz we have an early tea so Ben can go to shooting and then I get the house to myself with all the good shows to watch and lots of chocolate to eat. For someone who used to take 2 years to get through a block of chocolate I'm doing a pretty good job at powering through it these days! Must be a girl...

Annoyed...

Sat, 14 May 2005 12:29:36 GMT

I'm in Perth atm and I just found out the Bull Party is on tonight and I didn't know about it...RUDE. But also very strange as Ben and I usually get a minimum of 65 zillion emails about it from about January onwards, so I intend to find out what happened this year. Was just assuming there wasn't one as last year was missed, so I'm pretty bummed. Usually my one HUUUUGGGE night out a year that I look forward to immensely, considering my Taurean status and all (and its usually right around my bday). Not happy with Gary either as he knew about it and decided he wouldn't pass on the info as he thought I wouldn't attend anyway considering my current uptheduffness. WRrrrRRrrrrOOONnnnGggg!!! Who the hell is he to assume anyway, the poofta. *BIG FAT PFFFFT*

Hump Day News...

Wed, 27 Apr 2005 04:47:22 GMT

Had a relaxing but eventful weekend with lots of visitors, which was nice. A couple of friends came over for a bbq on Fri night and it was good to catch up with them and their little 4 yr old. He brought his 'Brum' DVD (about a motorbike that goes *brum brum* hehe) and was mesmerised by the 6 speaker surround. Brum was definitely brumming around our loungeroom. They left around 9ish so just chilled for while b4 bed. Had all the housework done so didn't have to get up and do anything on Saturday, which I planned in advance as Gary & Leanne and my gf Lisa were both supposed to be coming over at some stage. Lisa was a bridesmaid in her cousin's wedding on Sunday so I wasn't really expecting her to take time out to visit me, which was good because she didn't end up making it until Monday on her way home. Gary & Leanne said they were coming just after lunch and didn't end up arriving until about 8.30pm that night hehe. Weren't really expecting them to get away from the family either, as they had all had a tough week after Gary's aunty was killed in a car accident in Lesmurdie last Friday week. There was a big story about it in the Sunday Times because of a dodgy old bus shelter that blocks people's views on a particular corner, so lets hope it leads to something and they pull the fucker down.

So really we just buzzed around doing housey stuff on Saturday. Ben make a bit more progress with the nursery (still tty-filling and sanding atm where we ripped all the old picture strips down), and hopefully that will be finished this w'end. I think my dad is really itching to help so I might talk Ben into letting someone else give him a hand. For someone who originally just wanted to get a painter in, he's really taken this one on board as his little project, which is nice. Now I just need to get my butt into gear and get some shit to put in there :P

Sunday Gary & Ben went fishing, so I spent the morning having a nice peaceful time at home, then Leanne came around after lunch and we spent the rest of the day eating chocolate and talking weddings, babies and all sorts of girly things. We wandered down to the town hall to have a look at Lisa's cousins wedding and see Lisa's bridesmaid dress, which she has been calling hideeous ever since Jayne picked it. I have to agree - it was pretty hideous. They all somehow still managed to look beautiful though. It was overcast and cool all day, but the rain held off for them. Pity Monday and Tuesday were absolutely stunning days. Luck of the draw I spose! Gary & Leanne say they aren't going to get married until November next year, which is practically forever away, but I think Gary is going to end up bringing it forward for the sake of his own sanity. Leanne is already losing sleep over the finer details and its 18 months away - apparently on Fri night she couldn't sleep because she was going over seating plans in her head. They don't even have a venue yet! Yipes. I guess when you've been together for nearly 7 years you just want to get it over with, but if they don't bring the date forward their relationship might not make it till Nov next year huhu.

Spent Monday doing outsidey things like mowing the lawn and doing the gardening (or some of it) and hanging all the washing out coz it was such a nice day. Still more gardening to do but lifting/bending is starting to give me a fair bit of back pain if I don't do it in moderation so it will have to wait a bit longer. Had another docs appt yesterday and I have only put on 6kgs since my first appt so I'm pretty happy with that, as long as I don't blow up like a big heffalump over the next couple of months. Blood pressure, iron levels and baby's size are all hunky dorey atm as well, so its all good. I've been waiting for someone to say 'oh-oh, your bp is through the roof and you're pre-eclamptic, so we have to admit you to hospital in Perth for the next 8 weeks and then induce you, watch you go through a horrendous 30 hr labour and then take you in for an emergency caesar anyway', but it's not happening. Guess it's not like all the movies!

My aunty arrives on Friday from Newcastle with her hubby & two kids and I can't wait to see them. Cameron is two and a half now and I haven't seen him since he was about 14 months, and Holly was born last October and I haven't met her yet. The pics are so cute though so I can't wait to squish her. We're going out for tea on Sat night but other than that, haven't got much else planned for the w'end. The following weekend my lovely husband is taking me for a romantic getaway at an old 'victorian mansion' style lodge in Bunbury called Grittleton Lodge, for my birthday which is the following Tuesday, and our last hurrah as *just the two of us*. Isn't he schweet. It's a stunning place (home to Louisa's restaurant as well, which some ppl may have heard of - won Gold Plate awards fuxnose how many times) and I'm looking forward to it muchly. Big comfy 4-poster beds, spa's, fluffy robes, continental breakfast delivered to your room, open fire, leather lounges and all the cable tv and in-house movies you can watch. Yay. He figured that as we have to go to Bunbury on the Tuesday anyway for an obs appointment & clinic with the midwives (yes, what fun things to be doing on my birthday), we may as well go up on the weekend and make a nice couple of days out of it. That means I get alllll day Monday to shop and don't have to drive back to Manji like usual. Instead we can practically walk back to the lodge from town in a couple of minutes and have tea cooked for us and a nice soak in the tub. I'm likin that idea. I am going to have to drive back up to Perth again on that Friday when mum & I go up to do all the nursery shopping, but I'm sure I'll cope.

Anyhoo, time to cook us up sum lunch before the hungry husband gets home and then I'm going to attempt to make some more headway on the big winnie-the-pooh cross stitch I'm doing for the baby's room. At the rate I'm going it will probably end up being for baby no. 2. Speaking of which, two more boys born in the last week to friends/acquaintences. When are the girls gonna start coming!

It's Raining Boys...

Wed, 20 Apr 2005 03:31:17 GMT

No less than 6 friends/acquaintances of mine have given birth to boys just in the past 2 weeks...three of them are from my ante-natal class too (the first 3 to drop their bundles)...

Kim & Aaron, Melissa & Bryan, Emily & Ben, Ian & Lucia, Bek & Clint and Eddy & Suzie all had healthy little boys. There was also one other girl in ante-natal who knows she is having a boy, but she's not due for another few weeks yet. I bet I'm the first to have a girl *sigh*

Had a nice weekend...Ben & I were both working in Pemberton and didn't get home till about 7.30, so just spent the rest of the night at home chilling and Ben's mum & grandma arrived on Sat morning to visit. Went down to the farmers markets with them and stocked up on yummy fresh local fruit & vegies n jams and stuff...Ben's grandma also brought some chestnuts which she roasted for us when we got home *mmm*. Had some lunch at a cafe in town and then just relaxed at home for the rest of the day until we went out for tea in Pemberton with my folks that night. Food was yum and we all had a nice time catching up, with both our mums talking incessantly about becoming nanna's. Luckily I was sitting at the other end of the table. Got the Cointreau out for a nightcap when we got home (Ben's grandma & mum are French so they love it), then on Sunday we got stuck into preparations for painting the nursery. Had to move all of the furniture out first which was a mission, coz up until now it's been used as a 2nd spare bedroom and there were still a few boxes that got left in there after the move as well. Coz I have nowhere to put all of that random shite that you just accumulate but can't bring yourself to throw out.

We have wooden window frames and the panes are also wooden ones in the colonial style, like the noughts and crosses frame with 9 little panes of glass set into them if that makes sense. Anyhoo, they have all been painted white so first job was to take them off and get the heatgun and scraper out and get all the white paint off, which Bens mum, grandma and I all shared the task of doing. The skirting boards are also jarrah so I taped everything up and Ben got stuck into the undercoat. The room was two different shades of purple/mauve and trimmed with white, which was nice enough but I wanted to tone it down a bit for a nursery. So we're going with just a cream colour on 3 walls and a sea green type colour feature wall around the window, then the skirting boards and window frames/panes will all be white enamel. We had about a zillion sample pots of all different shades of those colours to see which ones we liked the best, so Ben just whacked them all up on a wall once the undercoat was dry and we picked from that. My friend Amber has offered to help me do a couple of abstract squiggly type paintings on canvas in with the leftover paint to hang on the walls and tie the colours in together. She has such good ideas...still wish Loz was here though. She's so good at that stuff. Anyway, I'll post some pics up as soon as it's finished. Going to Perth on w'end of May 14/15 to do all my shopping, so that's how long Ben has to have it finished. Methinx he should be fine as all the hardest stuff is done.

So yeah, Ben's mum & grandma had a right old ball getting stuck into that..they loved it. Ben then kindly asked his grandma if she would cook tea for us...bwhhahaha...and her eyes lit up. She hates feeling like she's intruding but hates being bored as well, so the more jobs we gave her the more she loved it. I had all my rose pruning and weeding and edging in the garden saved up for her too, but it rained so I was spewing. Anyway, she cooked us a yummilicious lamb roast (MINE NEVER TURN OUT LIKE THAT), with all our fresh vegies from the markets and it was sooooo nice just being able to sit down and watch someone else do it, coz I was knackered. She used to be a French chef for year and years, so it's all done in record time too. Every time we see her Ben asks her to cook something bwhaha. She said to me before they left on Monday that when the bub is born she will come down for 2 weeks and stay and do everything that needs doing house-wise, so I was pretty happy with that. I think she'll probably drive me up the wall after about 3 days though, but we'll see how we go. I think she forgets that I'll most likely have every other person under the sun here visiting and helping and cooking too, like my mum and aunties etc etc, so they'll all probably get in each others way and send me around the twist.

Looking forward to another long w'end coming up...don't have much planned at this stage. We are just going for a drive to Balingup on Saturday with my dad to check out the Small Farm Field Day, then fishing on Sunday with Gary & Leanne. We were supposed to be camping, but Gary rung on Sunday night and told us the bad news that his aunty (his dad's sister) was killed in a car accident in Lesmurdie last Fri afternoon, which was horrible and tragic and awful and sad, so we are giving the camping a miss. The funeral is tomorrow so I don't think any of them will really feel like it. The worst bit is she has nine kids :( She was the nicest lady...sometimes life is just crappy. I still fail to understand why people like that have to be taken before their time when there are so many shitheads on the planet.

Ok, gotta go make my husband some lunch...he has requested baked beans & cheese toasted sanga's...GROSS. Finally, a big HAPPY 2ND BIRTHDAY to Kaitlyn for yesterday. Geez they grow up so fast!

Wow...

Thu, 14 Apr 2005 10:58:30 GMT

It definitely doesn't feel like that long since I've updated...but it is. Haven't done much other than work in recent weeks...I was on the 1-5.30 shift at the post office last week and the week before while our manager was on leave, so I reaped much enjoyment from sleeping in, getting to watch Sunrise again and enjoying nice relaxed brekkies with my hubby. Back to early, cold, dark mornings this week (and it's getting colder and darker by the day, let me tell you) and I'm relieving in the supervisors position while SHE is on leave, so I'm not getting home until around 11.30. By the time I get home, have something to eat, get changed and get into the office and do some work, it's time to come home, cook dinner, clean up, shower and start all over again. Hence the lack of updates I guess!!

Headed to Bunbury last Tuesday for what was supposed to be an appointment with the obstetrician who will (all going to plan) be delivering our baby, only to find he had gone on leave as of that day and there was a locum in his place. An Indian guy from Melbourne, called Dr Kashyap, no less. It was literally his first day on the job and as my appt was at 10.30am, I was one of his very first patients and it was a big fat waste of time. He knew nothing, did nothing, spent almost the whole time we were in his office arranging a doctor for his wife who had just broken her nose. He didn't know Manjimup or Bunbury from the arsehole's end of the world, and even wrote my due date down wrong on the form I needed to use to book into the hospital. And THEN they charged me $107 for the pleasure. Man I was fuxn ropeable. The ladies at the front desk got a serve too, considering when I rang I told them I was being referred and needed to see Dr Jewell, so booking me in on the first day he wasn't actually there seemed a bit dense to me. Needless to say, when I have my next visit with my doc down here who is expecting to see a whole new round of blood & urine test results, weight measurements etc etc (no shit, Dr Currymuncher didn't even put me on the scales) I'm gonna have nothing for him. I don't think he's gonna be overly impressed either. And just for the final cherry on top for the morning, the next available appt with the doc after he gets back from leave is on my birthday. Joy.

To top all this off, a friend who had travelled to Bunbury with us as he had a docs appt at SJOG hospital at 11.30am was then late as well. Things just weren't meant to go right that day. Eventually, after we got to the hospital, Pete went to do what he needed to do and Ben & I went and booked in with the ladies in the maternity ward and had a peek around, I indulged in a yummy decaf cappucino in the cafeteria - I've seriously never seen hospital food so good - I started to calm down a bit. It didn't work out too badly, considering that the midwife who runs clinics to talk about your birth plan and show you through the suites and actually arranges all the details for the delivery etc etc actually turned out to be doing one on my birthday as well, so at least we can kill two birds with one stone. Not the way I would usually celebrate, but shite happens.

I made the mistake of telling Ben that I wanted to get a couple of newborn jumpsuits from Big W while we were there as they were on special, so as soon as I turned my back to grab some new trackies he'd disappeared with the trolley and loaded it up. I've never seen so many fire engines, puppy dogs, farmyard animals and soccer balls on baby clothing in every shade of blue you can imagine. Talk about pushing the issue *sigh*. I had to send him back to start all over again with yellows, whites and greens with slightly more gender-neutral prints :P He did get some rather cute stuff in the end, so all was well.

Ben's mum is a teacher so she's on school holidays atm and is therefore coming down on Saturday with her mum (Ben's grandma) for a visit. Last time they came down Ben's grandma complained the whole time about sitting around and demanded that this time we have things for her to do. She asked for it :) I have an abundance of plants to re-pot, roses to prune, edges to trim, petunias to pull out, furniture to move and a whole nursery to paint. I'm betting she wont make that mistake twice! Teehee. She'll love it though, and it will definitely be good to have it all done, so me no complaino. We're going out to dinner with my folks on Sat night so that should be nice. Then the weekend after Gary & Leanne are coming down again for the Anzac long weekend and we're going camping. Then, my aunty, uncle and two little cousins are arriving from Newcastle for a couple of weeks. She had a 2 yr old boy and a 6 month old girl and they are only having the two kids, so she is dragging everything she wants to get rid of over for me to sift through. Believe me, if I'm willing to take any donations I can get my hands on so I'm pretty happy with that. Will be good to see them anyways.

At this stage, I'm planning a trip to Perth with mum a couple of weeks into May do to the major shopping, so I'm busy saving for that atm. Slowly getting things into shape house wise - I now have a new linen cupboard and chest of drawers in the bedroom and we're in the process of getting the furniture sorted for the study, so next step is the kitchen and outside. It will all come with time but I'm one of those super organised types that get highly impatient when things aren't super-organised.

Okay, husband has just arrived home sniffing around for dinner, which I have yet to organise, so I must make a move!