This Sunday (29th) the Petersham Bowling Club ( http://thepbc.org.au/
) is having it's christmas thing from 3pm. We'll eb down there with Torby and I think M&J and the girls will be joining us. Anyone else?

A Torby Update

We went to a Fairy & Pirate party for two of the daycare kids on Sunday.
Torby kept switching between wanting to be a pirate or a fairy. In the end he wore a pirate shirt and hat and fairy wings. Yup, my son, the piratical fairy!
Clearly spends far too much time around his nieces.
In truth, I like that he enjoys dressing up and sees no problem about popping on some wings or a skirt for dress-ups. It helps to even out his boyness. He is very vehement thought that there are certain roles tied up in gender. Girls are queens and boys are kings for instance. I think both wear capes and tiaras though.
He's obviously reached the stage where people are becoming different. We often have conversations based around who does and doesn't have a willy. This from the boy who used to wonder where mine had gone to. Mum's willy...missing!

He's becoming more questioning about a lot of things. What is sad/happy/cross/late, what's late, why is it raining, why for is it Monday, what's water, what's the opposite of happy/pencil/dry and so on. It's cute but occasionally frustrating. 'Because I said so' has indeed been uttered by me on more that one occasion. I know, I know, it's a slippery slope and I'm just one step away from 'I'll give you something to cry about'.

He's decided that StampyCat is his sister and AJ is his brother...I don't think I want to know about the logistics of it all really.

Despite having a lovely new big bed, the favourite place to sleep is on his old cot mattress on the floor. If he's also allowed to steal one of Nw's pillows, it becomes the bestest thing ever! Freaky child.

He has pretty much finished with afternon naps. Quiet time is enforced though and does seem to help. If only so I can lie on the couch for an hour and not pay attention to anything. I do miss the hour and a half to two hour naps he used to have. They were deeelightful!
He will fall asleep in the car though. Particularly if it's anytime after 12. It is occasionally tempting to take him for a long drive just so he has some form of sleep. The waking up at 5:30 every morning does start to affect him by the late afternoon.

He really enjoys digging about in our dirt pile at the back and watering the plants. Happily trots about getting muddy and tracking it through the house to wash his shovel in the bathroom sink. I have no idea why, but it's an important part of it all apparently. Whenever we go to Bunnings (which is so very very often in these

Still eats a lot of fruit, some vegies, peanut butter toast, crackers(CornThins) and plain white rice. Fish fingers and chicken nuggets are as close to protein as we get. Will now eat lettuce though. Any new food is seen as a victory by us. Sigh.

He seems to be picking up reading quite well. It's hard to tell how much is just memory of the story/pictures (he seems to have a really good memory and pattern matching ability) and how much is actually reading the words. He does occasionally struggle with sentences so I think that a certain part of it is definately 'reading'. Does that make sense?

I like it when he parrots back the good phrases and hate it when he parrots back the bad ones.
The fact that we enforce good behaviour verbally as well as physically (It's nice to say sorry, it's nice to share etc etc) means that we get these words said back to us in the same tone of voice. Makes me giggle everytime.

Boom de yada

menu plan for xmas eve - so i don't forget

Due to M&J being in deepest darkest renovation land, we'll be hosting Christmas Eve Family Ninner at Casa del Huntington-Smythe
At this stage it's 9 adults and 5 kids
Not entirely sure where we'll seat everyone but I have plans of swapping dining and living room around for the evening if we need to be indoors but hopefully the weather will be kind and we can all loiter outdoors.
I'm really looking forward to it.

I think (I know, I know, I really shouldn't, it just makes my head hurt) that the menu will be;
Crab cakes with corn salsa
Something with smoked salmon (blinis maybe?)
Asstd dips and nibbles

Butterflied lamb on the bbq (maybe marinated in yoghurt and garlic and stuff, I shall be experimenting soon) then sliced thinly
Cous-Cous with pine nuts etc
Some kind of crunchy green..beans and asparagus??

Rhubarb and Yoghurt Fool or maybe get the recipe for Cranberry jelly from DrQ or gelato ro something..man I suck at desserts!

oh and fish fingers and frozen peas for the kids..of course :)

Any suggestions?

I like that other than the fish fingers, the oven isn't involved, a lot of it can be done beforehand and assembled quickly and I have time to experiment with the few new recipes beforehand.

the jasmine that Snerg planted in the garden bed down the side of the house is being delightfly stinky.

It makes me smile

Nom

I treated myself to a Crunchie. It was for fundraising so it makes it good right?
Anyway, It was all fresh and still realy really crisp.

I'd forgotten how good they can be.

Nom Nom Crunch Nom

My Monday ?I?m at work and avoiding doing anything? post...It?s practically a tradition

Stampy?s toooomur kinda sucked all the energy out of the first half of last week. We?ve come to terms with it all a bit better and will chat with the vet on Thursday (we have to take her back in to make sure the infection in her bladder has gone after this course of antibiotics) about what we should look out for and possible timeframes etc. Still makes me sad to think about it but we really don?t want to put her through surgery when it may or may not help and she?s an oldish cat to start with.
I had a big walk around Newtown on Wednesday and got some good thinking done. Sorted out some stuff in my head, got to eat really yummy lemon, lime & biters gelato and a delicious veggie burger and a teeny smidge of Christmas shopping done. Was a productive morning in it?s own way.

We had our housewarming party on Saturday. I had a hoot and I?m assuming other people did as well. Despite the yard being more dirt than grass and our front area having a certain rustic ghetto chic. It was verah nice to see people and getting to show people our house is a big thrill for me. Weird I know.

Sunday we were big slugs around at M&J?s place. Well, we?d had the cousins sleep over on Saturday night so there was wrangling of 3 children for a few hours in the morning and a house that needed cleaning and hangovers to get rid of and then Nw had to go to work for a few hours...but mostly slugging.
Was nice to not be doing anything for a day.

We?re getting an air-conditioner installed on Sunday. Squeeee!! Whilst our house seems to cope well with the heat, it?ll be nice to have that extra level of coolness available. It?ll be Nw?s birthday pressie from his lovely parents. Hooray for lovely parents!

Next week a carpenter friend is going to do some work on our windows and make them less peely and flaky and sticky and won?t stay open-y.

Looking forward to Turkey Day on Saturday. Just need BoM to stop trying to give us a thunderstorm on the day. I should make a complaint!
Oooo I found Pumpkin Pie Mix at David Jones last week. Now I can follow the recipes that say ?add 1 can of pumpkin pie mix to one store-bought pastry shell and bake?
I?ll also make a proper one from actual pumpkins. From Scratch!
Still need to find a suspicious side dish to make as well.

Okay, no more rambling from me. For now at least

:(

The lump on Stampy's tummy is a malignant tumor.

Bellabel modeled her new school uniform last night.

The cute, oh how it burns!

Mitchell & Webb Look - Brain Surgery

I do so love the view from my desk. Two office buildings, a lot of trees, some houses, splotches of purple from various jacarandas and a large amount of sky.
It's a pleasant thing to lok at while trying to figure out why Excel isn't doing what you tell it to (for instance)

Last week involved;

The cranky pants getting a good wearing - I think they've now been relegated to the back of the wardrobe again - hoorah!

A trip to the vet for Stampycat. She had pink wee when we first moved in but then we thought it had cleared up.. the spotty wee on the bathroom floor on Friday morning proved otherwise. The lovely vet was also worried about a lump on her tummy so she had needles poked into her all over the place and a morning stay there. She now has antibiotics and some pain reliever (luckily she's fine with us smosshing them through her food so we can retain all our fingers). Should get the results from wee and lump test soon.
We also had the 'so, how much are we willing to spend and what lengths do we go to' conversation. Hopefully our limit won't be tested.

Shelves being put on the wall in the living room - hooray for storage and displayness.

Torby's swimming lessons and my laps on Friday afternon - good thing the water is heated. The laps are becoming easier and my arms are slightly less jelly like afterwards. Oh how I suffered the first week after such a long break.

Saturday was the day of kids birthday parties. Two in a row and both boys started with J - made me laugh.
Both were different - One in a backyard and one at a indoor playground called Corner Cubbbyhouse, One involved a lot of friends and one involved parents and kids we see when dropping off/picking up at daycare and once a year at the birthday parties.
Both were a hoot.

It was really nice to see Torby at play with his daycare chums. The boys running around together is amusing to watch and also got to witness the friendships that have formed within the group. Jhett and Torby are best mates and Dylan and Anthony are best mates. Then they form a pack of 4 that is invincible!
It was especially nice as Dylan no longer gets looked after by A but his little sister does so the other boys don't get to see him very often.
I think I enjoyed watching them all because I hear about all these kids but so rarely get to see them interact.
The parents are really lovely and chatty and it's nice to catch-up with them and compare notes and hear about what's been happening in their lives.

We were only slightly knackered (yeah yeah, okay, totally and completely knackerd maybe closer to the truth) at the end of it all. We'd left the house at 9 and got back at 3, having consumed a lot of sugar in between.

Nw then deserted me to go to a cocktail party in Canberra. The bastard! He had a fine time and it was nice that he got to go out and have fun and be sociable.

I got to potter around and make pie and enjoy wine o'clock with Megzz n Smurg and sleep like a starfish in the bed. A pleasant way to spend my night of single-motherness.

Went to feed the ducks and eels (aka swamp monsters) at Olympic Park on Sunday afternoon. The pelicans and swans also graced us with their presence.
Pelicans really are funny lookin' critters wheras swans really do have a certain grace about them.
I was just gleeful that Torby chose to wear his blanket as a cape to the park. I love the sight of little kids out in public in their spider-man/batman/pirate/all of teh above outfits. I forgot to take my mobile with us so didn't get a picture of Super-Torby feeding the swamp monsters. Good thing I have lots of other embarassing photos for his blackmail folder.

I just want to know if they remove the signs when their child isn't in the car

Made me snort my cup of tea

sleep is for baaaabies

I woke up at 1:30 this morning for two reasons.

One was that the cool change had finally come through and I was getting a bit chilly without a sheet on.

The other reason was there was a light on in the house and the hallway was glowing. I then noticed noises coming from Torby's room. I figured it was just because his window was open and his blind thumping about in the gustys of deliciously cool breeze.
I got up to investiate and discovered that he'd turned his bedside light on, collected and set-up his laptop and was playing a game.

AT 1:30am!!!!

I was very mean to him and took the laptop away and made him get back to bed. Cruel, cruel mother that I am. No wonder he prefers Nw to me.

He was then up, bright-eyed and bushy tailed soon after my alarm went off at 5:30. He'd only gone to sleep at about 10pm (happily playing in his bed until then apparently)

Sleep is for other kids apparently.

I look forward to our days at home together tomorrow and Friday when naptime can happen. Sweet sweet naptime.

Just looked at the weather for tomorrow

Forecast for Tuesday
The chance late shower or thunderstorm. Hot, fresh and gusty northwesterly winds ahead of a cooler, gusty southerly change late afternoon or evening.

Precis: Mostly fine. Late change.


City: Min: 20 Max: 35
West: Min: 18 Max: 35


UGH!

The weekend that was and a bit of Monday

Saturday was the day set aside to kill the Hills Hoist that dominated our backyard.

Nw had borrowed an oxy-acetalene torch from work and Jamie turned up with a crowbar and a jackhammer.

I wisely stayed inside the house with Torby and had a nap.

I woke up to a backyard full of holes (a path had also been removed) but much more open and useful.

I later got to hear the stories of bolts being removed with blowtorches because the right sort of screwdriver couldn't be found.

It's possible they might have had some fun.

We celebrated with bbq. Well, the others celebrated with bbq. I celebrated by having a tummy bug that meant I gratefully crawled into bed at 9pm being glad that I'd already thrown-up.

Sunday was a day of much driving for Nw but resulted in a new bed for Torby, a lack of old washbasin in our house and some dirt and supplies to fill in our backyard. Oh and a return of nieces to their parents and everyone's car at the the right house.

My tummy also settled down enough and I then got to enjoy bbq leftovers and sausage rolls from a baking extravaganza a few weeks ago. I also got to enjoy killing badguys in Warcrack and getting to bed at a reasonable hour.

Torby loves his new bed.
He may love it less this morning after he fell out of it at 5:30.
Doofus child.

In the dark this morning I put on my cranky pants by accident. I think the effect may have worn off a bit but still felling a bit twitchy. I hates that!

my baby is growing up

He'll soon be in a big bed and everything!

Before he was born, we bought a lovely cot that converted to a toddler bed. It's been useful and cunning to just remove the sides and drop a level of the base and headboard.

However, he now only just fits, especially when he adds a bunch of pillows and scrunches down.
Looks pitiful.

So today we took oursleves off to Ikea to get a mattress (and some other stuff) and to ebay to find a trundle bed.

Mission achieved in both cases.

*sniff*
he's getting all big and stuff
*sniff*

The Good
Seeing the laaaadies at Fight Club last night after a fortnights absence. We even had extra interstate laaaadies. Was lovely and giggly.

Lunch yesterday with Megzz at nummy Japanese place near work.

Going out to ninner on Friday with my lovely husband. We shall get Torby settled at M&J's then drive over to Perama, eat and drink nummy stuff (mmmm pork belly baklava) and trot home. We are celebrating being bourjois landowners. Oh we will indeed be first against the wall when the revolution comes.

The Bad
Waking up at 5:30 to get to work on time and sneaking quietly around the house only to have Torby wake up anyway.

The moistness in our garage and all it's moistness. Bring on the sunshine to dry everything out.

The WTF
Lass on the train this morning who glared at me all the way to P'matta. Everytime I looked up, there she was giving me the evil eye. As we stepped opff the train she pushed past me and flounced down the stairs. I have no idea who she was or whe I killed her grandmother or ran over her puppy.

ah-choo!

Just swept the massive pile of dust (made by the electricians) in the laundry.

Sneezed for 10minutes straight..I think it's all out of my nose now.

ah-choo!

apparently not

eewww

In all the excitemnet of last night (Bellabel & Zozo came for a visit and putting 3 munchkins to bed for a few hours whilst trying to eat ninner and get ready to kill badguys is a bit of an adventure..fun, but an adventure nonetheless), Nw forgot to put a nappy on Torby before he went to sleep.

This was discovered at 5:30 this morning when Torby came and joined us in bed because he was awake and whingy.

Cue stumbling, zmombie parents trying to deal with a now cold and unhappy child who is covered in ick.

One warm and toasty shower with me while Nw stripped the bed and burned the knickers of disgustingness, followed by fresh jammies, a dressing gown and Maisy and the world was a better place for him.

For us it was still far too early to be dealing with that much energy and ickiness.

I had to be awake about then anyay to get to work but I do feel sorry for Nw who should have still been tucked-up in bed and not now lying on the couch being forced to pick the enxt maisy episode.

Here's hoping that tomorrow morning is less dramatic.