pick one : jenny/jenga/jentle/jengi/itchy/jk

08/09

i want to do my tax, but i can't.

howie and i will be going to a tax agent this year to ensure our returns are filled in correctly - because of things like having a home office, having a bub, our not-so-normal way of receiving income etc. so hopefully it will be helpful and straightforward. but that means waiting for howie to have all his stuff ready to go - which means waiting on a group certificate. i haven't had to wait of a group certificate for at least seven years! my return would already by submitted by now. but alas.

i don't understand those who leave it until almost the next financial year, or beyond, to do their returns. maybe theirs are more complicated than mine.

giggles

this is a month and a half old or so now, but i still think it's pretty cute

timberrrrrr

a week or so ago i noticed a big branch had come off and was resting on another branch of a gum tree i walk under in our street. it was also only a few metres above power lines. so after forgetting to do anything about it numerous times, and after a conversation with my mother-in-law about who to call, i rang the SES today.

the lady i spoke to, paula, was very polite and took all the details. she said it was put into their system for someone local to come and look at. she also recommended i call energy australia to let them know about it too, as it is over powerlines and if it did fall, it would be their and council's issue, rather than SES.

so i rang energy australia (using their overseas/VOIP number so it didn't cost me anything extra, stupid 13-numbers). the man i spoke to, sean, was also very polite and friendly. he also took all the details and said he had put it in the system as an urgent job.

i was suitably impressed with both experiences of customer service.

a short time later, a lady from the Hornsby SES branch rang me for more details. i said i had spoken to energy australia and she said since they were treating it as an urgent job, that she'd leave it to them. fair enough.

now there are orange flashing lights, a crane and spotlights in our street.

i'm glad there is now less of a possibility of a big-ass gum tree branch falling on my head one day as i walk to the post office.

job well done jenny.

regular unleaded please

all the new petrol options are confusing me.

today i accidentally put premium unleaded in duckie (thankfully only $8.02 worth).

i just want normal unleaded. not something with ethanol (which a few years ago there was uproar at petrol stations putting ethanol in petrol, and now it's the go?!), or octane, or some numbered unleaded. what is the usual one?

thankfully the shell in hornsby still has the old pumps. my old favourite in thornleigh is all new fangled. i drove straight through a few weeks ago because i didn't know which to get! how embarrassing.

so please... enlighten me! because this doesn't seem to help me either.

the next day

sunday wasn't all that much better. he only fed three times (instead of his normal six). it seems he is also teething, so that doesn't help matters.

he's also not been sleeping well at night. up a few times and refusing to feed. then fussing for ages. so we're all a bit sleepy.

today he has fed twice so far, but it has taken a bit of convincing.

poor little guy. it's so hard when you have to guess what the problem is.

meanwhile, howie isn't any better. more vomiting and diarrhea this morning. so he's off to the doctor this afternoon. hoping there will be some sort of answers, rather than "keep eating plain foods" "it will pass".

thankfully i'm feeling better. at least that's one of us.

hard slog

today has been a bit hard.

it started at 12:30am when oscar woke up. he wasn't due for a feed and wasn't crying, so i left him be. problem was he wasn't going back to sleep. eventually, an hour and a half later, he did start crying, so i got up and fed him. he had a good feed.

he then woke up at 6:45am. i left him be til 7am. but when i went to feed him, he wasn't interested and cried. i offered a few times, but no deal. eventually i put him to bed at about 8:30am i guess. he slept for 1.5 hours.

meanwhile howie was still sick - sitting on the toilet rather than leaning over it. first time he hasn't vomited in four or five days. but he felt awful. that is pretty sucky. at some stage i also suddenly became nauseous. i had a bit of a cry because i do very much didn't want to be sick.

oscar awoke again ll happy and smiley, but again not interested in eating. he was a bit upset at times, but playful at others. he may have gone back to sleep again - i can't remember. eventually he had a 15 minute feed at 12:30pm after been coaxed with being syringe fed milk first, but wasn't interested in having the other side. but at least he had something. it was his first feed in over 10 hours. back to bed he went soon after.

next woke, again didn't want to feed. soon enough back to bed.

next woke and we eventually got him to feed after some playtime, and the syringe feeding again. he had almost 30 minutes all up. thank goodness.

back to bed for another hour or so. i thought he might go longer but no.

woke at 7pm, and wasn't interested in eating. took a bit of convincing, and somehow it worked and he had about 20 minutes all up. then it was into bed where hopefully we won't hear from him for a good number of hours.

i'm exhausted, not just because of worrying about him and howie, but i've also felt queasy myself today and didn't sleep well last night (obviously). so i am hoping for a good night.

it's just crazy how different babies react to their immunisations. and there is very little information out there about the way oscar is reacting - with refusing to feed.

hopefully tomorrow is a better day. and he is all fixed by Monday. i don't really feel like making another visit to the doctor and sitting in that waiting room.