just plodding along

passport

we decided to get oscar a passport, so that if there is a reason to go overseas we don't have to wait a few weeks for one to be processed. they last for five years for a child.

so a couple of weeks ago i got the photos done

and made an appointment at the post office

then last weekend i got grant to be the guarantor for the application

then today i rocked up for the appointment, and got our buddy don. unfortunately grant had made a mistake in filling out the form, so the whole thing was rejected. boo. so i made a new appointment for tomorrow and tried to get someone to guarantor be then.

i did some quick phone calling. eventually i got justine on board - yay for juicy saving the day!

so off to the courthouse to get her to do her thing. then back to the post office in the hope that don might process it then. and he did! he was even meant to be finished for the day, but he stayed for me.

good on don. good on justine.

hopefully it's all processed without any problems. only issue could be howie not writing the date in the boxes properly. maybe they won't notice.

freaking cold

i must remind myself right now that i prefer feeling cold to feeling hot.

must make the most of this before summer really kicks in.

but i'm cold!

from the back porch

a big (but what would end up quick) thunderstorm approaches

then there was the dust storm

then today there was another dust storm, which is now clearing

i like that you can see a fair bit of sky from the back porch. much like at my parents place. nice to be able to see a bit of the wide blue (or grey or orange) yonder whilst surrounded by a lot of brick.

freaky!

this has been floating around today. it's pretty crazy.

(there's a couple of s-words)

what would you do? keeping driving, stop, or turn around?

tough going

today was a pretty poopy day. things can get a bit frustrating at times. like oscar not napping properly (or at all), and being quite clingy and unsettled while he's up. people and books tell me it's normal at this age and he'll grow out of it - but that isn't all that helpful while i'm in the midst of it and can't do anything about it.

and i'm bummed that howie is going away again tomorrow for three days, then again for four days next weekend. not only because him going away sucks, but also because it means i'm stuck with the child who would like to be clingwrapped to me. it's tiring.

and yes, i know on the scale of things it's nothing, and i should be grateful for the wonderful blessing that the little man is. but i'd still like a mental health day every now and then. nine months into this parenthood bizzo today. and no days off. i want a holiday!

eat my dust

just got this in an email from coles express

they sure got in quick

bush (now with photos)

today we made use of our multiparks pass for the first time in at least nine months. we went to bobbin head and kalkari this afternoon to fill in some time and get out and about as a family. it was good fun, albeit a little bit warm. oscar loves swings.

so much so that he gets upset when it's time to finish. in fact he likes anything that swings or bounces. slides - not so interested.

and we walked around kalkari and saw wallabies (including one with a joey in its pouch), kangaroos, cockatoos, bush turkeys, turtles, fish, and a kookaburra. i don't think oscar really cared though. it'll be fun when he's bigger and can enjoy such outings.

meanwhile most of the track had recently been hazard reduced, so it was very black and very smelly. it smelt much like our house did over the weekend. so at least oscar was already familiar with it.

inanimate

i love that, sometimes, all you have to do to keep a baby happy is give them some random (but safe) object.

the kitchen is a good source. tupperware, cups, ladels.

but house fixtures work well too (although you often have to take the baby to them) - door handles, screen doors, light switches, window locks.

who needs fancy toys!

1 = 3mm

My hair is now 3mm long. Which is a number 1. (Google taught me this).

This afternoon, after a very nice lunch at the Carltons with Cathy, Grant, Deb, Noob and Howie we all headed back to our place for the shaving of my head to honour the $1240 raised for TEAR Australia (thanks people!). Tom joined in the frivolities. As, of course, did Oscar.

Debbie was my hairdresser, and she did a great job. A shout out as well to Lachie who lent us the clippers.

I wasn't too nervous. Only a little bit when I'd sat down, the clippers were humming and Debbie brought them close to my head.

We went for the reverse mohawk to start with

And it didn't take long for the hair to drop off

Debbie did some lovely styling (so seedy)

And then powered on through the rest of my head.

Oscar wasn't too sure about everything going on - all these people in his house, everyone hanging out on the back porch, mummy looking a little strange. And to top it all off, he can't pull my hair anymore. Poor boy seemed mightily disappointed

We did some neatening up.

And here we are.

Now get all this hair off me!

After a shower to get rid off all the hair that was stuck to me, Howie and Tom gave me clothing to dress me up as a lesbian. I think I looked more like GI Jane.

So in the end:

~ $1240 raised for TEAR
~ it is confirmed I have a very round head
~ I have no unsightly birthmarks or scars hidden under my hair

count down

in two days i will be shaving my head.

if you'd like to sponsor me, please go here.

i'm very thankful for all those who have contributed so far - very cool to have exceeded my target. but it would be great to raise a little bit more.

remember

my memory isn't what it used to be.

i need all kinds of reminders everywhere. i need alarms in my phone. hand written notes. things written in my calender. smses. phone calls. writing on my hand.

it's terrible. i hate it.

like today i'd forgotten that lachy was coming to visit. but i preempt these things now. i'd told him to call or sms before coming. and that he did. but i missed the call. fortunately i did see it soon enough before he rocked up.

every week i forget that zoe comes over on friday afternoons.

i forgot i had a family lunch and almost ended up going to canberra for the weekend (fortunately there wasn't any appropriate accommodation).

all this forgetting drives me nuts. i think partly it's because i lose track of days. and partly because my brain is mush from tiredness. maybe one day i'll have it back. one day.

i still don't get it

last week a wonderful woman passed away. she was the mum of two of my friends. and someone i have known for 18 years. she had been sick for a while - up and down through her treatments. but still, it wasn't an expected moment. i guess in some ways it is a blessing. she is no longer in pain or uncertainty. she is with jesus and she is complete. but it's still sad.

i feel sad for my friends. i feel sad for their dad. i feel sad for their older sister who won't have her mother at her wedding some day.

and i still don't understand death. i mean i understand the mechanics of it. but it remains such a weird concept to me.

i guess not knowing what the next part actually looks like - it's all a bit vague. not understanding the absence of time. God is too big to get my head around. His heaven is too big to get my head around.

bachelor pad

today oscar and i visited lachie's not-so-new-anymore place in dee why. debs, noob, sam and kate joined in the party as well.

it was good fun to see lachie - it'd been much too long. and it was also good fun to check out his pad. we got the guided "blink and you'll miss it" tour. the tour included the foyer and kitchen, as pictured here.

lachie and oscar are in the kitchen, right beside the foyer. anywhere that has a foyer must be fancy.

unfortunately, lachie's ocean views are disappearing as the building between him and the beach gets taller. that mightily sucks. but at least it's still only a short walk to the beach.

which we did today. we had fish and chips/hamburger/seafood salad/solo/nothing for lunch on the grass near the beach. there was a lovely sea breeze.

sure am tired now though. we were down there for less than an hour and i feel like i would if i'd been in the surf for a few hours!

it was good seeing people. yay people!

9/11

Today:

~ it has been one year since we moved into this lovely little house
~ Miss Sophie Bell entered the world, niece to my best bud Cathy
~ Glenda, a wonderful woman of God, went to be with Jesus leaving behind her husband and four kids, two of which are my good friends as well as their spouses. And I feel so sad for them all.
~ Howie is off to Canberra via Engadine for the night. And he won't be back til Tuesday night

Tomorrow is another day. Who knows what it will hold.

09/09/09

today howie and i have been married for three years.

to celebrate we:

- didn't buy any presents
- had cheese and avocado rolls for lunch
- will have dinner at the RSL (thanks Tom for babysitting)

as an aside, there is this old american lady named jane who is friends with my grandparents, and i'm not sure if i've ever met her in my life (may have when i was little? mum?). she has this uncanny and amazing ability to send celebratory cards that always arrive on the day of the celebration (excluding weekends). it's brilliant. and lo and behold when oscar and i went to the post office this morning, there in our po box was a card from jane for our anniversary. yay!

eat them

why is it common for people to say that babies are so cute they just want to eat them?

i really don't get the phrase at all.

but looking at this photo, his cheeks are just so cute that i want to eat them!

head on, again

We had a lovely lunch at the Noobs place today - pasta and apple crumble!

As we drove off, we went to turn left out of their street. Therefore I was looking to the right. What I didn't see was to my left, there was a little boy on a bike (with no helmet) coming racing down the hill on the wrong side of the street we were turning into. Obviously he didn't see us in time and rode straight into the front of my car as I was turning! He came up the bonnet (didn't hit the windscreen thank goodness) and rolled off the front of the car again.

We jumped out to see if he was ok. He obviously was in shock and just sat on the road. A guy came over from across the street (who happened to know him) and helped him to the grass. Then the whole neighbourhood came out it seemed - ther were probably about five who came over to help, and about 10 who watched from a distance. I got my phone to call an ambulance. Another guy rang the kid's dad.

The dad arrived within a few minutes, and after hugging him, the first question was "where is your helmet" - "at home" was the reply. The dad and others were then asking what hurt and checking different parts of him. I was still talking to 000 (as an aside, that is not an easy process when the adrenaline is rushing and you're worried about getting help - it's seems so slow!!). Anyway, the dad told me to cancel the ambulance. So I did. Then I just sat down on the grass with them. Howie had gotten Oscar out of the car, and we were all just sitting/standing for a while. It was crazy. The dad asked if I was ok. I said yes, and that my heart was going a million miles an hour. Eventually the kid, who was 9 years old, said he was ok - besides some bruising and scrapes to his shins - so his dad picked him up took him to his car, told me their address, and drove off. Presumably to emergency.

The Noobs drove up, on their way to Hornsby, and that's when I started to cry (dammit!!). The guy who knew the family was great. He said kids race down that hill all the time, and the boy will be in trouble for no helmet from his dad etc, and he'll be ok. I gave him my details to pass on.

Then Debs drove us home.

I called up our insurer, coz there is a bit of damage to my car. It'll be no excess and repaired if needed as I wasn't at fault.

The annoying thing is needing a new car seat for Oscar! Annoying because I can't find the receipt or warranty to be able to get it replaced for free.

The dad rang me later on to say that he is fine - sore - but resting up. He again checked I was ok. He also said the hospital said a police report should have been filed but he didn't want to do that. I said the insurance company didn't say I needed one, so we were happy to leave it at that. I wonder if he didn't want to get his son in trouble for no helmet and riding on the wrong side of the road.

Anyway, that's my exciting and scary story for the day. It's a horrible image that lives in my head now of a little boy coming up onto my bonnet though. Hopefully that goes away sometime soon.

So glad he is ok though. As his dad said to me on the phone, there were some angels looking after us all today.

gift season for howie

firstly it was his birthday. off to QLD. happy birthday.

then today is fathers day. 30 Rock season 2. happy fathers day.

then wednesday is our third wedding anniversary. present to be determined. happy anniversary.

circumstance

i am going crazy. i really am. and there's nothing to be done about it.

bye bye daddy

in a couple hours time howie heads off for his first of four weekends away our of the next five. he's been away for weekends before for work since oscar arrived, but not so many in a row. i'm sure the little buddy and i will be fine, but still, i'll miss him! and oscar won't see him much for the next six weeks because of the time away, and also the time at the office when howie is home. i'm sure that won't stop him from saying and yelling "dadadadadadada" all day, every day.

as an aside, he's started waving. it's very cute. and still a bit hit and miss. but fun!

teepee heehee

i was just doing some fair trade shopping online, and came across this

bahahaha!

for anyone with little boys, you must agree it's tempting!

cop shop

just now there was a police car parked in the pedestrian mall of westie.

nothing out of the ordinary really.

walked into westie, and there's two policewomen in a shoe shop. looking at shoes.

i'm sure it was an urgent police matter.

dammit!

Me: Oscar, can you say "mamamamama"?
Oscar: dadadadada