And Santa said ..... and then there were four

Hello dear readers, 'tis I, back from the land of PhD submission but probably not going to be posting any more frequently as the universe saw fit to deliver us a beautiful baby girl for Christmas this year (okay well we say she's beautiful but yes we know she looks like a monkey - just like her sister did......we're going to keep her anyway ;) ).

You all know the stats by now so I won't post them on a public forum - I'm still mildly paranoid about sharing everything bar our medicare number to the wider world. But here is a photo to satisfy Michelle's curiosity :)

It's over

It's over, it's done. I wanted to write a really inspiring post about finishing my PhD thesis, but it will have to wait. The pure exhaustion that has hit me, coupled with re-acquainting myself with have Charli all day, every day..... well needless to say that bed is summoning at 7.30pm. Add to that the fact that - despite all logic - I did not sleep well last night after submitting. I spent the night dreaming of alternate titles, and re-arranging paragraphs. Ridiculous really. Still, the unconcious is not always a logical creature. If only I weren't pregnant a sleeping tablet would be downed tonight in the hopes of a dream-free sleep. But 'tis not to be. And speaking of baby - COME OUT NOW!! You have permission and I've had enough ....

Final days of writing causes stroke in young female...

Seriously, if I had to continue on functioning at this level of stress for much longer than the 3 days that I have left until I submit, I think I would give myself a coronary. At my last ante-natal appointment, my blood pressure was normal - which means high for me because during pregnancy my BP is usually low (well when I say usually of course I am basing this on the ONE previous pregnancy that I have had LOL). So with any luck by next Wednesday, when I have my 37 week preggo check-up, I will back to my usual fainting-episode level of blood pressure. :)

Thanks everyone for your support in these final days.... it is very much appreciated. Don't think there won't be the bash of the year when this thesis is finally confered.... I'm not even waiting until graduation, the party will probably be about one week after I get the Dean's letter.....

The Homeward Stretch

Well dear readers, while there are still six sleeps to go until I go to the printers with my thesis in my hot little hands, finally there is a light at the end of the tunnel. My supervisor has now seen my final chapter and actually uttered the words "well done" and only made the most minor of changes - most of them grammatical. I truly can't believe it. Of course Chapter Three is still dogging me (I keep having to stop myself from doing a complete re-write), and there are a gazillion formatting changes to be made..... but hey, I've still got six sleeps to go right?

Best go. Who knows, I could get most of it done by the weekend and actually give my darling hubby some time off...... but I can't promise anything, sorry hon :)

7 more sleeps.... should I be this calm?

I've discovered my Zen side. I got bugger all done on the weekend. Some of it due to fatigue and writer's block. Some of it to do with Charli disobeying me and cutting three teeth inside 48 hours one week before my PhD is due. So she was a little wretched on the weekend to say the least. And while poor Dave tried his best, she's a bit of a mummy's girl when she's grumpy. Aren't we all?

So I tried to just 'go with it'. Spent some time in the spa with her - which sounds like it should be relaxing but if you've ever seen a toddler in the water when they're having a good time, you'll know what I mean when I say 'not so much...'. Dave's rum and coke inevitably ends up as half rum and coke, half bromide and chlorinated water!! My glasses become so that I need little windscreen wipers on them. Still, it stops her screaming for a short time so that is always nice.

And as for the other little bump inside me.... well she has 'dropped' which means no more reflux and heartburn which is nice...... BUT that little bit of fun has been replaced by what I can only describe as trampolining on a floor of nerves. She's found this one nerve that when she touches it, well sorry to be so graphic but it feels like one foot is already out - you know, just testing the air temperature. So while Charli woke twice last night, it really didn't even bother me - I was up every 1.5 hours anyway, so uncomfortable that lying still for any longer than that would require me to have been given some form of narcotic.

So there you go. One can't imagine why I feel so calm right now but I do. Anyway, this was just a short break - back to finish the last 2 or so pages of my FINAL CHAPTER. Then begins a week of revisions, proof-reading, making up (I mean finding) references, and generally ensuring that this thesis doesn't look like something the cat dragged in.

See you all soon

9 ....

Nine days and counting people..... it's being submitted to the printers on Monday 4th December. there is no question of 'will it be done?'.... whatever is done by the 4th is being submitted.

My midwife informs me that although my belly has dropped and baby is head down, it is not yet engaged.... so I still have time up my sleeve. Cross fingers and toes.

14 .....

Aargh!!

17 sleeps until submission!

Geek in the making

Pick the daughter of the IT geek

68, 130 words ..... and a bucket load of tears later...

Well it's been an interesting couple of days. Because the best combination in the world is a heavily pregnant lady, a thesis-submission date looming a mere 8 weeks away, and a toddler who has learnt to throw herself on the floor and scream at the mere mention of the word 'no' from her parents. It's a wonder Dave bothers to come home from work at all anymore. I suspect that no amount of server problems or email crashing or IT-user complaints could anywhere near rival the state of utter chaos that has become our lives. Or maybe I'm exaggerating a little - those pregnancy hormones are likely to do that to you.

but anyway, having said all that, note the word count..... not that that is any indication of how near to completion I am... I still don't know the answer to that one. I do know that I'm still running analyses (something I did not expect to still be doing at this stage), I still have a host of formatting problems to fix, and I suspect that there is still a mountain of interpretation of results I have yet to do... and the best time to try and make insightful, brilliant conclusions - why when you are 36 weeks pregnant of course!! *sigh*

Wa paise

..... or water please if you're speaking charli-speak. After reading my online parent group discussions about what other bubs Charlotte's age are saying, I thought it high time that I jot down all the words she's saying - not because I think anyone but Dave and I are interested, but because this has become the place that I jot down these things so that years from now, I have some recollection of how my kids developed... that and I can't look at my thesis tonight so this seemed like a good alternative.

(in no particular order)

Dad-da, daddy, dad

Mummy, mum
(but only if asked to say it or when cranky and/or upset)... unlike the word 'Daddy'
that gets squealed with pleasure as the car pulls into the driveway *sigh*

Wa - Water

Du(ck) - she has a tendency to drop the ends of her words so context is everything

Do(g)

Boat

I love you
(however, only the 'I' is verbalised, then she signs Love by crossing her arms over her chest and then pointing to one of us while saying "do" (you) This sound actually means you in German so I brag that she's already bi-lingual!!). I would also add that I'm not sure she understands the meaning of this yet, she performs it more for our amusement... as she does for most things I think... :)

Sheese (cheese)

Ba/Bar (Bath)

Paise (as mentioned this is please)

Ta
(as in Thank You - said incredibly exaggeratedly and while tipping her head cutely to the side so that we cannot deny her whatever it is she's begging for at the time!!)

Ta-ta or Bye-bye
(this is usually after running to me while I'm in bed, kissing me perfunctorily and then heading for the door at a run when her Nan turns up to pick her up in the morning... glad to see I'm missed!!)

Mwa
(as in the kissing noise when you blow a kiss - this is accompanied by slamming her palm into her mouth and then pulling it away as she 'blows' you a kiss)

She's beginning to do 'woof woof' and 'book book' (this is mummy's pathetic attempt at a chicken noise..) - we have chickens next door.....

There feels like there should be more than that - probably because she does actually spend most of the day 'talking'.... to me, to the teddy, to the phone, to any object (animate or inanimate) that will listen to her with some degree of interest.... it never stops. I really don't know where she gets it from .......

Not to stereotype but.......

...... ten points to the first person to guess the demographic of the people who live next door. I have been writing a PhD to the tunes of Kylie Minogue for four days now. I don't dislike her music but I'm not a raving fan either .... but guaranteed that by December I'll know most of the lyrics by heart.

I needed a boost so I cheated....

Okay - well I've just printed out EVERYTHING that I've written for my PhD so far - even if it isn't all edited and pretty yet - because I've just hit one of those walls of frustration that is liable to end up in tears soon. I think a trip to the pool with the little monkey may be in order this afternoon, because when you get to the point where you can't string 3 words together and a misplaced comma ends in tears.... well it's time to take a step back and re-group I think. I'm still on target with my timelines though so all should be okay.

Some of you will have received a panicky email about 1/2 hour ago about how to deal with one of my table of contents problems......I tried Word help. But has anyone else ever noticed that it's not very helpful at all? Though Dave has pointed out to me that I am pushing the limits of Word's capabilities with this thesis. Like how do you get your margins to mirror consistently (with one margin bigger than the other for binding purposes) when you switch between sections with some pages portrait and others landscape? And is this really a problem I thought I would ever need to deal with in life? So if any of you consider yourselves to be Word gurus and did not in fact get my email awhile ago - please feel free to let me know and I'll include you in any further pleas for help!!

Cheers.

Random musings

Just a few thoughts to share. Realised that I had not shown pics of the gorgeous flowers I got from Dave on our wedding anniversary.

If I hadn't mentioned it, the theme of the fourth wedding anniversary is flowers or fruit. You have to be fairly creative if you're buying for my husband then because I can only imagine the look on his face if I'd presented him with flowers or a basket of seasonal produce...... so this is what he ended up with.....



And so as not to be left out - this is what his daughter will be wearing this spring :)



On another note, our daughter has taken to kicking the wall for a good half an hour before she will finally give up the ghost and go to sleep - this is day and night sleeps so not quite sure what's going on here unless she's been sneaking sips of mummy's caffeinated drinks while she's not looking. Anyway, today she finally went to sleep - but notice the foot poised and ready for when she wakes up and wants to let me know she's finished her nap!!! ... MUMMY UP NOW PLEASE!!! (thump thump thump).

62,703 words and the best cake I've ever made

thanks to Lib for the great cake recipe - it sank a little due to my impatience and opening the oven door. it's a pretty fool proof cake - i nearly forgot the buttermilk (quite a key ingredient in a butter cake one would imagine) and ended up adding it AFTER the self-raising flour stage... oh well. it was delectable warm straight out of the oven.... and not bad a few hours later iced with a lemon butter frosting....mmmmm. I owe the new word count on the PhD to this cake ;)

I'm sorry..... what day is it??

Good Morning dear readers (it is morning yes??).... As Meegan's post just reminded me, the Farmer's Markets were on in Blackwood St Mitchelton yesterday (Sunday); an event I had been looking forward to attending. I had visions of walking there, having some breakfast, doing some shopping for fresh produce and then walking home, having some lunch made with said fresh produce and then all curling up for an afternoon nap after a big morning out.

How the weekend went was really in reality, incredibly different.

Friday morning began bright and early after our night out to dinner. Despite not having small child in the house, we, out of habit, woke early and began our respective days. Me, on the computer PhD-ing. Dave, having worked in excess of 60 hours that week already had the day off and headed over to a mate's house for a few hours before having the bring the car back to me at 10am so I could head out to Uni. I went and saw my supervisor and attended a compulsory seminar (What Happens to Your Thesis after you Submit). On a side note, I was relieved to hear that only 3 theses in the past 10 years have been failed outright and only about 3 per year (out of 500 or so submitted) are recommended as a Master's instead of a PhD.... so I figure the odds are with me and I'm focusing on "Revise and Resubmit" as my worst case scenario - which would still be pretty bad but not life-stopping. So I left the seminar feeling heartened - but stopped back in to see my supervisor, where I was reminded that she would be on holidays for the 3 weeks PRECEDING the week before my deadline. I'm not sure how I had overlooked this fact - perhaps I never knew it, though she said it as though she had told me 1000 times. Either way, panic (again) set it. My timeline had just been decimated and I drove home in a near state of tears (narrowly avoiding some idiot who backed out into 2 lanes of traffic straight in front of me while I was driving 60km/hr). Went and picked up Charli girl, managed to get annoyed by my MIL - which is an easy thing at the best of times, but in my then current state it was almost inevitable. by the time I got home, I was a mess.

Dave, meanwhile, had not had a leisurely day off. From the moment he had handed over the car keys to me, his work mobile had rung. The email server that had been playing up all week (hence the 60 hour week by Thursday), had fallen over and completely died. Now I've probably got the facts wrong on this one, but the point I am trying to make is that something at his worked was majorly SCREWED and it had become his responsibility to have it fixed by Monday.

So Friday turned into Friday night and then the fun really began. We put Charli to bed and Dave and I kept working - he on his email server, me on my PhD in a panic-driven state. Then Dave started to feel sick and went to bed - I kept working... and working. And before you know it it's 11.15 and I freak out - you don't want to sit up that late when you know you'll be up again at 5am with small child. So I head to bed. On the way I do something to my back and by the time I hit the bed I'm in tears with the searing pain rocketing up through my pelvis and hips (have I mentioned how much I love being pregnant??). After 20 minutes or so of tears and wriggling I manage to find a position that stops just short of agony and try to go to sleep. The screaming begins. I bash Dave to get up (sick or not I was NOT moving!!). He struggles out of bed and throws a bottle of milk in her direction - it does nothing to stop the incessant noise emanating from our child. We bring her into bed with us, we give her drugs, we give her water, we cuddle her. Nothing would console her. She slept for 1/2 hour. The whole routine started again (of course without the drugs next round because you are only allowed to drug them every 4-8 hours!!). We lose track of time. The sun comes up. Our eyes are hanging out of our heads. We pray she will have a morning sleep.

Lunchtime comes........ and goes. Still no napping. Dave is back working on the computer. I'm entertaining devil child. Noon to 2pm is spent putting her back to bed after she figures out (why now??) that she can get out of her bed without waiting for us to say it's ok. Finally she sleeps..... for 1/2 hour!! I go in to discover her waking up - no wonder she didn't sleep long, she finally passed out from exhaustion on the bloody floor!! The afternoon begins. I decide to take her to the pool - if she's going to be in pain (and hence a pain in the bum!) we may as well try some distraction. All goes well - apart from the fact that by this stage I'm not sure I should be driving a moving vehicle.... in fact I'm not sure I should be attempting to even care for a toddler but anyway.

She's asleep by 5.30pm and Dave and I - so overtired by this stage, don't go to bed as we should but keep working.......because the email server is still not functional and not surprisingly my PhD had not finished itself!! Dave gets up at 4.30 and goes into work until lunchtime. While there he goes out into the foyer of the building (where the loos are) and in the meantime security decide to mess with the system and he ends up locked between the front doors and the inner doors of his building.... because of course, this weekend couldn't get any better could it?? Needless to say he managed to get out of that situation and was able to join us at home in what could be argued was a less enticing situation.... still teething child.

I'm going to shorten this post somewhat by saying that Saturday night was pretty much a mirror image of Friday night. I'm really not sure by Sunday how we were still functioning - it's not just the lack of sleep (about 5 hours in 2 nights) but that screaming will really wear you down after awhile. I think that taking sharp knitting needles and scraping them across my eardrums may have been more entertaining that watching my small child scream in pain and clutch at her mouth and look at me imploring to make it all go away!!

I'm not really sure what we did yesterday. It's a blur. I vaguely remember her crashing out in my arms at 10.30 and me putting her to bed. Some people would say we should have gone and had a nap ourselves. Anyone who has been through this before will understand that we were now so dosed up on caffeine and beyond what anyone could describe as tired.... so what did we do? Yep, kept working.

Last night I was in bed by 8.30pm. Dave was about 1/2 an hour behind me though I had to check that with him this morning as I've got no recollection of hearing him come in at all. I got up at 1.20 to change her nappy and then again at 5.30 this morning when she woke. A much better night by all accounts. Of course Dave and I have a sleep debt now that needs about another week's worth of good sleep to counter-act. I sent Charli off to her Nan's and Dave off to work (where it will no doubt go un-noticed by every IT user in the company that my husband has just worked pretty much non-stop for 3 days, while listening to his daughter scream ... just so that they could get the latest jokes emailed to their Inboxes bright and early this Monday morning). I went back to sleep 'just for another hour' and just woke. So now I'm another 1/2 day behind on my thesis and still feel like I need to go and chug back some caffeine.....

Charli girl we love you..... and it's lucky we do. Monkey #2, if you are in there and listening (and I know you are because the whole time Charlotte was on the outside screaming, I had you on the inside kicking out in response to her.....), then take note: you are not to ever cut teeth - I'll puree your bloody food until you leave home if you promise me that I will never have a weekend like this again!!

Happy 4th Wedding Anniversary

well four years ago, hubby and I tied the knot - having known each other for about 10 years prior to that!! tonight we went to Brett's Wharf Restaurant - the place he proposed to me (and I accepted!!), the place we got married and the place we spent our first (and now 4th) wedding anniversary. In true Brett's style they wished us well.......


This was written on Dave's plate of Affogato dessert (icecream with a shot of espresso and a shot of Bailey's). I have nothing but wonderful things to say about my cold seafood platter and the scrummy chocolate fondue with strawberries, freshly made orange marshmallows and pistachio praline I had for dessert.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY SWEETHEART

56,929 words and a jar of nutella later....

And I don't feel like I'm any closer to finishing....clearly I am as I've written 3,000 words more than last time...... no photos of updated pile as I only add to it after my supervisor has said the chapters are okay. I'll get a chapter back from her this Friday. Standby dear readers as some of you are about to receive my Chapter One via email for comment. It's about 10 pages long and it's meant to 'sell' my thesis to the examiners - some suggest that this may be the only chapter that an examiner truly bothers reading - others suggest that it's the first impression they get and while the rest of the thesis will be read, this first chapter may colour the rest of their reading. It's supposed to have a 'wow' factor - you're meant to be left with the feeling that you'd like to go on and read the rest of my thesis...... all constructive feedback greatly appreciated... remember I am pregnant so you have to precede any negative comments with at least one positive..... :)

Carla

A night away from ...... child AND thesis!!

Went to a friend's wedding this afternoon, followed by a cocktail reception for 3 hours at the Powerhouse in Brisbane..... the bride looked stunning and the venue was totally different .... we loved it.

It was so nice to get dressed up!! Hubby doesn't have to wear a shirt and tie to work and as you can imagine, sitting in front of a computer while 6 months pregnant does not afford one the need to get dolled up - so it was fun to play dress ups and go out - even if just for a few hours....
Not that this photo really does it justice but thanks to Beck for the lovely black wrap (again!!) shown in this photo - it was tres chilly up on the rooftop so this was my saving grace!!

Not happy Jan.....

Just needed to jump on and vent about my latest issues with our tax agents. I'd like to point out that up until 2 years ago I used to do all my own tax but then between rental properties, low income tax offsets, child-related tax benefits, well it all just got too confusing.... I mucked up one year and got audited and hit for $2000 I had to pay back. I decided to just start paying a professional to do it. And for the last 2 or so years we've been happy with our tax agents. A lovely man we'll call Scott has handled our affairs nicely. But then this year we got a lady (let's call her Jan given the title of today's entry!!) who has done nothing but shit me to tears!!! She was dipsy during the appointment for a start - never a good sign. Then I had said to her:

"look I'll check on our health records and see if it's worth claiming a rebate but I don't think so as I don't think we hit the $1500 threshold - if you DON'T hear from me tomorrow just go ahead and process our refund"......

Two weeks go by and after 3 phone calls to ascertain why we had not yet received the papers to sign, she finally gets on the phone and says:

Her: "aren't I waiting on information from you?"
Me: "No, I said if you DIDN'T hear from me to just go ahead with the claim"
Her: "Oh, well I'll complete that today and mail it to you"

d'oh thanks. So the forms turn up. I just about die when I see the money darling hubby owes - and why? Because she had not logged into the ATO office and deducted the amounts that he had voluntarily paid to ATO during the year he had his own business .... AND..... apparently I'm getting 4 times the amount back that I expected - why? Because she has me down for an offset that you can only claim had Charlotte been born a full 12 months earlier than she was AND her comment when I called to check was "don't you have two children?"...... oh sweet jesus. So I got her to correct that so I wasn't up for another ATO debt when they figured that one out!!

And for all of this we've been charged $500 for the privilege of getting our tax done - WHAT THE ????? - that is a far cry from the little brochure that appeared in our mailbox in July suggesting that these people could do your tax from as little as $60 a refund (yes, apparently that is only the case if you have one group certificate and no children, rental properties or anything else that would require them to have two brain cells to work out your refund!!) .....

Hubby and I have decided to return to good old e-tax next year - screw it, who needs a tax accountant charging $500 to stuff up your tax return - I'm capable of doing that myself for free!!!

53,839 words and counting

Hi dear readers,
Allow me to just take a quick moment out of my thesis-writing day to share with you the growing pile of paper that will (in 13 weeks I hope) be submitted as my PhD thesis. this is only photos of chapters that have been seen by my supervisor, commented upon and revisions made - so it's still probably only half of what you will eventually see. But then ironically the thesis will actually seem smaller than this because the thesis office at UQ is now - in the interest of 'green' thinking - allowing double sided printing of theses. I think this decision was also made to reduce the number of workers' compensation claims that were being made for back injuries by those having to pick up the documents!!

4am panic writing

Well it's 4am on a Sunday morning....... 13 weeks to go until the deadline and I've woken up in a panic that I've written up all my MANOVAs incorrectly (based on someone else's write-up that I've borrowed)..... so of course rather than lie there stressing about it I decided to take the more productive approach of getting up and actually working on it. I will no doubt regret this decision in about 2 hours when I have to get up to small child.... plus there is a first birthday party on the agenda this morning but I suspect unfortunately I am going to have to un-rsvp to that. I'm hoping she will understand (the mum, not the one-year old!!!). I have warned people that I am going to be totally selfish with my time for the next few months and I hope that they can all forgive me for the occasions that I miss.
Anyway, best be off and actually write these stats up. As of later today I may start posting pics of the growing pile of thesis as it emerges.

Ciao

Day 4 .... big girl bed

day 1 - daytime nap - 30 minutes
day 2 - daytime nap - 25 minutes
day 3 - daytime nap (was at her nan's so no big girl bed)
day 4 - daytime nap IN BIG GIRL BED.... going on 2 hours now - WOO HOO...... yay for charli

Day 1......big girl bed.... 10 minutes later

YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!!!

Day 1......big girl bed

Hmmm, well here I sit, 7.49pm, listening to my daughter chatting away to herself (i can only assume she is alone in there)...... waiting for her to go to sleep for the first time in her big girl bed. Here it is in all it's girly glory...... it's actually a bunk bed and this is the top bunk. we chose bunks because it's got the safety rails we can use for now and then when the second bump arrives and is ready for a bed, oooh, say 2 years from now, it will have already been purchased and that's one less thing we need to worry about...... I'm sitting here patiently still waiting for her to sleep. I just know I'm going to spend the first night waiting for a thump followed closely by screaming as she hits the floor.... I just know it.

When you gotta go.... you gotta go.

Oh my goodness. Meegan put me on to this site........ can you believe there is a website for this?

Who do I look like? it all depends on which photo you choose!!

Hi dear readers,
Well I did say that my next post would be about my thesis didn't I? Well I lied. I'm sitting here writing my overview chapter while simultaneously (in true Type-A style) playing on a website that will allow you to upload a photo to see who you match with regard to celebrity status. Now I ran four different photos before being happy to be compared to these women (you can actually choose to be compared to men and women as it utilised facial features).....



One not so charming photo I uploaded compared me solely to men.... one of them gave me a 65% match rate with Gene Hackman.... I decided to pass on that one!! Not that he's not a handsome man and all....

Now of course I can't see a resemblance between myself and any of these women but then I can't even see how my daughter resembles my husband OR I so clearly picking out facial features is not my forte...... still I'm happy to compared to any of these women - especially that sexy one of Raquel Welsh - personally? I think the shadow covering the left hand side of our faces in this photo is probably the only similarity!!

Projects update...August 2006

I realise that I haven't updated on all our projects in a long time - not (I think) since I first outlined them many many moons ago.....so here we go.

1. Stay at home mummy

I think the previous post fairly well outlines how I'm coping as a stay at home mum....... thank goodness for childcare centres and family who are willing to look after their grandkids because seriously I've come to the horrible horrible realisation about myself that I am not cut out for full-time parenting of a toddler on a day to day basis.....

2. Working part-time.....

well this has ceased for the next X number of months... to be replaced by hard work on my PhD for the next 4 months and then you know... giving birth again.... and then those glorious months of wandering around with a newborn attached to your mammory glands while you attempt to sleep in whatever position you can find where the baby can still feed. Except joy of joys, this time I get to also attempt to be awake and alert and various times in order to continue parenting what I can only assume is going to be one independent (read: nightmare) 2 year old..... I can't wait :)

3. The backyard...

Well, finally!! A project I can say is finally complete - well the paid, professionally landscaped part of it anyway. Here are some updated photos of the small amount of gardening we've managed so far. The big stuff of new fence and garden shed etc is still to happen...... it's a work in progress. I'd like to point out that the sad state of the garden is in no way due to poor maintenance on our behalf..... for those of you not in the know Brisbane is on level 3 water restrictions..... so we're praying for a wet summer....





4. House renovations....

not happening. won't happen until we stop pro-creating... let's move on...
okay well they are happening on a smaller non-professional level because sometime in the next 4 months (read: before our bump number 2 arrives into this world) we have to:

a. get a new toilet and vanity for the bathroom and have them installed
b. move my study into dave's study (there is a bit of feet dragging on this and I suspect he is struggling with losing his male sanctuary.... he should stop knocking me up then I say as we are fast running out of room in this house!!!)
c. do up my study as charli's new bedroom which entails ripping up carpet, painting walls, putting in fly screens, a ceiling fan... buying a single bed and wardrobe and whatever else a small child requires.....
d. buy and install a rainwater tank
e. get a new back fence and a garden shed installed

and the list goes on.........

5. And last but not least...........................THE THESIS!!

I'm going to do a whole post on this next time - but suffice to say that my first week as a full-time student did not go well. Dave's entire family were struck down with some dreaded lurgy (and hence I had no childcare), I got a gastro bug, and charli was cutting 2 teeth...... despite that I did manage to get a little bit done but here's hoping the second week goes better...... (and god help anyone who gets sick in the next 4 months - people I'm on a deadline!!!!)

An artist's view

Well at my wit's end this week - I discovered the life of a full-time stay at home mum with a toddler. I don't think I truly appreciated those 2-3 days a week when someone takes charli girl off my hands and I get to go to work or work on my thesis - both 'work' but not nearly as hard as entertaining a 16 month old. So we resorted to 'art' - something I've been reluctant to embark upon as it's seemed so messy. Little could I realise the true issues at hand.......

So here she is decked out in a shirt that Claire bought me back from London - I love this t-shirt but having already managed to stain it with what I think is beetroot I was willing to allow it to become Charli's art smock (as it turns out she didn't stain it as much as I already had!!).


So it turns out the art classes were not the real disaster. The real disaster was me leaving a can of coke (mine not hers!!) on the table - next to my mobile phone which I'd just used to take these photos - and walk inside to get her a drink or a bicky or whatever the little ratbag was insisting upon at the time (i realise now it was just a ruse for her to tip my coke all over the mobile phone)...... here is a photo of me grabbing the phone (and inadvertently taking a photo) in an attempt to rescue it before it was drowned....... this should come with the caption "oh shit" which is what was being exclaimed at that exact moment...

Ekka 2006 Part 2

Here are some more pics from our beloved Ekka. Today we made sure we got in there early and went straight for the animal nursery - a pavillion that is extremely popular with young and old alike so the queues are normally out the door. Thankfully at 9am we got to go straight in and spend a good 1/2 hour ...... it was fantastic. Photos didn't come close to capturing the hilarity of Charli girl pulling a goat's tail as he went past or when she grabbed some hay out of my cup to feed the animals and then got mobbed by 2 lambs and a butting goat.... it was hilarious!! Times like that video is in order!!




We lent charli girl's hat to my neighbour so she wore my cap (I scored a free one from the RACQ people at the Ekka...... the brim is a little too big no? :)



And inevitably it was all too much by 11am and a quick kip was in order.... I wished at that point that I could curl up in the grass and have a sleep too as I was exhausted......

Can she live up to her title?

Well dear readers..... as little as I've been posting lately - I may soon hit an all time low as I bid you adieu for a few months. On a whim a fortnight ago I applied for a scholarship that will pay me to convert to full-time on my thesis (i.e. give up my job/go on extended leave of absence) and complete and submit in 16 weeks. Submission date 8th December.... not the 9th.... not the 10th... but the 8th. This is non-negotiable. Talk about pressure huh (scholarship monies to be repaid if I can't submit on time)..... and you guessed it - on Friday night I was offered the scholarship. A weekend of panicking, stressing, weighing up finances... weighing up the stresses of having to submit a thesis in 16 weeks and give birth a mere 2 weeks later (and that's assuming the little blighter doesn't come early)....... all of this resulted in a very sleepless couple of nights and the ultimate decision was made this morning to accept the scholarship and go hell for leather getting it completed.

Let's face it... I had trouble completing it when i was full-time, when i was single, when i was married with no dependents - the thought of working part-time and raising 2 children under 2 - let's be honest, if I don't complete this now it will never happen. And in case I've not alluded to it before, clearly if anything has been learnt in the past 8 years, it's that I'm not self-motivated enough if there are no deadlines...... so I've just given myself the ultimate deadline......

So blogging may be a thing of the past for awhile.... or I may end up using it as my sounding board in which case you are about to be subjected to 4 months of sheer boredom as you listen to my rants about the post-divorce adjustment of teenage children - sound exciting?

So wish me luck dear readers. All offers of baby-sitting, bringing around home-cooked meals, sending of vouchers for holidays in the Bahamas when this is finally all over........ well they'll all be well received. Adieu......

Ekka 2006

It's Ekka time again (or 'the show' for you southerners) and so far we've totally reaped full benefit from our annual $100 membership by having been to the ekka every day (I'd like to point out that I do work just 50m up the road so ducking down to the show to get a bratwurst dog and strawberry sundae constitutes 'going to the show' that day). Here's a quick shot of hubby and Charlotte outside sideshow alley - now renamed Moove Alley.... everything is sponsored this year!!

More photos probably tomorrow as Charli girl and I are going with our neighbour and her daughter to see the chooks, cows, pigs and hopefully have a pat of all the babies at the animal nursery!!

Big dog?

Well Beck and I seem to be on some sort of back-n-forth with this....

Your Ideal Pet is a Big Dog

You're both energetic, affectionate, and a bit goofy. And neither of you seem to mind very slobbery kisses!

What's Your Ideal Pet?

It's official

According to this website - I am actually a type-A personality - it's not just something I made up!!

You Have A Type A- Personality

You are one of the most balanced people around Motivated and focused, you are good at getting what you want You rule at success, but success doesn't rule you. When it's playtime, you really know how to kick back Whether it's hanging out with friends or doing something you love! You live life to the fullest - encorporating the best of both worlds

Do You Have a Type A Personality?

Thought of the day.

Trying to clean your house before your children have grown up is like trying to shovel the footpath before the snow has stopped falling.

AIN'T THAT THE TRUTH!!!

Happy Birthday Nanna, From Princess Charlotte

Well it was Mum's birthday today - so happy birthday Mum. To celebrate this special day, Charlotte ran around in her new princess/fairy outfit courtesy of Aunty Libby. (thank you!!). It was hard to get her to sit still while she had the outfit on so I ended up having to get a photo of her sitting down - which kind of loses some of the effect......





We've also been doing a lot of gardening lately - well correction - I've been gardening and little miss monkey has been taking it easy, just kicking back watching me work...... hmph!!



Also have been meaning to post about the new 'dishwasher' game...... it's fairly self-explanatory.... behold!!

things that make me smile...

Hi dear readers - I've been MIA again for awhile..... all of you will know by now that I'm pregnant again with my second baby, so I've actually been sequestered away in denial about having two children under the age of two!! :)

I've got heaps of things I want to post about, but for this post I just want to focus on some things that Charlotte has been doing lately that just make me laugh out loud.... they truly are funny little beings (and I say this despite the long weekend from hell punctuated last night by a projectile vomit to rival Mt Vesuvius)..... aaagh, parenthood.

things that make me laugh:

1. When the credits rolled at the end of the movie Madagascar (a movie which I found somewhat disappointing), she stood nose to nose with the TV while appearing to look DOWN into the bottom of the screen - from where the words were magically appearing!!!

2. When you ask her if she is doing something naughty (when she clearly is) and slowly shakes her head from side to side

3. When you ask her if she's cute and she nods her head

4. When she refuses to eat her food unless she's allowed to have a spoon too (this is getting really tiresome by the way). Whereupon she proceeds to spoon food onto the utensil and as she brings it to her mouth, she turns it sideways so that it all strategically falls down her shirt. Luckily for her I'm right there with a second spoonful of food else the poor child would starve if required to fend for herself..... manual dexterity has not yet been mastered.

5. When she turns and runs now when you go to pick her up and she doesn't want to be picked up because she knows it means leaving the park/going back inside/doing something else she doesn't want to do

Of course there were 1000 other things I thought of this morning while I lay awake at 3pm wondering if i should get up (once again) and have something to eat (I'm hoping there's only one baby I'm feeding in there because if I am going to have 3 children under the age of 2, there better be a doctor willing to write me a standing prescription for Valium!!!).

Until next time......

The Australian Oxford dictionary defines it as a morbid fear......

Phobia that is.... and I have one. to grasshoppers of all things. No-one said that phobias are rational. And so herein lies the problem. Well, it's been an interesting morning here.... let me regale you with the details. Firstly, small child had been screaming for the last 2 hours..... in my arms, on the floor, in her cot (I put her in there in desperation while I went and had a shower so I couldn't hear her for 10 minutes), no matter what I did she clung and whinged....... poor mite

amongst all of this, I walk into our bedroom to find a HUGE brown grasshopper on our curtains.....




now as you probably figured out from the title i have a very very bad phobia about grasshoppers..... there are usually tears when you pair me and grasshoppers. anyway, I call dave (not sure what I expect him to do...) he offers to come home but my pride won't let him... (remember, meanwhile, Charlotte is clinging to my leg and screaming). So I slam both doors (we can access our bedroom 2 ways)... and then periodically check that he's still on the curtain - because you understand of course that it would be worse NOT knowing where he is!!

Finally I decide I have to kill him (remember readers, we are referring to the grasshopper, not my husband) - but how??? I run through a thousand options before I choose the wussiest one and stand many arms lengths away and spray about 1/2 tin of mortein on him.... I watch him struggle, he's easing down the curtain (straight towards my pillow - egads, guess I'm washing the sheets again today!!!)..... and then, out of nowhere he starts to panic and starts flinging himself around the room...... I scream, shut the door, and listen for a good 15 minutes while he careens off every surface possible. Can I point out at this point, that I've since learnt that in their dying state, grasshoppers vomit (or poop who knows) ORANGE onto every surface they touch.... just bloody charming. anyway, he's dead. He's lying on the floor with an empty nappy bucket over him - because there's no way I'm touching him - even if he IS dead. So there you go, I think we can safely assume that Charli girl is going to develop this phobia - won't that be a riot!!??

A walk in the park.....

Today we went to the park. She's at that age now where Activities with a capital A become a priority - no longer is she content to just sit around while mummy watches telly and does some washing.... if I want her to have a decent sleep then Activity is the key - tire her out and hopefully she'll be out for the count. So onwards to the park on this lovely (if not a little windy) Autumn day.




Apparently she hasn't quite realised yet that it's more fun to come down the slide

Welcome to our newest addition!!

Today is truly a magical day dear readers - today we made it into the 20th Century. After we both had ignored the washing up (again) for five days in a row and we could no longer spot the kitchen bench and we'd run out of forks........ I decided it was time to plunge ourselves even further into debt and get ourselves a dishwasher. We haven't looked back. Officially it's my mothers day present (though hubby knows that if I don't actually also get something on the day to unwrap there will be tears..... come on, you know there will be)..... however, I haven't actually had a chance to load it, use it, or unload it yet. Hubby is still in 'novelty' mode and has been loading and unloading it twice a day - I've decided to let him, from past experience this novelty will wear off in about a week or two (the car got washed religiously every weekend when we first got it, now it probably gets washed twice a year!!!).


Now we just have to renovate the kitchen to bring it into the 21st Century - check out that lino!!!

Transitioning to one nap....

Hello dear readers,
My little poppet is sort of transitioning to one sleep - but still quite early in the day - waking about noon. So by 4pm, we really don't like her to go down for a nap (she'll be awake til midnight if we do!!!) but she is exhausted. It's hard to deny her a nap though when this is what happens when you're trying to keep her awake!! And no, she had not had any of the beer you see in the background!!

And so we relented.....



We'll give her half an hour before we turn the telly up to blaring and scare the living daylights out of her


(I'm just kidding people....)

Disclaimer: Barbie products not condoned in our household. This sofa bed being relocated to Nan and Granddad's house at the earliest convenience!!!

Dear Charlotte...

Dearest Charlotte,
It seems just yesterday - and yet a lifetime ago too - that I held you in my arms for the first time. Where has the year gone my baby? You have given your Daddy and I so much happiness over the past twelve months and we love you so very much.

I want to tell you how much you mean to us and how much you make us laugh... that squeal of excitement that we get first thing in the morning is worth the 5am wake-ups (well usually!!).

I want to tell you how much your Nanna would have loved meeting you - and how she is your own personal guardian angel - always watching over you.

I want to tell you how hard it is not to laugh now you are learning the concept of 'tantrum' and how I have to leave the room when you clench your fists and stamp your feet - just so you can't see me smile ... you have a mind of your own and I foresee years of asserting your independence ahead of you!!

I want to tell you that you have changed your Mummy and Daddy's lives forever - and only for the better. The sleep-ins, the relaxing holidays, the dinners without interruption, the countless other things we have 'lost' ..... those things pale in comparison to the endless joy that you've brought to our lives.....

We love you big one-year old girl...xoxo

Happy Birthday Monkey

Our beautiful little monkey turned one yesterday. I had decided to take the day off work to celebrate with her and what a delightful day we had. We spent some time with friends, went and bought some more pressies (because Dave and I had given them all to her about 2 weeks ago in excitement!!). Here is a photo of Charli and I - a bit blurry...... you try holding a one year old still!!



There was opening pressies on first waking up - forgive the 'bed hair'... :)




There was much fun to be had playing with toys that we'd given her - Dave and I may have been having more fun than her - it was hard to tell......

Happy Easter.... again!

Good afternoon dear readers - and a happy easter sunday to you all. I do hope the easter bunny was kind to you this morning. We had lunch at our place with Dave's family today. Charli girl was allowed one egg - she was fairly unimpressed actually and was more interested in trying to fish out the toy that was inside!! here's our family easter photo...


And here she is just playing on her own with her little wagon..... cute huh?

You mean we're supposed to TALK to each other??

What worries me most about this cartoon and the fact that I find it funny is that it's a little too like our lives!! :)