Xmas is finally over!

Something goes a bit wrong at Xmas time. I once spoke to a policeman and asked it what it was like working on Xmas day. He said "Oh, usually quiet in the morning, couple of murders in the afternoon." I was astounded and he added "well, you get families together, you know."
Our Xmas was a riot of eating more than anything. The Xmas spirit a little lacking chez ma soeur, as she and hubby have lost their jobs due to the mill closing down. I'm sure it's all going to work out, they're just not used to the uncertain times.
My heart goes out to them, they look so stressed and unhappy.
Hubby somewhat underwhelmed by Xmas chez Kerr and vows not to do it again. He might have a point, at that.
New Year tomorrow, I wonder what that will bring?

Feeling better

I'm actually starting to feel better. I've had a horrible cough for the past two months, and my Doctor thinks it might have been whooping cough (but I think that's bollocks) mostly to the fact that it hasn't cleared up. Had a chest x-ray last week just to make sure it wasn't something more serious.
What really helped was a super early night I had on Wednesday when I was supposed to be working on a paper (sorry Lucila). Woke up and the cough is still there but muchly reduced. I've taken a well deserved week off and spent some quality time with Djamel and Kate.
Kate has become a Daddy's girl and Mummy doesn't cut it anymore. :(
Djamel's quite liking it and I now feel how he was feeling at the beginning of things, so it's quite a good balance really.
Met with the Prof last week and he agreed to be an associate supervisor. Yay! Mary is hard to contact and is very busy so this is a good thing.
I took Kate and he was very sweet about the whole thing, if not a little bemused. Okay, Xmas is on its way, presents to be bought etc etc. My sister and her husband had celebrated the last day in their jobs today, due to the liquidation, so a new chapter in their lives too, methinks.
So change, ever change.

It appears that I have a daemon. Which is curious because the old tiger has been my totem for years, seems he's back.

A Perfect Day

D came home Saturday night and wanted to know if I would like to go on a boat on Sunday. So we bundled little missy up and went on the most fantastic Sydney Harbour cruise.
It transpires that his collegue has a rich daddy who owns a cruiser. So a private party with some of D's work friends turned into the most perfect of days.
We wandered around Roseville Chase, down past Balmoral and out into the Harbour proper. Then past the Opera House, Harbour Bridge and into Darling Harbour. Then out and around to the fish markets for a lovely fresh fish, lobster, prawn, octopus lunch. Wow.
You don't get many days like that, a complete tonic after the madness of the end of semester.

Yay for friends!

Academic schmacademic

Been madly writing papers and book chapters for the past few weeks.
I've just submitted a book chapter for a peer-reviewed book in Design Patterns for E-Learning, which is cool, although I'm a bit nervous about how it will go.
My CHI paper looks like it won't make it though, oh well. Chalk that one up to experience and keep on going.
I also had a major holdup with my ethics application, but that is now through, thank goodness and I have to update it, by next week, so I'm going to be busy busy busy.
I suspect my supervisor is never going to be happy with me, so I'm just going to keep on keeping on and hope for the best.

Sooo tardy

So, my ethics application took 4 months to get. I have a book chapter due in this week.
I have been exhausted, sick with a cold and laryngitis.
My co-author has just gone overseas for a family funeral. I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed, but we'll get there.
In other news, baby Kate spent a Sunday afternoon at the hospital two weeks ago with a crack on her head. It was classed as quite unexceptional except for her bizarre reaction to it which is called "pallid breath holding" and means she went all quiet after she hit her head.
Work is going well with this crop of animators looking to be very good. Fingers crossed.
I've re-enrolled in the PhD so I'd better pull the finger out and get some things done. I've enlisted a couple of designers to help out, which is good.
I'm actually having quite a nice time of it lately, with the exception of a few health issues. D is as lovely as ever.

Bumps

So we spent the morning in the hospital as baby took a tumble and got herself a bump on the head. Not serious except for the fact she went all quiet afterwards and groggy, so we raced her in and they had her for observation for a few hours. She's fine, but I have to keep an eye on her for the next 24 hours.

Went to Gabby and Brian's wedding yesterday. It was lovely.
Really happy to see Gabby sorted. Well I hope she is, anyways.
Great wedding. Kate had a good time. I did ok but was a bit overly protective of bubs. Even D had a good time. So I guess all's good.

Adorable

Djamel is currently asleep on the couch with Kate. It's just so lovely to have him back from overseas. It's been ridiculously busy without him. He really does lighten the parenting load heaps. I didn't realise all the little things he does before, now I really appreciate them.
I just cooked a nice dinner for my little family.
I'm taking a week off. A proper one. I have to have a little exploratory procedure done in hospital next week and I really don't want to be stressing over everything else at the same time. Mind you - I haven't heard from the hospital, so I'm wondering what's up.
It's term break and I'm appreciating the time off. I got the poster and the paper all done and I WAS feeling rather pleased with myself until Andy reminded me I had another thing I should have done as well. Sigh. Lost sight of the big picture again. Typical.
Overall I think everything's good.

One thing then another

I have been ridiculously busy. What with the PhD, doing a paper and a poster in the past few weeks..
And teaching.
And "spring cleaning" the house and bedding. Very very busy.
I'm teaching too, and loving every minute of it. So all in all. Busy busy busy.

Strange days indeed...

Most peculiar brother.
Talking of which, my brother is coming to visit tomorrow. Which is probably just as well because I've been super busy.
I've been writing a paper for a conference. Eek! Madly. My co-authors are both overseas at the moment so it's been quite fraught and I've no idea if it's any good.
I'm meeting online with one tomorrow. It's due in Wednesday and just needs editing methinks.
Double eek.
Oh well we'll see how it goes. I could do with a trip to Italy.

Ridiculously bad day

Today has been a nightmare. I had a new washer and dryer installed and the hose we too short. So I got in the car to take bubs to Gymbaroo and thence to the hardware store and crunch.
Scraped the side of the car. Door won't open, it'll take a week to fix.
Humph.
The drain outside the flat is overflowing with effluent and my mother has arrived.
Can things get worse?

So....

Long time no writey. I've been slacking and panicing over my PhD candidature, which I now appear to have passed.
My supervisor has gone OS for a month, so we're going to Skype it, which will be fun. Or disasterous. Or both. I probably will forget to take the headphones and it will all stuff up as usual.
I'm feeling inadequate lately. Mostly because I'm losing every game of online scrabble I'm playing. Not that I've really played too much scrabble in my time, but I do profess to be good with words. But I'm beginning to realise it's all about tactics. Which is a bit of a reflection on life, really.
I feel like I'm standing on sand. It keeps slipping out from beneath my feet and I have to constantly work at standing upright. I feel I need a holiday, and I realised today that I haven't actually had one, a proper one, in about 3 years. We didn't go on a honey moon, and moving here could really be counted as a holiday. D is looking forward to his impending trip. I wish we were going with him.

Laps

Went to the pool today with Natasha and her baby Olivia. Did laps while Kate stayed in the creche.
Djamel could have looked after her, but he was grumpy and sleeping so I left things as organised. He seemed surprised that I'd gotten so active, but it's all good. Did many laps. Feel good. Small muscles in back are stiff and are probably working well for the first time in ages.
We had lunch together, which probably undid all the good work. The first cafe we parked at completely ignored us, so we went to another. Ignorant peeps. Makes me cross, being ignored by waiting staff.
I'm *holds fingers together* this close to getting my PhD probation approved. I've sent emails to Mary and organised the paperwork to be signed by someone in Sydney, but I haven't heard from her.
I hope she doesn't disappear like she sometimes does, or I'll be in trouble. I know she's around.

Shoes

Kate has officially grown out of about 5 pairs of shoes. Tried another pair on her today and nope, too small.
Luckily I bought her some sandals yesterday, two sizes too large. Hopefully they will last her over summer.
I'm re-reading experiential learning at the moment, hoping to make a checklist/evaluation tool for the PhD. That is, if I'm still at it after this week.
Note to self. Must take Andy's book back and computer in - in case I need to hand them back.
Pesimism you might think. Not really. Just a change in the flow.

Blink and it's gone

God, where does the time go? I turn around and one second it's first thing in the morning and the next it's 10pm at night. Having a child really chews up the time.
Her ladyship is becoming tantrum queen, which is normal for a nearly two year old, but it's really beginning to put me off her. She bit me the other day too, and I'm still sporting the bruise. She's done that twice now, and both times it's been while I've been talking to my neighbour.
Popped into work today for a teaching validation meeting.
Did absolutely stuff all otherwise, but the day's gone, so I must have done something. It's alarming because I have a shedload to do on my PhD and I've only a few days to do it in. Looks like I'll be working on it all through the weekend.
Sigh.

Baby Gym

Well I did it. I finally enrolled Kate in Gymbaroo. I took her today on a whim and she absolutely loved it, if not overexcited and puzzled by it at the same time.
I see it as a way of socialising her, because other than mother's group she hasn't seen many other children for a while and she's been getting clingy.
Wasn't at all at Gymbaroo, and was her usual overly sociable and outgoing self. Yay! Now I've got to get the notion of sharing and getting fewer tantrums and we'll all be ok.
It might mean missing mother's group, but that was becoming a bit of a drag anyways, so it's all good.
I have a very exhausted baby who is now sleeping. Success!

Cough cough

*cough* been suffering asthma quite badly the last few days. I've got a pain in my lung which is worrying. I've been to the doctors and got some new medication, so hopefully I'll ACTUALLY USE IT FOR A CHANGE. I'm my own worst enemy sometimes.
Took small and wiggly one to the shops after the Dr's and let her run around like a mad thing. She managed to chuck the mother of all tantrums there, which in retrospect was partly my fault because it was past her meal time. Dragged her screaming to the car and got her home and fed, bottled and bed her and now she's sleeping like a baby.
Which she is, of course.
Got a phone call from Wanda and we're going over to theirs for dinner. I've missed them terribly.
Shirking on study, read *gasp* a NOVEL on the weekend. I wanted to read something that wasn't work. It was good. First time I've read a novel in months and certainly the first all in one go in years. D was a dream and did some housework on the weekend. Guess he was sick of the mess.
Oh well. He bought his ticket to Algeria on Friday, so I guess we're not going with him. Probably for the best at the moment.

Wednesday madness

Teaching started again today and I'm back in my element. I really love teaching 3d, which makes my lack of connection with the Uni students even more tragic.
Still the TAFE students are ace, and I love teaching them.
Saw Andy for the first time for a while today. We went through the changes to my proposal and what I need to do for this paper that's due at the end of the month.
It's all going to be quite intense over the next few weeks, so expect "oh my god I'm so stressed out" me right up until I resubmit.
A colleague told me my problem was that I was too articulate, which meant everyone understood what I was doing and got to ask difficult questions. Well "shut my mouth". Never been accused of being too clear before. Best to obscurificate, methinks. Think it was lovely of him to say so and hilarious at the same time.
Kate was happy to see me today, and D is clearly relishing looking after his daughter. Yay!!

Cold!

Brrr. Chilly. Got down to 3 degrees this morning. A touch parky.
And I was wondering why I felt that this was a cold winter, it's the coldest morning since 1983, according to the news.
I'm taking a breather before embarking on some study and obligitory stuff for TAFE.
Teaching starts again tomorrow. And the madness continues.

Went to mogro today, but the vibe is a bit weird there and I might stop going. Little Xavier gets his caste off his leg today. Linda had marks on her face, like grazes. I wonder at it all, really. Maybe I need to join a playgroup or try to find some like minded folk.

Oh well. Did my presentation to the academics yesterday, and it was really tough. They asked incredibly hard questions and I guess I struggled through it. I realised halfway through that I was in trouble from the lack of smiles and grim expressions all round.
They didn't fail me, but it wasn't exactly a pass either. I get a month to sort it out. Oh well.
For some reason I can no longer do titles to these posts, you'll have to bear with me.
I joined facebook yesterday, so I've been poddling about there. It's quite addictive, but I suspect the novelty will wear off. I now have "31 friends" and most of em are in London. Which just about reflects my life. I'm feeling the cabin fever at the moment, a bit isolated.
I'm loving living in Sydney, but I never had heaps of friends here, so it's a bit isolating. That said, I'm making new friends, so I shouldn't complain.
Natasha came over today, we're on a mission to replace our common area carpet. Never underestimate two women, each armed with babies.

I've been dreadfully busy with my PhD presentation and all.
We also had Yassin over for dinner on Thursday, it was nice to finally meet him. He seems nice.
Kate's vocabulary is growing daily - which is quite astonishing to watch. I swear she knows at least 10 more words than last week and is intent on using them all.
She's beginning to know her colours too. She certainly knows yellow and purple. She does keep on forgetting the difference between mummy and daddy, or more exactly, calls me Daddy all the time (either that or she's screaming for her father).
She is becoming tantrum queen. Which is a shame, because she's a lovely girl.

Typical

So I've just got over 5 days of food poisoning hell and now I've got a cold.
Blurgh.

In other news:

We're expecting 120km/h winds, 10 metres waves and the Pasha Bulker to break up during the night.

I've got to do some study cause I've been really sick and I'm behind. Blurgh.
Today took baby K to Playday due to the rain and she ran around like a mad thing again. Happy happy baby. Other than that chatted to Natasha this morning with baby O dressed up in Myra's handknits, looking gorgeous.

D is well, all is good with the world. Tired of being sick.

Food Poisoning

Is someone out to get me? I've been sick for 4 days with little sign of it letting up. I have no recollection of eating anything remotely dodgy but the doctor reckons it's food poisoning. Certainly Kate is well and happy and shows no sign of whatever I have, and D is as strong as an ox.
It's been nasty nasty nasty.
Blurgh.
Anyways I'm hoping that it lets up soon because to be honest, I'm sick of being sick.
On brighter news, dragged D out of bed today and went to playdays, because it's pouring with rain again here in Sydney. She ran about like a mad thing again and it was totally fun. D said he had a great time and I always love it. Ran into Jon's friends Rita and Alan there and their little girl Alex.
It's great at Playdays, they have soft mats everywhere, balls, cars, swings, slides, bouncing castles, you name it. It's only for under fives, so the little ones are safe from big bullies and there's a cafe too.
Kate has found her apetite at last and has been eating all day. She even ate a sandwich at Playdays, D and I nearly fell off our chairs. Wonders will never cease.

Blurgh

Got a dose of the dreaded lurgy. Out of stomach etc experience. Yeek.
Not really getting any better, despite not going to uni and sleeping all yesterday afternoon.
I suspect it will run its course. I'm losing weight, it's amazing how many liquids can come out of a human body.
D and K seem to be fine, although K is sleeping now, which is her second sleep for today, most unusual.
Other news, all of the students are panicking about their assignments, but some are coming along nicely. We'll see the usual range of good versus bad students.
I'm hoping to go in to Uni tomorrow to catch up with Andy. Otherwise I'm just going to have to keep on keeping on.
I wish I was getting better. :-(

Glamourous Night Attire

So, it's getting colder. Djamel suggested the other day that I should buy some pyjamas for bed, so I went off for the second trip, after my aborted one the other day, to commit to the crime.

Kate also needed to get out of the house, after two days of being cooped up due to the torrential rain. (They found the bodies of that family yesterday. Very very sad).
So off to Myer to try on some jarmies. The realisation after trying on the third pair was that the reason I always buy glamourous nighties is because I absolutely suck in pyjamas. I look less than dreadful. Or more dreadful than dreadful.
Or alternatively it was a reaction to those changeroom mirrors that highlight all the bumps in the wrong places. Someone has to tell that shop that investing in decent lighting will increase sales. Sheesh.
So I ran howling out of Myers. Well I didn't, but I feel I should have. What they had on sale there was old fashioned and frumpy - or not designed for the "more mature figure" - whatever it didn't work for me.
Then saved! A keen sales assistant at Bras and Things sorted me out with two very slinky numbers. I went in there and said "I want something for bed that doesn't look disgusting," and she went straight for the numbers that worked. Good on her.
So I came home and showed D. He liked em but said I didn't need to be fussy for bed.
(Oh yes I do).

Then of course I tried on my old glamourous nighties, to discover that they do fit, after all. There's something about how a woman feels after giving birth. I feel like an elephant at the moment, but really I'm not too different in shape than before. What with being poked and prodded and having every conceivable oriface violated, then afterwards with breastfeeding, sometimes you feel that your body belongs to everyone else. You're just the tiny little soul that rests within this fleshy cage - there's no "personal" or "private" or "modesty" any more.

Wild weather

Today in Sydney there was a bit of wild weather, and it's due to continue for the next day or so. Trees uprooted, ships run aground. Where we are there's only been a little wind and some pelting rain. But at work today two whole glass doors to a building were being replaced when I arrived.
There's something like 11 people missing due to their vehicles being worse for the wear with torrents of water. Unfortunately some of the missing are a family of five, which is worse than tragic.
Kate has been wearing her new coat and hat, which are extremely gorgeous. I've taken some pics which I must upload to my flickr account.
Anyways, news. Worked this morning, my usual Friday bludge. Kate was sleeping when he picked me up from work and we dropped him off. I put her in her bed straight from the car and when she woke up, no D, just me. She was not amused and wanted to know where her daddy was. By screaming. So I suggested we go shopping. So we piled into the car to go out - I wanted to buy some stuff but it was mostly to distract bubby.
D had to work today and rang me around 3 to get the car. I'd just pulled into Chatswood, so he saved me from a fate worse than wasting money.
We had a lovely swordfish dinner, and D went back to work. He's preferring to cook at home rather than eat pasta or pizza at his work. He says he's sick of the food there, never any meat, only flour based stuff.
I'm trying to work out what I'll be teaching next semester. It's all a bit of a mystery at the moment.

Study

Spent today at Uni, doing the study thing. The alarming thing is that I only really got a page edited, but to do that it required about 4 papers read. Tsk.
I must get more done, it's ridiculous.
I actually really enjoyed being there, considering I've had trouble getting in lately.
I'm also trying to lose weight cause I'm ballooning at the moment, probably due to cutting back on breastfeeding. I reckon we'll be a bottle-fed bubby in about a week.
She's 18 months old now, certainly old enough to cope on the bottle.
(Most mothers would have weaned by now, but I'm an old softie.)
Not much more to report really, just keeping on keeping on.

Parks

Today K and I went to for a walk and a play in the park. We were gone for an hour and a half. It was hilarious because D was out when we left, and by the time we finally got home he was asleep on the sofa.
It was a glorious day and K loved the swings.
Not much else to report. The weather is getting colder, the days shorter. It's still quite glorious every day with that lovely warm sunshine. It's quite a delight in Autumn, Sydney is.

Trouble with the law

Well it's a dramatic title, but really it's to do with my ethics application at uni. Looks like they're going to fail it, not because it's bad ethically, mostly because the lawyer who needs to pass it doesn't know diddly squat about constructivism and experiential learning theories. So he's going to do some research, ask some questions and get back to me.
Coincidentally my horoscope today said I would have contact with the law. One of those serindipodous occasions that happen once every seven years or so.
I'm listening to explosions in the distance, which usually means there's fireworks on the harbour. Either that or world war three has started. One time it happened a gas depot about 5 miles away blew up. The photos in the paper the next day were spectacular.
Today, I'm told there was fog around Sydney. I did see it through the trees, but it's hard to get a judgement of the extent of things from our flat because you can't see the fog for the trees. (ha ha ha)
Other than that It was a glorious spring day - for autumn. Worked in the afternoon - Screen titling. That class seems to think I have nothing to teach them. I beg to differ. They're doing a titling class and didn't know the difference between a serif and sans serif font. Humph.
D has gone out to see a Berber friend tonight so I'm on my own again. Quite nice actually.
K can get quite stressful when she's in her hyper mode. I asked D today if she's like that with him and he says yes. Crazy baby.

Mother's Day

Ah! Mothers day. The day when mums all over Australia are pampered and loved. I got the best present yet - an extra 3 hours sleep. D got up early and I took the opportunity to go back to bed - a luxury unheard of in the past 17 months. I got up (wait for it) at the fabulous hour of 10.15am. BLISS!! Actually feel rested and human.
I also got a beautiful bunch of flowers. And a home cooked lunch.
I'm in the process of finishing a cardigan for K, so I've been knitting lately, something that has to give way for study.
Talking of study, my poor students are getting a test this week, so I have to come up with something inventive. I've been dropping hints about what I might include, so I suppose I'd better include at least some of them in the test.
(Insert maniacal evil laughter hand wringing)
D took K shopping this morning which accounted for the sleep in. I think he wanted to buy a video camera but he can't spend more than a certain amount on his bank card. We'll get it soon, me thinks.
I'll be looking forward to it.

Slippery

Wednesdays and Thursdays are busy for me because I do a fair bit of teaching on those days.
This afternoon is the screen titling course, and here I was attempting to do a comparison between hand animation and doing stuff in Max. I think I succeeded in proving that max is quicker, and possibly that I'm not too good in Premiere. OH well.
Anyway D worked this evening, so we did a handover in Crows Nest where I took bubs and took him to work. Actually worked quite well, never having done the touch tag thing before.
K in the bath this evening was hilarious. It's one of the first times I've allowed her to play with the soap, which of course was slippery. She chased it all over the bathtub, with much hilarity. Then she tried to eat it, and everytime I made a face and went blah she giggled. Very funny.
Now of course I'm battling to get her to sleep so I can do some study. Mmmm. Not succeeding too well.

Peace at last

D has taken K out for a bit so I can get some work done. She's being quite naughty with me, tantrums are the order of the day, even after I took her on an early morning walk. Sheesh!
The past few days the weather has been utterly glorious for the month of May. Warm, up to 27 degrees (something like 6 over the average) on one day, so it doesn't feel like late autumn at all.
I'm just polishing off my ethics application and dusting off the lit review I want to get both finished by Wednesday. K decided she didn't want a daytime sleep yesterday, which made it very difficult to get anything done with a tired and upset baby. Managed to get her to sleep about 4.30 and she and I crashed till about 6 after which time I got up and made dinner and woke her up to eat. She FINALLY got to sleep around 9.30 after much encouragement. I swear, this blog is becoming baby central.
Work on Friday was a doddle. Ran into the other 3D teacher and we're going to have a natter next week. We need a united approach to the course, methinks. I'm enjoying teaching very much. Cause it's part-time I can't take it too seriously. So no politics, no backstabbing, just go in, do the class, go home. Such a glorious relief from other places.
Right, now I've got a few moments of peace, it's time to study. Cheers.

Roll over, roll over

There were three in the bed and the little one said, "Roll over, roll over" so they all rolled over...
My brother Steve and his whole family came to stay last night on the way to Cairns for a week long holiday. D and I slept in Kate's bed, and the grownups slept in our bed with the kids crashing on the sofas. Kate wasn't used to so many people in her bed and got quite discombobulated during the night, first rolling across onto one of us, and then the other.
Then at the lovely time of 5am, we got up and I drove them into the airport to catch their plane at 7am. I'm hoping they made it. They seemed a little bit uncoordinated when I dropped them off. I let Kate stay at a friend's place this morning as I had to do some stuff for uni. Then we had lunch with the lovely Wanda and Ian and we had a simply lovely time. Kate has just had a muffin for afternoon tea and all is good with the world.
I'm back in the computer room getting some more work done and Kate is suspiciously quiet in the lounge. I wonder what she's up to...

Will the rain ever stop?

I swear, it's been raining so much this week that I'm finding it hard to believe that I've left the UK. Will it ever stop?
Today was miserable,we're cooped up again. Maximum of 20 degrees, so it's cooling down now ready for Winter. We bought a new rug for the lounge room, the Berber picked it, and it's ace. We tidied the loungeroom as celebration so it's looking very spic and span.
Kate of course was intent on messing everything up as soon as we'd finished, it's been rather like a seesaw. She mess, me tidy. Ug.
Not much else to report. Signing off...

Done and done

So I've finished my ethics application and have given it to my supervisor. It's now up to him to look at it and give me some feedback. D let me go into Uni today so I managed to get it all finished. That gives me tonight and tomorrow to get some work done too.

It's Anzac Day tomorrow so of course as usual I'll be in tears. I don't think people overseas realise how emotional we aussies get on Anzac Day. We've spent two world wars and numerous other conflicts fighting other people's battles. Or so it seems.

Kate's gone and drawn over her bedroom wall, so I'll be spending some time later on scrubbing it off. Sigh. She's getting better at leaving me alone and not screaming at me all the time when I'm on the computer, so that's a relief.

Start screen titling on Thursday and Photoshop class on Friday. So that should be fun. Photoshop should be a hoot. Might learn stuff too, so it's all good.

Ok must go and make Kate's dinner. Methinks spaghetti tonight. Yummmm.

Cinnamon Pinwheels

Kate and I went to visit our friend Ian and Wanda today. We had cinnamon pinwheel scones and blueberry muffins. I swear, the infant must have eaten a whole pinwheel and muffin herself. Hungry baby. They are treasures, that pair.
That on top of the fact that she slept in till 7.40 this morning, giving her mum a nice sleep. Ray!
It's raining today. A nice soaking rain. The sort of rain they'd love to get inland, but we seem to be getting it all in the city at the moment. I'm attempting to do some study and D's gone off to find a DVD for this evening.
Some lady rang earlier to sell me something, but K did such a good job of chucking a tantrum, we had to give up. Oh well.
It's all gone suspiciously quiet. Little one is watching TV, standing too close as usual. What is it with babies and getting up nice and personal with electronic equipment.
So, deep breath, back into ethics application for PhD. Bye!

Sleep!

Oh my god! Got an hour's nap this afternoon. That's the second day in a row. My thank goodness for small mercies. Otherwise it's only about 5 hours sleep a night for me.
I don't think I'm very healthy at the moment, I'm feeling rather fat and unfit and blogging out (excuse the pun).
Took Kate on her new tricycle to the park this afternoon. I think she enjoyed it. Then we went out to the garden, and guess what? She headed straight to Linda's place (lady from mother's group who lives a stone's throw away). The child has a memory, that's for sure.
Did a bit of study this afternoon, and Kate and I watched Monster's Inc. which was fun. I think Kate appreciated it more this time around.
I'm just chatting to my friend Emily who is in Thailand. She's been there a year working for a charity. Bless her.
Nothing much to report today. It was a lovely sunny afternoon after a cloudy start. The newspapers are warning that we'll pay more for our fruit and veg due to the drought later in the year. More doom and gloom on the nightly sad report.

Tricycle!

Yesterday was one of those lovely days where a family spends time together. We went to MacQuarie Centre and D purchased a lovely tricycle for Baby K. It's one of those ones that has a handle on it so you can push baby around when they're little, then take it off when they're older and they can steer themselves.
We took it down to Balmoral and K loved it! We took it over on the boardwalk and lost a part from it, though. Then went to our favourite supermarket (why can we never spend less than $150 there?)and got a video and other great stuff that you can't buy anywhere else for love or money.
Came home and D cooked us a lovely dinner. I don't know it was such a lovely day.

On a down note, K has started tantrums in earnest. Naughty girl. Throws herself on the floor and screams. Humph. Not impressed. We left MacQuarie early because despite having 4 goes on a kiddie ride there, she chucked an tantrum when taken off it. Shame.

Today is sunny and fine. D is on a double shift and I've been doing housework all morning, about to do some study. K is sleeping but is due to wake soon. All's good.

Sad news from the USA this weeks where some maniac student popped off 32 of his colleagues at some US college of higher education. Usual media frenzy, but little real analysis or insights into helping like mentally disturbed people. Sigh.

Doing my head in...

So I'm trying to train Baby K not to bug me when I'm on the computer, and in general not to be so demanding of attention.
So I've just spent the past hour and a half listening to the baby grizzling, screaming and crying at me. But I think it's worked (for now) and she's stopped crying, is toddling off to do her own thing and seems ok. Thank goodness, she was doing my head in.
I suspect this process is going to get worse before it gets better, but I must persist. Or else I have to give up doing what's important to me. The next test is to use the laptop in front of her (gulp).
I'm actually a bit of a soft touch really, the Berber is much more strict with her. My reputation as a miss vinegar tits is going all to god.
Oh dear, she's back and whingeing again. *silent scream*

Forgot to mention that I put Baileys, one of my VJ creations on youtube:
you can see it here. An oldy but a goodie, me thinks.

Oooh Purdy

It's Saturday, and my aren't we chilled out?
We just went shopping and D bought K some lovely little clothes. We got size 1 so she can grow into them, mind she's still a size 0 but her tops are starting to get a little bit small. Some purdy jeans with butterfiles on them and a matching top and a white jumper. Yes I know white is impractical with babies, but it looks so cute!
I was going to get some new jeans but all the ones I could see looked second hand. I know that's the trend, but I want something that looks smart.

It's a truly lovely day today, the sun is shining, not too hot, about 25 degrees. Quiet and calm.
D is watching TV and K is sleeping. The house is tidy all is quiet, only ironing to do.

[edit] It's now nearly 10pm and true to form her ladyship woke up seconds after I started doing some study. I'm going to start being more strict with her, she's a nightmare if I'm not paying her attention 100% of the time. So I did some controlled crying with her tonight, because I want to be able to put her to bed and for her to go to sleep rather than me having to be with her for an hour or so each time. It will make for more time for me if I do this.

Of course it breaks my heart, but she did get the message and go to sleep without me in the end.

Used Skype for the first time today. Spoke to my friend Mo in London, which was fab.

Sleepy

The infant is sleeping after a horrible night. Not that she's sick or anything, just being a naughty girl. I'm also trying to get her not to scream at me when I'm on the computer, which resulted in me loosing my patience (but not my temper, thankfully) and placing said infant in her room till she calmed down. Of course she fell asleep after some time screaming and is now catching up on her zzzzz's. Her temper must have been caused by lack of sleep. (Says she, in a mode of wishful thinking).
Yesterday I blitzed the housework. Did about 3 hours ironing, cleaned bathroom, did washing, cleaned kitchen, made beds. The lounge is still a wreck but the rest of it is in good shape.
I also removed some boxes from the kitchen which had become nothing more than roach habitats. Yes, dear people in England who may be reading this, Sydney is cockroach captial. It's something the folk in the UK can't cope with, our plethora of insect life here. It doesn't mean you're dirty, or a bad housekeeper, you just have to share your habitat with some unwelcome guests. Either that or cover every surface with insecticide, which is decidedly NOT good for baby.
Either that or get a lizard. Which remindes me, we have a large bluetongue lizard living underneath our front balcony. He's very shy, and also very large, about 30cm long and about 10cm wide. The local cats sit outside his burrow but I don't think they've got him yet.
Our house, which was supposed to be settling on Wednesday is settling today, (I hope). Then it's up to the lovely Lyn who is our agent to get us a tenant, and Bob's our uncle. Or something.
The Berber is upset today due to the horrible bombings in Algiers yesterday. Absolutely horrific. Something like 30 dead. Omar is going to see his family there next week, and they're both a bit worried about safety at the moment. Hope it doesn't kick off like it did a few years ago. That would be terrible.
D still insists he's going but definitely doesn't want us to go. He says it's miserable there at the moment. I suspect it's reprisals for the government offensive they've been pursuing over the past couple of months.

Flowcharts and beans

Went into uni today to give Lucilla a hand in getting her flowchart and storyboard together. Took a while to clarify what it actually was that she wanted. Getting there towards the end. She's got to do a bit more thinking on what she wants but it's starting to take form.
Spent the rest of the time downloading papers and rewriting my lit review. Did a little of the ethics application during the week. D drove me in, bless him, and took K shopping to the Broadway Centre. He gave her fish for lunch (two days in a row, lucky her!) while I dined on an egg sandwich.
Meeting with Andy went well. Not that I've done much, what with Easter et al.
Came home and D went swimming while I gave K her dinner. Then he came home armed with lamb and beans and made some chuk chuka for dinner. Delicious - I want to have it again, super yummy.
Mmmmm.

Chocolates, mansions and cousins

We went to Canberra this weekend, as my big brother decided (or was shamed into) visiting the family for the first time in 8 years(!!!). It was evident that I saw more of him in London than I did in the previous 5 years in Oz. Anyway, for better or for worse, most of his family made the trip, with the exception of Adam, who has purchased his first car and was doubtless intent on playing with his new toy.
They appear to be well, both he and Jen have lost weight, which is good.
We stayed at my sister's mansion, a huge 4 bedroom house with a pool room (for playing pool, not swimmng) and not one but two family rooms. K ran around like a mad thing and was plum tuckered out. She slept more than she usually does, which I put down to excitement with the cousins, and running around a house which is probably 5 times bigger than our little space.
My sister's kids are lovely. James is particularly fond of little K and did a brilliant job being on "baby duty". I got a wee bit of a break, thank goodness, but to be honest, not much. I did manage to play an hour of WOW with my sister, which was great fun and actually felt like a holiday, in between K screaming at me to be picked up.
Who said motherhood was easy?
Regardless, I think we had a lovely break from it all, but it was also nice to come home to the quiet. I probably think my sister appreciated the calm after the storm also, not that she would ever say so.
D spends time after each family encounter analysing the different relationships between people. It's quite interesting to hear his impressions.

Fair sailing

Things are good. I mean really good.
My work is going well, the students are learning nicely. Uni meeting was good today, supervisor appears happy. I've done a bit of work on it this week, so I'm happy.
K has a new pair of shoes courtesy of her lovely father, who is happy because he's got the next 6 days off.
Even my nephew is happy. I've been chatting to him online, he's just bought himself his first car.
K is eating for England at the moment. I mean I can actually feel the difference when I pick her up daily now, she's really stacking on the weight. Which is good because she went for a bit where she didn't appear to be doing much about 6 weeks ago.
D went swimming today and has crashed out on the couch. I'm pretending to be doing study, which I assure you I shall start in a bit.
I actually cooked a really good steak tonight. I mean I think it's about the second best I've ever done - the best being an unusually tender cut I did some 10 years ago purely by accident. So even our tummies are happy.
Our house settles next week, so I spent some time on the phone hassling people to find out what needs doing. I shall expect a phone call tomorrow - I shall call them if it doesn't eventuate, they appear to be leaving things very late. Gulp.

So all in all, fair sailing with some choppy water ahead.

Chillin out

So, I was supposed to go to lunch with my friend John from Yass today, but he's only got an hour for lunch and I really like to spend more time with him. So I cancelled, which was sad, but he wanted to meet in the city, which involves traffic, expensive or non-obtainable parking and travel time. His preferred time was 1pm, by which time Kate would have been screaming with hunger and general mayhem would have ensued. Of course my main reason for cancelling was that D has decided that he's allergic to going to the city and didn't want to go for just one hour. He's probably also mindful that Kate is terrible in restaurants.
I mean terrible. Our lovely little girl turns into a raging monster at restaurants. She gets bored, frustrated and generally a bad time is had by all.
So we went to Balmain instead. D wanted to see if there were any markets nearby, I said yes, but it really depends on what you want to buy. The ones in Rozelle, where we popped in for a bit, are really a second hand market, and the one in Balmain is more giftware. So we ended up going to the Rozelle markets, or more precisely I stayed in the car while Kate slept and he went to see them. Coming back disappointed he said they were full of second hand rubbish... I did tell him that.
So in the end we went to Birkenhead point, listened to some free music and generally chilled out. D managed to buy some stuff by wandering off solo, I fed Kate. I got the impression D didn't want me to spend money today. \oo/
Anyways, got home and I had a nap!!! Rah!
Now D has gone to work and Kate has passed out. Which is unlike her to have two sleeps these days, but she took herself off to bed, so she must have wanted it.
She'll probably wake later and never want to go to bed.
Think I'll take the opportunity to do some study, now the blog is done. Of course I'll fire up the computer and she'll wake up immediately.

Things of note: It's earth hour this evening. Turn off all lights between 7.30 and 8.30. Note to self - don't forget and get the candles out.

Oh yes, I saw a lovely little animation by Nick Hilligard (I know that name from somewhere) on the ABC. Stop frame, environmental in theme. Done by the Natural history unit. Nice. All about anteaters and termites. Me likee.

New Threads

I have some new trousers. They are way cool. They have a dragon on them and they're black. They tie up at the ankles. Need I say more? I look very cool in them.
Yesterday I bought them, after an unsuccessful trip to get K some posters for her wall. Very depressed at the lack of range in the baby shops, so went to Chatwood Chase and spent my hard earned dosh instead.
So today I take K to get weighed, because I'm under the impression that she's not put on any weight for quite a while. WRONG! I thought last time I weighed her she was 9.4, but she was 8.4kg and she's put on ONE whole kilo and a hundred grams since. She's well on track. I suspected she was ok cause she looks a little chubby and her tummy is big. She's eating for England at the moment. And she's grown out of her hats.
Take her to play on the green at Lane Cove and notice some posters for sale at the local newsagents. And they have exactly what I'm looking for. Yay! So now she has an alphabet and an underwater poster (to match her quilt) for her wall. Very cool.
Okay, enough skiiving, back to study.

Presenting...

Well I did it. A presentation of my work at uni. Lots of questions, quite useful and good to clarify the thinking. I've got a long haul ahead, but I think I'm on my way. Well maybe anyways. The questions were insightful and revealing of weaknesses in the method, which is good.
That combined with the ink covered return of my proposal on Monday, I'm really at water on this. Don't really know how I'm doing. Sometimes I think it's ok, others I think it's all rubbish.
Watched a bit of tele with the Berber tonight and then got up and cleaned the kitchen. I usually do it in the mornings, and Berber was surprised, he said I'd woken up and was doing some housework at last. As if! I do it everyday! Humph.
Keeps the cockroaches at bay, anyways. Not that the population has diminished much.
Oh yes, dear reader, our kitchen is positively infested. Yuk.
K was gorgeous as usual today. Too in love with my own child. Is that wrong?
Enough of this self indulgence. Goodnight.

Sleepies

I think it's the change in the clocks, the little one has been way sleepy today. I took her to the park this morning to play with her pals from mother's group. Dragged her home kicking and screaming, fed her, and he slept for (wait for it) 3 hours!
This evening noticed she looked tired and put her to bed early. She's usually not alseep full till just before 9, tonight it was 8. Yay!
Cleaned the house today. Mostly taking the opportunity afforded by a sleeping infant. Did lots of washing. Bored.
Stressing out over presentation tomorrow. Must do some more work on it.
Did my prep for teaching tomorrow also. No problemo.
John Y rang - he's in town and sounding extremely chipper. Hope to catch up with him later in the week.
Oh yes, little one is also eating for the olympics so I suspect a growth spurt. She's overdue one as she hasn't put on any weight in a while (shhh). Way too active, this one.
Note to self - stop eating chocolate and lose some weight.

Grasshopper

Spent the day at uni struggling with my presentation for this Wednesday. It's coming together but I see gaps in the thinking.
My supervisor gave me feedback on the proposal and the ink flowed freely. The email he sent was quite damning and I'm a bit down about it all. What's very difficult to tell in how bad it is, whether it just needs a spit and polish or if the whole thing needs throwing out. Can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear or whatever.
I'll bow to the master and be a good little grasshopper.
In other news - well the Lane Cove Tunnel is now open, happily shovelling the mindless into a new revenue making machine for the govt/private alliance that seem to be monopolising the roads here in Sydney. Came home over the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the traffic along Longueville Road is SUBSTANTIALLY reduced. So it looks like we'll get our suburb back at long last.
The Berber was happy when I came home, having had a chilled out morning with his daughter. The weather has turned for the cooler, overcast today which is quite nice.
Went to a wicked seminar at Uni too, a dude who works in visual effects and is also an architect. Me likee. Makes me wonder why I'm doing this e-learning bollocks when all I really want to do is sfx.
I guess life is what we make it, eh?

Weird Weather

So, yesterday. Blisteringly hot and as humid as a soup. I took K to pick up the Berber from soccer yesterday and wandered around trying to find him. We nearly expired from the heat. Ironically he'd walked home, so we missed him. Oh well.
Today, cold enough to wear a jacket. I mean chilly decidedly cool.
So boiling one day freezing the next. Very weird.
On a brighter note, I got all the ironing done last night. Was at it at midnight when hubby came home but it's done now. K crawled into the empty basket this morning.
It seems that K and I won't be going to Algeria later in the year. The dates of school term don't match up with D's leave and he doesn't really want us to go during Ramadan. Or due to the terrorists. He also doesn't want to spend the money. So he'll probably go and we'll stay here. Sigh. Of course two weeks before he'll want us to come so lord knows what's going to happen.
In other news, in case I didn't mention it, the house in Brissy will settle on April 11th. So onwards and upward to the rest of our lives. Health wealth and happiness.

Calm with stormy waters ahead

Wednesdays are always insanely busy. Up around 6.30 (well actually it was 5am - I managed to get K to go back to sleep), feed baby. She's eating cereal now, real grown up stuff with no farex (rice cereal) in sight. Sultana Bran with good old sun filled aussie sultanas. Then get ready, go to work and teach the TV students their 3D class. They're actually getting the hang of it now, I'm pleased.
Today I rushed back home cause the Berber wanted to go into town, picked up he and K and raced into Uni in time for the seminar. Then (take a deep breath) I had to give a practice seminar for the real thing next week. I'm nervous, those guys don't give much quarter, being the keenly intelligent types that they are. One hole in your arguments and they'll dig you ever deeper.
Anyway, finished after some brilliant comments from Andy and Lucilla (supervisor and fellow student) I should be on track for next week.
Went back to the car to find the Berber and K playing in the park nearby. It was lovely. Simply lovely, K gave a big "HI" and then decided she'd run away from me. Hilarious. The Berber greeted me with the most loveliest of smiles. (Awww).
Back home and they went to do a shop while I did the speediest clean I've done in ages. K doesn't like me to do the dishes. She wraps herself around my legs and whinges at me. So it's best I do them when she's out.
Then little person's bath, to bed and I sneak out to watch a DVD with the Berber. Really good one, a true story about one man's struggle in apartheid South Africa.
Tomorrow promises to be equally as busy. Deep breath.
I've got so much work to do with this PhD I'm feeling like I'm sinking before I start. Calm right now, stormy waters ahead.

Le Petit Manipulator

I have come to a sad realisation. My baby manipulates me. Which really isn't a surprise, but the results of my experiment in anti-manipulation have resulted in the best night's sleep I've had in over a year.
After two nights of denying the boob during the night, more due to the fact that I've run out of milk than anything else, she now has been sleeping through the night.
Which leads me to think that I've been a sad mug all this time.
Anyways cheers to good nights sleep and may many more come.
Today we bought some new tyres for the car. It's something that we've been aware of but they really needed changing. So we're all safe now.
K and I went to the shops this morning and I let her run around on the green with the other little monsters. She likee.
That's this little mother signing off - off to do some study.

Tidd

Linen Mountains

Today I washed. Unremarkable really, but I washed 3 loads, and still have another at least one to go. I think this type of mundane dull boring bulls**t is what blogs don't really need.
So I'll wrap up this week. Good, with upchucks in the middle with a frenzied cleanup on a Friday. K and I both had gastro on Wednesday. Actually she got it Tuesday night and I got it Wednesday night, so I have the nasty suspicion that she gave it to me. But not knowing the incubation periods, can't be sure.
The Berber came home with a new DVD the other night. Blade Trinity. Pity I was too ill and tired to watch.
Hot today 34 Degrees Celsius. Tomorrow we're due to drop ten degrees.
We went to the library today and picked up some more books for my baby's addiction. I ran into Wanda at Coles, she was plugging salad dressing, which was actually nice. Hope to have her and Ian over to dinner soon.
It's actually been a really full day, but nothing special, if you get my drift.
Note: It's the Sydney Harbour Bridge's 75th birthday this weekend. The city is gearing up for celebrations. Wonder if I'll participate.

Tired

I don't know what's wrong with me. I am incredibly tired. (shakes head)
Of course it might have something to do with the fact that Baby K woke up 3 times last night and I didn't get a good night's sleep on top of the trip to Brisbane.
Sighs.
Or maybe I'm not getting enough exercise.
I can't take a nap because my brother and his missus is coming up from Canberra to go to a cocktail party tonight. I'm supposed to be going too, but I really need to prepare for TAFE and get some study done.
The Berber gets a good nights sleep, I make sure he does with much sacrifice of my own because he needs to work and he's on double shifts Mondays and Tuesdays.
Anyway - we went to Mother's group today and K played with her little friends. The other mothers were amazed when I suggested that she go home for a sleep, and she waved and headed for the door. I heard someone mutter "she's good" as we left. They're a lovely group of ladies. Me like them.
K is getting her 5th tooth. She's quite good about it really, and there's another on the way. It seems that they'll all come quite fast now. She had mango for lunch which we succeeded in eating and not getting it all over Jodie's carpet. Well, we'd done such a good job with the cheese slice that I was extra careful with the Mango.
I'm having a coffee with the lovely Natasha and Baby Olivia a bit later on, when all the babies have had their sleeps. K is sleeping now, hence me having the time to write this.

Trip op norf

Went up to Brisbane on the weekend. We're buying an investment house up there, we've had it built and will be settling in about 3 weeks or so. So Baby K and the Berber and my brother and sister-in-law all tracked up there for a very quick trip.
Bribane is beautiful. The house is lovely and my brother's house is just around the corner and equally beautiful.
K doesn't like going on planes. She becomes a bit of a monster. The Berber gets all stressed when she's bad. All in all not nice.
What was nice was catching up with some of my brother's friends, who I haven't seen in something like 20 years. Wow. We had a lovely day down at a kids park at Wynam. K went for a swim and the Berber rolled up his trousers and went in with her. He got soaked.
Paul and Linda have a gorgeous daughter who just loved playing with Kate. All in all it was a bit special, but it's taken me 2 days to recover. Exhausted.
You can see some pics here

Chair dives - inexpertly done

This morning I took K to the soft play place in Gladesville. Our mother's group decided against the beach again and went there instead.
K had a riot, running around like a mad thing, climbing on everything and generally having a ball. Which there were plenty of, by the way, she collected them and deposited them in the back of the little push cars dotted around the place. The jumping castle/slide was a riot, and she went down by herself a few times.
Right up until I decided she should have lunch. Grabbed offending infant and plonked her on a chair, told her to sit down while I got her lunch out. She stood up - and the next moment the chair was falling backward, baby K face planted into the floor.
Not nice. She cut her lip and grazed her chin. Unhappy puppy. Blood everywhere, for a wee while.
Gathered her up and plonked bottle in offending oriface, asleep by the time we got home.
Woke up and of course didn't want lunch - her mouth was sore, wasn't it.
We went in to Uni to see Mary Lou, who is very busy, but managed to give us half an hour of her time. She said my research was "very interesting". She'll help assess it in July, she says.
Ducked into Birkenhead on the way home and K scored a new pair of jeans and some pyjamas. I think it's a guilt trip over her getting hurt.

I'm such a guilt ridden softy.

Bathroom blues

Our shower has been leaking. The kind of leaking that seeps through concrete and causes nasty brown stains on the loungeroom carpet.
As a result we've been using the bath for the past few days, which is hilarious, because every time we have a bath, K wants to have one too. Three baths a day is not good for baby's skin.
So she contents herself with throwing things in, and splashing her hands in it if she can reach.
So I set out this morning to regrout the tiles. Nasty boring backbreaking. I regrouted, resealed most of the tiles in the shower, and found the problem - where the water was pooling to soak out. Now all that remains is for it to dry thoroughly and to rubber seal the suspect seam.
K is currently screaming at me because I'm using the computer and not paying her 100% attention.
Now we're playing the "hat" game where we both have to wear hats.
Of note from the world outside. It's mardi gras tonight - so all the lovely boys (and girls) are dressed up in their skin exposed glory. Thank goodness it's warm.
Maxine McKew, an old colleague who resigned from the ABC recently has decided to run against John Howard in the seat of Bennelong. Today she received death threats. My lord! Maxine is one of the world's lovely lovely people - why would anyone want to harm her? It's the big boys playing nasty power games again, but really it does bring out the ugly side of humanity, doesn't it?

Looking inside in tiny iterations

I think this blog is pure self indulgence. A bit like looking inside in tiny iterations. You know like the fractal, where you keep on going in and in and in and never quite finding that true heart, the kernel of truth or understanding.
My life has become smaller, yet at the same time richer, more fulfilling. I'm contented, sorted - hell, I'm happy.
Of course I do have occasional guilt trips over the "I should get a real job" and stuff, but the cost (and I'm not talking currency here) of putting a 1 year old into childcare, especially the soulless places I've looked at, simply chills me to the bone. I'm happier and I suspect so is she with the current situation.
However, I must do more on my PhD. Not that it's the beginning and end of all things, but it is a pleasant diversion. I suspect I'd go mad without it.
I miss my friends in London. But at least I can catch up online I guess. Not really the same, is it?

I got Thursday on my mind...

K is a gorgeous child. Is it wrong to be in love with your own child?
I didn't love her too much this morning when she grabbed fistfulls of my hair and pulled. Hard.
She has the most alarming habit of going into superwhinge mode when I do one of two things:
Wash the dishes;
Use a computer.
Doesn't matter whether it's my uni laptop or the home machine, she won't let me use it. All she wants to do is bash the keyboard.
Today we had a quiet morning at home - with a refusal of breakfast - not interested, but considering she had so much to eat yesterday, I'm not overly stressed on it. We did the usual reading of about 20 books, well not 20, but about five or six, over and over and over. She rather likes the Sandra Boynton books, which is good, because I do too. And Spot. Despite the desire to rip the little flaps off.
This afternoon was teaching. Rather liked it, my this digital media class has some wonderful artists in it. I'm so going to enjoy seeing what they will come up with. The TV class is good too, but they're not artists. Each has their strengths, the TV folk know the visual narrative and story telling, whereas the Digital folk know the software and art.
While I was teaching Berber took K to Balmoral beach for a swim. *So jealous*.

C'est la vie.

Sticky Saturday

It's sticky. I mean it's not that blisteringly hot sticky that stops you from sleeping at night and makes you lie awake covered in sweat. No, it's a 27 degree sticky that has had Baby K covered in sweat from head to toe all day - right up until I ripped off all her clothes and let her run around in a nappy.
Either that or she has a fever, but to be truthful, I think it's a combination of both.
The Berber was invited to go play soccer today, but didn't go because of the heat. Ironically it started cooling down around 2pm and then poured all evening.
It's still sticky though.
And I've discovered I have an earache. Which is probably why Baby K's been wingey all day too.
I was supposed to do some study today, but to be honest I'm too tired. The stickyness and the lack of sleep are weighing down on me like a dead thing.
The movie "The Mummy" was on tele tonight, and I don't mind it, even if it is a laughable plot line. I fell asleep on the couch and awoke covered in sweat.
So needless to say I've been a bit lazy today.
We went exploring at Woolwich, due to Berber's desire to see the harbour. I've never really been snooping around the peninsula, so it was fun. We found a decent place with a view at the ferry wharf. Nice.

I've got Friday on my mind

So much for posting every day. Yesterday was very busy. Went to uni in the morning and did some research, then popped home for an hour and then to TAFE to teach.
The digital media students are very good and threaten to keep me on my toes.
Berber was in a mood when I came home, exacerbated by him leaving around dinner time and coming home from the shops a little late, too late for K's dinner. So she got all cross and screamy, the Berber got all stressed and nothing went too well.

Oh dear.
Today is another day.
Quite a good one really. Sun is out, sky is blue.
Our single mum neighbour has just been over for coffee with gorgeous 13 week old baby. Very sweet. Ran around like a headless chook this morning cleaning and ironing and all domestic bliss.
Not very interesting really. Study tonight. All's good.

Tidd

Notes on a Wednesday

Well the need to express some form of creativity in the current miasma of academia has at last driven me to create my first blog.
That is to say, of course, the miasma of academia that isn't scaffolded by nappy changing, spoon feeding Baby K, changing clothes, going for walks and otherwise generally having good times with the Berber.
Today I did more than the usual, which is normal for a Wednesday. After arising at some ungodly hour by Baby K tap tap tapping on her door for attention, the usual morning feed (this morning consisting mostly of mango - her tastes apparently now far too sophisticated for her usual vegemite toast. Predicated by the fact that I've run out of her favourite breakfast cereal.) We had the usual riotous time with the mango slipping out from between her fingers and much giggling ensuing.
What to do with a mango slurpy for a baby? Take offending toddler and place in shower. Turn on and watch squeals as she realises the water is cold to begin with. She loves it. Mango washing down drain along with all our sins.
Berber still snoring in bedroom, iron work trousers, dress in boring conservative but not too unflattering black pinstriped shirt, then deposit baby on top of sleeping form with a "Got to go to work" and escaping to the screams as Baby K is not fooled by the ruse and realises I'm off.
"Work" at this time consists of lecturing the uninitiated in the art of 3D an an attempt to make creative geniuses of them all. We're up to week 3 and this is a busy tutorial - they appear to be rising to the challenge, with some non-pc literate folk the marked exceptions.
The lovely Jess shows up around 1030, submitting her work ridiculously late. She's a student who's been battling a brain tumour all last semester. Absolutely a gorgeous person. All the more tragic in that I've known her since she was ten. She has a deferral and as long as I get her marking done by Friday it will all be ok.
Back home for lunch and the lovely Berber all smiles. Appears family is getting on well today. Baby K asleep after a big lunch. Yay.
Off to academic supervisor for PhD. He seems happier with my work, it seems even more focused to me now, and the path forward is clarifying and becoming edged with little gold fairylights. The PhD is in e-learning and I'm probably going to bore you with it and you will have to be shot at the end. Confidentiality and all that.

You have been warned.

Tidd