Bayli's First Christmas

It would be fair to say that Santa visited our house. We walked into the lounge room on Christmas morning and there were a thousand presents under the tree. (They were there the previous night as well, but that kind of ruins the story).

Bayli got a lot of little things, of course-- clothes and blocks and toys and books and whatever-- but her two favorite toys were the biggest. Opa and Grand-mama (Kel's parents) gave her a swing that we've hooked up on the deck and she sits there for hours smiling and singing. And Nan and Pop (Scott's parents) gave her a walk behind type thing that will one day turn into a bike type thing. She get's behind that and takes off at a run. (In the pic the thing is actually in bike mode.) The fact the the walker thing takes off a little bit quicker on our timber floor is a minor concern.

In the giving department Scott has spent the last couple of months trying to edit together the three videos taken on our wedding into one sensible, interesting movie. He finished burning those just after lunch on Christmas day-- we gave out empty DVD cases in the morning-- only to discover that the sound and video were not lined up correctly. Argh. During the same period, Kelly was making cards and calendars (with Bayli on them, of course) and photo books and all sorts of other things. Needless to say they all went down a treat.

We've also done a bit of work on the yard over the last few days. I don't know if it's been mentioned previously but we finished the retaining wall in the small front yard bit a little while ago. Today the wall was completely finished (so, OK, obviously it wasn't actually finished before) when we added another small, single-sleeper-height section and some rocks. After that we got some plants in-- just in time for the rain. We also filled in some holes under the fence in the bottom yard to help keep Pip in when we eventually move her down there and built her a digging box. It has been a very busy couple of days. We have to thank Marty and Sharon for all the work they did. And Les helped with the main part of the wall (though, now that I think of it I'm sure that was mentioned in an earlier post).

I may be able to organise some pictures of that, if anyone is interested (though of course, that would involve someone 'Commenting' so I won't be holding my breath). (Sharon -- friend not relation -- is excused as she commented recently. Thank you Sharon)

Scott's work is going OK. It isn't great but seeing it's only four hours a day...

A couple of kids cancelled Holiday care (well, their parents cancelled, but you know what I mean) so the next couple of weeks are going to be fairly quiet for Kel-- just three days a week with only one kid on a couple of them-- but hopefully it should pick up a bit next year once word starts to get around a bit more.

Pip has been escaping a bit during the night-- well, not any ore because we lock her on the deck. Every night she would find a way out and Scott would hear her barking out on the street at about 5am and go out to get her. Thankfully, sinnce she got a smack on the nose from one of the neighbour's dogs (at least we think that's what the yelp was, though we didn't actually see it) she comes back pretty much straight away, no matter how much fun she seems to be having-- normally with the very dogs who we think smacked her on the nose. Anyway, she would get out, Scott would collect her and fill the escape hole. And the next morning the process would be repeated.

But Scott got up one morning top discover that not only had Pip escaped and gone to play with the dogs next door but she had taken her soccer ball with her. The three dogs next door were running up and down the inside of their fence (they can't get out) barking like three very excited dogs and Pip was out on the footpath, running up and down the outside of the fence (she can't get in) like one very excited dog with a soccer ball.

Scott brought an early end to the game, but we think it's fair to say that Pip was leading her first away game by a healthy margin.

That's all for now-- dinner is ready.

We hope Christmas brought everyone everything they wanted and that 2009 brings you everything you need.

Swimming and Working

More complaints that we haven't been writing anything on the blog. Well, I'd like to point out that nobody has been commenting on our blog either...

Anyways, my mother, who we talk to a couple of times a week, wants another post, so here I am.

We've been taking Bayli to the pool and she loves it. Hasn't cried once, even with all the dunking and stuff like that. She's really starting to splash around a bit now too.

Bayli has finally, after weeks of effort, started to get mobile. She drags herself around, normally diagonally because she only pushed with one foot, but still. And, if you hold her hands for balance she can practically run across a room. She gets very excited about it all.

She's sleeping through the night now. (Well, most nights. She's down the other end of the house from the main bedroom now so we normally leave her door and our door open so we can hear if she starts crying during the night. Except my parents were staying the other night so we had out door closed... couldn't hear a thing but apparently she was crying a lot that night. Oh well-- Kel and I got some sleep. Bayli was happy enough in the morning so there doesn't appear to have been any long term effects.)

Kel and Bayli go to Play Group on Tuesdays and this week I went along too. A lot of the regulars weren't there apparently and they changed the routine slightly so I didn't get to see how things normally were but it was still good.

I started a new job on Monday. Some electricians in town (Storey Electrical) used to have a little shop where they sold a couple of things like stoves and power points and whatever. They've decided to expand and open a big, proper retail type place with fridges and stoves and washing machines and lights and all sorts of stuff. So I'm in the shop each afternoon from 1 to 5 selling stuff and booking jobs for the electricians and whatnot. I will be anyway. At the moment I'm cleaning and painting and stuff like that. Not bad so far. The people are all nice, so that's a bonus. And it's only a few minutes from home. Apparently the hours may increase and there may also be some TA type stuuf that I can do.

Xmas is coming quick. We still need to organise a lot of presents. I don't have anything for Kel yet, though I have some ideas.

Kel is going well with the Family Day Care. Still not a full roster but anyways.

Pip is turning into a watch dog. She now barks at people waling past on the street (very annoying) and gets very serious with growling and the works if they come into the yard. She is completely different to the petrified puppy we brought home (though she still doesn't like getting close to strangers).

I think that's all for now.

One Small Step

A few days ago Kel said we should update the blog. Apparently, by that, she meant that I should update the blog. So here I am.

And the big news... Bayli is mobile. Ok, so she didn't walk. And it took her ten minutes to move about a foot, but move she did.

What else?

We're heading down to Ipswich for the wedding of Trish (Kel's aunt) and Brad (he fiance) on Saturday. We're heading home the same day. And tomorrow, we intend taking Bayli for her first ever swim. That should be fun. Hopefully. Otherwise be ready for a thousand photos of a screaming baby.

I am doing Work for the Dole. I help out doing research on weapons and stuff (such as the Wiles' Mobile Kitchen) at the Burnett War Memorial Museum, which is located at Kingaroy Airport. Some of the stuff is pretyt interesting. Other stuff is not. I'm typing out stuff from a book on the HMAS Hobart and the author has put down every trivial piece of information and not in a very interesting way.

The Family Day Care thing is going pretty good. Still only the four kids but Kel is enjoying it and they seem to be too. Bayli is also enjoying it, actually. All the extra, non-stop stimulation is great.

I think that's all for now.

Another catch up

So, what's been going on?

Bayli loves her solid food now. With pears and pumpkins she actually lunges toward the spoon to try to get it quicker. It's very cute. And if she's around while we're eating she watches the spoon/fork/whatever from the plate to our mouths, looking as if she thinks she's missing out. She is also trying her hardest to crawl, or at least push herself along the floor. She's got the leg bit all worked out but just ends up pushing her face into the carpet because the arms are all just a bit complicated. She gets very frustrated...

We finally got our car back, again, after more complications. Kel's father pick it up from the mechanic (after about 2 months) and was kindly driving it up to our place on the friday night of hte father's day weekend. He got as far as Woodford-- the car was jumping out of gear. So he stayed at my parent's place and got a lift the rest of the way with them. Then on sunday, the mechanic (well, not the one who been doing all the work-- his boss) got his wife to drive him up to Woodford from souther Brisbane so he could drive he car back down. He fixed the gear problem with a slight adjustment on the side of the road and did some more adjustments and bolt tightening and stuff back in the workshop. So a few days after that Kel and I went to my paent's place and I caugth the train down so I could pick up the car.

And now we've got it and it seems to be working. Woo hoo. This all started, originall in may last year. Or maybe september last year, depending on how you want to calculate. I think we broke the mechanic. He quit and has given up the trade completely.

Help my parents with a garage sale last weekend. That went pretty well. Pulled in about $600 all up, I think.

What else? Aicon is in. Fans are in. Fence is finished...

That's all for now. Got to go play a game.

Oh, and I've been reading a comic-- Questionable Content. it's great. I read about 1200 episodes in two weeks. Check it out for smart humour and a real story.

Melbourne

Scott here.

I know I said I would post 2 photos every week but it's your own silly fault if you actually believed me. And I've been busy lately...

We got back from Melbourne on Sunday and spent the night at my parent's place. Finally got back home on Monday. It was a good couple of weeks but it is great to be home.

Not that Sandra and Steve (the aunt and uncle-- from my side of the family-- that we stayed with) weren't great hosts. We played cards most days, or pool, or both, and watched a few DVDs.

We hired a Rent-A-Bomb car for ten days while we were down there. It actually wasn't too bad. Went well (except it was a bit rough getting into second gear) and the boot only leaked a little bit. It did make it a lot easier to get around (we did quite a lot of driving) and saved us about $200, I think.

We went down to Kel's grandmother's place fairly early on and introduced her to Bayli. Nanna Rube was surprised to see us (her first words were, 'What are you doing here') and obviously delighted. We visited two more times-- once when Kel's mom arrived on Thursday and again on Saturday when more members of the family came around for a visit. Then there was the visit to Kel's aunt and uncle from her father's side. These are the same relatives we stayed with lat time we went to Melbourne.

We also went out to Berwick and visited thepeople who lived next door when Kel was living there as a girl. They still lived in the same house. Other than all that, we went to the markets, had BBQ's with my aunt and uncle and cousin and second cousin and...

OUr first Anniversary came around while we were down there so we went out for dinner. The restaurant was a bit cold and depressing-- all concrete and stainless steel-- but the food was great and we had a voucher to get one main meal free so it was pretty good.

Bayli was great on the plane. She hardly made a sound going down or coming back. She was pretty good the whole time actually, as she always is. She ate her first solid food-- if you can call watery mashed potatoes 'solid'.

And now, back at home in time for my first Father's Day. And the air conditioners are getting installed on Monday. (which means I've been crawling around in the roof for the last two days running electrical cables-- great fun.)

That's all for now. Kel may have something to add but too bad...

And Old Car

2 Pictures Every Week

Scott here.


Ok, I've decided that every (calender) week (starting on Mondays) I am going to post 2 photos. One of these photos will be taken from inside our yard or house. The subject may be situated outside those boundaries, but they will be view from inside. The second photo will be taken outside the yard.

So, here are the first two efforts...

The first was taken from our deck. The second is of an old train bridge in the park just down the road.

Neither are particularly great, but anyway. And if I'd posted them tomorrow I'd have had two weeks to worry about the next ones. Damn.




















In other news... Bayli laughed for the first time the other day. It was very cute. Cute even than the tiny black kitten. We haven't been able to get here to do it again but we're working on it. I think we need to find a new act though-- the old one is giving me concussion as it involves a lot of vigorous nodding and head shaking...

Lounge Room Pics

Kel here...

Thought we should post some pics of the finished lounge room while Scott's in picture posting mode. As you can see, it's come up really well. We just need to get some things up on the wall and finish the floor (we're leaving the carpet in place for the winter).

I'm going now, to entertain my daughter.

Hissy Fit

These pics were supposed to be in the post below, but blogger chucked a hissy fit and wouldn't let me do it.

Shinging Armour

We went to the Abbey Medieval Festival on Sunday.

We headed for my parents place in Woodford on Saturday, even though they weren't at home. We got there about 1, settled in, had some lunch, fed the munchkin and were about to head off to do some shopping at Morayfield when we heard voices.

"Lo," quoth I, "is that voices I hear?"

Kelly confirmed that it was so. "Yea."

"That doth sound like my Pa," quoth I, again.

And it did. And low and behold there he was, standing at the back door. Seems that, seeing my mother was actually sick they decided to cut their holiday short and rushed home. It was too late by that stage to cancel the wild party Kel and I had planned, but more on that later.

Anyways, we went shopping and that was exciting.

The next day it was off to the festival. It looked like rain, but that didn't eventuate, thankfully. At least not until we were on our way out the gate (near which we bough a box ful of strawberries. Mmmm, strawberries.)

So anyway, we spent the day wondering the stall, watching some sword fights and
dancing and whatnot. It was great, as usual. Though, as usual, would be much better if I could afford to spend hundreds of dollars buying stuff. All i get to do is look at swords and helms and stuff like that. Not fair. Kel would probably let me buy things but...

We met Josh, Leanne and their boys there. We didn't see them for most of the day, but I'm sure that isn't the point. Apparently Connor spent seven and a half hours (or something like that) pumping a bellows for a blacksmith and was given a hand made arrow head for his efforts. And another story circulating was that Josh was able to draw a 120lb bow (after an embarrassing failure on Saturday) and had an entire hand made arrow as a trophy. I wasn't there so I didn't see it. I have my doubts.

Bayli had a great time. She was lying in the pram for a while. Then she was sleeping. Then she was lying in the pram a bit more. She did a lot of smiling though, so I'm sure she had fun.

Afterwards, Josh and company came back to mum and dads for a slightly overcooked BBQ. The dog was terrified (after being tied up for most of the rest of the day), but apart from her, I think everyone had a good day.

NB: Some accents may have been changed (again) to protect those without funny accents.

Window

This photo was taken the same place as the one below. I like it.

There have been three posts today, so don't forget to look at them all... :)

Bamboo Picture

The original photo is in the centre. It was taken in Sydney the weekend Kelly and I got engage. The others have all undergone some fairly basic photoshopping.

This Post Needs a Title

Yes, I know, it's been more than a week but...

Wait. I seem to remember writing something like that that last time. I guess there's no need for me to finish writing it this time then cause you know where I was going. :)

Not a lot has actually been happening. I've slowly been getting into writing, though not the new book. I'm working on the next draft of The Brightest Light which is a good thing, really. Obviously I'm two drafts closer to the end of that than anything else I have at the moment. And, obviously, Orbit still hasn't gotten back to me about Songs of Other Worlds. It has only been about four months so I don't have any reason for complaining yet.

Kel is moving forward with the home daycare thing. She's been busy typing away--personal philosophies and price structures and stuff like that to give to parents. I think she is kinda looking forward to it.

We took Pip to the vet the other day. Apparently there's a chance she has hip dysplasia. That's something that can't be treated except, eventually, with an expensive hip replacement, so let's hope it's something else. We'll be taking her back for x-rays in a couple of months.
In the mean time she's still going through her digging/chewing phase. It's great.

Bayli is going great. The wind isn't as bad as it was-- whether that's because Kel is eating less wheat (thanks for the tip Nicky) or because she's starting to outgrow it is impossible to tell. She's been lying on my knees for the last half an hour happily chatting away and now, all of a sudden, she's started crying for no apparent reason.

The lounge room has been completed. It's done. Well, all but done. Close enough. It's actually been done for a few weeks but we wanted to surprise grandparents with it. Kel's folks have seen it and mine are gallivanting somewhere up near Charters Towers, on their way back from visiting Deb on Lizard Island.

And while they're gallivanting we'll be staying at their house. The Abbey Tournament is on this weekend so we'll be staying there on Saturday night so we only have 1/2 hour or so to drive to the Tourney on Sunday. We will be meeting Josh, Leanne, Hagan, Connor and Cullyn there.

I may have discovered the reason for Bayli's crying... And that reason smells a little bit like poo. I think I may have a job to do...

Cats and Dogs

Yes, I know, it's been more than a week. If you don't like it then don't read... :)

Anyway.

We had a kitten. Sort of. For a night. Kel was in the kitchen the other night and said, "Forsooth, is that a kitten I hear?"

I didn't know what was going on with the strange accent but I went out on the deck to look. And I discovered a kitten shaped patch in the darkness that was making kitten like sounds. I went back in side and informed Kelly of my observations. And that, we thought, was the end of that.

Until, five minutes later, a tiny black kitten came marching in through the doggy door as if it owned the place. It proceeded to spend the next ten minutes wandering around investigating things and climbing on our (thankfully, old and tatty) lounge. Pip was very excited to say the least.

Eventually, Kelly took the tiny, very cute kitten and put it out on the street, hoping it would carry on with it journey and make its way home. Five minutes later, it came back. It sat on the deck for a while eating Pip's dinner and pretty much ignoring her attempts at play. So, I took it and dumped it over the fence right away from the door. And five minutes later...

So, I dumped the tiny black kitten out the back door, hoping it would wander away. And five minutes later...

So I tried again. And closed the door (with Pip inside) and the curtains.

And five minutes later, as I was washing up, the tiny, annoying black kitten climbed up on the BBQ and sat there watching me through the window. I closed the blinds and turned off the lights. Be very very quiet...

About an hour later I put Pip out for the night and found the tiny, annoying stalker kitten in the dog kennel.

I took the damn cat and put it over the neighbour's fence, hoping it would be distracted by the lights over there. And five minutes later... Nothing.

Huh, I won't be out smarted by a tiny, very cute black kitten.

Of course it was on the back deck the next morning.

We took it to the RSPCA. The chick there said the kitten was very thin and had probably been roaming on its own for some time. Hopefully somebody gives the little bugger a home, though apparently not many people take the black ones. It was very cute though.

Oh well.

In more animal news, we were taking Pip for a walk through the park the other day. We generally let her off the leash to wander around on her own. This day, she saw some ducks and trotted a bit closer for a look. The ducks decided, for whatever reason, they wanted to be somewhere else at that time and took off. Pip thought duck hunting looked like a fun sport and head down, ears back, took off in pursuit.

The trouble was, the ducks took off from a pond. The trouble was, the pond was covered with weeds, so it looked green and solid to gullible young puppies (ok she's seven months old but still...).

Dogs normally belly flop if they want to jump into water. Pip went nose first and surfaced a couple of meters out in the water. Thankfully she worked out quickly enough that she could swim and headed for shore. She came out feeling sorry for herself but none the worse for wear.

Kel and I had fun.

Othe rthan that... Bayli's doing great. Kelly is going to be doing Home Day Care. And... Thant's all, I think.

Lounge rooms and Tracky-daks

Scott writes...

I was changing Bayli's nappy the other day and managed to put her tracky-daks on back to front-- I had the pockets at the back instead of the front. Of course, this does beg the question... Why does a two month old baby need a track suit and, on the slim chance she is going to go for a run or for a workout at the gym, what the hell is she going to put in her pockets?

Anyways...

Bayli's jaundice seems to be clearing up but she's still getting wind really bad. Most babies grow out of that by about three months, apparently... Only about three weeks to go. She starting to try to talk now, making sounds other than just crying and grunting. She's also starting to smile a lot more. It's very cool.

Other than that, the renovations are starting to get somewhere now. I'm doing the final tidy up on the plaster at the moment then it's just painting to go. Woo hoo. Can't wait. It will be nice to be able to do a couple of reasonably little jobs. The wardrobe in the main bedroom. A couple of short stretches of fence. None of these projects really effect our quality of living (unlike not having a lounge room) so they don't have to be done straight away. Then, of course, the bedroom has to be done sometime as well. That involves plastering as well, but it should be reasonably easy compared to the lounge room. Thank god.

We went down to Brisbane the last weekend. It was Bayli's first time out of Nanango and Kingaroy. Some of Kel's friends visited on Saturday. Then we went and visited Jason and Mil on Sunday. It was great.

And Aunite Deborah visited from Lizard Island a little while ago. She met Bayli for the first time.
She met Pip for the first time too, actually. And speaking of Pip, she's taken up plying soccer. We bought her a ball and she loves it-- mainly because she can't pick it up so she pushes it around the yard with her nose until she's too exhausted to run any more. It's great. I don't have to do a thing.


That's all for now. I've decided to try to post at least once a week. We'll see how that goes.

Mother's Day

Bit late I know, but when do I have time to do anything anymore?

So, how was my first Mother's Day? Fabulous.

In the morning (not too early) Bayli climbed into bed with Scott and I for a cuddle. While we were having our morning cuddle she gave me the present she picked out on her very own (Scott assures me it's true). I was very impressed that she thought to get me a super-duper-u-beaut-top-of-the-range paper trimmer for my scrapbooking. (Not sure when I'll get time to use it now is the only thing :P)

After I got my present Scott headed off to the kitchen to make his Super-Sunday-Breakfast (incidentally, he hasn't made this for me since before we were married). Mum had come to stay for the weekend so she joined us on the deck for a terrific Mother's Day breakfast.

Not long after breakie Scott's folks arrived. We then had more present opening. I was lucky enough to get two more presents, one from Scott -- a new jaffle maker so I can make more pies -- and one from Mum -- two tops, some new shower sponge thingys and some scrapbooking paper. We gave our presents to our mothers too. I think their favourites were the photos of Scott/Bayli for his mum and Me/Bayli for mine, along with the mini photo books I had made for them with photos of them with Bayli. So it seems this Mother's Day was all about Bayli!!

I suppose I may as well fill you in on the happenings since then...

The renovations are coming along. The new study has been completed (currently used as the nursery though while Bayli is so young), and the lounge room is sans wardrobe. It has already made a huge difference without the wardrobe in the room, it looks much bigger. Not an awful lot left to do in this room now either, just the fiddly bits which usually take just as long as the main jobs. We've been looking at paint colours too and have narrowed it down to a few favourites.

Bayli still has some jaundice. This had us sent off to the doctors last week to get blood tests to check on her liver function. This was HORRIBLE!! They needed to get enough blood for three small vials and then two other small test tube type thingys and the only way they can get it is to cut her foot and squeeze it out drop by drop. She screamed the whole time. Her levels came back high from this first test so we had to go back on Monday for another round of tests. Not quite as bad this time, they didn't need as much blood and she only screamed most of the time. Found out yesterday that the levels have dropped slightly so we get to go back for another go in a few weeks to check that they're still going down. We're just grateful that it doesn't seem to be too serious.

Ooh, and she's having trouble getting rid of her wind. Normally we could get something from the chemist to help with this (have tried everything else) but with her liver tests not quite right we can't give her any. So it's fun for everyone when she's got wind pain. I just hope she gets through it before she gets too used to being held so much or it's going to be very hard to break this habit.

And that's all

Bayli has landed

(Posted by Scott)

Just a quick post, though a lot has happened.

Firstly, and most importantly, Bayli Robinson has entered the world and apparently it's important that I pass on the following facts.

1. She was born at 4:16 am on April 16th.
2. She weighed 7lb 3ozs (3280 g, I think it was)
3. She and her mother are both now at home and doing well.
4. She is very cute (and here's a picture to prove it).


I took Kel to the doctor for a regular appointment on tuesday at about 4 pm. She'd been having contractions on and off for a couple of days but they had started to get a bit more serious-- ie, more regular-- that day. The doc (a locum) rang the hospital to see if she should go in (different policies at different hospitals) and they basically said not yet. At about 6pm Kel rang the hospital from home because the contractions were getting worse. The midwife said, come in now if you want but , seeing it's your first baby they'll probably go away. You could probably come in tomorrow.

We got to the hospital at 8pm and Kel was admitted. At 11.30 pm, after basicall being ignored since we arrived (not quite, but close enough) I went to tell the midwife that Kel's pains were getting worse. The woman conducted an examination and said, "Oh, you're 8cm dialated, we'd better get you to the birthing suite."

We went up stairs and not a lot happened for a couple more hours. No waters breaking, nothing at all. I asked, "When do you do something else instead of us all sitting here for the rest of the week.?"

There was another examination and Kel's waters broke. So, for the next hour or so there was pushing but not a lot else. So I said, "Do we do this all day or is there something you can do to see what's happening."

She did another examination and discovered that the baby hadn't really moved at all. A doctor was called. The baby's head was apparently twisted around slightly and Kel's contractions weren't strong enough, in fact they'd almost stopped. The first problem was rectified, a drug type thing was given to strengthen the contractions and about 1/2 an hour later, our little girl entered the world much to Kel's relief.

Minor complication and lazy midwife aside, everything went well. Bayli was healthy and screaming. Kel was recovering. I was busy making phone calls to excited grandparents.

And, a few days before Bayli was born, my father and I decided to pull down a couple of walls and put a couple up somewhere else. When we started this we thought we still had three weeks to go. Of course, Bayli had other ideas and I was off at the hospital while Dad worked. We (mainly 'he', ably asisted by Marty) got the new master bedroom lined in time for Kel to come home but we only just finished the rest yesterday.

When I say finished I mean finished the main bits. We still have to do the skirting boards and cornices and what not, but the walls and doors are in place. And I must say it all looks pretty good. Woo hoo.

The carpeted bit you can see in the picture was the main bedroom. Tiny. It (plus the hall way near Pip) are now the lounge room. Once the built in wardrobes are removed it will be plenty big enough. To the left of the screen door (which is the back door) is an office, and the photo was taken inside the new L-shaped master bedroom. (Pip is framed in the doorway. There will eventually be build in robes just out of shot to the right.) It's a big improvement-- and nobody trusted me originally... That'll learn 'em.

That's all from me. I tried to post this a couple of days ago but blogger wouldn't let me upload any pictures which kinda defeated the purpose. But now it is done.

This is Scott speaking

Did we say I wasn't working? No. Surely we were jesting. I am working as a trades assistant for the biggest electrical company in the South Burnett. Well, I don't know if they actually are the biggest, but they must be close.

The work is alright. The money is great. At the moment i am still on the three month trial thingy so I am getting paid casual rates but working full time hours. So, $25 an hour. Woo hoo. It will go down to $20 if they decide to keep me on, which is still way more than I've earned previously. And it's all going pretty well, I think, though I do have to get up early in the morning.

On friday, my parents will be coming over to stay for a week or something and knock out some walls. Then, hopefully, put up some different ones. We are changing the house from four bedrooms to four bedrooms and an office without actually making it any bigger and not really losing any usable space. Should be great. And maybe, if Kel hangs on, we can have it all done before the baby comes. That may not happen though.

She's been all itchy lately and thought nothing of it, until she went looking on the internet, where all the greatest medical diagnoses are made. She found something called Intrahepatic Cholestasis of Pregnancy (ICP). It involves livers and hormones and lots of itching. And what it basically means is that bile acid builds up in the mother, which leads to it building up in the baby. It can result in premature labour and some other complications. Anyway the doctor (not Doctor Nick) thinks she really does have it and we are waiting on test results.

If she does have ICP we may have a baby by the end of next week. But... But...

But we ain't ready.

Actually, I think we are but it's still kind of scary.

So, Kel will be quiting her job (at the place where she doesn't get paid anyway) because she's supposed to be resting.

What else? We're teaching Pip to jump through a hoop on command. She still only does it for treats but it's a start.

Sharon and Craig visited at Easter. We went out to Coomba Falls near Maidenwell and had a picnic. It was very nice. It was also very nice to have our first official visitors. Take note the rest of you slackers (though the next couple of weeks may not be the best time to turn up unannounced).

That's all. (except, the posts title is what is is because my father reckons he sometimes has trouble working out who's writing them. See the things I do for you...)

Did we say Scott had a job? Nooo, we were surely mistaken. As it turns out it wasn't really working out so it's back to the employment ads for us. Mainly Scott though.

I've applied officially for one job (also called into local childcare centre but no joy there) and am waiting to hear from them. They don't know I'm pregnant yet (Surprise!) but I figure I'll address that when (if?) I get to the interview. It's for a Family Day Care Coordinator, working at their office in Kingaroy. It would be four days per week and the plan is, if I get the job then I'll take a couple of weeks off when I have the baby and then Scott will stay home and be Mr Mum while I go back to work. I have to say I'm quite hopeful because I think it sounds like something I'd really enjoy. I am being selective about what I apply for though because I think I would have to really enjoy it to be able to go back to work so quickly after having the baby.

I'm starting to reach the point where I'm looking forward to not being pregnant anymore. I can't wait to be able to get comfortable again! Just over eight weeks to go and it's starting to get very real and a little scary. We have two antenatal classes to go to, one on the 29th March and the other on the 5th April. They're on Saturdays and go from 9-3/4? We missed this lot of evening classes so we didn't have a lot of choice.

Pip (the puppy) is doing very well. She's still timid with new people (taking her to cricket the other week proved very traumatic for her) but she has definitely improved. She graduates from puppy pre-school this Friday (and judging by her growing excitement over the other puppies each week, she will miss this very much) and she is doing pretty well with her basic training. We'll have to pass a test too, or they'll take her off us! Kidding, there will be a quiz for us (with prizes!) but there's nothing critical riding on it. Apparently one lady in one of the previous classes stressed out so much over the thought of the quiz that she actually spent hours studying for it and got every question right (where's the fun for everyone else I ask you!?!).

And now back to me...

I've been volunteering on a Monday at the local Endos op shop in town. It's been soooo good to get out of the house and do something (it would be nicer if I got paid for it of course), definitely helping to keep me sane. I work with two other ladies who are a bit older (it would be nice to have someone there closer to my age) but they're both lovely so I'm quite lucky I guess.

A little bit about Scott...

Unfortunately Scott's cricket team missed out (just) on making it into the finals, although this does mean that we can look forward to spending some weekends at home without having to drive to anywhere for hours. Having said that, it looks like at least Scott will be driving down to Brisbane this weekend for Temptation (Sale of the Century) auditions on Saturday. Fingers crossed that he gets on and wins us lots of prizes!! We'll also be heading back to Brisbane on the 29th March (yes, the same day that our all-day antenatal class is on) for Scott's cricket presentation dinner. After that though, it's at least two weekends in a row at home. Hopefully.

And some visitors...

Sharon and Craig look like being our first official non-family visitors soon. They'll be coming up for a couple of days over the Easter break which will be really nice. (Although Sarah keeps telling me that she's going to come up mid-week "really soon", so if she pulls her finger out she might just make it first.) We'll have to suss out a nice picnic spot or something, as long as it doesn't rain that is!

That's about all I can think of for now. Scott's in charge of the next post so keep an eye out over the next couple of weeks.

Valentine's Day

First things first-- Molly is no longer Molly. She stopped being Molly before we picked her up. Her name is now Pip.

She is going pretty well. She still doesn't come when you call and is sometimes a bit skittish, but she runs around playing like an idiot sometimes, follows you from a distance when you leave the room or something, and loves to lie in the bean bag. It's even better if someone is in the room with her.

She gets the stitches from her desexing out on Saturday (which is good, seeing we were apparently supposed to keep her quite and haven't really been successful. She has some internal bleeding which is reasonably common and not all that serious, unless it turns into a hernia, or something like that.)

It looks like she might still take a while to train though. Put a leash on her and she either runs around as usual-- which is all fine until she reaches the end of the leash. Then the second option for her behaviour takes over-- she lies down and pretty much refuses to move. Oh well.

Today is Valentine's Day and I find it quite surreal that this is only the second such day that Kel and I have seen together and yet everything has changed so much. We were engaged before we'd seen a Valentine's... We may have mentioned this previously, but back on the first one we decided that we weren't allowed to buy anything for each other. We had to make something. (We are allowed to spend about $10 on buying stuff with which to make the gifts though.)

This year, I made a plaque thing from plaster of paris that had 'Kelly' written in several languages-- Arabic, Hebrew, some Japanese thing (don't remember the name exactly), elvish and a few basically dead languages. I still think it was a good idea (and Kel says she likes it) but it didn't turn out as well as I was hoping (the colour was the main problem). And Kel basically did a little album with photos and scrap-booking type stuff in which she said some very nice things about me in a little album. Now that was great and so much better than some hallmark card and a box of chocolates or something like that. Hopefully we'll be doing similar things 50 years from now.

Anyways, it's nearly 8:30pm on Valentine's Day and I can think of better things to do...

Notes from a bludger

Ah, this is the life. Here I am sitting around doing not much of anything while Scott goes out an earns us a living... it's fabulous. And only a little boring. And it's only day two. By the end of the week I'll be phoning random people from the phone book just to say hi.

Seriously though, it's been nice to have a couple of days at the house after the last couple of weeks. We've been running around like mad things trying to get everything organised, mainly at the unit. Hopefully all that hard work is about to pay off. I spoke to the real estate agent today and she said that they were having a 'showing' today and they were expecting a few people to go along so any minute now they're going to call with a list of perspective tenants...Any minute.

I'd also like to set the record straight for all those people who Scott has been telling that I'm going to be sitting around doing nothing while he goes out to work. I've done heaps in the last two days. There's been washing (hung in the carport because it hasn't stopped raining), tidying, filing, cooking dinners. Scott decided to come home for lunch today so I even made us a cooked lunch. I told him not to get too excited because that won't last.

I have been working on my resume but I won't go to any of the nearby childcare centres just yet. We want to give the puppy a chance to settle in a bit first. I'll leave her on her own for short periods of the day at first so she doesn't fret too much if we are both out all day.

Scott is insisting that I tell everyone about my 'episode' at the Kingaroy hospital the other day. So, here it is:
We went down to register at the hospital so I can have my injections, antinatal visits and, ultimately, have the baby there. So we were sitting down filling out the paperwork when I started to get faint. I was getting bad so Scott went and asked the nurse if I could lay down somewhere. Next thing I know they've brought out a wheelchair and wheeled me into the emergency ward (for some reason the emergency and antinatal departments are in the same section). They put me on a bed and the nurse takes all my obs and I say that I don't want to see a doctor because I'll be fine in a few minutes. So the nurse fills out a bunch of paperwork too, takes my obs again after 10mins, checks again to make sure I don't want to see a doc and says we can go.

As we tried to leave the nurse was giving the doctor a run-down of my case and the doctor saw us and said that I couldn't leave without them doing an ECG to check that my heart was OK. We went back to the bed and they sent another nurse in to do the test. A few minutes later the doctor came in and started talking about...well I'm not quite sure, but it sounded a little scary. Then he finally told me that I needed to go to a GP and get them to give me a 24hr heart monitor.

Hmm...Didn't actually have a local GP at the time, so that afternoon we went down to DR Robinson's office (no we weren't playing dress-ups, that's a whole other story). After waiting for two hours we walked into his office and he took one look at the results of the ECG and said "Baulderdash" (or maybe it was poppycock, or fiddlesticks -- whatever it was came straight from the 1950s). Turned out that the hospital doctor was new and didn't know what he was talking about. Let's hope he doesn't deliver the baby.

And if you made it through all that, wait for the next one I write after being at home on my own for four days.

A Dog's LIfe

Well, tomorrow I start work. Actually, I've been working for a last couple of weeks, but I'll get paid for what I do tomorrow. That will be nice. We've spent a lot of money in the last two weeks without any coming in. I must say though, it feels like a lot longer than two weeks. It feels like we've been driving backwards and forwards to Brisbane for months.

As for work, I start at 7:30 in the morning. Weather permitting (it's been raining on and off here today) I'll ride my push-bike. Did a trial run today and it took about 4 minutes. I like that. No stress in the mornings and a bit of a chance to unwind on the way home in the afternoon.

Kel is thinking about looking for work too. She started working on her resume today. She'll probably be bored stupid in a week if she does nothing. Whether anyone will employ her is another thing.

She had us cleaning today. The study does look heaps better though.

And we didn't clean all day. This morning we visited the RSPCA in Kingaroy and ordered ourselves a puppy. We can't pick he up until Wednesday (because she still has to be de-sexed) which is a bit of a bummer. They were calling her Bindi but we changed her name to Molly. She is really quite-- possibly didn't have the best start in life-- but hopefully we can cure her of that. We've bought her a bed and my parents visiting on the weekend (for Kel's birthday) are bringing all the stuff they have left over from when their dog died.

Other than that... had a visit from the guy who used to own this place. He just dropped by to show us where the termites were in the yard and see if everything was going all right, which was nice.

And hello to all the people at my old work. They posted a comment and I replied, but I'm not sure if they'd think to look there. And I just remembered that I have a book on order. Let me know when it comes in please.

A week without internet. Oh my god. It was terrible. The things these people out in the sticks have to put up with...

Anyway, we're back. On the net that is, not in Brisbane. Though the unit does look pretty good now that it has been painted. And the stairs are stained. That's only about a year after the project was started. They weren't sanded too well but still look much better than they did before.

We do have stuff spread everywhere up here still but we are slowly working out way through it all. And then I'll have to mow the lawn. Not looking forward to that. And then, in a couple of weeks, I'll have to mow it again. What is it with that?

Ever since we saw the place i've had ideas for renovations but I've finally convinced Kel that some of them are a good idea. We can basically add a separate office (and so have four bed rooms plus an office) without actually adding anything to the house. All we have to do is knock out one internal wall, move another about a meter and build a completely new one. Seeing it took me a year to finish the cupboard at the unit that should take me... Hmmm, what year is it?

We've been to Kingaroy a few times and it isn't too bad. We mistakenly wandered into a Jesus shop the other day but we survived that so we should be right now-- we've seen the worst. There was a bit of an episode at the hospital today (when we went to register Kel for the antenatal thingy) but I'll tell you about that next time. Will also tell you about wirk, which starts on Monday at 7:30am. Oh my god.

Other than that, we looked at some dogs to buy today. May be getting a kelpie pup. May not. Depends how we feel in the morning. We won't actually get it tomorrow as we are going to Brisbane...

We've only spent about four nights up here so far. For a while it felt like we weren't living anywhere but when we walked in the other day (after a few nights at Kel's parent's place while we were painting) we both agreed that it felt like home.

That's all.

Scott

Where's the Dole Office?

Well, our transformation from city folks to country bumpkins has officially started. We've already pack lots of boxes, of course, but as of today neither Kelly or I are employed in Brisbane. Woo hoo. I was given pizza, chocolate-caramel slice and a gift voucher from the people at my work (I have to say that -- they may be reading :) ). I used the voucher to pay for half a cot. Problem was, we (the K-Mart warehouse guy and I) couldn't get it into the car. It would have fitted into the boot if only we could've cut a bit out of the back of the car. And it was about 10cm too long to fit in the back seat. Thankfully one of the Reps from work offered his services (and more importantly, the services of his ute) and delivered the cot for us. Thanks Phil.

And it's actually best not to mention the boxes. They're everywhere. My parents took a trailer load of them up to their place a couple of weeks ago but we've packed some more and they are filling wardrobes and half the lounge room and the hallway and now there's a cot in a box as well. Kelly is going crazy. But we are almost done.


We've hired a truck which we'll be filling on Sunday (with some helpers). Then on Monday, it's off to our new home. And then on Tuesday, for me at least, it's back to Brisbane to return the truck. And then back to Nanango. And then on Friday, it's back to Brisbane so we can paint. Oh, it's nice to have a holiday every now and then, isn't it? it will be worth it though. Nanango will be great and painting will help get better tenants for the unit. One of the girls (staff, not children) from Kel's (old) work may be renting, which would be nice.

The unit (and the job which the girl took after going away for a while) was mentioned at the leave Taking Party the staff organised for Kel last weekend. It was a very informal thing that involved a BBQ, dominoes, Playstation and general chatting, but was really nice. And there was a present filled with lots of baby stuff which was nice as well.

I think that's all from me. We will post again from Nanango, hopefully, with pictures of our crap spread around everywhere.

Scott