December 2010

the spider that lived in my en suite for about 2 weeks !

27 weeks pregnant!

lil poser

Happy to see Santa in our street

My sister, mum, my oma and I

Santa's offering

Reindeer hoofprints

Jensen and his cousins

"Santa" (granddad)

My own little Jimmy Giggle and Hoot the Owl

Totally random! My sister and I both dressed our boys in the same thing!

30 weeks pregnant!

Mum's side of the family

Poor Customer Service

Yesterday, to get out of the house due to all the rain, we drove down to our local Babies Galore so Andrew could have a look at the new booster seat I want to get Jensen. We got there at 3pm, they were closing at 4pm (due to yesterday being the Boxing day public holiday). We walked right up to the booster/ car seats. There was another couple there, asking questions to a staff member, so I just pointed to Andrew which one I liked, trying to get him to actually take an interest in which one.  I must have been there 5 minutes, looking at all the tags on the seat, turning the seat around, telling Andrew what another store had told me about it, when I walked away to find Jensen. Andrew was still standing in front of the seats. I came back, and then there was another family, with a staff member, discussing seats. The family, nor the staff member, made any attempt to move so I could keep looking at the seat. There was a third staff member at the registers, and she just watched us go  when we walked out of the store, 20 mins after we arrived. Where was the 2nd staff member when we walked in? Why did we have to wait 15 mins for NO ONE to serve us (the other 5 mins were trying to get Jensen to leave the toys :) ) NO ONE even asked if they could help us. You'd assume coz we walked right up to a booster seat and were fiddling around with it, that maybe the first staff member, even though she was with someone, could have asked can I get someone to help you?


Absolutely terrible customer service. 


The other store, where I was first looking at booster seats, the staff member walked up to me, asked me if she could help and then gave me all the information I could ask for! Any question, she had an answer for. I know where I'm going to buy it from. 




So, if you're looking for help with any baby item and require customer service, perhaps Babies Galore Loganholme  is not the best one to go to.

ALL the presents are wrapped. That's the last time I leave that til the last minute! I wrapped them all, but couldnt find name tags, so some I had to unwrap the corner coz I couldn't remember whose it was!

The train table is all assembled, thank you Andrew and his dad!

We asked Jensen if he was leaving beer out for Santa, and each time he replies "no, the beer is for daddy!" :) so he picked 2 cups for milk (one was for Jensen), 2 biscuits and a carrot for Santa and his reindeer (the milk and biscuits on a plate, but the other cup of milk and carrot went just onto the table, because it was a "table carrot"...). These have now been scoffed by "Santa"!

Jensen was so excited to leave them out!

Andrew's work colleague made a reindeer hoof "stamp". Andrew has dunked it in the mud (coz it's just been raining constantly) and made "tracks" through the house. It looks fantastic!

I can't wait to see the look on Jensen's face in the morning!!

Merry Christmas!

I'm finally starting to be less paranoid about this baby now.  I've gotten a kick chart from the midwife last week, but haven't actually needed to fill it out because baby seems to move a bit more now.  I'm 28 weeks!  12 weeks to go!  Well, a little less seeing 29 weeks is 2 days away! 12 weeks seems sooooo long though. Least maternity leave is not so far away !


We had a midwife appointment almost a week ago, and I did my Glucose test. The stuff they make you drink was nice - while I was drinking it. Once I'd finished it, all I wanted to do was throw up! Apparently, baby really enjoyed it! Bouncing around in there! Jensen was really well behaved, seeing we had to sit there for an hour before pathology needed to do a blood test. I was told that the midwife at 6pm would have the results.  Jensen and I went and had birthday cake with Andrew at his work afterwards (chocolate cake with creamy toblerone "sauce" - I'll post the recipe :) ). Then Jensen I went up to Carindale to have lunch with my dad, who, in all fairness, was unshaven and looked like he was homeless (sorry dad).  Did a bit of shop hopping (window shopping), bought nothing, and headed back to Andrew's work to collect him to go to the midwife appointment. The midwife was nice enough... A little annoyed, I thought, that we were 30 mins early. We knew that, and were happy to sit and wait. She must have been on her way to her break. Andrew's birthday dinner was at 730. Finally, it's 6 o'clock and we get to be seen. I tell her all my ailments, granted - I think every pregnant woman has these ailments but too bad,  she says she doesn't have the diabetes test results. So totally annoyed. I tell her baby is very quiet, so she puts me on a kick monitor thing, which I think is the same one they put on you to monitor contractions, and leaves me for 30 mins. Jensen hasn't slept all day, and both he and Andrew are getting antsy.  30 mins later, she comes in and says, oh I'll leave you for another 15 mins, and then I'll need to get a doctor to look at it.  It's probably nearly 7pm by now, and Jensen's going crazy and Andrew's starting to get annoyed we're going to be late to dinner. Finally the dr, who doesn't seem very happy, comes in and basically after prodding me for 5 mins, says, they aren't really concerned at 28 weeks with movements.  Thanks. I was on that darn monitor for an HOUR so you could tell me that. I've decided both Andrew and Jensen aren't coming to my appt's anymore. Andrew just sits there playing iphone games during when the midwife actually sees me anyway. Thanks for the support, husband.


Thursday I call to see if they have my results, but they can't give them out over the phone. Apparently, a doctor wont review them until Friday, and if they have any concern, they'll ring me.




Fast forward to the weekend, I had to work. I get home, and the grass needs to be mowed and wipper-snippered (Andrew finally got one last week!) because there's a street party. Andrew's taken out my two tomato plants in one garden (really, all he had to do was look) coz I asked him to wipper-snip the garden back so it was actually IN the garden. It's ok though, I got some new ones from the daycare lady, and have another growing in another garden anyway. It started to pour rain, again, so he didn't get to mow. Andrew did look like he enjoyed his wipper-snippering, so I reckon I can get him to do it again.  Hopefully before Christmas,  although, that's not likely.


Andrew's mother's brother was in town, so we drove up to Andrew's parents place... and he'd gone out. So we waited an hour, and came home to go to the street party. It was nice to see all the neighbours out and chatting and sharing food and having a drink together. Santa came on a ute, handed out some presents (supplied by the parents). When Santa left, so did we. We went to my granddad's 80th birthday party. Only Andrew had forgotten that it was at a leagues club, so then we spent half an hour looking for a pair of shoes to borrow coz you can't wear thongs in.  Finally, someone there guessed I was having a girl. It's a nice change from all the "boy" guesses I've been hearing.  Home by 10, so I could get up and go to work Sunday. There, I was told that I looked as big as the other pregnant girl at work who is 36 weeks pregnant. Nice. Coz I don't feel fat/ugly/ungainly enough.


Brings me to today. Finished off my christmas shopping, and I have to pick Jensen up at 4. So I'm going to try and make cheese scrolls, biscuits, roast veg couscous, start the rice part of fried rice, decide on and cook dinner and hang out some washing. Doesn't leave me much time :)

Jensen... I don't mind you climbing into bed with us in the weee hours if the morning, but my boobs are not there for you to kneel on

Service

Had a decent run of good service in this crazy busy season.

Today, while out investigating a car/booster seat for J, the girl either gets paid really well to spruke about the Maxi Rider, or she genuinely believes that that is the best seat for my needs (or thinking now - perhaps the only thing that meets my needs)... Anyway, she answered every question I had.

Last night, we went out for dinner at Punjab Curry House in Wellington Point (link to come). They were so friendly, food was good, the wait staff just thought J was the bees knees. They were happy to put our left overs (the stuff we didn't eat coz we were so full!) in takeaway containers, have us complimentary ice-cream, and Andrew's mum, Andrew's brothers fiancée (names omitted for privacy) and myself got a scarf!!

Spider

Oh ... Thank God! A spider! Who'd have thought I'd be happy to see one?!

For the last three or so months, I've been seeing a spider. It could have been when i was waking up, or dozing off, or seeing it out of the corner of my eye or even dreaming about it and "sleep talking" about a spider. So much so that I've been worried I've hallucinated a spider. I've "seen" it in my sheets, ran out to Andrew to rescue me, only it's gone. It's been on my wardrobe door or the wall behind the behead, but when I wake Andrew it's gone. (just writing that, it sounds like Andrew makes it disappear). The spider has been other places, but I just can't think at the moment.

Then tonight, while sitting on the lounge room floor (coz, surprisingly, at 28 weeks pregnant, the floor is actually more comfortable than the couch) I saw a spider on the wall. Omg, so pleased that Andrew could see it and I'm not imagining it!!
Phew!

That said though, I don't want to kill it. But holy moly man... That thing is HUGE. And that's not a girly understatement. About the size of my palm. Blergh. Scary up close (I had to walk past the wall it was on).
But, he can stay, as long as he doesn't bother me or Andrew or Jensen. :)

Happy birthday

Happy birthday to my husband ANDREW! I hope you're having a fantastic day! We're bringing up cake shortly.

Santa and other issues

I get a lot of my adult conversation in the form of a forum. If you're on that forum, you'll know which one.


I know everyone has their own opinion on everything, and quite rightly so. However, I'm starting to feel like the minority and I disagree with a fair bit that's being said. I don't want to say anything on the forum (hence that my issues are being "voiced" here) coz I don't want to upset the applecart.


Firstly, Santa.  I've got an Australian and a Dutch background. Santa has different customs for both. I have no problem with Santa. Christmas is for giving, and the way I see it, it's really for the kids. For the adults, it's all about seeing the happiness in the children and getting together with family and friends. It doesn't bother me if I get a big present, a small present or no present. As long as my kid is happy. The consensus so far on a thread on this forum is that it's wrong to lie to kids about Santa. There are whole nations that fudge the truth about the war, or those people who use more polite terms to name parts of your anatomy. There is no way that a little white lie is going to do long term harm. It's just my opinion and I feel small for letting my son "know" about Santa.  It's who we are and what we're doing. Not trying to upset anyone, but that's just my view.


Secondly, in a perfect world, I'd love a drug free, unassisted home birth. But there is just no way I can see that happening.  It's not going to be the end of the world for me if I have to have the gas and/ or pethidine, even a c-section. Granted, they're not my not ultimate outcome,  but if I have a beautiful healthy baby at the end of labour, then so be it. But I feel bombarded by those willing to forgo options . Midwives may not know every possible outcome, but they're not stupid either. Have a bit of respect. They spend 3 years learning their stuff, and 10-12 hours a day monitoring and delivering babies, I'm sure they have some sort of inkling of what is going on... They know a thing or two. Ob/gyn's are at university for probably even longer. If they're concerned about some part of your pregnancy, I'm sure they have some cause. If they're concerned that your baby is going to be over 4kg, I'm sure they're worried about the baby AS WELL AS THE MOTHER! There are probably other complications that could arise that they just don't tell you about.  And the glucose test - for gestational diabetes - may not be routine in other countries. If they want to test everyone, then so be it. I'd rather test everyone and catch the few that have it and treat what could be dangerous to mother and baby, than only test "at risk" pregnant women and miss all those not "at risk" if you know what I mean. Be safe rather than sorry. 


I'm not trying to upset readers (coz I know I don't have many), but this is my blog, and this is my opinion.


My gestational diabetes test is today, and I'm actually looking forward to it. I also have a midwife appointment today and hopefully I'll find out the good or bad news about the gestational diabetes test. The midwife, student or otherwise, will be able to answer any questions that I might have and have some suggestions I haven't thought of.


Again, it's my opinion expressed here, and not meant to upset anyone.

Christmas Dinner

Went out to Christmas dinner with the girls (and one guy) on Saturday night just gone.


We went to a place called Freestyle Tout in West End.
 http://www.freestyletout.com.au/

Beer Battered Barramundi

I had Beer Battered Barramundi for dinner and Choc Banana Tart for dessert. OMG delish!

Choc Banana Tart

I'll be going back at some point!! :)

Lip Balm Pots

The search for individual lip balm pots is complete! 
I finally found some at an Amcal pharmacy. There were  small ones and big ones, and they came in 4 colours (purple, white, pink and green). I only bought 2, a small green one and a big purple one. They're plastic, which I am a little disappointed with, but that part of the Secret Santa present is now complete. All I had to do was re-liquify the lip balm I had left over and pour into the pots!


I also finally got my act together and made the Honey Scrub. It looks good, it smells good.... but it's brown. Not really appealing. To save having to out myself as secret santa, I've done up little cards with MS word that I'm going to print out, laminate (somehow - probably stingy me will use sticky tape), hole punch, add a elastic band and tie it to both the jar and the lip balm pots.


These are the pots and jar before tags:

Coconut Lip Balm

Honey Scrub

Proud mummy moment

You know how (hopefully) every mother teaches their kid manners and hopes they can use it?

We were walking out of the coffee shop and as Jensen passe the Barrista girls he said "thankyou!" and waved! No prompting or anything!

So proud!

at the coffee shop and the man behind me tells me Jensen's trying to climb the display window thing. I said "Jensen, stop that" (and he did) but the man kept calling him Lincoln... It doesnt even sound the same.

Cookie Cutter Success

OMG FINALLY!!


I used this recipe:


1 cup sugar
1 cup butter
1 egg
2 and 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp van essence or extract (I use a concentrated vanilla extract, I think this makes a real difference)

cream butter and sugar add egg and vanilla, mix in flour, chill in fridge for around an hour. roll out and cut, cook until edges are slightly browned around 10-15 mins.


There was no oven temp, but I put it at 180 for 10 mins.


AND I used this recipe:


Ingredients
125g butter, softened
3/4 cup (165g) brown sugar, firmly packed
1 1/2 cups (225g) plain flour
1 egg
1/4 cup (35g) SR flour
1/4 cup (35g) cocoa
200g dark eating chocolate, melted (I just used cadbury choc chips)
hundreds & thousands
Method

1. beat butter, sugar and egg in small bowl with mixer until combined. Stir in sifted dry ingredients, in two batches.
2. knead dough on floured surface until smooth. Roll between sheets of baking paper until 5mm thick. Cover and refrigerate for 30 mins.
3. preheat oven to 180deg/60deg fan forced. Line trays with baking paper.
4. Using 3cm, 5cm and 6.5 cm round cutters, cut 14 rounds of each size from dough (cut as many as you can, then you need to re-knead a little bit and roll out and refrigerate again, but only for 10 minutes). Place 3cm rounds on one tray and larger ones on other trays.
5. bake small cookies about 10 minutes and larger ones for 12. cool on wire racks
6. when completely cool, spread tops of biscuits with melted chocolate and sprinkle with 100s & 1000s and set at room temp. (we made these on a really warm day, so I popped in the fridge for 10-15 minutes to set and they were fine.

Makes 42.


I haven't yet melted the chocolate and put it on the cookies, but I think I'll get there before Andrew and Jensen eat them all :)

Jensen's ramblings

While we were looking at garage sales today, Jensen told me :

"If you go on the road, the police will kick you and you will die. And then you will get hit by the car. And the car will hit you like a bump and the police are going to pick you up and put you back in the car. Not the police car, but Mummy's car"

Who has been teaching my kid about police?

This baby doesn't move much :( is that a bad sign?

But- countdown til maternity leave is in!! Can't wait til January 25!

Andrew came home apparently feeling sick... Reckons he now knows what I mean by the almost pass out feeling.

Now the yard needs a freaking mow, guess I'll have to do that... And we have 2 birthday parties to go to Sunday... And he doesn't think he can go if he feels like that.

He had a headache last weekend.. Now he's sick this weekend. Perhaps he just doesn't want to spend time with us?

Exam results

Well. Exam results posted. I knew I wouldn't do well in one subject, but to see that result up there kinda makes it all real.

While everyone else moves into 2nd year, there's 2 subjects now I can't do until I pass the subject. It was a pretty important subject too. I'll have to wait til 2nd semester next year to do it again.

In a way, it's kinda good - I *have* to go part time for 2nd year. In another way, I failed an important subject and I have to repeat it.

I feel so low right now. I feel stupid. I've let myself down, and so many others. I don't actually want to tell anyone. My dad asked if I'd got my results back yet (before they were released). God only knows what I'm going to tell him when he asks again. What am I going to tell anyone?!? Who the hell wants a nurse that can't pass THAT subject?

Andrew doesn't seem to be talking to me... Whether it's this or the fact he says he's not feeling well.

With the rest of the results, I passed the boring subject, got a Credit for another and a Distinction for the subject the third. Very pleased with those results. :)

Photos from Straddie

Run for the water!!