At the bottom of the Garden

Bryn has always been so communicative that it's hard for me, sometimes, to remember that there was a time when he didn't actually SPEAK his mind, but communicated very clearly in other ways...

The latest verbally informative bits of communication coming from from the Buddha though are very helpful to us - probably more so than anything else he's said to date, really...

Atm the moment he is busy dividing the world into two categories; the one where he proclaims his favour, "I LIKE this, it's yummy/funny!", and the other one where he proclaimed his disfavour, "I DON'T like this!!!"

Sometimes, when his mouth is full and he can't physically talk, he merely pats me on the forearm and once he has my eyes, he gives me the thumbs up! He persists in giving me the thumbs up and bringing my attention to this until I respond correctly, which is to return his thumbs up!

As well as this, he is now counting everything. Not obsessively, LOL, but in context. …

I started this blog last night, but got interrupted, then had to reboot...

Anyway, yesterday I experienced two grand gestures of generosity and I just want to acknowledge them!

Peta came over in the morning to drop off the turtle potty she was giving me for Bryn. She stopped for a cuppa, and Aidan and Bryn had a bit of a play with lego! So good to talk to Peta again :D! Just before she left she told me she'd also pulled together some little boys' clothes that her boys had grown out of. Talk about perfect timing! I've been so slack lately that Bryn was basically down to rewearing not pristine clothing just to pick the boys up from school because this clothes were still damp in the dryer.

There were some fantastic pieces in the bag, and I particularly loved a pair of tan cords, with red tartan-ish lining that look to be completely reversible. He wore them as cords to pick the boys up, but last night I turned them inside out, and they're so funky and cute, LOVE them!

T…

So, Dave took the boys to school today and then called me to tell me that Luey's teacher (she snorts derisively while typing "teacher"), approached Dave this morning and said that she wanted to talk with him about something she'd already mentioned to the parents of Luey's best little mate, Liam... It seems the two boys, who are as close as little mates can be, have a tendency to chat in class (ah, so Luey DOES take after me in some aspect, then), and while Luey is keeping up with his work etc. she thinks all this distraction can't be good for him, and perhaps it might be a good idea to split the two boys up next year by moving one boy to another class...

So, Dave is telling me this over the phone, and I'm silently punching the air as YET ANOTHER LoA thing comes to fruition, and then he tells me he feels "let down" by this stupid woman (when FINALLY she is doing something *I* want her to do)...

He, like me, doesn't really believe that Luey and…

Just finished my major poetry project (number 1) this morning and sent it off to mum. Then rang her to make sure she'd received it, and also to ask her about formatting my Literature study paper for this coming Friday. Mum was just about to run out the door when I called, so I asked her to call me back. She said she would this afternoon, but then called only 10 minutes later.

She'd waited till everyone else was out of the office to call and tell me that my lecturer for Literature is in the final stages of bowel cancer and only has weeks to live. Now obviously, this is a blow wrt my stufies and those of the other students in her class, but as always the human element is the most tragic.

I've only met Sue twice, in July, and she seemed like a really lovely quiet lady! She had one of her children with her on one of the occassions I met her. I think he would have been about 12 years old, and I think she also has a 9 year old daughter. She hadn't been feeling well for …

Yesterday was a B-I-G day in the Birdsnest. We had to overlapping engagements booked. A picnic in the park with our new babysitter's group at 12.30pm (going to 2.30pm) and a birthday party for Erik and Luey to attend at 1.30pm (going to 3.30pm). Luckily, one of the mums at the picnic also had a daughter going to the birthday party so she offered to give our boys a lift over there and to pick them up at at the end.

Not a lot of families turned up for the picnic despite the beautiful weather, but we did get to meet a couple of the other families, so that was nice. As it turns out the mum of the birthday girl from the party is also interested in joining the babysitter's group, so that will be excellent as we already know each other from school!

We all finally got home at about 4.30pm and Dave and I collapsed on our bed with Bryn, while Erik and Luey watched some tv. Bryn soon joined Erik and Luey because Dave and I were being boring, hahaha, and Dave and I dozed on and off for…

It's been a couple of weeks since I downloaded from my camera and today I took some photos of the stuff I got at the Kids Expo, and discovered these forgotten photos... Just had to share...

Bryn wearing Luey's neck to knees Superman swimmers... Bryn was running around in these yelling, "Super Dude! Super Dude!" - which actually sounded like, "Stupid Doo, Stupid Doo!" Hahahaha!!!

Then Luey swapped his black magic cape (which I made for him for a Halloween party two years ago) for his swimmers, and Bryn took up running around yelling, "Stupid Doo, Stupid Doo!!!" some more...



Another day during the holidays (after I'd given Luey a bit of a hair cut), Erik and Luey thought I should take photos of them being "Strong Men!"... Couldn't help but think I need to feed these kids some more! Mind you, they ALREADY seem to eat more than either Dave or I, like skinned rabbits that they are...

LOL, even when being a "Strong Man", Er…

OMG, I'm soooo tired, but it's a good tired! It's that kind of tired you have when all the stress finally slids down off your shoulders and you feel like you can sleep the sleep of the innocent for a week or more in one go!

When AF hadn't arrived this morning, I couldn't help myself and ended up buying a three pack of tests at the supermarket that I used one of in the public loos while waiting for Dave to come back from dropping Luey at school. It came back negative, but with the yet increased nausea I was feeling this morning, and the low down cramping, I thought maybe Kate was right and I might just not get a positive till after AF was due (which could be after Friday)...

Anyway, met up with Dave and he, Erik, Bryn and I headed off to the city.

Today was Erik's second assessment in the Behavioural Clinic and while I hadn't actively thought about it in a couple of weeks, I could feel this knot of anxiety in the pit of my stomach, or was that morning sicknes…

Have you ever wanted to grab you body by the shoulders and shake it? Pretty bloody difficult, let me tell you! Right now though, my body really needs to get a grip. It's gone a bit mental - or maybe that's just me, I don't know, but I'm trying to be the rational one here, and my body is just refusing to listen to me...

Here's the deal. I'm 11 days past ovulation. Since about 7 days past ovulation, I've been feeling lower abdomenal bloating and cramping. At first I thought this meant my period was coming early and I was cursing the god for messing with me this way when I'm trying to align my cycles for the end of January.

But then, I had all these sustained high temps on Fertility Friend, and not sign of a drop that would indicate Aunty Flo's imminent arrival. I was also feeling fatigued. Then I start getting increased creamy cm that remind me of the cycle where I conceived Bryn and these red flashing ambo lights went of in my head.

Oh, for cryi…

I got some photos from my family up in Queensland. Two of my cousins have had babys in the last three months or so, so there was the christening of the older of those two babies which brought part of that side of the family together (namely my Dad's two younger sisters and their children)...

This is my aunty Crystal with her grandnephew, Ephraim. I love this picture! Aunty Crystal has always held a dear place in my heart. This picture is so funny to my, because here she is actually "Great Aunty Crystal", and there is already a Great Aunty Crystal in our family, my Grandmother's sister... So, now there are two of them!

These are my cousin Crystal-Lee's three sons; (l-r) Elijah, Ephraim, and Ezekiel. Ezekiel is the spitting image of my Uncle John (his grandfather).

And this little sweetie holds the honour of being the first GIRL in this generation of cousin's children on this side of the family (there are 7 boys and then her). Her name is Trinity, and gosh,…

That muffled sound in the back is me dragging my arse, YET AGAIN, to get an assignment done... I love writing. I mean I LOVE writing, have always loved it since I wrote and published my first book at Hinck's Avenue Primary School, way back in 1977...

So, now I'm doiing my dream Master's and getting to write, and here I sit dragging my arse...

The problem is, of course, as always, that I'm having to stick within guidelines, both those set out in the unit outlines, and those set out just by the personalities of my lecturers...

Take for example my poetry lecturer. He's a lovely MAN. Now, you might be wondering why I emphasised the word "man", and of course, I'm setting you up so that I can explain that to you, hahaha!

I handed in an assignment a number of weeks back, for which I got 80%. The reason I didn't get higher (and well I always want a higher mark, if that is possible - which believe me, it most often is) was because he wasn't comple…

Gosh, I feel shy posting about this now. I've been going on and on and on about this for so long, it's almost hard to believe he has actually agreed. This last week has been soooooo hard for me, and I've been swinging between trying not to care if he says no, and feeling like I'd have to leave every forum and stop talking to every friend in order to cope if he said no. The pain of seeing other people going down the path I so want to go down when I can't would be just too hard...

But now all that worry is behind me...

Dave came home last night and said he would give me an answer before we went to bed, but that he didn't want me to pester him all evening. As the hours passed I just go more and more tightly wound. I felt quite sick by about 11pm! I had convinced myself he was going to say no and he was waiting till just before we went to sleep to tell me so I wouldn't go off on him. I played all these scenarios in my head about how maturely I would deal w…

I'm VERY excited to announce that my mum got a promotion today, out of the blue, to full-time lecturer at our Uni!!! This is so fantastic! Mum was pulled out of school at age 15 so she could go to work and help out financially with her family (she had 6 younger brothers and sister, and a father who, while a lovely and artist soul, had substance abuse issues). She married my dad, who had not finished highschool himself (I don't think) and Dad pretty said that now she was married she had to work or be home with us kids (Dad held the purse strings, too, so her money was not her own)...

When I was about 8 or 9, mum did go against Dad's wishes and enrolled in a pottery course at Tafe and became quite a good potter, but she was never allowed to throw herself (pun not intended) into it completely.

After mum and dad seperated, mum started doing nightschool to get her highschool diploma (she was around 33 years old)... Then she became a Salvation army officer, which offered two y…

Well, I really wasn't expecting this! Last night I put Bryn into his bed at 6.45pm and didn't hear from him again until 6.10am! During this week he's mostly been waking at about 11pm and then we take him to bed in our bed. One night it was more like 9.30pm, and another night it was 2am, so there has been some variation but nothing to suggest he was ready to sleep all night without snuggles from mum and dad, until last night.

Dave had gone out for the evening with an old workmate (was supposed to be two workmates but the guy bailed due to illness so then it was just Dave and his 40-ish ex-co-worker, and admittedly, when I heard he'd been out all night with another woman I was a little put out! Argh, I REALLY not the jealous type, never have been jealous before of anyone, but with Dave I do wonder sometimes because of his lack of interest in me physically over the years - though that is well and truly not the case these last couple of months I'm happy to say ;)...…