Coveting this poster....

Love, love, love this spaghetti western poster at www.postercabaret.com

This week I have been...

... used as a climbing post by one guerilla baby

... pureeing fruit and veg like there's no tomorrow 

... trying to stay out of the relentless 40 degree heat

... eating zooper doopers (mainly the lemonade variety)

... swimming in the no doubt wee saturated toddler pool with Moo

... having coffee with ronnie at wild thyme in melbourne street. Great coffee and beautiful wall graphics

... going back to the old skool

... watching back to back episodes of Project Runway Australia. Conclusion? Christy Hinze is no Heidi Klum

... eating lunch with ronnie under the vines at skillogalee while Moo was babysat by Nanna and Poppy

... staying and playing at child care...sob, its going to be hard :-(

... putting moo to sleep on his back, moo rolling over to his front, putting moo to sleep on his back, moo rolling over to his front (repeat roughly 10x till guerilla baby is asleep)

... trying to look for the extraordinary in the ordinary

... devouring this months inside out mag

... buying awesome vintage chairs on ebay for $20...bargain!

... trying to get to bed early

... sweeping up leaves in the yard only for them to magically reappear the next day

... trying to blog more

Diary of Wee Ned

Ned will be 5 months old tomorrow and it's amazing to think of how far he has come in 5 short months. Just last Saturday he got his first tooth, on the bottom left, which was soon followed by another right next to it. They are only just poking through at the moment, like little white pearls in his pink gums. We wonder how long they will take to pop up completely. He can also now sit up straight and play with his toys on the floor, he can't push himself up to sitting yet, but once you sit him on his bottom he will play quite happily for ages. We have had a few falling backwards mishaps though = many tears and sobbing. Rolling over to his left has been perfected in one lovely graceful movement but the same can't be said for rolling to the right, or rolling back for that matter, so he has to be rescued from time to time when he gets stranded on his stomach = much grunting. His is our regular little sleeper now too...we keep it boring for him, 7pm = bath, feed, book and bed which keeps him going through till about 4am. After a quick feed we can usually get another 3 or 4 hours out of him. What a super-baby! 

Things that are good this week

Five o'clock shadows in our kitchen :: The hinges on the doors of the church on our street :: A whole day of torrential rain in December :: Friday night pizza :: Shopping with my mum :: Looking for tricycles and rocking horses on ebay :: Going to the mailbox :: Neds face when he was sitting on Santa's knee :: Your partner saying the thing he loved about this week is you...and Ned :: Blackbirds nesting in the hedge right outside the lounge room window, who needs David Attenborough? :: Getting chocolate in an advent calendar :: Bathtime :: Chocolate pots from over the fence :: Listening to Vampire Weekend in the car :: Aaron & Ned putting the angel on our poor over burdened Christmas tree :: Over burdened Christmas trees :: Wiggle, Giggle, read at the library :: Relaxing on the couch :: Laughing at the frat boys marching on Amazing Race...too funny :: Ned + feet in mouth = fun ::  Suede is out of Project Runway. Lesley is so happy :: Home-made beef burgers :: Shoulder stands at yoga..aaah release :: Seeing your sister driving down Marion Road in the opposite direction and hanging a quick U-ey :: Dogger rocks the back seat of the car :: Tomato plants gone all jack and the beanstalk :: Making Aaron buy me a Santa Stop Here sign from the Christmas shop...he he :: Henley Beach at dinnertime ::

Dumb Car Stickers #1

I was traveling back from my parents house on the coast with Ned last week, when in the space of two minutes I saw two pretty disturbing car stickers. The first one read "If you don't love it leave" alongside a flag of Australia. I wasn't aware that to love a country or to consider yourself a patriot, you had to be totally uncritical. Surely, the more you love a country the more critical of it you should be. Is a patriot someone who blindly thinks that everything about their country is just perfect? It reminded me of a book I read recently by Billy Bragg, called The Progressive Patriot. He is referring to England in the book, but I think a lot of his arguments are universal. He considers himself a patriot, but not in the anti-immigrant-great old english values of cricket, Winston Churchill and cups of tea-sense of the word. It can also be tied up in the phrase that I hear ALL the time now about things being "Un-Australian". It seems to be a good cover-all phrase to use, when you don't agree with someone or their policies. What is "Australian" anyway? Can't it be conflicting things/values?

The second car sticker I saw had a picture of the Australian flag with the words "F*%k off, we're full" written inside it. I wondered if Aboriginal people thought the same thing when they saw the first fleet arriving in Botany Bay? Anyways, seeing both these stickers made me feel angry and sad at the same time. I don't want my little boy growing up in a country that is racist, aggressive and uncritical of itself. But then again, maybe thats what it means to be patriotic - to still love your country despite all its failings, and to want to share that with other people who come to these shores, usually looking for a peaceful life with more opportunities for their families.

Weekend away

casper the ghost

out for a walk

homeboy ned

my dream shack - I'm not fussy, it doesnt have to be big, just have nice type sign on the wall

Milestones

At 12 weeks old, Ned has come such a long way and changed so much since the day he was born. This week he has suddenly started sleeping 8 to 9 hours at night...brilliant! What a good little boy he is, always with a smile when you go to pick him up out of his cot. This week he is making loads more baby talk sounds and the different shapes he makes with his mouth when he is trying to express himself are SO funny. He has also just learnt to blow raspberries, so that seems to be an endless source of entertainment for him. His neck and head control are pretty solid now, like his legs which are constantly on the move...he loves to kick and push up with his legs, if he is sitting on your lap, the floor or on is play mat. Sometimes, you put him down in one place and two minutes later he has moved a few feet just from pushing himself along on his back. So, lots of milestones this week, but the best thing by far is the way his face lights up when you go to pick him up out of his cot in the morning..what a little joy he is in our lives.