Friday, May 30, 2008

Imagine That

The phone rings at 7.30am.  This normally means my boss is calling to tell me so-and-so is sick can you please go to .... This morning it was my boss BUT she said would you like to have the morning off as time in lieu - cool.  So after seeing Ella and Andy off at the bus stop, Pippa and I ran for 45 mins around Aranda hill then proceeded behind cook to the shops.  Picked up a few supplies so I could make some spinach and feta triangles for a 40th party tomorrow night before heading into work.  Not a bad way to start the last day of the week!

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Hmmm....

Now that Ella has found her feet she is no longer content with sitting down. Here are two incidents just from today.

1. After playing in the play area at the markets, I put Ella into the seat in the trolley.  While browsing at some books, Ella decided she had had enough of sitting around and managed to wriggle out of the seat belt then proceed stand up on the seat.

2. Ella has worked out how to push her truck along with her feet while sitting on it. However when the truck gets stuck (ie she drives into a wall or a piece of furniture), she thinks it's much better to stand on the seat!

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

First post from Mr Nandy

For a month now I've been under pressure to contribute to this blog. Pressure starts as suggestion in the first week and then moves to cajoling in the second week. The third week is psychological warfare ("if you loved your daughter you would write a blog entry about her exploits") and in the fourth week serious threats -- divorce, TV bans and like -- emerge. It is at this point that I've buckled. So here goes...

My "Dad-at-home" day has shifted to Tuesdays. This morning I decided Ella & I would head out for the morning. We started earlier than anticipated because Mum had forgotten her work shirt and didn't like the idea of ultra-sounding people with just a bra on. So we dropped past her work on the way to achieving the real tasks of the day -- going to the mall, looking at new lights and visiting cousins Makhaya and Luca. Unfortunately I overdid it, and Ella fell asleep in my arms, which meant I had to try and get her home without waking her. Failed miserably and now she'll probably stay awake all day on one 30 second sleep. Guess I'll just hand her over to Mum to deal with that when she gets home ...

The only bright thing I've got to contribute to this blog is a cute photo of Ella from the weekend, when she decided to borrow my jumper. The longer arms have more inertia and she discovered she could hit herself in the face via the back of her head. That's three useful things I've taught her now ...

Sunday, May 25, 2008

Lunch ex-Ella

Today we dumped Ella with her Nanna and Grandpa and headed out for a childfree lunch. Meeting up with our friends Amanda and Trent (who had also palmed off their 2 children), we enjoyed lounging in the sun while consuming lunch followed by coffee and cake at the Botanical Gardens.

This lunch was long overdue as we needed to thank Amanda and Trent for giving us their unwanted baby gear just over 1 year ago.  At the time they had sworn off additional children - funnily enough their next little bundle of joy is due in two weeks!!

Friday, May 23, 2008

Bathtime



Daddy says "No Ella I don't think Allison the elephant needs a bath tonight." 


Fuji goes home


Fuji was both excited and sad as she left to return home.  We will miss Fuji except for the large quantity of hair she drops everywhere.  Pippa is still in recovery mode which involves a lot of sleeping. 



C'mon on mum

Ella has been walking for several months now and is getting pretty good at staying upright. So Andy and I encourage her to walk whenever we can eg. walking from the car to the back door or walking from the childcare centre to the car.  She thinks she is so clever!

Now unfortunately it means as parents we are being taught the lessons of having a toddler.  The other morning while at Bunnings checking out some more plants, I decided to let Ella have a wander - she thought it was hilarious as she wobbled down the aisles and around the corners away from me.

In the afternoon Ella and I met up with super dad Jase and sleeping babies Abby and Zoe down at the coffee shop.  I soon discovered that it's not very practical to have a coffee and chat with a toddler who just wants to walk.  I'm not sure how many times I got up to chase Ella who had wandered out the coffee shop, through the plaza and out towards the parking lot. After doing that numerous time I used my chair to block a little corner off for her to play in - only to watch her crawl underneath and escape again!!  Jase and I both chuckled until I reminded Jase that he would have 2 toddlers to look after.

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Pawprints in the shower?

The last few days I have noticed some paw prints in the shower - rather large ones actually.  I'm not too sure what attracts Fuji's attention in there? Speaking of Fuji, tomorrow is her last day with us as her mum and dad (aka Sandra and Dave) are returning from their transcontinental travels. Poor Pippa won't know what to do with herself once her best friend goes :(

Sunday, May 18, 2008

Working Bee

Billy Buttons is the name of Ella's room at childcare.  To avoid the $50 maintenance fee, we attended a working bee there today. Our aim was to clean up the outside area raking up leaves and spreading new tanbark. I wonder if Ella will appreciate the work we did when she goes on Tuesday.

Saturday, May 17, 2008

Today

As Andy is in Tassie for some orienteering races, our friend Emily agreed to look after Ella while I went to work.  After getting myself ready, I organised and packed stuff for Ella, walked the dogs (Fuji is on holidays with us), dropped Ella off at Emily's and managed to get to wor for my first patient at 8.30.  The morning was busy but flowed well which meant we finished early - just before 1.

Ella had a fantastic time with Emily.  She discovered how to open the oven door, climb up on to it and proceed to bounce up and down as though it was a trampoline!  I'll have to ask what else Emily did with her as Ella slept for over 2 hours this afternoon ... which meant I had a little time to myself to continue knitting Ella's jumper. It is going well now after starting over numerous times and I have nearly finished the back.

Well we said goodbye to the sunny, warmish days of autumn and hello to winter today.  It was freezing.  I decided to take the dogs out to play frisbee on the oval this afternoon.  As it was only 7 degrees we rugged up - beanies, coats, gloves and sleeping bag thing for the pram. Unfortunately we were nearly at the oval when it began to sprinkle.  By the time we had thrown the frisbee a few times it was more than a sprinkle so we ran home as fast as we could.

After drying off, we made potato and leek soup - a perfect dinner for a winters day.


Thursday, May 15, 2008

MiniQ

Today our mothers group visited Questacon, Australia's National Science and Technology Centre. After participating in a session on Rain by the excited particles, we explored the MiniQ room. With 6 different areas there was lots things to choose from and the kids thoroughly enjoyed themselves.

  
 


And we were all tired by the end!

Who needs expensive toys anyway...




Ella has this fascination with ribbons....perhaps a fashion designer in the making?  And if she can't find a ribbon then Pippa's lead does just the trick too!

Monday, May 12, 2008

Happy Mothers Day

I had a really nice relaxing day today.  Started with a gentle run around Aranda.  Followed by a visit to the National Gallery with the Dees (aka Stacey and Dave Searle) to see the Turner to Monet The Triumph of Landscape Exhibition.  Not a fan of either Turner or Constable stuff. Finished off with coffee and cake at Tilley's. 

Here is a photo of Ella and me (actually taken this morning) showing how tall the grevillea that she bought me last year has grown.  

Little Miss Messy



Now that Ella is happy to walk around the house she tends to get into EVERYTHING!  So I've decided to teach her about cleaning up cause I know her dad certainly won't... It seems she has the idea... 




Thursday, May 8, 2008

The Moods of our Pistachio Tree

   

Over a period of 10 days in April our Pistachio tree put on a fantastic display.  Sadly now though all the leaves have disappeared.

Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Seeing RED!

I'm sooo mad.  I received a registered letter today from the sonography accreditation board which had politely informed me that as I hadn't paid my overdue fees, my registration had lapsed and I had been removed from the register.  I might add here that the postman delivering the letter pointed out that it was actually addressed to 23 Aston Cres.  

So I quickly rang up the ASAR office to apologise and point out that I had not received any letters from them as we had moved house. Sorry the office lady says but as you have been removed from the register you now have to reapply - which involves getting certified copies of my qualifications, paying $85 AND wait for it .... paying a $200 default fee!!! I couldn't believe what I was hearing all because I had forgot to change my address....