Yes, You Can.

And Yes, You Did.

And from our little corner of the world, this little family thanks you from the bottom of our hearts.

Daytime naps: becoming a pain in the arse

Arlo is fighting against daytime naps, unless I sleep with him.  Ugh.  I mean, don't get me wrong, I love nanna naps!  But some days I have shit to do, you know?  Like today.  I needed to pack for us.  So when he finally did go to sleep, I…spent hours using photoshop and uploading to flickr.  Sigh.  Priorities!  I am an expert at last-minute packing, with many years' practice.

And Arlo is still asleep, at 5.30pm, and I have not made a start on dinner, and he will wake up tantrumy and carrying on and I will bet that he is having rice bubbles for dinner, y'all.  Again.

Cutting my losses

I get to go yarn shopping today!  For nothing special, but I've been knitting a blanket, and I went to buy some more yarn last week, only to discover that Spotlight is not currently carryin its own brand yarn.  So I'm SOL.  I also made the stupid decision to knit the damn thing on 2.5 mm circs.  So I will get enough yarn to finish the project, and a couple of pairs of circs in, maybe, 5mm. 

And then I start again, even though I'm on row 90-something and probably closing in on 5-600 stitches per row.  I did all that in about a week so with a larger gauge it'll go quickly.

Meanwhile, Arlo is outside playing with a saucepan full of water.

Late night last night

We went to [long complicated description of relationship]'s birthday party last night.  Didn't get there till 8pm, as I'd been in town shooting a wedding and then had to detour to my parents' place to pick Arlo up. 

His usual bedtime is around 7pm, so I thought he would get cranky early, but I told him we were going to see UNcle Brynn and Arthur, and so he stayed awake the whole hourlong drive home.  And then went nuts with Arthur; they ran around and around the huge backyard of [not my] Nana's cottage, through the shed, and stealthily played in the gross baths full of stagnant water when they thought we weren't looking.  I mean – well, okay, it was when we really weren't looking.  And Arlo gorged himself on multicoloured popcorn (which came out a khaki green today). 

Suddenly I realised it was 10pm.  Whoops!  And Arlo was practically begging me to go to bed.  I didn't want to go home just yet, I hadn't caught up with Brynn for ages, so Marianne set up two foam cot mattresses for the boys and I told them a story and remarkably they just went to sleep together. Okay, okay, probably not so remarkable since it was 10pm.

I took this shot in the wee hours of the morning (with my new flash on!  I finally have my own flash…)

Up too late

I should be in bed, as I have to be up in the morning and at the polling station by about 7.30am to hand out how-to-votes for local govt elections. 

I will take books and knitting.  Should get a lot done, since polling doesn't finish till 6.  Then I will be scrutineering afterwards, mostly so I can suss out which way the community votes (also it's funny to see what asinine things people write when they cast an informal).

Did stuff

I've been on the couch knitting and watching an old school friend run in the Paralympics.  1 heat down, several to go.

I also managed to get some painting in today, just waiting for the third coat to dry on the canvas and then I need to work out my next step.  Do I start with the red blends then, or do some more brown?  And how will I style the blossoms?

Meanwhile, I killed my shoulder on Saturday while unblocking the drain.  It's much better now but I probably should call my chiropractor and book in for tomorrow, I guess.

So, stuff. 

I’m packed and I’m stacked

Specially in the back.

Well, mostly.  Just waiting for a couple of loads of washing to be washed and dried, and I also need to pack the computer and camera up, and make some playdough, and then I'm good.

And I finally got the opportunity to rearrange the rockfall and plant the black mondo grasses today, for our water[less] feature.  And after that, Mark erected the badminton net and we played a game – but in the dusk, which made it very difficult.  Fun times.

So, off we go in the morning.  We're going to take the scenic route to Katoomba, going via St Albans and Richmond.  Must remember to pack lots of snacks and bottles of water.

Voyeur

Our house, in our tiny tiny village, makes an appearance on Google Street View.  We weren't home – at least the car's not in the drive – and luckily I wasn't gardening at the time.  Mmmmm… that would have been nice, me immortalised in my horrendous green gardening trackpants and my red clogs, asking a whining toddler to be quiet.

Arlo's first haircut tomorrow.  I've been talking it up but he appears bemused [of course].  I rang to make the appointment and the stylist helpfully arranged for us to have chairs next to each other (I'm having a trim).  I cannot imagine that this will be successful but at least Mark is home and will be there to assist.

We're also going to test drive a Maclaren Volo stroller tomorrow, to downsize from the Quinny which is simply too unwieldy for us now.  I have been hesitant about the Volo because once upon a time I owned a pair of Volo fins which both broke spectacularly on the same dive, fighting the rip off a headland.  It was a design fault, in my opinion, and I hadn't had them long.  So I am wary of all things Volo.  But all my stroller research leads me towards the Volo as being the most suitable for our needs and GOOD GOD I CANNOT BELIEVE I AM WASTING BLOG SPACE ON DISCUSSING THE MERITS OF A STROLLER.  What has happened to me?   

Fish and Chips in the park

With Aunty Dooj and Murray today, who were in the midst of readying for their big excursion to Cape York… the lucky buggers.  Arlo and I were getting cabin fever so I called Jude, unaware they were heading off this week.  She managed to fit in a trip to the park for fish and chips and gossip and a play with the kids.

Here's hoping Aunty Dooj, Uncle Tone, Criffitah and Moo have a fantastic time – they deserve it!  I'm only jealous we can't come too….

This week in Arlo’s diary

Today (Sunday): [lame] second hand baby goods expo with Madeline.  Coffe and play with Dave and Lillian (note: make sure to push Lillian and get in her face; she is not wary enough and should be more cautious) .  Cry lots at bedtime.  Dream about green trains.

Monday: In The Night Garden.  Gardening.  Shubbelling.  Wheelbarrow rides.  Shubbelling.  Whining and crying.  Stealing mama's gardening tools.

Tuesday:  Go pick up Grandmazz.  Go to airport, pick up dadda!  Go home with dadda while mama and Gmazz go do something else.

Wednesday: Have haircut with mama in the morning.  Go see Aunty Shell and/or Aunty Leis and respective cousins while dadda does some work.

Thursday: packing and housework.  Gardening.  Shubbelling.  Maybe some painting?

Friday:  Lots of driving! Going for a BIG weekend away in a house that sleeps 18 peeps.  Eeek.  Be sure to push Lillian some more and make her very clingy to her mum and dad.  No, wait, rethink strategy: clingy Lil means less Mad cuddles for Arlo.