Just Nicky

It will all end in tears April 30, 2007

A bird in the hand… by Nicky P

It’s all the chooks’ fault. I’d never seen a dove around here until we got them and now one is nesting in our tree. I saw it starting to build the nest last week and hoped that the attention from the dogs and the general household noise would put it off, but no luck. Today it was all ensconced in its rickety little home.

I have a bad feeling about it. I’m pretty sure either this or another bird tried the same thing last year. I remember finding Indiana carrying a dead baby bird around and had no idea where it would have come from. I suspected the cats at the time but when an old nest appeared on the ground under the tree after a recent storm I started to wonder.

The dogs know the bird’s there this time. They’ve been watching it and wuffing at it daily. Cosmo knows about it too. He was in the tree today trying to work out how to get to it. It’s only a matter of time before either he or Zelda find their way up to that part of the tree on onto the pergola roof and help themselves to some dove.

Mark suggested that I knock the nest down now while there’s nothing in it, but I’m not sure that would work. My parents have had doves nesting at their place over the years and they didn’t seem to take the hint. Doves are not the brightest of birds but they are persistant.

I can see that it will all end in tears - probably mine - as I scrape a dead bird up with the shovel.

I’ve had better days April 26, 2007

Today Leila & I had an appointment at the local doctor’s for our six week check up. I took the pram with me so that I would have to hold the bub all the time.

At the shopping centre, which is where the doctor is, I wrestled the pram out of the car and slammed the boot shut. And realised that I’d just locked the keys in there.

The boot release button in our car was disconnected by the previous owners (bloody Telstra!). This car was not on my RACV membership. I had a doctor’s appointment that I was already late for so getting my keys would have to wait.

As it happened, the doctor was running later than I was so I ducked into the shopping centre and rang the RACV. It cost me $142 to add the car to my membership and have the snippy woman on the phone give me grief because I was going to be in the doctor’s surgery while I waited for the roadside assist guy and didn’t have a mobile for him to ring me on (mine is flat, I keep forgetting to charge it). I told her I’d call back after I’d been to the doctor.

An hour later, after finally seeing the doctor, I went to the supermarket to pick up a couple of things (and get change for the phone), bought myself a sausage roll for lunch and rang the RACV again. The woman I spoke to this time said the guy would be take between 35 and 70 minutes to get there. I bought a magazine to pass the time.

When I got to the car I went to eat my sausage roll and realised that I must have left it on the counter. I couldn’t face schlepping back into the shops so I ate one of the bananas I bought at the supermarket. I fed Leila and flicked through my magazine. Things were just starting to look grim when the guy in the yellow ute appeared.

He was able to fish the keys out through the cargo barrier with a long piece of wire. I put Leila in her seat, wrestled the pram back into the boot - being careful to put my keys in my pocket while I did so - and we headed for home.

I felt a pang of guilt as I drove past the Maternal & Child Health Centre, where I was supposed to be attending parents’ group but I was hungry, I was tired and Leila had thrown up all over her front as I was putting her in her seat. I figured they could do without me for one week.

And, to top it all off, when I was getting things out of the car at home I banged my head so hard that I nearly fell over. Yep, I’ve had better days.

Leila’s bib April 24, 2007

Leila’s bib by Nicky P

I’ve knitted a bib for Leila and I’m pretty happy with it.

There’s more on her blog.

Fruity

Fruity 2 by Nicky P

Our next door neighbour’s cat, Fruity, has always spent heaps of time in our front yard. Now, though, it seems to have become his home.

There’s been no one next door for a few days and every morning I’ve found Fruity sleeping in the garden near our front door.I’ve been feeding him each day and I’m going to look for some bedding to put out for him.

I really hope he hasn’t been abandoned. I don’t think he’s well - possibly skin cancer - and his chances of finding a new home would be pretty slim. Poor pusscat.

One Step Ahead (of you) April 20, 2007

This week has been my first ‘normal’ week at home with Leila, ie. Mark at work and no one staying to help out. Although it hasn’t been completely normal. Leila and I have been home on our own for 3 days and Rhonda (who’s on holidays) has visited on the days that Finn has been home.

It’s been a good week - no major dramas - but I’m learning some valuable lessons. The first is that, if you’re trying to establish a routine you need to follow said routine, not phaff around with it unnecessarily. Unnecessary phaffing leads to a baby being awake when she should be asleep and wanting to be fed at odd times. And that is likely to do your head in.

The second lesson is just how much of a time sucker a baby is - even when you stick to the routine. I’ve got very little done this week, other than baby management. My major achievement each day has been getting a couple of loads of washing done and hung out. Even with that, Leila has spent a couple of days in disposable nappies because I’d run out of clean cloth ones.

Mark always told me that it’s difficult to get stuff done around the house when you’re looking after a baby and I’d always believed him. But now I actually understand just what he meant. He also tells me that when I was working and he was home with Finn I would at times look at him like I wondered what he’d been doing all day. I don’t recall doing that, but I’m very sorry I did.

The third lesson is that 3 year olds can be very demanding when home with their mum and baby sister. Of course, Finn being Finn, it’s nowhere near as bad as it could be, but it’s still a bit distracting and annoying.

And now I think I should put the wee bub to bed and take the 3 year old outside before I have to get ‘cwoss’ with again for playing with things he’s not supposed to.

Oi, Oi April 10, 2007

I have fallen in love with the Oilily range of clothes - for me and for Finn and Leila. The colours are so rich, the patterns so luscious …

Sadly, it’s a love that is doomed to be unrequited … unless we fall backwards into a fat pile of money, that is. These clothes are absurdly expensive, even for lovely things. Much as I love Leila (and I do, very, very much), I can’t imagine spending $78 on a dress for her on sale. And I’d have to be working again - and getting paid exceptionally well - to justify paying $166 for a top like this.

So I shall content myself with drooling at the items that come on Ebay, hoping that one day, somehow an unbeatable bargain will fall into my hands.

Hmmm … Not Sure About This One … April 5, 2007