Cricket!

We went to the cricket this past weekend... Day 1 of the Test between Australia and New Zealand. We all had lots of fun - but we haven't got around to processing any of the mountain of photos that we took. Once we've done that we can post some more details :)
UPDATE: I've now processed a whole heap of photos, so here you go!

False start

If a post about Easter Traditions turns up in your reader and looks decidedly not finished...that's because it isn't. I accidently clicked publish instead of save draft. I will post the finished post later today hopefully - with all the gaps/questions marks filled in!

The squealer...

In the past week Naomi has learnt to squeal (a real girly skill to be acquired). At first it was a happy squeal which she would practice while playing on her mat in the mornings. Now she's developed the unhappy/crying squeal. So when she doesn't want to go to sleep, instead of crying, she squeals at the top of her voice. I wonder if she will lose her voice one day from squealing too much?

Maybe I'll get the camera out one day and record a sound bite of it, for those of you who are interested.

Parent inflicted illness...

As planned, the kids got their flu vaccine yesterday (well half of it - kids under 9 get it as 2 half doses 4 weeks apart). They did very well getting the needles, no crying or tantrums. We then went to Bible study as normal and they didn't seem to be having any reaction to it. In the afternoon , Ben went to kindy as normal and Joanna had her nap. When she woke up she had a fever and when I went to get Ben he was complaining of a headache (which one of the kindy teacher's said he had told her about during the afternoon) and when I felt him, he also had a temperature. So they have been suffering flu like symptoms all night (I had to give them paracetamol twice during the night) and today (Ben's temp has gone, but Joanna still has one). So now I'm wondering if the pros of getting the vaccine outweigh the cons or not? Do I take them back to get the 2nd half dose in 4 weeks time or not?

(Jean's post about caring for sick children has also made me more conscious about my attitude and behaviour towards the children when they are sick - I'm trying to let some of the day-to-day things slide so that I can be there for them more to read stories, give leg rubs - Ben actually requested it yesterday arvo, etc. Although there is only so much that can slide when you have a 5 month old baby to take care of as well.)

Graduating

Yesterday, Ben finally got a date for when he will be moving to morning kindy! He will start on the 19th of April which is the first day of Term Two here.

To Doctor, To Doctor...

After being sick for about 2 weeks now I finally went to the doctor. Not so much to treat my immediate condition, but sort out long term health stuff that I've been putting off. So I went in to my appointment with a list - which I guess you could best describe as a 'shopping list' except it was for drugs instead of the usual bread and milk shopping list.

Here is what I accomplished:

1. I have restocked my supply of low dose and high dose antibiotics for my chronic tonsillitis (I managed to get a case of tonsillitis last weekend). I've also got a referral to the public system ENT here (I was on the waiting list in QLD to see and ENT for over 12 months before we moved here and never even got an appointment!).
2. I have restocked my supply of asthma medication (including some good hard core prednisone) , so I can stop using my out-of-date ventolin (because that's all I had).
3. I got my flu jab for the year (I can get it for free here because I have asthma).

I also booked Naomi in for her 5 month immunisations and Ben and Joanna to get a flu jab at the same time (kids under 6 can get it for free here).

The best pasta recipe ingredient...

Is Chilli! I love it, it adds a great zing/extra oomph to pasta dishes and you only need to use a little bit. It works with tomato/meat sauces, as well as with pesto. And if your kids aren't into chilli, make it up without the chilli, but make sure you have a bottle of crushed chilli flakes which you can sprinkle onto your bowl of pasta just before you eat (just like you'd grate parmesan cheese on top - except not quite as much!).

I committed childcare's #1 sin today!

I sent Joanna to creche at the gym with peanut butter on her bread!

(It wasn't just me being totally brainless, it was connected to breakfast time - she'd asked for another slice of toast with peanut butter on it, but then a minute later she said she was all done without having taken a single bite of it. So I said she would have to eat it for morning tea - instead of the biscuits she normally gets - because it was a wasteful thing to do. And in the heat of the moment I didn't even think about the problem with it having peanut on it - it wasn't until we arrive home from the gym that it dawned on me!)

It ain't summer no more

Last night was cold. It was forecast to get down to 5C overnight. I checked what it actually was this morning when I got up: "0.6C, feels like -1C". No wonder it felt cold.

5 bad things about junkmail

1. It wastes a lot of time looking through it all.

2. It's bad for the environment - all that paper.

3. It makes you think you need to buy things because you see it in the catalogue, whereas you could easily live without it if you hadn't seen it.

4. It creates more work cleaning - all those catalogues lying around the house that need to be collected and put in the recycling.

5. You can't select which ones you receive and which you don't so you get lots of ones for stuff that you couldn't care less about.