Disco Knitter

For a while now, there has been an escalating war between bikie gangs in Sydney. Last Sunday, while we were at the farm, it got really nasty, with a man bashed to death in front of the general public at Sydney airport.

Since then, there has been drive by shootings in Auburn, another shooting in Punchbowl, and a war of words between the various gangs, and the terrified politicians. It’s all been revolting, but rather remote (a drive by shooting in auburn is close to home, but not enough to scare me).

Then I heard the news this afternoon that a home made bomb had been found in Lisgar Street, Merrylands. I rang Mark to let him know, Lisgar street is really close to our house. Mark did some poking around, and foud that the Lisgar street house has a garage that opens onto Augustus Street (formerly Wright Street), and that the package was found on the street outside the garage.

One of the websites we saw showed a picture of the exterior of the garage, and I recognised it. You can see it from our front door.

So while I have never seen a bikie in my area, apparently they are here.

Kid has a serious twinkle in his eye.

He likes to keep one foot on the table at all times.

And is still unbearably cute.

He adores music (and his Grandma)

Is thrilled at every little success. The Tupperware shape sorter has become a favourite toy.

He is quite the budding artist.

And sometimes it is all just too much.

Interestingly, after he fell asleep into his noodles, he woke up miming eating noodles. Like he was dreaming noodly dreams. I am so glad I was there to see it, I wouldn’t have believed how cute it was if I hadn’t seen it.

Last week he discovered my bunny ears – gifts from my “hen’s night”.

Climbing is his new thing. With the combination of some walking, and the climbing, he can push the stepladder to the counter, and climb on to the bench.

I bought him his first Tonka Truck in gender neutral colours.

And he’s ready to have his own key to the door.

He’s talking up a storm. Today, his vocabulary consists of-

Ta

More

Bannana (nana)

Shoes

Flower

Mama

Baba

Dada

Keys

Nanna

Daisy (the cat)

Up

Cheese

Fan

Gone (which is mostly used when he looks into my bra and can’t find a dummy)

Nose

Yay!

Yuck

And he still has the occasional pensive moment.

Last night, I was almost cooking in the dark, but I got dinner ready just in the nick of time. And this morning, Mark fixed the lights in the kitchen

If Inigo ever sleeps again, I will look forward to having a read

As a fan of Alexander Calder, I am smitten with this DIY project, but I can’t see a space for it in our home.

…when they live in a chaos free home.

Bugger. I thought all I had to do was read to him. Now I have to keep the house tidy too?

A few people have mentioned that they get an error message when they try to leave a comment. Rest assured, your comments are getting through, and you can just ignore the error message.

Sys Admin is working on it, but the dishes are a higher priority at the moment

Kerry spotted this bit of gratuitous vandalism on the back streets of Newtown recently.

Do the youth of today have nothing better to do wth their time! What happened to cutting up hoses for home made bongs? Setting fire to letterboxes? Putting out cigarettes in precious pot plants? Common theft and debauchery?

What is the world coming to?

The sound of a toddler, quietly playing, babbling to himself, the occasional exclamation of delight.

There is a strong temptation to leave him be, not to interfere, to sit on the couch, enjoying your coffee without interruptions.

But on that path lies…

Certain destruction.

In honour of Jane’s new place, she invited a few friends over for a fabulous Brazilian feast.

Cassava

Beans & Rice

Egg with Cassava Flour

Great Spread!

Owen & Jane

Owen & Jane

Inigo, Owen & Jane

Inigo, Owen & Jane

Inigo, Owen & Jane

Jane & Owen

Owen & Josephine

King of the castle!
Happy Housewarming Jane!
*Tia means Aunt in Portuguese, and Nani was what Jane was called as a little kid.

I hope this isn’t going to turn into a fail blog, but when looking up “Sweetness, The Patisserie”, I found this…

Lunch Al Fresco. Malle cooked a gorgeous curry with fresh veggies from the garden, we had a pre-lunch snack of fresh figs straight from the tree, and dessert was a gorgeous apple tart (with apples from the orchard of course!).

Showing off his new climbing prowess.

Curls!

Oscar and Inigo having an adventure Oscar wins the shoe! We should have called him Herb

A post prandial stroll

Unfortunately I was too lazy to get the camera when we were chatting to the cows, but I got to stand in the paddock next to one of the cows as she was having a snack. I’ve patted a cow before, but it’s really quite an experience to be right there with no fence between you and her. Millie is quite big, David estimates that she is about 500kg!

Middle box, left hand side.

That’s pretty bad. I really don’t play this game much, so the failure rate IME (in my experience) is pretty high!

Passed out with a laptop on his belly…

Image from Poladroid.

A day at a park where you can get naked, and play in the water!

There is a review of maternity services in Australia, and soon private indemnity insurance will not be available to homebirth midwives, and the Government has decided not to cover them.

Essentially, this rules out homebirth as an option for Australian women.

Now, you might think, “who would want a homebirth, it’s dangerous!”, but in European countries where homebirth is routine (about 30%), maternal and infant mortality is the same (or lower) than it is here.

I would not have been able to give birth to Inigo at home, and if I ever had another child, I don’t think that homebirth would necessarily be the right choice for that birth, but I definitely want that choice to be available to other women. Birthing in a hospital definitely makes you appreciate “what could have been”.

So if you have a minute, please sign the petition here.

Thanks to Big Green Coat for reminding me to post about this.

Here.