Author: laranettle

Charity?

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Most of us give to charity now and then, Mark and I make a donation every year at Christmas instead of buying gifts for his family. We try to make it different every year, and last year for the first time we chose a human instead of an animal charity – we chose to send money to the orphanage we visited in Vietnam.

Today I came across the story of Macho, a baby alpaca who was the last of his flock to survive after they were abandoned to starve. Macho has been rescued by Edgar’s Mission, and is looking for sponsors to contribute to his care.

Valentines Day

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Inigo in his hand knitted organic merino soaker for the first time – kit from Eco Yarns

I took the squirt to see our community health nurse on thursday morning, as I wanted to ask her if she thought his issues were normal and nothing to worry about, or if it was worth pursuing further doctoring. My confidence was rocked rather badly by the Tresillian paediatrician, so I wanted to be sure I was on the right track before going off half cocked. She thinks it’s worth pursuing – screaming in pain an hour after a feed isn’t normal apparently. So we’re getting back on that horse, and I’m not getting off until we get an answer.

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Alex sports a new hairstyle after a bath

I then went in to visit Alex, Adam and Sarah, and Sarah gave the boy a manicure and pedicure. Little fingers and toes have very little nails, and I still can’t bring myself to cut them. I tried once, it took me an hour to convince myself that I could do it, and then 15 minutes to cut one nail. I have a phobia about finger and toenails (I once put a staple through my thumbnail, and had to have someone else change the dressing until it had completely healed), and I come out in a cold sweat at the thought of having to trim his nails. As it is, I have to keep his hands in socks when his nails get too long, until I can get him over to see his Aunty for a manicure.

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The view of the city from Balls Head at twilight

I picked up Mark from work, and we took the boy to Balls Head Reserve for a picnic. Since it was the day before payday, we had about $11 between us, which bought some chips and BBQ sauce, and a bottle of very cheap plonk, which we drank out of the bottle.

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We were almost molested by a wild possum, who only left us alone after we convinced him that all the food was gone, and he went off to pester someone with food. One of the other picnickers was startled by a wet possum nose pressing against her leg as she was absorbed in conversation.

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A fuzzy view of my Valentines Day. A gorgeous view, a beautiful husband, and a superb baby.

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Ted, Inigo & Bev – his first “portrait” with grandparents

And Ted is fine.

Mark’s dad had to have surgery for a blood clot, which he was told was very dangerous. We were all very worried, and news that he was OK was a huge relief for all of us, especially Mark. We’ve all heard the stories about scary in-laws, controlling, manipulative, and downright mean, so it’s taken me a few years to get my head around the fact that Mark’s parents are exactly as kind, thoughtful, generous and caring as they seem. It’s a little bit strange to me that people can be that nice and not have a hidden agenda, but they are. Better parents in law you could not hope for.

Oh, and I finished knitting the socks. Now I just have to graft the toe and weave in some ends, and it’s safe for dad to have another birthday.

Sorry

Today Kevin Rudd did a good thing. I was going to call it a wonderful thing, but really, it’s just the right thing. And the fact that we had to wait until 2008 for an apology is outrageous. But he did it, and he did it well. And my opinion of him as a man has been raised, I feel proud to call myself an Australian again, after years of shame under the Howard government.

But who the hell is Brendan Nelson to bang on about the first fleet, and how ALL Australians have contributed to our nation. Today is not the day Dr Nelson. And mentioning that “good was meant to be done” is bullshit, it diminishes the impact of what needs to be said.

So I shouldn’t be surprised that these words are coming from the man who said yesterday that if Kevin Rudd wanted to negotiate the terms of the apology, he should be talking to him, as the most important person.

He says that compensation should not be given, and then talks about sexual abuse of Aboriginal children, without taking responsibility for the breakdown of culture which caused this issue. He wants to create another stolen generation in the name of protection.

I am not an expert in Aboriginal issues – I am actually pretty ignorant. Which is disgraceful, as the area in which I grew had a proud Aboriginal history. Yet, I was nearly 20 when I met an indigenous Australian for the first time.

I have travelled to New Zealand, and though most Kiwi’s wouldn’t necessarily think that they have got the issue 100% right, they have a much better grip on fair and equitable treatment. We have a lot to learn, and a long way to go. And accepting that white Australia has stuffed up is the important first step to fixing it.

Bad news, and good news

Not going in to the really bad news, but the slightly bad news is that the boy seems to have regressed to feeding every 3 hours (after being on 4 hour feeds since hospital).

The GREAT news is that for the past two days Inigo has had every feed from the breast (except the morning one that Mark does), AND IT DOESN”T HURT!

Of course, it could all turn to shit tomorrow, and he’s still really unsettled and looks like he’s in pain after every feed etc., etc., but I FINALLY feel like we’re getting some progress with breastfeeding.

I know it’s bad manners, but I feel like the SHOUTING is justified!

PS. I stayed in today (after an intense week of going out every day last week), and instead of going stir crazy, I did laundry, tidied up in the boys room, and made French Onion Soup from scratch. Only impressive because all we had in the house was a bag of mouldy onions and a glass of wine left in a bottle from three months ago. I am legend.

Of course, I didn’t finish the sock, and I nearly burned down the house making croutons for the soup, but hey…

Plans

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Inigo, a study in green

I STILL haven’t finished dad’s 2007 birthday socks, and that is still top of the queue. But I am at the toe of the second sock, so I could finish them in an hour if I just had an hour to sit down and do it. I have an hour now, but I am blogging about it instead of doing it.

But I need to finish it, so that Dad can have his richly deserved socks, and so that I can move on to my next project – a cotton or bamboo cardi for ME.

I’m having an odd morning, and since I don’t really want to phone a friend and unload on them, I’ll do it here, and provide an opt out (if you don’t want to know, don’t read – simple).

The boy was really sick last night. Spewing heaps, full of mucous, and SCREAMING like he was being tortured. We were on the verge of putting him in the car and racing off to the hospital (apparently they have a new emergency Paediatrician!), when he calmed down and fell into a deep sleep. He’s vomited a lot, that’s not really new, but since he’s been on the Zantac, he’s been a lot less spewy, and a lot happier too.

Yesterday he was particularly unsettled, and obviously in pain for a lot of the day, but when he turned into Linda Blair it freaked us both out. Just as I turned to Mark and asked him what he thought about going to emergency, Inigo fell into a deep sleep. He slept from 11pm to 5.30am, and seems pretty good this morning. But of course, I’m still stressed!

Daisy (the long suffering feline) has been leaving odd wet patched where he has been sleeping, and I think he needs to go to the V.E.T. (we don’t say the word out loud).

And there’s other stuff too, which I won’t go into here because I don’t want to dwell on it, but suffice it to say that I’m feeling a little wobbly today. So the boy and I are off to visit Miriam and Oscar, and I’ll try to maintain my grip.

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Feets by Inigo, Socks by Ailsa

Sorry

We’re a little broke right now, so I won’t be buying one of these to wear next week when our PM says sorry.

But you should.

And on a side note – this article discusses the increase in animal abuse prosecutions in the US – by my friend Michelle! Rock on Michelle!

Today Inigo weighed in at 4.75kg, and Oscar at 7.1kg. Woo hoo! When he had his shots last week, the doctor said Inigo was “underweight”, but his paediatrician (the one that oversaw his care in hospital) said on Tuesday that he is “thriving”. Apparently, the NSW Department of Health uses outdated growth charts that were calculated for bottle fed babies (who tend to be bigger). The World Health Organisation just published new charts for breastfed babies, but we’re still using the old ones. According to the old charts, Inigo is in the 10th percentile (bottom 10% for weight), but the WHO chart puts him a little higher. Not a huge difference, but it makes me feel better!