Whoops

So, it's been a while, huh. That's Patrick, post-tantrum. We have to be careful what we say (and do) around him now, because he's pretty much monkey-see monkey-do right now, which is very cute.

Although I refuse to claim responsibility for him learning the f-word. I know I don't swear around him, so I blame television. Yeah. Television.
Not a lot new in the past two months (oops) really. Still working, still ... doing. I don't know how else to put it.

I haven't been doing any stitching, which is a shame, but it has to be put away from little hands, and it's just such an effort, going and getting it and getting all set up and ... argh. So mostly reading, and watching TV, and surfing. And going for 'walks' around the house with Patrick, who grabs one of my fingers, and off we go. Cute. Ridiculously cute.

That's all I have. Some cute. :)

Sigh

Back to work tomorrow. It's been nice, being at home, but I don't feel especially rested or rejuvenated. Just tired, really.

We're entering into the tantrum phase, which is fun for everyone, if your definiton of "fun" is having needles drilled into the base of your skull. It's hard to believe that face is capable of screams that sometimes only dogs can hear.

Sigh. Most of it, I think, is just nearly-two frustration. Our features editor says it's because they find out they're not telekinetic after all and can't just make things (TV remotes, for example) fall into their hands.

And of course, the rest of the time he's being ridiculously cute. One day last week he ran around the living room in circles saying "peeka peeka peeka". And it's nearly impossible not to laugh when he quite solemnly imitates one of us, or points at one of the cats and tells them off _ in toddler-speak, of course.

What else. I'm still stitching on La Ghirlandata, which I'm really enjoying at the moment.

Um. That's it. Sigh.

One long party

Well, okay. That's not true. Mostly I sit around alternating between watching TV and watching Patrick. That really does sum up my day at the moment.

In my defense, sort of, I am on holiday. And the weather's been crap. So I hang out with the boy while Jeremy is off tinkering with obscure things _ computers usually. Then when hanging with the toddler gets a bit much, I get Jeremy to make me a cup of tea and he alternates between watching TV and watching Patrick for a while.

As you can see by the pic, Patrick is as steady as you like on his feet now although he'll still do a drop-and-crawl occasionally.

He likes to pick up books and "read" them; he does the same thing with the TV Guide. I'd love to get a photo of him doing it, but as soon as he hears the camera, he's right up in your face _ Patrick loves having his photo taken.

As I said, I'm on holiday, so haven't been doing a lot of anything. Reading. TV. Movies (Slumdog Millionaire and Zack and Miri Make a Porno, so far), hanging out with my boys and my cats. Stitching.

Um .... yep, that sums it up.

Stitching-wise I've been making fairly good progress on Circe, but I've decided to swap it out for a while, before I get tired of the blues and greens. So now I'm working on La Ghirlandata, by Jan Eaton, based on a painting by Dante Rossetti. I've switched blues and greens for rich reds and browns; very appropo, considering we're going into autumn.

That's it. Not a lot to be said, or done, when you're mooching at home, on holiday. :)

Write it down

Our Features Editor is very intersted in Patrick's progress. He has a son, although his boy is ... eight? nine?

Anyway, I was telling him (the features editor that is) about the words Patrick is saying and what he's doing, and he said write it down, because otherwise I'd forget.

Good advice, I think.

Patrick can say mumumumumum - all run on like that; byedaddy, or da, or byeee, but for some reason never just daddy. If you ask him a question: "do you want your drink? do you want a bikkie?" he gets a big grin on his face and says "geh geh".

He's pretty much walking now, holding one hand up in the air, which reminds me of an orangutan.

He likes throwing things, that seems to be his main interest, when he's not trying to play with my mouse and keyboard. He eats pretty well, if messily at times (but don't we all?) and likes to throw his toast on the floor (sigh). He's figured out (nearly) how to bodysurf the coffee tables, which I'm not delighted about, and seems to have got over his fear of grass.

My bestie from high school, who lives in Australia (near Brisbane) was over last week for a wedding. A flying visit, she said, and I bumped into her in Starbucks, of all places. So we, along with another friend of ours, all went out for dinner on Sunday night and had sooo much fun. The food was good, the company even better. She's gone back to Aussie now, with no ETA on a return visit.

I'm still (apparently) working on Circe; not that you would know it. I also had a (small) spend up on Amazon recently _ something I haven't done for ... a couple of years? Twas fun :)
I bought the Twilight saga _ mostly because it's been too hard to get hold of copies here - either at the library, or the bookstore. So I got tired of waiting. I also bought A Curse Dark as Gold by Elizabeth C. Bunce, which I haven't read yet, but am very much looking forward to. I know her. Well. We post on the same message board. Ipso facto - I know her :)

I got Hogging all the Covers by Band From TV, which is a lot of fun, and I splashed out on a couple of cross stitch books, which I don't usually do _ usually I stick with UK magazines and Jill Oxton's Cross Stitch and Beading for charts, but I couldn't pass up Joan Elliott's Bewitching Cross Stitch, or Ancient Egyptian Cross Stitch, by Barbara Hammet.

Fun and games all round!

Summer?

It's summer here, apparently. Not that you'd know this weekend. Yesterday we had such a bad thunderstorm it knocked the TV satellite service for six _ which I was not happy about.

UKTV here is repeating Dr Who, which makes for very pleasant Saturday afternoon watching. Only, that was when the thunderstorm hit. And it had been the episode I hadn't seen _ the one where Queen Victoria institutes Torchwood. Came back just in time for the last few minutes. Le Sigh.

Patrick took a few steps on his own yesterday _ about three or four, but totally unsupported. Apart from that, he had a grumpy day with lots of grumbling. For no obvious reason, that I could see, anyway.

We watched The Dark Knight last night. I've already seen it but Jeremy hadn't. Twas just as good second time around :) I put in a little work on Circe, although I'd made a couple of mistakes, which can be frustrating _ unpicking when you want to be stitching. I'm determined to stick to working on it for three months _ if I can find some decent stitching time, I'll be able to make a pretty big dent in it, I think.

Beachy

Heh

We took Patrick to the beach for the first time yesterday and as much as he hates grass, he loooooved the sand _ crawled along, inspecting shells, getting the sand everywhere .... good times :)

He's still not walking yet and we're like cheerleaders when we see him almostabouttosurely .... but I also know that when he does, we're going to look at each other and say "what the hell did we teach him that for?"

His vocab has stretched to include ''bye'' and ''go", which he said to me one day as I was getting ready for work. I popped my head around the door of the living room to say something to Jeremy and young Mister put his arm up in an imperious fashion ... "go" he said to the female slave ... *sigh*

Otherwise, things tick over as they always do.

I'm stiching, sort of, in fits and starts, on the EMS Kitchen Alphabet for now.

It's progressing ... slowly.

This is the week ahead

It's my day off tomorrow (woo hoo) but I have Stuff to do. Nothing drastic and hopefully nothing that will take too long.
I have The Diving Bell and the Butterfly out on DVD to watch, during which I can't stitch because it's in French and subtitled. But I've been waiting to watch it for months so once Patrick goes down for a sleep ... it's just me and my DVD. :)
I've been doing okay with the walking _ going about three days a week. I'm hoping to up that to five this week. I'm planning on starting my week off the right way. Plus also, it'll be a bonus not to have to go in to work tomorrow night. I can relax, and breathe. Ah ...
Our house sold a few weeks ago and the handover between the landlords is supposed to happen this Friday but we haven't heard anything from the new overlords yet. I kind of need to know, so I can, like, you know, pay rent? Yeah.
Patrick is doing well. Eating on his own, finally. Which is really more about parental laziness than his development. And when I say "eating", I mean with his hands mostly. He has a spoon but it's really more of a token spoon. So, of course, he makes a mess. Hey, he's a little boy. It's what they do.
I'm working on a very small picture that I'm going to have put in a photo frame for my mother. It's ver cute, of a little table in front of a window, with a book and a vase of flowers. It's very Mum and if I get it put in a photo frame, she can just put it on the table, where she can see it.
So hopefully I'll work on that some tomorrow. :)

Wednesday night

And all is quiet. Well, it should be _ it's after 11.30! I'm nearly off to bed. It was my day off today, which meant lots of Patrick time. Which is great, but oy! Tiring. :) He's full of energy and enthusiasm for oh .... everything.
We played a rousing game of "Where's Patrick" on Monday night, which went over a treat and today he kept flinging his arms above his head. I have no idea why but I suppose he was full of the joys of spring, or something. Maybe.
I've started walking in the mornings again. Just for 20 minutes at the moment and I'm going to build on that. My goal is to get to a secondhand bookstore that is well more than 20 minutes away from home, but I'm hoping that by starting relatively small, I won't be discouraged. :) And it's nice, you know, to get out. The streets are pretty quiet, so I pop along, listening to music and looking at people's gardens. It doesn't sound like much when you write it down, but the way I see it is, it's better than not going. Fresh air, time to myself ... can't argue with that. :)
Work is going along too. It's weird and quiet now, though, and kind of a little bit sad. We start training on a new system come Monday, so that should provid exercise for the old brain cells.
I'm still picking away at the hyacinth but I haven't got much done this week; the walking means I need to shift my patterns around a little bit, I think. I'm just not sure where to fit the stitching in now, except in tiny fits and starts. H'm. That requires some thinking.
The kind of thinking you do with your eyes closed in a dark room.
Nite!

Life goes on

You know, Patrick is pulling himself up on furniture and standing now. He's started cruising the furniture a little bit too, and I have no idea when he started.
I remember going into get him one morning and he stood up in his cot for the first time, but I don't remember the day, or the date. I was excited and shared with all and sundry (do you know how many times you can hear the phrase 'it's all over now' before you get sick of it? not that many) and now it's a daily thing. He hauls himself up, steadies his feet, and he's ... away. Well. Nearly.
I knew that Patrick's babyhood would go fast. But THIS fast??? I keep thinking about the tiny little baby we brought home last May, and looking at this ... toddler!!! grinning at me as he steadies himself on the coffee table, or the couch, or me, for that matter.
He's unbelievably and adorably cute (yes, I'm biased, what mother isn't) and this stage is a lot of fun, as his world gets bigger and bigger.
But, oh, for those baby-days!!!
He can also say "Daddy", "Buh!" and "Up" - after a fashion. Slowly but surely the babble is resolving itself into words. I can't wait to see where his journey takes him, but oh, how I miss my baby!

It's been a while ...

... although I've been updating my book blog regularly. Just goes to show ... something ...
Winter has finally arrived, after taking an extended break. It obviously feels like it has something to make up for and it is COLD!!!! And wet.
Chloe is sitting on my computer desk, watching the doorway into the kitchen. I'm not sure what she thinks she's going to do ...
I've mostly been reading; working; doing a little stitching _ after about five years I finally finished the first page of Jill Oxton's Circe, and I've added a letter to Patrick's dinosaur alphabet. I feel almost virtuous! So now I'm working on a simple Tuscan picture from Quick & Easy Cross Stitch. It's basically rows of colours, so it can get a little tedious, but it's mostly restful.
Patrick's had a bit of a cold this week, that seemed to develop into croup for a couple of nights, but he's over it now.
I took him outside on ... Monday? Tuesday? Whichever of them was the last fine day here.
He hasn't had a heck of a lot of exposure to our backyard, so thought it would be nice for him to explore.
Well. He's scared of grass.
I had a rug on the ground for him to lie on, but as soon as it remotely looked like his fingers would touch the grass, he was up on his elbows, and crying. We stayed outside for a little bit, and I was going to take him outside for a little bit for the rest of this week to hopefully get him used to it, but of course, the weather packed in.
It was really funny watching him, though, trying to crawl around on his elbows. Must. Not. Touch. Grass!
I'll take him out again on the next fine day. I'm sure a year from now he'll be digging up hideous things from the garden, and won't even care.
Work's going fine; although there are Changes Afoot. I'll have to wait and see what comes of them.
Let's see. What else. Oh. That's it for now. :)

Situation normal ...

... and all that jazz. I was going to blog about how I haven't been stitching much lately because I lost my coffee table to the baby cause: it's being used as a temporary heater guard, so I had nowhere to set my pattern up. However, we have two coffee tables, so I'm back in the game, as it were.
I'm not getting a lot done really, but more than I was. I even finally finished the first page of my Jill Oxton Circe pattern _ five years after I started it *ahem*.
Patrick is good; he's still commando crawling, although every so often he gets up on his hands and knees and rocks for a bit. It's very cute to watch. While I'm encouraging him out loud when he does it; I'm also looking around for possible hazards once he is up and crawling properly.
A mother's work is never done. :)
I'm sure I have lots of wonderfully insightful things to say. But I've already been on the computer too long.
Maybe next time.

Oscars Monday

Yes, I know. But it's on Monday here in New Zealand. Traditionally, a friend of mine and I get together to eat junk food and pick at the outfits. But she has a heavy cold and didn't want to pass it on to Patrick, so I was on my own, with the odd phone call.

Sigh. It was boring. Boring, boring, boring. And not just because I was on my own. The ceremony was dull. I mean, I know that the writers strike only just ended and all, but for the 80th Oscars it was really lacking. Surely Hollywood is obsessed with things like that? Anyway, it felt like a long day. Plus I'm on holiday until March 4 and I'm getting cabin fever already.

It doesn't help that poor wee Patrick has a tooth coming through, which is making him shirty. He wants to be picked up you understand, he just doesn't want to be *held*. He's very restless and every day, we expect the rolling to morph into crawling. I don't think it's too far away.

The good thing today is that I've been able to really get stuck into the star sign Leo I've been doing for my mother to give to my nephew. It actually looks like a lion!

Scouty has a gammy eye again, and she's the one we really can't take to the vet unless it's an emergency. She's soooooooo nervous! I keep looking at it and thinking "I must wash that with some saline solution .... I must wash that with some saline solution ..." then the next thing I know she's gone into hiding somewhere.

What else. Eh. I got nothing. :)

The Great Procrastinator

Well, I've done nothing at all so far about any kind of daycare; or finding classes that Patrick and I could both go to. I know there are Mainly Music lessons, and the library has activities _ whether for littlies like Patrick or older children I'm not sure. Oh yes, I'm the Great Procrastinator.
He's still rolling everywhere, and not really showing a lot of interest in crawling, or sitting, or standing. He will stick his bum in the air sometimes when he's doing his daily roll-around but that's as far as we've got. And when he's sitting _ in his highchair, or the corner of the couch _ he arches his back and slumps down. So "sitting" is not on his list of hobbies. I figure there's not a lot I can do if he's not ready. So I'm trying to be patient.
Situation normal the past week. Work is frustrating at the moment and it's something I can't do much about. The home front is fine, although Jeremy and I seem to be bickering a lot lately. But I think that's because the work situation is leaking out the sides and affecting everything else. I've decided I need to take a deep breath, a step back, and think before I open my trap!
I had yesterday off, and I was going to go to the movies, but I felt like I was talking myself into it, so I stayed home and just mooched. Watched TV, took care of Patrick, read; I even got some stitching done! I'm working on the birthday presents for my niece and nephew that my mother has commissioned. They're small designs of their star signs. I still need some threads, and I'm working around that at the moment which is a little annoying.
Pretty good day overall. :)

Sleep, perchance ...

... ah, sleep! Patrick was waking up really early, and then crying and fussing until I hauled butt to go get him. Then Jeremy hung an old bedspread behind his curtains to block some of the morning sun (Patrick's room faces east) and we have very different mornings around here! Patrick sleeps a bit longer, and even when he does wake up, he doesn't cry anymore. He just sort of hangs out in his cot until I get up. It's made such a big difference, I can't believe it.

I've been picking away at my January 08 project, although I haven't really had a lot of time lately. I'm reluctant to stitch after work because the bit I'm working on has a lot of colour changes, and that takes a bit of concentration. My plan is to work on this for all of January, spend February working on (small) gifts; then in March do another letter of Patrick's dinosaur alphabet before returning to Circe and the January 08 start. It's a plan. I haven't got any further than March yet.

I went to the movies on Tuesday (day off) and saw I Am Legend. I thought it was pretty good; not fantastically great, but pretty good. Will Smith was as likable as always, but oh my gosh, that gorgeous dog nearly stole the whole movie from him! I really want to see American Gangster next, but I promised myself (and Jeremy) that I'd only go to the movies every second week, and not every week. Or I'll go for a bit of shameless begging. We'll see.

We bought a portacot this week, to use as a playpen. Patrick's not crawling yet, but he rolls everywhere. And sooner or later, he fetches up against things. Like the coffee table, or the TV cabinet. So we've not so much baby-proofed the living room, as we've living room-proofed the baby. And he quite likes it.

That's all I have for now.

I hate it when that happens!

I rang my money this morning (pay day) and there's considerably less than I was expecting, which means something hasn't gone through, and it's too early to ring work to find out.
*Sigh*
It means there'll be more next time but between now and then I'll have banks and suchlike to contend with. So, hopefully, if I stick to my policy of being polite to them, we'll be okay for another fortnight (grrrr).
Not a lot else happening. It's cold here at the moment, though! It's starting out to be a very funny summer; we had really hot days earlier this week, now I've got the heater on!
Patrick is still cutting an eye tooth (ouch!) which isn't really much fun for any of us, but he seems to have had only one bad day on Monday with it.
Work's been okay, kind of busy with people off on holiday, but it seems to be settling back down now.
I have about 10 days off next month, and boy, am I looking forward to them!
I've started writing again _ Jeremy fixed up an old laptop for me, so I'm portable (yay!) and it seems to be working (fingers crossed).
That's really all I have for now.
Photos next time.
Maybe.

New Year's Eve!

Can't be! Where has this year gone?
I've never known a year to go so fast. It's been a big one for us; what with having Patrick and all. He's growing sooooo fast! He's seven and a half months old, has two teeth, and can roll _ on to his front. Can't roll back yet, but I'm sure he will one of these days.
Apart from that, I'm not sure I could tell you much of anything else that happened this year.
Oh! Leo went missing in March and never came back :(
It's awful not to have closure because I keep expecting to see him, or hear his grinchy wee meow when he wants attention.
It's my day off today, but we don't really have any plans. I'm probably going to watch some Stargate (I rented some DVDs on Saturday) or watch a movie or two in between Patrick-wrangling. We may throw cautioin to the wind and go to the library, but that's up in the air at the moment.
Not much else going on around these parts. Nothing wrong with a quiet life!

So that's Christmas for another year

Done and dusted. I worked Christmas night, so we didn't really do anything special here, apart from open the presents in the morning. My mother and sister went out to my other sister's place for Christmas dinner, so it was just the three of us.

Patrick did the best, getting toys, including a very cool red VW Bug car cushion. We got him books and a couple of toys. I got Jeremy a book he wanted and a Bon Jovi concert DVD. We can't afford to go see them when they play in Christchurch here at the end of January, so this is the next best thing. He got me Good Omens, which I asked for, and a DVD. I said "get me this book and then a wee surprise." One of the bookstores had DVDs for under $15 _ some good ones, too. Unfortunately he went shopping on Christmas Eve and they were basically out. So I ended up with Date Movie. Which I've seen, and I thought it was okay, but ... I was takne aback. So much so that I couldn't hide it and he was gutted to see me disappointed. However, it was a minor glitch really.

Well, The Boss is expressing an interest in breakfast (ie: crying) so I should go.

Christmas Eve ...

... and it's raining. It was sooooooooo hot yesterday; today, not so much. Go figure.
I'm finally going to put the tree up today. I've either been too tired/busy/grumpy to do it before. But at least it'll be up before Christmas! I have today off, working tomorrow, then I have Wednesday off. So we're having our Christmas dinner on Boxing Day because we'll both be home.
Patrick is doing well, apart from a habit of waking up at 5.30am lately. 5.30am!!!! That's just ... uncivilised! It's the teeth and the heat, I guess. But sometimes it's hard to be patient, you know?
Jeremy's not home from work yet, but I think he's out braving the crowds to get the rest of my Christmas present. I know what part of it is, but I want a surprise as well. I'm a very recent convert to Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman is one of my favourite authors. I happened to see Good Omens in hardback in one of the bookstores, pointed it out, and that's my main present. Heh ... I predict much reading tomorrow. Well. Before I have to go to work, anyway.
We set a limit of about $50 on each other and his is all wrapped up and ready to go, as is Patrick's. At least his was easy _ some books and a couple of toys. I have a feeling he'll be more interested in the wrapping paper!
Not sure if I"ll get much stitching done today, after having such an early start, but I'm working on Circe by Jill Oxton. Well. Right now I am anyway!
Merry Christmas!

Too darn hot!

We had a couple of days of rain, and the weather co-operatively cooled down. Until today. Going outside is like being smothered lovingly in a warm, wet blanket. It's Saturday, so we're going to wrangle Patrick, then go visit Mother. Exciting stuff, yup yup yup.
I told Mum we might come visit today, and her face lit up. Patrick is just pure joy to her, which is just lovely to see. He's her eighth grandchild too, but the excitement hasn't diminshed. And he really responds to that level of joy; its so nice to see.
What else. I thought of something, but it's gone looking for more interesting pastures than my brain. Oh! Right! Neighbours.
Now, there's nothing I can do if the neighbours choose to thudthudthud music at 11.30am on a Saturday. But at 7.15am? That's rude! I'd had a whole four hours sleep (woo hoo!) So I'd gone back to bed to try and catch up, but nothing doing. And I swear they know; because as soon as I was up and dressed, it stopped!
I'm sure blog topics have wandered into my brain to do some sightseeing this week. Unfortunately, it was usually when I was at work, and they wandered off again to look for better, prettier sites.
Fickle!

Two weeks! And some pictures :)

It's two weeks today until I go back to work. I'm not ready!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I"m not ready to leave my baby!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! But you know, we have to like, eat, and pay rent, and I'm the bill/rent/payer and family food provider. So hi ho ................. Patrick will be home with Jeremy for nine weeks, as he takes over the paid parental leave, and after that we'll work around our working hours (ouch ... bad English! bad! bad!). The good thing is that Jeremy finishes work about 9am and I start at 4pm, so we're good there, I guess. Poor wee Patrick had his first lot of vaccinations today; that was .... horrible. :( He's asleep now beside me and seems to have recovered okay _ as for myself, I'm not so sure! We had to take Merlin to the vet on Sunday night _ he'd gone completely off his food and was very subdued. It's a good thing we did, he turned out to have a massive infection and a really high temperature. He's still there; he's eating again finally, but they want to see more of an improvement before they let him go home. God alone knows how we're going to pay for that; I'm not even sure about oh, the rent for the next couple of weeks. But we'll manage, I guess. Not a lot else to report; I'm re-reading the Harry Potter books in anticipation of the Deathly Hallows, and I'm jealously guarding the book voucher my mother gave me for my birthday so I can get the book on the 21st. Eh. That's all I have for now.