I've been absent! Have just done a quick skim of the weekend posts.
My weekend was nice, my mum was down and mostly well-behaved, apart from criticising my baby-wearing (saying Oscar would be crawling by now if I wasn't wearing him so much...but knowing this is highly unlikely I dismissed it very quickly and told her I was most comfortable wearing Oscar like they do in baby-wearing cultures!), and my exclusive BFing. Of course, no harm came to me by eating pureed apple from 3 months blah, blah blah. So, she's off the list of baby-sitters, should I decide I want to leave him for any reason, for at least the next two months! I don't think she would appreciate my devastation if she was caught feeding him solids. Not that it would go unnoticed cos his poo would change! That was her main consternation, but we parted on good terms and she insisted she wasn't criticising my parenting (I think she thinks feeding is completely separate from parenting!). I hung out with my dad for the rest of yesterday after she left and watched Samsara - what a beautiful film!! On the down side, turns out DP gets dejected when I tell him how good my dad is with Oscar. He knows on the one hand that I'm not gloating and that I am actually being pleasantly surprised by my dad since Oscar came along (my dad being chronically depressed and having treatment for it), but on the other it reminds him that his dad didn't make it. He knows he is being silly, but I think he is entitled to those feelings. I also feel cheated that his dad didn't make it and I think about his dad all the time and tell Oscar about him. For such a great year, that event alone causes me a lot of pain, so I can only imagine what DP feels. However, I don't want to avoid talking about my dad because the other grandaddy isn't around - that's not fair on my dad, Oscar or me. But I do know where DP is coming from. He has kept himself very busy this year and I wish he would just stop and feel what it is he has to feel about what happened.
Speaking of DP, he is off on a strike team at the Morwell Open Cut fire for three days. So I'll probably stay over at my dad's tonight and hang out with him later today. We all got up just after 4am to get DP ready and then drive him to the fire station for a 5am departure. It was a bit lonely when they left and Oscar and I closed up the station again. But then we came home and went back to bed and we're over it for now!
The Meet Up - I didn't get time to say this on Friday, but I had a great time and really enjoyed everyone's company! Simone, please tell your DH that I really enjoyed staying back with you, the kids and Rory and Flynn It's not often that such a big group of diverse people get along like that. I've been in one such other group and that was through the CFA - we all surprised the organisers of Challenge 2005 by getting along brilliantly until the 2nd last day for the textbook 'storming', which apparently happens on day 2...not day 7!
I took one photo with my camera - don't know why it was only one! But I'll email it around - it's of Nic with Nixon. I know he tried to be a grumpy bum, but we all saw him smile and heard him chatter, so we're not convinced by that grumpy game! He's a great kid, Nic - we knew he'd turn out just fine! Flynn is a very smiley baby, indeed and loves his sleep! He IS a very compulsive 'stander', like Oscar (I was worried about bowing, but decided that he usually plops back down when tired) and is VERY cute in overalls! Wade and Niall are just cutie pies, aren't they? Wade is so placid - could easily make a liar out of Bath, but we know their mishcievous little ways, so we don't doubt her about his capacity to be a handful. Simone's kids are so lovely - even Xander with his heavy shorts!
Well, Oscar is trying to wake up, so I'd best be off...still haven't had a shower yet...
Oh, yeah, my babyswim classes have been brought forward - I got a spot in the term starting this week!
Catch you all later...