Babies Born June 2006 #45

[Smoke Jaguar]

Where to start?
First of all - I have no idea what happened to all my email notifications since last Wednesday, but I received none and decided to check in today to catch up...only to find 3 pages later and a new thread! Oh, well, I'll explain why it took me so long to check in later.
Before I forget everything, PM's:
Jess - fantastic about your DD getting know her aunt and soon, her father! She'll thank you for it
Nic - You've probably heard it a thousand times, and as someone who has come to really integrate ABA into my diary, I can heartily recommend joining your local group. You'll find women who have had rough starts, women who have had no issues, and women who are trained counsellors who can help you with your feelings and, hopefully, with your feeding issues. Even if you only go a couple of times and keep in contact with one person, that support will prove invaluable to you. Booby Club isn't just for people who are great at breastfeeding (funny, cos there are people who think that ABA groups are only for people with problems! It's just for everyone). And then there's always us. You can PM us, too - you can PM me at any time if you want a private word. Please feel free to offload your mind here with us, that's what we're for How long before you're driving a Territory??
Tali - thanks for your post in the other thread - it was really sweet and effective! Selby is a beautiful place to live. Most of it is on tank water and they are slowly being hooked up to sewerage. The only thing with living there is public transport isn't so crash hot, though it's improving all the time. A truly beautiful and still affordable spot. I hear you on your reasons for wanting to buy - especially with pets! In Selby you get location and enough space from neighbours. Close to Belgrave, and the train line gets you into town easily, as well as Ringwood and Box Hill shopping centres. To get to the beach you just hop onto Belgrave-Hallam Rd and head due south through Narre Warren, and take your pick from Port Philip, Westernport Bay or the backbeaches on the Peninsula. Or, for a slightly longer drive, the Island. To get to the airport, there's a regular airport bus, or else catch the Belgrave train to Southern Cross station for a bus (all on the one ticket).
Mel - I suppose you get the 'Monash is OPEN on Cup Day?' every year, too! Glad Chelsea's dancing went really well!
Bath - great work on those av's!
Ali - I hear you on wearing maternity bras for two years running...at least they're making some nice ones now
The later it gets, the more my memory is fading from the last thread!
Ok, so, we went camping on the weekend in MIL's campervan, with our brigade friends. We left on Friday and I packed my school books, among other things. We went to Sheepyard Flat, just out of Merrijig and IT RAINED for two whole days! Oscar had a ball and on the Sunday decided that being wet and cold was overrated...after his second nap of that day he chose to stay out of puddles and out from under the drips from the tarps. I actually thought he'd do it all weekend long, and was surprised that he decided for himself! There was no point keeping him out of it, so we just took shoes (gumboots) off, left his nappy on, put on his UV top and pants and stuck him in his puddle suit. Every night he shared a bath with one of the other boys in our big tub, with my aromatherapy bath oil blend. It was a great weekend and despite the weather, we stuck it out till this morning - yesterday was a nice day and today was even better. At least we got home dry! The Howqua was the fullest I have ever seen it - it was a raging torrent on Sunday, it was great to see. Oscar also did very well for sleep - getting to bed easily and early after a full day's play, no issues with DLS (good idea to go camping every time we click over from DLS, mental note to self!)
SO, we left at about 10.30 and headed home. Coco got carsick twice. I had packed the van so that I could sit at the back with Oscar and so that I could minimise my own tendency for car sickness to be able to read my books, so lucky Odin and I held off the throwing up - an Odin size chuck would have been the end of me. And of my last minute cramming for my exam...
...which was also today, at 2.30pm. DP had been using the car clock to estimate whether he should drive me straight into Caulfield or if we had time to go home for me to swap cars. In Kallista, Oscar started to throw up (winding road), and DP asked if I wanted to pull over. I said that if we did, he'd have to drive me in. He said that we were ok for time and he'd rather not keep Oscar in the car for any longer anyway, so we pushed on home. When we got home and I had gone to the loo, DP looked at me and pointed to the clock asking "Is it really 1.45?"...ummm, yes! My time management is pretty crappy, so I assumed that he was making the time estimates for me pretty well...not realising that he wasn't looking at the same time that I had been (I'd been in the back monitoring time on my mobile). So, I jumped into the car and raced off (well, actually, I made good time for someone driving at the speed limit!). I got there just as they had opened the doors to the exam room, but all the way I had been employing some anti-anxiety techniques, so I was fine. But I stank of campfire and unwashed human body!
I'm washed now, and tired. The boys have been in bed for hours and I'm catching up on emails, laundry folding and BB.
Now I can relax - get back into proper housework, get onto painting something for my niece's first birthday, work on my itinerary, reply to emails in my inbox, package up my Tupperware orders, tidy my study in preparation for next year, schedule in a horse ride...etc etc etc...
Rory - yay on the mat leave! Sleep is good...they say you can't bank it, but I insist you can, even if it's only the memory of sleep! DP called me a 'cat' at about this stage of my first pregnancy - sleep all day, sleep all night! Enjoy
Goodnight, and hopefully I get the email notifications this time!!
Oh, and THANKYOU so much everyone for all your kind words - they really did come to the rescue when I was having a major low in the last weeks
ETA: Amanda - missed your post! I know I'm going to find it very difficult when Oscar weans himself too If you get a chance, hop onto the forum here for infant-led BFing, or the ABA forum and there is a section there to discuss your feelings, or else there's always us. Think of what you gave and what he got, and what you are losing may not seem so bad? Am I stretching it? Thinking of you