Happy New Year mah lovelies!

SD got on the plane the afternoon of NYE - we are still exhausted from having her here, i slept so much today, not from NYE party, but from having SD for a fortnight. It's so much stress and such hard work. bilby gets very forgotten in the time of having SD here, too many fires for me to be putting out.

in answer to your earlier question Vicky, SD has been naughty, rude etc and very time consuming ever since i became pregnant - i think it's the Green Eyed Monster. She has a disability as well that brings many challenges on a minute by minute basis, plus we are in a very small home, so are constantly in the same small spaces together. it's a very complicated thing to try and explain, and i haven'tt even attemtped to explain the stunts her mum pulls every visit, just to make things more interesting - which always involve more expense for us. Like packing thick jumpers for a Xmas holidays - she knows we can't go for a fortnight in the heat without buying her summer clothes. Nothing we get told (involveing plans for travel etc) come true, there is always hidden stuff, wrong dates, things that cause us trouble (after we make plans based on the dates we've been told).

Our NYE was great, we were invited to our ex-nextdoor neighbour's party, Oriental theme, so i dressed up in a burnt orange silk chinese two piece outfit with those frog button things on the front, looked much nicer than it sounds!! - we had a swim in their lovely pool, loads of dance music, beautiful asian lanterns, paper origami cranes hung up, gorgeous decorations, it was like being in the Kylie Minogue music video for the song "Slow", where there are heaps of muscle bound men in speedos, these friends of ours are gay, and they have ALOT of very beautiful friends. My dh has a 40 pack, not a six pack, so it was very amusing for me to be around all these beautiful boys, but i'm happy to be a faghag! They loved bilby, last time they had seen her, i was eight months pregnant, they were happy for us that she is here and healthy. It was so lovely to be at a really happening party, but nobody was drunk or obnoxious, just happy and loving to dance. Bilby had been ratty and crying most of the day, there was so much for her to look at, pretty lights etc, she stayed really quiet and just smiled alot, got doted on heaps. ANd had a good time in the pool. All the big boys carrying on in the pool with inflatable crocodiles etc, found her a bilby sized beach ball that she had fun playing with.

Taralee - congrats on Evie walking, that's grand!

Kim - got any photos of the strapless red dress? Your dh buys good pressies!!

Vicky - ouch - screaming match in the middle of the night, what a start to the new year, you poor honey.

Blanche - sorry your dh is being such a pain - mums never get a day off! If anything, i think dh's need to do MORE with existing kids and more housework when YOU are pregnant, not LESS! Going on my one experience, pregnancy was NOT easy, and made lots of everyday things, much harder to do, cannot imagine going thru that with another bub as well, god blimey, you need all the help you can get hon.

Vicky - what a strange feeling, to see photos of siblings you havne't met - part of you and your history, but to not know them in real life - i hope you get to meet them one day hon.

DId i ever thank you for sending me the link to Aston's dancy vid? i meant to, so i forgot, i'm saying THANK YOU now! ha ha, me an my poxy memory!!!

Taralee - is it you who went psuedocamping and had a good time? or was that Nelly? i'm getting all mixed up! woohoo for camping i say.

and whoever had the idea about laying on a beach and having someone massage you - woo hoo to that! i'm loving that idea!!!

three days of over 40 and today was 39.9! i am so over thisweather! would give anything for some rain!!! i'm surprised we haven't had blackouts, everyone who has A/c is living with it, i rarely leave the one room where we have the a/c.

so between the heat (having to live in the living area, where the computer is not) and SD - that's why i've been MIA

bilby is taking a few steps, spasmodically, usually when we are out in public, like at a pool, where she has heaps of space. no new teeth, still on darn pureed everything (!!), ocassionally having day naps when she can no longer fight sleep and collapses in the playpen (I'm hugging a pillow, really watching Pingu, i 'm not tired, i'm not tired, whoops, fell asleep).

all this extreme heat, feeding often but not weeing much, i keep watching her fontanelle, worried about dehydration. too scared to take her outside in this heat, until late in the afternoon at least.

Hope Laura had a terrific 12th birthday party Vicky, SINGSTAR sounds fun! have never seen that IRL before.