Driving Mummy

On Friday I drove Ellis and Cyp to school and work respectively. It's not far from our house - 10 minutes maybe, but it made me grumpy. I felt like one of those moms that drive their kids to school (which is what I am). I had hoped to bike Ellis to school in the chariot but I fear I would never make it up the hill back home.

We live really close to the Uni (as noted - about 4 km away) but have I mentioned the traffic lights here? They really are unbelievable. It takes about 10 minutes to navigate Toowong village - we really need to find another way.

I dropped Ellis off at school - he didn't make a fuss at all - just sat down at a table with a game on it and forgot all about me. I got the tour of the school and then went to relieve Cyp of Rowan watching duty so he could go to work.

Came home and Rowan was asleep (it was just after 9 am). He slept till almost noon. I got a lot done. I think almost everything is unpacked and put away (except Cyp's office). For a place with no cupboards, we have done surprisingly well. Note to future guests - your clothes will have to live in your luggage :)

Went back to get Ellis and Cyp at 4:30 - stopped at Woolworths (equivalent to Safeway) where Rowan was ecstatic to be on a bit of an adventure. Should mention is was pouring rain.

Collected Ellis (he had a great day - he was sporting a crown he'd made and a wand) - he seems to like it there, we'll see if he still does on Monday (he now goes Monday and Friday which is not the greatest).

It was Fish Friday so we had Farmed Tasmanian salmon. Is that bad?

Thursday - Ok, Today is a School Day

We decided to hire the babysitter on Thursday so I could get things done, but I ended up playing beat the clock all day. I hate that game. It's exhausting.

I got up, made Ellis's lunch, got the boys ready and headed out to Ellis's school (his last day at Rivercity). I had planned to meet Colleen at the apartment to hand in keys but of course, I had underestimated how long things would take so had to text her to try to arrange to meet later.

I then drove to Toowong Village to pick up Hannah (babysitter) from the train station. Of course, the GPS and I weren't getting along on Thursday and I ended up doing the scenic tour of Brisbane CBD (Central Business District - which is how they refer to downtown here).

I made it to the train station with 5 minutes to spare. I was proud of myself for managing to park the car in the parkade. The parkades are very squishy here.

We picked up Hannah, did a quick grocery shop and then headed home. I puttered around for a bit and then headed out to Kangaroo Point to meet Colleen. As I was on the M3 (the innercity motorway), I noted the gas light was on. Yikes! I immediately started sweating more than usual. I made it off the M3 and thankfully to the one gas station I know. There is a surprising lack of gas stations in Brisbane. Visions of running out of gas were parading through my mind though. It would have been awful and mainly because it was super hot.

I dropped off the keys and then the condition inspection report at the new property managers and headed home.

Really, I didn't get much done and then it was time to go get Ellis again. Cyp had come home by then, so I left Rowan and took Hannah to the train station and then headed downtown to get Ellis.

He said he was sad it was his last day - he would miss Miss Fee (his teacher). As we were getting into the car he said.

"I like school mummy."

Right. I think he did actually like it - I think he felt sad when I suggested he could take his locker label with him. Not likely another Ellis will come along in the near future.

Lamb and leek sausages for dinner - there we go being Australian again.

Wednesday - Cyp back to Work Post Move

Cyp went to work on Wednesday. All I wanted to do was keep sorting and putting things away. I knew this would probably not work with Ellis around so it was a good thing that Tanya emailed to ask what we were doing.

I asked her is she wanted to bring the kids over and she decided to be adventurous and come over. She has never been as far away as Toowong before. Yes - that is where we live. Toowong, or as Tracey put it "you got toowong on the test"

Tanya made it - phew. Ellis and Graham got down to fighting over toys that Ellis normally never plays with. Actually, they mostly got along. We decided we should jump in the pool when the kids started chasing each other around the house screeching at the top of their lungs. Tanya is much more strict than me and does not like it when the kids start to bounce of the furniture.

We jumped in the pool (felt like the bath). It is quite bright in the pool at midday. Tanya had her kids covered from head to toe and I suddenly realized we were underdressed. I ran around trying to find hats and goggles for the kids (and me) and by the time we were all set, the pool didn't feel so refreshing.

Tanya and kids stayed for lunch (they brought their own - what easy guests) and then headed home. Her kids nap - they both crashed on the way home - Lucky!

Actually, Ellis was fairly good - he had lots of things to keep him entertained and before long Cyp came in the door - looked like he'd just had a shower in his clothes - sweat! I mentioned we live on quite the hill didn't I?

It is so bizarre - we live on the same side of the river as the Uni now but it almost takes Cyp as long to bike as from Kangaroo Point. I do not understand the layout of this city at all.

Managed to watch a little TV on Cyp's computer. He bought a little antenna for it. They have free TV here in Oz. Everyone has TV antennas on their roofs as in days of old. Well - that's one less thing I have to budget for - yay!

Tuesday - Happy Australia Day

So, I knew it was Australia day, but to me it was Tuesday - school day. We all got up and jumped in the car and drove to Ellis's school. How surprising - it was closed. Just before we got there I had said to Ellis:

"you know today is a school day right? That's where we're going."

"Oh" he said and then proceeded to get kinda quiet.

When we got there it was all dark (more so than usual) and I said

"oh, I guess there is no school today."

Ellis said in a secretly happy kinda way

"school's closed!"

Cyp just sat there all smug like - he'd told me so.

"I guess you get to play the Wii all day Ellis"

"HOORAY!"

So off we went to Kangaroo Point apartment to tie up loose ends a do a bit of cleaning. I had asked Colleen our landlady what we should clean and she suggested the laundry. Hmm that would take all day so while Ellis played Wii, Cyp and I did all the sheets, bed covers, towels etc and in between cleaned and packed up the rest of our stuff.

At around noon, Ellis was turning into a Wiibot so I sent Cyp and him off to take a load of things to the house. I stayed behind with Rowan and cleaned and finished up. I think we finally finished around 4 - Cyp came back and got me and we went home where we had chicken pot pie (very Australian - apparently meat pies were invented in Australia). Rowan ate almost an entire pie. Poor boy - he hadn't eaten anything all day.

Put the boys to bed and proceeded to unpack some more. Took a two minute break at one point to watch the fireworks from our window. Pretty good view!

Ok, I Forget Where I Left Off

Oh right - just before Container day.

On Monday we got up, quickly got ready and all drove over to the house. I dropped off Cyp and a pile of stuff (it is amazing how our stuff expanded in three months at Kangaroo Point) and then drove Ellis to Graham and Leah's house. It is kinda funny - but when he says Graham and Leah, it sounds like Grandma Anita. I get confused as to who he is referring to sometimes.

Anyway - I don't think he quite understood that he was missing out on the arrival of the container.

I came back to the house and Cyp and I did a little inspecting and waiting and waiting...Cyp went to get Nandos for lunch - we decided the control freak should stay home to greet the movers - Cyp got to drive the car for the first time. He also found it not to be too much of a problem.

The container - or I should say crates (our stuff had been moved out of the container and now occupied 5 Ah So Easy type boxes) finally arrived at 11:45. They had given us a window of 10 am till noon. I was a little cheesed to say the least. Especially as we had to go back to get Ellis at around noon.

I got to stand there and tick off numbers on a sheet as they brought in our boxes (145 items - boxes and pieces of furniture). I really wanted to start ripping open boxes but the two guys were pretty speedy and I had hard time finding the numbers (boxes were all out of order) and deciding where the box should go before they had gone to get another one.

We decided that Cyp should go get Ellis as I am the control freak and have very set ideas about where things should go.

Surprisingly Ellis and Rowan did not seem to get in the way much and the movers were gone by about 4:30.

Phil and Maryann (boss and boss's wife) came over and Maryann helped me unpack kitchen things and get things set up there while Cyp, Phil and Ellis went for pizza and wine. We managed to have dinner in the dining room at the table on our own plates - how weird.

It did make me feel a tad homesick to see all our stuff here. Then again, this house is so different from Vancouver home, that it does not really seem like our stuff. I think Bob and Dot's picture of the Lion's Gate Bridge made me feel the most homesick.

Ellis seemed quite happy - he doesn't really remember his stuff - some recent things, but not a lot of the stuff he got when he was around 2. I think about half the boxes were full of toys.

After we got the kids to bed, we tried to unpack as much as we could. I got depressed by the amount of crap we toted to Australia - especially all the clothes that will be pretty much useless here. Why? Why did I not put them in a bin. I could put them in a bin here, but I don't think anyone here will want them. I did not sleep much on Monday night. Thoughts of where we could possibly put everything in the house without cupboards kept my brain very busy all night.

Iphone Tethered

I thought I would jot off a quick blog post - it's mostly a documentation blog so no need to read it.

We had a visit from the prior tenant tonight. He knocked on our door right at dinner time. I went to answer it at which point he told me about his prior experience with the owners (who live next door).

He is clearly a disgruntled tenant. He mentioned a few things. He said he had to pay $600 to clean the house, $200 to fix the ripped screen downstairs (not fixed), $500 to fix an iron scorch in the floor (not fixed very well).

He mentioned that Sue (the woman owner) was always on the property and that they had received a settlement from QCAT. He went on a huge rant about her.

He told us to document every scratch, cracked window to cover ourselves.

Needless to say, Cyp and I were quite depressed after the entire exchange. As noted, there are a lot of issues with the house - we had filled out the condition inspection report, but missed a few things. We did not have a very good sleep.

That said - the owners have been really great to us so far but at this point, we no longer feel like this is our home but something that we have to make sure we do not damage. I hope to talk to Sue today to gauge the situation.

Last Days in Kangaroo Point

Our container is arriving at our new home tomorrow. I really feel like I should be doing something, but oddly, I couldn't really think of much to do today. I packed up a few things and stuffed as much into our car as I could (perhaps we should have gotten a bigger car) and then we headed out to the opening of a new park on Kangaroo Point - surprisingly called... Kangaroo Point Park. I think I posted a link about the public vote for the art that is to be installed there. Vote for the giant Kangaroo.

Anyway, it was super hot and there was not much shade at the new park. I overheard a news reported saying "the skin cancer capital of the world, and no shade" Ellis got his picture taken by a reporter and may be in the news - I will send the link if it happens. We didn't last very long so came home, had lunch and headed out to our new place to complete our inspection report. There is nothing like looking closely at things to realize how many things can go wrong in a house. You also realize how many things there are to look at in a house - I was grateful that the house wasn't any bigger. Each room has about 5 windows and each window has about 10 panes of glass and at least one pane would be cracked. We were also told we had to count the holes in the walls (nail holes). I really don't think they could care in this house. The pictures don't show it, but the walls are in fairly rough shape.

They also obviously haven't updated the report for a long time as Ellis's room is supposed to have a BIR (it took us the longest time to figure out what that was when we were looking for a place to live), but it is a Built in Robe. Ellis's room does not have a BIR - I have to ask, how did the last tenant make off with a BIR? They have also filled out Ensuite - uh, nope - no ensuite either. Oh ok, they meant to say - outside public washroom :)

Cyp got more and more moody as we went along. The thing is, Cyp and I have very different taste. I like old timey. He likes clean lines and modern. This house is not that. I am just glad we do not own it as it needs a ton of work.

There are lots of fabulous things though - our bedroom opens onto the front covered porch - We are high on a hill and can open the many windows and catch the evening breeze. One could imagine that they are living in the colonies in this house as they drink their G & T. Oh right, we are.

The bad thing - we are surrounded by the streets of San Francisco. I will not be walking anywhere. Sigh. I fear I will put on all the weight I have lost at Kangaroo Point. Wii will no longer tell me I'm the ideal weight. I do not envy Cyp trying to ride his bike home. It will be brutal (although short and brutal).

Tonight we went for a final swim at Kangaroo Point pool. In honor of the occasion, Ellis removed his water wings and tried to swim around. He did really well - in fact, he kept putting his head under and holding his breath. It's amazing how he has progressed. After our swim, he ran back to the apartment, whipped off his swim suit and ran to the potty. A flood of diarrhea. I do believe he drank too much pool water.

Blog is Going Offline

Yup we're moving again. Phone will be disconnected for about about a week - knowing what it is like here, probably longer.

Off we go to Toowong. We checked out the house today. I wonder when I became a snot, but the house is definitely a rental. There are lots of good things about it - high ceilings, lots of windows, high on a hill with a view of the city, a pool. Plus Ellis had a great time running around and around and around (with Rowan trying to keep up while crawling). It is old, so has lots of weird spaces (which I have always liked).

For example - the living room has two doors into it - one off the hall and one off the kitchen and there is an opening in the back wall with the dining room on the other side. The dining room has a door at one end (kitchen) and on the other (square room in corner of house with no purpose - maybe Cyp's office) that has a another door that leads to a another room off the end of the living room. I'm not describing it very well, but I guess this gives the sense that it is a series of rooms that are all connected by doors that Ellis could run around and around in - opening and slamming the doors behind him.

The bedrooms are like that too - a room, with another room just off them. Both bedrooms have doors that open onto the front verandah. I checked Ellis's - I think he would have a hard time opening it (I hope) as it is essentially a door from his room straight into the front yard.

Ellis wants to share a room with Rowan (I guess he would be happy with Rowan out of our bed - I think this really hurts Ellis - the fact that he has to sleep all by himself when the three of us do not). I think Rowan will go in the room off our room though.

I'm also afraid to say that the guest accommodation does smell a bit. Not sure of what yet, but hopefully it will get aired out. I fear not though as I seem to recall it smelled when we first looked at the house. That said - it is a nice bright room with doors opening onto a patio which overlooks the pool. Plus there is a bathroom. This is the weird thing about Queenslanders (the houses here). The downstairs are essentially outside. So the downstairs bathroom and guest room are not really part of the house. Is someone wanted to, they could walk in off the street and use our bathroom. Funny. So - is everyone really tempted now to come and visit? The laundry is similar - it's kinda like everything is built underneath the house in an open area - with a few walls added in but you have to leave the house to get access.

The only other thing is that the walls and baseboards could definitely use a coat of paint. Things are a bit dingy - that said - they will just get dingier with us as the boys are definitely hard on things. You should see our patio doors. Ellis stands on one side, Rowan on the other and they pound away with their soot blackened hands (from crawling around the patio floor).

Ok - that is enough of that. I will post pictures soon.

The other thing we did today was go to see a live version of the Gruffalo. It was really great - imagine 300 kids and parents crammed into an intimate theatre. I enjoyed the play so that says it must have been good as the kids did chatter and scream a lot. Ellis and Rowan were super well behaved (Rowan was fascinated until he fell asleep 20 minutes in). Ellis was glued to the acting. Later on he said:

"I wasn't scared of the Gruffalo. I might have been scared if he was bigger, but he wasn't big so I wasn't scared."

The theatre was located in a planned community near downtown (Kelvin Grove). It actually seemed to work quite well - lots of apartment buildings surrounding parks and cafes. They also had a market today.

Tomorrow we may go to a park opening and hopefully move the rest of our stuff from the apartment. Movers come Monday. Tuesday is Australia day. We'll be cleaning the apartment a bit. Then it's back to school for the kiddies. Ellis starts new daycare on Friday.

Friday - Yucky Day

I didn't make plans for Friday because Rowan was still getting over his bug. Ellis played Wii all morning while I got insurance (actually, I can't really remember what I did). I'm becoming Wii dependent. It's so easy, it must be wrong, but Ellis could play Wii all day.

Around 10 I got a call from Appliance Online - they didn't have the fridge I'd ordered. AARGH. I had only gone with them because of the fridge. I called Cyp in a panic - what to do? We decided to see if we could get the floor model fridge back at the Good Guys. I already felt bad because I had spent the entire day there the day before and I hadn't called the salesperson back to say I'd purchased everything online. So I called her and asked her if I could get the fridge. Yup - she quoted me a price for fridge alone and I told her I'd call her back.

Then Appliance Online called and said they did have a fridge that opened on the other side. Phew. Ok - everything on course again. Of course, I never called the salesperson back at the Good Guys. I can never go to that store again. Hope she doesn't remember me.

The morning was truly stressful though. Rowan was whiny (how unusual) and I was dreading having to look for a second hand fridge as the only fridge that would fit in our space was out of stock all over Australia. Yup - I knew moving day would bring along more blog fodder.

I decided we'd go to the post office as something to do to get us out of the house. I ran into a new mom just leaving the building as I was. I'd seen her before. She has a four month old baby and hadn't slept at all the previous night. She had been reduced to tears as she didn't know what to do. Hmm. Must be something in the air because Rowan almost had me in tears too. I had tried to sneak out to the couch to get away from him but he can scream for a long time. I told her I'd send her some info but haven't yet. I will try.

We went to the post office and did a change of address (only to find out later that Cyp had too - darn! only productive thing I did that day turned out to be not productive). Then we went to Meyer to look at TVs. We lasted all of 5 minutes - I'd forgotten how impossible it is to do errands with the two of them. Impossible! Ellis tried to lose me in Meyer - I told him the story of how I'd been lost in the mall when I was about his age. That might have made an impression - I'm not sure. I gave up and decided to head home. Ellis then played kidpix all afternoon while I tried to get Rowan to nap with no success. Sigh.

We went to the pool and had barbecued roast lamb for dinner (deelicious). Of course both kids hated it. Instead of eating they chased each other around the pole on our deck. Pretty cute. Rowan is becoming a better playmate for Ellis. He is also getting good at being the younger brother. For example, when he's playing with something and sees Ellis coming he looks at me and says "MMMAAAAA" as he knows the thing he is playing with is about to be ripped out of his hands. He has the younger downtrodden sibling thing down pat.

Cyp headed out to look for TV and I spent hours trying to get Rowan to go to sleep.

Last Time We Walk to River City

It was very very tempting to drive Ellis to school today. I decided though that I had to walk as it will be the last time we walk along the river to school and as hot and sometimes painful it is, I will miss it.

On the way Ellis offered up his usual chit chat:

"We will have two kids when Rowan be a kid."

"Rowan is a funny name mummy. You should have named him nobody."

Then he repeated Rowan, Rowan, Rowan over and over again (in that way one does until the word becomes nonsensical).

He seemed good at drop off - but then I realized it was because I was helping him - first to the toilet, then getting his snack (as we arrived right at morning tea time). As I was leaving - Ellis looked mournfully on.

"I want you to stay mummy."

Personally, I don't quite understand it. Why does he want the grumpy mummy, who says no to everything he asks, to stay? When I later picked him up he told me "I didn't cry when you left today mummy, but I was still very sad. I wanted you to stay."

I told him he probably had more fun at school as Rowan was trapped in a carseat and or stroller all day and did not get to play.

One comment on the way home:

"I won't fit in the back of the car when I be an adult, so I will have to drive."

I told him that he would have to stop at red lights then (his latest is to yell at me when I stopped at the red light - "RED MEANS GO MUMMY"

It's quite distracting having two kids heckling you from the back seat when one is trying to look at the GPS, remembering where 1st gear is and the turn signal. I realized I was mostly fine driving a stick shift except when entering onto the highway. It's hard to remember where fourth gear is when one is busy not getting smooshed by a truck.

While Ellis was at school, I drove back and forth between The Good Guys (like Best Buy) and Clive Peeters (like Future Shop) trying to figure out what fridge, washer/dryer, TV, kettle, toaster, iron, dyson fan and coffee grinder to get. Yup - I was told if we buy it all, we would get a deal. Is $500 off (on all those things) a good enough deal? I'm not convinced. However, we really do need a fridge and there is only one nice model that actually fits in our space and there is only one left. The prices that I got do seem fairly good already, so the $500 off is just an added bonus.

Do I risk it all and try the Saturday classifieds? Ugh - it seems like so much work. I think we are just going to buy it all at once and be done.

We had Fish and Chips for dinner (last time for that place too - it's good, but I can't see us driving back to Kangaroo Point just for that) and then we headed back to the store so Cyp could see what I had scouted out.

Of course, the TV I had looked at was fine - but look at this one over here! So I had to get a new quote with a better TV. We are now researching everything.

I have to call in the morning so they don't sell our fridge to someone else.

Postscript

After this post I spent the last 2 hours researching and found an online website. I just ordered my fridge, washing machine and dryer. Now that was easy. I hope they arrive ok.

Our New Car - Hooray!

So we got our new car today (looks quite a bit like our old car - doesn't it!). It is even a manual - Cyp was a tad surprised. We bought it from Cyp's friends Shane and Liz. They drove it up from New South Wales - they are originally from Brisbane and are moving to Vancouver with their 15 month son - Shane got Uli's job (Uli is a friend/colleague of Cyp's that moved to Trinidad a year and a half ago to work down there). Shane jokes that we should have just swapped lives - they could have lived in our house, we could have lived in theirs... We could have swapped cars too. Too bad we already sold ours.

Anyway - Shane parked the car in the garage for us (we were both afraid of driving a standard) and we thought we could deal with trying to drive it and getting it registered another day. Well, that plan fell through. By noon I was ready to strangle Ellis (who kept yelling and poking Rowan who was trying to nap) so I decided I was going to put us all in the car and go and get it registered.

It took 5 minutes to buy insurance online ($560) and then I headed off to Sherwood to the Transport Office. I picked a suburb as I assumed they would have parking. So, I put in the car seats, got the GPS and off we set. I also figured a drive would be good for Rowan as he would get to sleep in air conditioned comfort and Ellis could play his leapster.

Ah - it was good to have a car again and fortunately, I could drive it. It was a little awkward shifting with my left hand, but I could do it and hills were ok too. I realized that the clutch/brake still works the same way. I just had to remember to put it in first gear.

Again, I was surprised by the Transport office. It looked like the Passport office back home, but seemed to work much more efficiently. I had no idea what I was doing but the lady behind the counter just took my money, handed me my plates and I was done.

Smart me had remembered to take a screwdriver and as I was changing the plates, the man parked beside me said:

"uh, do you mind if I borrow your screwdriver? I forgot mine."

"Sure." I said smugly. I was feeling pretty darn impressed with my driving, juggling two kids and remembering my screwdriver.

I then went and got Cyp at work. I realized at some point that I really didn't know what I had paid for. I had no invoice or anything - just plates. Weird. Turns out when I checked out online tonight that I paid duty (PST essentially), Third party insurance (if I run someone over), plate fee, registration fee and something else I can't remember. Funny I didn't get a breakdown at the Transport Office - just the plates. No stickers either - how do they know that the plates are valid? Hmm.

We decided to drive by our new home. There were some people there so I said to Cyp:

"should I get out and go see if they'll let me see the fridge space?"

We hummed and hawed bit, but then I went in and it turns out that the people were the owners - they also live next door. They seemed very friendly (Ted and Sue) and we got dimensions for the fridge space.

The house seems more run down that I remember, but I think it will look better with our stuff in it. The garden and trees are nice. We have a macadamia tree in our yard. It is an old house - so I shouldn't say run down. I should say character. Kinda like our old apartment (eh Keith).

I'm getting super excited - can't wait!!!!! Container arrives on Monday.

I'm off to get a fridge and washing machine tomorrow. We have been spending a lot lately. It costs a lot to move to Australia. Plus we have to get this place we're in cleaned - can't do it ourselves, not allowed, which is good I guess. Skinflint me will just have to pay.

Oops Rowan just woke up - gotta go

So I was Just Thinking We Dodged the Sickness Bullet

When Rowan developed a fever on Sunday night. As noted, I took him and Ellis to Ellis's new daycare on Monday as Rowan didn't seem any worse for wear - still pretty perky but Monday night he got really hot and we did not sleep well. It was rough trying to get us out the door on Tuesday morning. I had to rely on Cyp to help me with a rather pathetic and limp Rowan so I could get Ellis and his lunch ready for school. This was made rougher by Ellis (who did not want to go) and the fact that I had not gotten much sleep. We finally made it out the door (Cyp included - he cycled by us as we were walking to the ferry) and I called the doctor on route to set up an appointment for Rowan. I hate phoning the doctor - I didn't really think it was necessary, but decided it would be good to meet Cyp's doctor to see if I thought she would work out for all of us.

We dropped Ellis off (it was hot again) and then headed home where I had to get Rowan to sleep without nursing him (as he had voneted all over me a couple hours previously - I had this experience with Ellis - he would seem better, I'd nurse him, he'd puke).

So - I'm not very good at getting kids to sleep without the old standby (the boob) so I lay on the bed with Rowan and sang ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZed etc. for about an hour. I think he finally fell asleep to get me to shut up. I then prepped dinner, washed pukey towels and sheets and next thing I knew it was time to go to the doctors (which is in Toowong, near our new place).

Off we set - poor Rowan - high fever in 36 heat. We took the city cat and the female ticket taker talked to us for the entire ride. Showed me pictures of her grandson Nate, who had croup just before Christmas. Rowan just lay against me - it was kinda sweet in a way - he didn't squirm like he usually does.

Cyp's doctor was great - I really liked her. She thought Rowan may have had bacterial tonsillitis and was going to prescribe antibiotics (she told me she does this very rarely) but I decided we would try it without the antibiotics and she was ok with that.

We took the train back to get Ellis. For some reason the wheelchair spots (i.e. area I use to park the pram) are in the middle of the train between two doors. So I had to wheel our rather large pram down the aisle and people do not move their bags or feet. It was rush hour, so the train was busy. I'm pretty sure a wheelchair would be impossible to maneuver into that space.

Ellis has a new teacher - she seems really nice, too bad we are leaving that daycare. Again, the kids swarmed around Rowan - I wanted to say - don't touch him, you'll get sick, but decided I didn't want to alarm anyone.

Came home, had dinner, swam, played Wii and passed out. Rowan did not sleep again and we had a repeat of me trying to make him take drugs only to have him barf all over me again. I guess he has to live with a fever. He can keep water down so I think he's ok.

Checking Out the New Daycare

I suddenly realized last night that I hadn't made any plans for today. Yikes! So this morning I decided we should go check out Ellis's new daycare out at the University. It seems like so long ago when we first went to the University and I put Ellis on the waiting list. This daycare wants us to come in together for a few days to get acclimatized. They seem better that way than the current daycare.

Well - it took us a while to get moving. It was super hot today. I knew it was going to be bad because every person we met said - "hot isn't it!"

We actually saw someone in the building elevator (first person), then our landlady, then the ferry driver, and everybody we saw on the way to the University. Ellis's new teacher said - "so you're from Canada? Isn't the weather awful? I didn't realize what dry heat verses muggy was till I went to Sydney this year at Christmas." This made me wonder a bit - as she's been at the daycare for 7 years - I can't believe this is the first time she's experienced dry heat in her life!

By the time we got to the daycare it was noon (good timing). The kids were all eating their lunches. At least I had packed Ellis's lunchbox. They all sat there and stared each other down - I eventually started a conversation. There was a Hugo, George, Lily, Vassily, Quinn and Davey at his table. I asked them how old they were. They got a bit inventive. It ranged from 2 and a half to 5, but some chimed in (Lily) that they were 6. I investigated the other lunches. Yup - I'm the best mom, although Vassily looked like he had a good lunch (no judging of course).

Samantha (Ellis's teacher) then mentioned it was nap time. Yup. "I guess we'll go." I said. I felt a tug on my arm. "mummy, I want to nap."

"WHAT?"

"I want to nap."

"uh, ok - Samantha, can Ellis stay and nap?"

So Samantha got a mat for Ellis to sleep on and he promptly did. All the other kids were still running around like maniacs.

Samantha says to me - "he's sleeping."

"yes."

Of course, Rowan was wide awake, so we sat there and tried to entertain ourselves while Ellis slept. Rowan picked up various unidentifiable things off the floor and ate them until Samantha sent us over to the baby side of the daycare (safer). So Rowan and I got banished.

The babies on the baby side did seem a tad happier than at Ellis's current daycare, but I still have a hard time imagining spending day after day there. The music alone would drive me insane (even if I was a baby). Rowan crawled around and tried to make friends, but they all eyed him suspiciously - what are YOU so happy about. I decided I was glad that I'm not leaving him there, even if it was only one day a week. So many babies - so few carers to give love. At least on the kid side, they seemed like a gang of happy kids - they get to do crafts. The babies just wander around in circles.

Ellis woke up at 1:50 so we ran over to Cyp's office (hot!) as he had a meeting at 2:00. Fortunately, meeting was delayed so we could chat with G. Anita, Suzy and Max. Then we wandered by the pond where we saw a flock of cockatoos (see if you can spot one in the picture above - probably can't darn Iphone). Then we caught the bus and ferry home. Ellis likes to sit in the jump seat right behind the driver on the bus and then he hold very loud conversations (as I'm sitting a few seats back).

"I THINK WE TOOK THE WRONG BUS MOMMY."

"no Ellis, we're on the right bus."

"LOOK MOMMY - THERE ARE SPARKLES ON THIS BUS."

"Yes Ellis - um hmm."

Poor bus driver had Ellis yelling in his ear the entire trip.

Had a bit of a hike to the ferry after the bus. Ellis asked the entire way.

"Can I play the Wii on the way home?"

We get to a certain spot and he has to get out as he has to race me down the ramp to the river walk where we catch our ferry. Highly competitive he is. In fact, I've noticed that he only tries new things if it's a competition. At the park on the weekend, he finally went on the swing as there was another kid his age on the swing next to him.

"Don't push me mommy. I can do it myself."

He also tried a tricycle the other day as other kids had been using it. He has not grasped the concept of steering. I kinda think he should have that down by now. Maybe Mario Kart will teach him - although it's not looking good. We play against each other and we usually have to switch controllers at some point as he hasn't moved (or he's gone backwards). Today, his favourite game on the Wii was the ski jump. He loved it when he crashed and turned into a giant snowball (with skis poking out) tumbling down the hill. In fact he had a breakdown when I helped him actually jump.

"go away mummy that is not the right way."

Right.

He can now turn on the TV, Wii, find his Mii and get it all set up without any help. I figure it's better than taking up smoking.

I did enforce a swim so we did something active. Ellis was feeling chatty - there were actually other people in the pool today. He made a point of going over to where they were and jumping in.

"did you see that?" he asked.

"we have to go now, mommy has to make dinner. Have a good swim."

Last Sunday in Kangaroo Point

So we decided to do our usual Kangaroo Cliffs walk to the waterpark. It was supposed to rain today but sadly did not. It was super hot again, though there was a breeze this afternoon. Today Ellis decided he wanted to check out the steps that went up the cliff. He took his water cup just in case. We only went halfway. We got midway, he saw the long windy path up the rest of the way and said:

"let's go back now"

"don't you want to see what it looks like at the top?"

"nah."

Could be because he picked out his long corduroy pants. So we continued on - got stopped by a German couple who wanted to compare our stroller to theirs (they have a Phil and Ted Vibe). Ours steers much better apparently. They offered to let us take their kids for a stroll, but we were like - nah, we trust you, ours is better.

Water park was a zoo - but Ellis is fairly trustworthy now in his waterwings. Cyp watched Ellis and I carted Rowan around from place to place. Rowan is the untrustworthy one now - he immediately crawls for deep water. I am tempted to see if he'll float, but I'm pretty sure he won't. It's tempting though. He is all pud.

At dinner Cyp wondered if our pet lizard was dead. He doesn't look too good hanging where he is and he hasn't moved for a while, but I when I went to take a picture he blinked.

There is lots of food for him between Rowan and the mozzies.

Tomorrow I think Ellis and I are going to go test out Ellis's new daycare.

I Fear for the Future of the Blog

I got a Wii for my birthday. Guess what we did today - played Mario Kart. Now there is something new for me and Ellis to fight over.

Heh.

I woke to many emails - the sump pump to our Vancouver house failed (why do these things always happen at night?). Apparently not too much damage which is good as our dumb insurance doesn't cover it. Poor tenants get displaced for a few days. Thanks again to our property managers - mom and dad.

After setting up the Wii and moping around a bit, we decided to head out to the library to return my overdue books. We were originally going to go look at fridges and washer/dryers but I was feeling like we've spent too much lately so didn't want to go anymore. Of course, we have to get a fridge - I wonder how long we would last without one? No more milk for Ellis - but hey - we could still have eggs. I could go shopping daily and we could put our leftovers in the cupboard like Edie used to. Hmmm - maybe it would work. Oh no, forget it - that would mean no ice in my rum and cokes. That wouldn't work.

We took the ferry to North Quay (library stop). Ellis chats the entire way:

"What stop is this?"

"Thornton Street."

"oh - is Southbank after Thornton Street?"

"yes - but we're going to the stop after Southbank."

"how many stops is that?" (and then he holds up his fingers - he's getting good at finger math)

We hung out in the library till it closed at three - Cyp found out how much it would cost to own up to the fact that Little Miss Greedy has disappeared (I fear Rowan chucked her out on our way to return her last week) - $9. Not too bad.

We did end up going to Harvey Norman to look at fridges - didn't last long although they did have a giant roll of bubble wrap that I parked Ellis in front of. It was Rowan who kept protesting though so we had to leave.

We came back - put on James and the Giant Peach for Ellis (we got it at the library) and I made dinner while Rowan roamed the patio and Cyp was tethered to the internet on his phone. Cyp also pretended to be watching a cricket game that was taking place just in the park by our apartment. I cannot understand a word the sportscasters are saying on the news - especially the cricket - there was a lot of cricket stuff going on over the holidays - I have no idea what happened even though sometimes they went on for about 10 minutes on the news for one game!

If you could see Cyp right at this moment peddling his pretend wii bike.... it's quite distracting.

I hope he doesn't have a heart attack - the dog that is chasing him is winning.

"this is too much like work" he just muttered.

We went to the pool after dinner just so we didn't feel like complete couch potatoes today.

Dinosaur Museum

Today we headed out early to I Dig Dinos - the current exhibit at the museum. We met up with Tanya, Graham and Leah. Sometimes I wonder why we bother. It's not like we really get to talk - the kids seem to go in separate directions and when they do end up in the same area of the museum, they tend to fight over whatever is in limited supply. Today it was puzzle pieces for a large dinosaur puzzle on the wall. I'd say the museum today is my least favourite and I found the installation rather lame (how's that for my new upbeat attitude). Anyway - there were way too many screaming kids (including mine). The best part of the museum was the long hallway on the second floor. Rowan had a blast seeing if he could break the crawling sound barrier.

Check out the masks that the boys are wearing - do they not look like Jason?

We parted ways around lunch time and Ellis and I got an ice cream while Rowan slept (I knew I would pay for this later, but I wanted a treat). While sitting eating our ice cream we were subjected to the most horrible street busker. It was an elderly woman and her guitar singing Irish type ballads. She was really really bad but she seemed to do alright moneywise. Quite a few people put coins in her guitar case. I was going to just cause that is what you do, but then I thought - do I really want to reward this? It did make me think that there is always a way to make money.

We caught the ferry home and then made my cake. Ellis stirred. Unfortunately, the ice cream kicked in on Ellis (or maybe he was just bored) and he decided to unroll the toilet paper from the roll - he does this every time we forget and leave the toilet paper in the bathroom. So we try to remember to hide the toilet paper, but come on - Ellis can spell his name on the computer - you think he'd understand - "STOP UNROLLING THE TOILET PAPER FROM THE ROLL." Ellis thinks it is a game. He says

"Daddy forgot to put the toilet paper away." and I know he is thinking (so I had to unroll it didn't I). It is a pain to try to remember to take out the toilet paper before going to the bathroom. I usually forget. So I got mad at him and gave him a warning that cake was in jeopardy.

We then went for a swim (our pool at the apartment really is excellent - I must take a picture). It was a pretty nice day - not too hot, the palm trees were swaying. Dad had sent a picture of our house that he'd taken on his Wednesday walk. The trees were bare - it looked damp and wet. Instead of making me homesick, it was making me appreciate Brisbane a bit more so I was thinking how nice it was that me and the boys could just come for a nice swim whenever we wanted (part of my new upbeat attitude).

After that, I was talking to Susie on the phone and Ellis went and chucked the roll into the toilet (that I had forgotten to flush after emptying his potty).

"ok, I said - I guess you don't want cake - you must have had too much treat already today with that big ice cream."

Ellis says

"well, you had ice cream too so I guess you don't get cake either." (and let me tell you - I could see the teenager in him when he said that - his face aged 10 years and his voice... scary)

We had pizza for dinner (I decided the emergency frozen pizza I bought was necessary - no way was I cooking on my birthday).

Then it was time for cake - unfortunately, I'd read my email and our basement tenants have noticed a leak that is spreading across the carpet (it will probably be up to their ankles by the morning) so now things are a bit tense. Had to call mom and dad at 1 am. Hope it's nothing bad but we fear it is

(I am now editing this in the morning - our sump pump failed - not too much damage according to mom and dad)

Nap Time

So Ellis wandered into our room at 7 am this morning.

"Is today Thursday?"

"yes" I mumbled

"is it a school day?'

"yes" I mumbled again

"i don't waaaaaaaant to go to school."

"why not?"

"They make you sleep there"

"can't you just play quietly during nap time?"

"no, sniff, because it's put away time just before nap time."

"oh"

Ellis had to go to school anyway and he cried again when I left. When I went back he seemed pretty happy and he apparently slept for 2 hours (on Tuesday he slept for 2.5 hours).

I asked him about it when we were swimming tonight.

"So - did you nap at school today"

"yes"

"Did you feel all refreshed?"

"no, I felt angry with myself."

"why??"

"I did not want to sleep!"

The Medical System

The medical system is interesting here - you pay up front and then get reimbursed right away. So Cyp pays $60 for a doctor's visit and then gets $21. Ditto for any medical services.

The interesting one is the blood clinics. A couple of weeks after his bloodwork, he gets a cheque in the mail. The cheque is not for him - it's for the clinic. He then has to mail the cheque to the clinic - crazy! I guess it's their control system to make sure the clinic is not just billing for non existent patients?

There Really are More Hours in a Day if you Don't Commute

Our playdate cancelled today due to sickness and unfortunately, I had nothing else planned. The person that was coming to inspect our rental also cancelled - darn! All the tidying and cleaning for nothing.

I should have known what our day would be like as Ellis picked his Spawn of Evil shirt today (thanks Nicole). I'm trying to have a sunnier outlook though and not automatically say "No!" to everything Ellis says.

So we went to the pool without our playdate - we were done by 10 am. We had early lunch. Rowan napped, I read a few stories. It's really hard to fill up the hours without TV or the computer. Around 1pm we decided to go to the park - we lasted about 30 minutes - too hot! Ellis has figured out how to climb the ladder there though. I guess that did kill an hour and we got some outside time so I felt justified letting Ellis play kidpix on the computer when we got back. I read my book :) I've been reading all these books by Aussie authors. It seems they have Aussie content laws here as every book I pick off the shelf (and I usually just grab and run as one kid is complaining) is written by an Australian.

I read a Household Guide to Dying and Dirt Music - can't remember the name of the current one.

Ellis found the word reader and proceeded to spell his name (he learned that on Monday during his gmail chat with G. Anita). He had great fun having the computer saying "Ellis Ellis Ellis" over and over. The he did a couple of short movies in photobooth. Soon he got bored so of course we ended up arguing until Cyp got home (could it have been the sesame snaps for the snack?) I didn't even really have to make dinner today as I'd made turkey congee yesterday - it did not feel quite right eating turkey congee on a tropical summer's eve, but I managed to use up every bit of turkey!

Cyp suggested a walk after dinner and I usually roll my eyes but I was in yes mode today (plus feeling guilty for doing absolutely nothing) so off we went. Ellis decided our route

"Turn here"

"now this way"

"ok - let's go over the bridge"

Ellis has had a fascination with the bridge by our house since we got here. Every night he watches the people doing the bridge walk and says "I want to go up there." and every night I tell him:

"Ellis - you are too little - you have to be twelve to do the bridge walk."

So tonight he got to walk over the bridge. He really did lead us right to it. I think he got the idea last Friday when a couple asked me for directions to the bridge on our walk home from playgroup.

He was very excited on the walk..."look how high we are... look - there's our park.... is that a big pile of bird poo? let's walk right to the other side.... this is our bridge right?"

We didn't walk to the other side (the fumes were killing us - we saw tons of runners, I don't understand it), when we got to the middle, Cyp lifted Ellis so he could see the other side - that made him a tad nervous. It is a pretty high bridge. We then made the slow journey home.

"I'm out of energy" said Ellis as soon as we started heading back. Of course.

The Blog Muse has Left Me

I guess I will keep blogging about the minutia of our lives. This Australia thing is starting to become routine and the thought of that makes me homesick. Brisbane is starting to seem like a small town that is perpetually hot and full of smokers (I don't think I've whined about all the smokers yet.... they are everywhere - can't walk down the street without constantly breathing their fumes). We started to watch Double Jeopardy last night on TV and there were shots of Howe Sound (of course doubling for Washington State) and I thought - now that is pretty and I'd rather be there than in this dry scrubland. Unjust I know - there are lots of great things about Brisbane and it is a very progressive city.... in fact, today on my way to get Ellis I actually used my Iphone like and Ipod and I had an amazing walk along the river. All was well until I was walking into the parking lot (to get to the daycare entrance) and Rowan almost got taken out by a car leaving. I had been dreading that every time I go there (no mirrors) and of course, the one time a car arrives at the same time I do, I'm wearing headphones. Heh. The driver looked surprised to see me but continued on his merry way. I'll say it again - I've been in the middle of many a street with both boys in the stroller and never, never has a car stopped for me here. It is so bizarre as the people seem so friendly in other ways - but pedestrians definitely do not have any rights.

I wore my headphones on the way home too and my walk home was great! Ellis nattered away as he usually does so I would just interject the odd hmm or really every once in a while and he never even knew. Is that wrong? Our walk home went better than usual and we didn't get into one argument.

I spent the day running errands. First stop - 9:30 am booze run. I may have gotten a look as I loaded up on 6 bottles of wine and 2 bottles of gin (you have to buy in bulk to save). The double stroller is great for transporting goods too. Today I got 3 bottles of Hardy's Merlot for $15 (that's $5 each people). Tried it for dinner tonight - not bad!

Hit the library next where I unloaded all the Mr. Men books and picked up some new and different ones. I had a new pile of Mr. Men books in my hand when I thought to myself - "What am I doing!" I'm sick of Mr. Men. Ellis seemed to enjoy the new stories tonight.

Back to Woolworths to pick up groceries that I forgot about for our order and then Rowan and I headed home.

The only other thing of note is that I saw people swimming in the river on my way to get Ellis (you may be able to spot them in the picture on yesterday's blog - they are under the bridge). Crazy nutters. People were also really friendly today too. Two - I can't decide if they were drunk or not - people at the ferry terminal went on and on about Rowan - then the ferry driver told me his life story. Almost every person smiled as Rowan and I walked along the path - it's hard not to when this baby who is clapping his feet and laughing for no apparent reason is coming towards you. I hope he continues to be a happy person throughout his life. I really see how it makes life easier - people like a happy person.

Starting to Dread Mornings

Ellis is one giant breakdown these days. As soon as he wakes up he is difficult.

"What do you want for breakfast?" no answer

"Do you want cereal, egg sandwich, toast, WHAT?"

I usually give up and wait for the hunger induced breakdown to commence and then I put something in front of him at which point he says "I didn't want an egg sandwich, I want oatmeal." Ah - a response. Today he whined about his oatmeal until I pretended I was going to steal it and then he ate it. Anyway - Cyp usually quietly escapes as Ellis is screaming and I think - LUCKY!

Yesterday we went to the water park with Tanya, Leah and Graham. We somehow got our timing right and made our ferry. Yay!

The water park really is a great place - although Ellis had said he didn't want to go and resisted me at every instance, as soon as we got there he jumped right in and swam around and around. He now heads for the deepest part of the pool. Rowan and I have a hard time keeping up. Poor Rowan has to go where Ellis runs. Soon Tanya et al turned up and things went pretty well. Graham seems to like Ellis (not sure why was Ellis tried to elude Graham the entire time and when Graham came near Ellis would chuck water or sand at him). Afterwards we went to the GOMA again - this time Ellis played in the toddler area (see pictures). He had it to himself for a long time - he got a tad possessive of the flowers and leaves. A bunch of kids came along and decided to take all the flowers and leaves that he'd carefully arranged on the wall and put them back on the tree. You may note the picture of Ellis sitting surrounded by bare walls. The kids had moved all the flowers to the trees except for the ones he was sitting on. One girl tried to distract him and steal them out from under him, but he grabbed back. It looked like it was going to get violent (the girl was much bigger than him) but she got distracted by another kid who started removing leaves from the tree again. Phew. I convinced Ellis to leave by suggesting we could go stick puffy stickers on Buddha again.

After that we headed home - we made our citycat - yay (it's brutal waiting for ferries with the boys, especially in the heat).

When we got home we spoke with G. Anita. Things went pretty well for the most part - G. Anita has good patience and would read the messages that Ellis typed that looked something like this:

skdfj0skerjslkdjf sdflj

lskjdg 0dlkjgs s

She would ask him a question and he would reply:

0o9sldik209ytslkddvlkhsdg

She did get him to type "Hi" at one point. Eventually Ellis became his 3 year old self and started hanging up on grandma. After 3 times, even her patience had run out. We decided it was time to end our chat. I also spoke with Suzy and Max - tried to set up a chat but had network problems. Maybe next time.

Watched a lot of TV last night -Rowan quietly sits in his corner and puts his toys into and out of a cardboard box. Last night this entertained him for an hour and a half. Cyp wondered how he could get on Border Patrol and we watched a fairly predictable movie that I actually kinda like "Derailed"

Today we watched on the news that watching a lot of tv shortens your life span significantly. Of course.