Chatswood again

I had hoped to have a relaxing day at home, especially since Louka didn't get to sleep until half past midnight last night. However, the toaster had other ideas. Halfway through toasting our breakfast muffins it popped up, and every time I pushed the lever down it tripped the circuit board. So off to the shops for a new toaster. There was one at Kmart marked down from $39.99 to $19.99 so I bought that, even though it's one of those obscure brands ― Cuché or possibly Cuche'.

Chatswood on thursdays holds a street market and one of the stalls today was selling babies' sheepskin bootees. They looked cute, and I succumbed and bought a pair: an impulse buy if ever anything was. They're too big for her, but as Graham pointed out, better than too small.

After dinner, Louka tried to help with the wiping up. But after she dropped a few things on the floor, Graham had to take over.

A day at Chatswood

Louka was born at the end of summer, so when I decided she needed a sunhat to protect her face from sunburn, none of the babywear shops had any. Of course the sun doesn't shine in autumn or winter. It wasn't until I was walking past the Cancer Council shop one day that I thought they might have one ― and they did. I bought her a cute little legionnaire's cap, which fits her perfectly and doesn't fall off.

I was walking home from Chatswood today and Louka got grumpy. Luckily she was in the sling so I could give her a feed, which cheered her up. But the sling tail covering her feeding dislodged her hat. I didn't notice it was gone until I reached Artarmon shops, when Louka fell asleep in the sling. I was so upset that I'd lost it, but when I started walking back to look for it I was relieved to find it just a little way up Elizabeth St.

When we were shopping on the weekend we looked into a little children's clothes shop in the Mandarin Centre. There was a photographer there taking free baby photos, so the three of us got down among the balloons and Graham and I tried to get Louka to smile for the camera. No luck. When I went back today I got a photo of a rather serious Louka. Graham looks happy though.

Pants and flowers

Yesterday Louka was miserable. She cried and screamed all day, and wouldn't sleep when she was tired. She's developed quite an ear-splitting scream so Graham and I were pretty miserable too. And she woke in the night at 2am.

This morning she's a bit better. She didn't cry while I was choosing some welcome home flowers for my parents, and after a change and a feed didn't cry while I took her to their place to leave the flowers and some milk. But she cried on the way home until she fell asleep, and cried when I woke her to get her out of the car. I gave her a feed and she fell asleep, but then woke and cried when I put her in the cot. I picked her up and rocked her for a while, and she fell asleep again, so I hope it makes her feel better.


Last night I finished the wool pants I've been knitting for her. They already fit her pretty well, so the next pair I'll knit on bigger needles, or she'll grow out of them before I've finished knitting them!

"The better they sleep..."

One of the pieces of advice I've been given about babies since I had Louka is "the better they sleep during the day, the better they sleep at night". Wonderful! Louka's just recently started to sleep properly during the day. Unfortunately she hasn't grasped the concept that she should therefore sleep more at night. In fact since she's been sleeping more in the daytime, she's woken almost every night between 3 and 4 in the morning.

Yesterday she slept so much that Graham and I were able to cut one another's hair in the morning, and in the afternoon and evening I got my knitting nearly finished, and Graham did lots of work on his image processing project. And Louka woke up at 3:54am and after a nappy change and a feed decided it was playtime. She'd had enough of this sleep business; she wanted Mumsy to amuse her!

Visit from Uncle John

We went to Chatswood to get a Medicare refund for Graham. It's a pretty busy Medicare office, and they've recently introduced a number system and comfy chairs, instead of queueing. Last time I visited Eastwood I noticed there was no-one waiting in the Medicare office there. I guess it will be a while before they get comfy chairs, but I'd rather not have to wait.

I went to the child health centre to weigh Louka, since we didn't go on Tuesday due to colds and rain. She weighed 7.65kg in her clothes, but she had just dozed off and wasn't happy when I woke her. So I took her into the mothers room, checked her nappy (clean) and gave her a quick feed. Then I weighed her again ― 7.75kg. I guess I'll just take an average.

Graham's brother John is coming for dinner and staying for the night on the living room floor. He works in Orange so he's in Sydney to join his girlfriend from WA to go to the Snowies for some skiing. In case we don't have enough dinner, I bought some Nice Cream icecream, which is what our wedding cake was made of. I wonder if Louka will wake up during the night tonight. Usually she sleeps through but she's woken the last three nights so maybe she's changed her ways.

Rainy day

Today the mothers group was going to meet in a park; so of course it rained. Instead of convening at a café we decided not to meet this week.

This was probably a good thing, as it allowed Louka to sleep for three hours in the middle of the day, making up for some of what she missed last night. When she finally woke, we packed up my parents' phone that we'd borrowed while they're away, and drove over to their place to return it. They're back from Italy on monday night. And we've bought ourselves a cordless phone.

We then drove to Chatswood to get a big box of disposable nappies. Despite only using them when we go out, we're still nearly through the box of 90 we bought before. Louka gets through a lot of nappies, cloth or disposable.

There was a postcard from Italy waiting in the mailbox when we got home. Good to see it arrived before mum and dad got back.

Sleepless in Sydney

I think our colds are beginning to take their toll. Louka didn't get to sleep till 11:30 last night, after feeding for hours. Then I got a tickle in my throat and just lay there suppressing coughs for ages. Graham is a bad sleeper at the best of times, and my disturbance kept him awake.

I must have slept a little, then at 3 o'clock my ticklish throat woke me up again. I got up to see if a hot lemon drink would ease it ― and of course as soon as I was out of bed the tickle stopped, but I made myself a hot lemon drink anyway. Graham got up and got himself a drink too.

The tickle, of course, returned the moment I went back to bed. I'd just got back to sleep when Louka woke up at 4:20. She'd managed to escape all her bedding: her sheet and blanket were kicked off, and her wrap was twisted in a rope round her neck (or at least her shoulders). Her little naked legs were kicking in the air. She fed for nearly an hour before going back to sleep.

Then we all woke up at 8 o'clock. Louka shows no sign of wanting to go back to sleep yet.

Colds all round

Well, we're definitely all down with colds now. Fortunately Graham's is on the mend, and Louka's isn't keeping her awake (so far).

There is a new series of seminars (if that's the appropriate word) at the child health centre ― Introducing Solids, Childhood Illnesses, From Babble to Gabble to Words, Play and Toys ― starting today, but I felt it was better not to go. I will go to the mothers group tomorrow though, all being well. It's been postponed for the child health centre sessions, and tomorrow's meeting is in a park instead of a café. Hope the weather is fine!

Sleep

Louka's always been a great little sleeper at night. She goes to sleep around 10pm and wakes up around 6 or 7 in the morning. This morning it was nearly 8 o'clock.

But in the daytime it's a different story; she rarely takes more than a couple of very short naps, and that only while one of us is carrying her. If we try to put her in her cot, or indeed put her down at all, she just cries and screams. We gave up months ago trying to let her self-settle.

But today we thought we'd give it another try. We thought we'd give her a quarter of an hour. So we put her in the cot, shut the bedroom door, and set the timer. And before a minute was up, she was asleep! Yay! Not that it lasted very long, maybe half an hour, then she woke up wet and hungry and screaming. But it can be done.

Now mumsy sick too

I haven't been sick ― not even a cold ― since I got pregnant; but now I've caught the cold Graham brought home. I don't have it very bad, thank goodness, but now I bet Louka gets it too. She's been coughing a bit recently.

Yesterday we went to the North Sydney produce market in the morning, and bought four different kinds of sausages and some marinated lamb patties (as well as beetroots, cinnamon bear claws, cheese and crème fraîche). It was a nice sunny winter's morning and Louka enjoyed it all from the vantage point of the baby bjorn.




For lunch we visited Graham's chinese grandmother, Linda. Graham's aunt Clara was there to provide food and interpreter services. And she told me where to buy those yummy yum cha custard tarts ― in Lemon Grove at Chatswood. I foolishly hadn't checked I had a change of nappy in my bag for Louka so she wasn't as cheerful as she might have been.

Dadsy sick!

Poor Graham has a viral infection and is feeling miserable, so he stayed home today. I didn't go to the mothers' group get-together, but I did go to Chatswood to weigh Louka, collect a Medicare refund, and buy some rice (we usually get the 10kg bags, but that's too much for me to carry along with Louka and I only got 5kg) and milk (3 litres).

Louka weighed 7.5kg in her clothes ― the nurse came in and commented that a lot of that weight was probably in her booties ― so her naked weight is 7.229kg. Love that superfluous precision! The various percentile calculators and growth charts online are confusing: some put her over the 100th percentile, while others are between the 75th and 85th percentiles.

Louka's modelling career takes off

Knitty.com is having a competition. Twelve photos of designs from knitty are to be published in a calendar.

Well the only thing I've knitted from knitty is a cardigan for Louka, so today we got Louka to model it and took some photos. One hundred and thirty-eight photos. She's not the most co-operative model.

Some of the photos were blurry, in some she was screwing up her face and some were cute, but not really arty enough for the competition. One or two might just do. However, we have until mid-August to enter, so plenty of time for further modelling sessions!

Art in the mountains

My former manager Tania is now retired and living in the Blue Mountains, and keeping very busy. One of her activities is art ― specifically working in pastels. She was exhibiting two of her works, based on a trip to Africa, at the Braemar Gallery, so we went to look at the exhibition.

As well as Tania's, there were a number of other works that we liked ― Graham liked a quilt with stylised chickens, while I liked a still life of pears, and an abstract photograph/drawing/painting representing rock strata. There was also a pottery casserole that we both found attractive.

We stayed the night in Tania's studio cum granny flat, and she gave us delicious pesto made from home-grown basil for dinner.

In the morning we went for a stroll round the town, bought some Blackheath Bakery pies to take home for lunch, then paid a quick visit to the gallery for one last look. Then we headed home, and Louka slept the whole way. She's still asleep now!

Unhappy drives

Today my parents are off to Italy. I went to their place to say goodbye, pick up the kinderkot, and borrow their phone since ours is on the blink. When I got there I offered to drive them to the station, since they were going to catch the train to the airport. Their luggage fitted into the car, despite the inroads made by the car fridge and the baby seat, so off we went to the station. Louka had been asleep, and wasn't happy to be woken to get into her car seat. She cried on the way to the station.

Next stop Rhodes, to visit the office where I used to work. Rob had put aside some sling rings so I could make my own sling. This time Louka didn't cry, she screamed, whether we were moving or stopped at a light. When we parked near the newly revamped station, I put her in the sling and gave her a feed as we walked towards the office. This calmed her down, and by the time we arrived she was asleep. On the other hand, Rob was out, so I took the sling rings from his top drawer and left some money in their place. Then I waited in case he returned, which he did, so I stayed and chatted until my parking time was up.

Put Louka into her seat to drive home. The screaming didn't start immediately, but by Concord Rd she was well into it again and it continued to escalate till we reached home. As soon as I took her out of her seat she calmed down. But she's been very demanding all afternoon, crying as soon as I put her down. Seems like somethings bothering her, and she doesn't feel safe except in my arms.

Louka's slings

I'd bought a cheapish ring sling on ebay a while back, and found it much more comfortable than the simple pouch style slings I'd been using. However, it had only a very short "tail", so it couldn't be used to cover Louka from the sun, or while nursing in public. So I went onto ebay again and found a Maya Wrap sling. It was about twice the price of the other, but it was much longer, had a pocket in the tail, and even came with an instructional DVD ☺. I put in a bid, and won it at the starting price. The seller let me know she'd sent it off, and gave me feedback immediately, but then it didn't arrive. After a week I checked with her that she had in fact sent it when she had said, and she replied that yes, she had, and would I please let her know when it arrived as she was concerned about it going missing. At the end of the next week she contacted me again, and I had to reply that it still hadn't turned up. She offered to send me a replacement free of charge, and express post! So before I accepted this offer, I went to the post office to see if they could trace the original one for me. At first they said it wasn't really possible if I didn't have the card. Well that's a lot of use if I hadn't received a card. So I persisted, and they asked if I had any identification. I handed over my drivers license and lo and behold! my parcel was there. It had been there since two working days after it was sent! And guess what? later that afternoon the card for it appeared in my letter box ☺.

So now I have two ring slings, and never use the pouch style slings. So I put them up on ebay at 99c and now they're up to $10.19, with more than three days still to go. Yay!

Tuesday stuff

Today the mothers group met at Relish Café at Chatswood Chase, where they have some nice little cakes. I had a tiny passionfruit cupcake, then Paula brought out the little chocolate brownies she'd baked yesterday when stuck at home by the weather. Yum.

I took Louka to the Child Health Centre where she weighed 7.023kg.

We had lunch at the other Relish at Chatswood Chase, which I don't believe has any connection to the café. This one is more of a takeaway or take-home food shop, but they have a bench and four stools for those who want to eat there. They make a delicious apple and almond slice.

Well, the rain had stopped and there was some blue sky, and Louka was quiet in her sling, so I was on a roll. We went to Northside Cyclery to enquire about bike trailers and other means of cycling with Louka. Well, they don't stock trailers there; whether that's because they consider them unsafe, as they said, or whether they say they're unsafe because they don't sell them, I don't know. They do stock kids' bike seats that bolt on the rear rack, and told me they can be used as soon as Louka can sit up, which should be in about three months. I guess I'm OK to wait that long. What I'd really like, though, is something like this, but I've never seen such a thing in Sydney.

I decided, since it was now sunny, to walk home, and because we were on the west side of the railway we went along the newly re-opened portion of the Frank Channon Walk. I hadn't known it even had a name until notices appeared ― last year? ― to say it was to be closed for renovations. It used to have a high wire mesh fence on the railway side, behind which it seeemed generations of litterers had deposited their rubbish, and which made it difficult to clean up. Now the fence has gone, and there is a "nature strip" of various ground-cover plants and a glass barrier to keep the train noise down. Not bad.


I was getting towards the end of the walk when I heard a voice calling gently, but insistently, "Miss, miss" (very flattering to a 44-year-old wife and mother!). I looked around to see a young man, about 10 metres away, but I didn't immediately notice that he was … well, exposing himself. I couldn't immediately think of an appropriate reaction, so I stuck out my tongue at him then turned and walked on. Hmmmmm … just as puerile as his behaviour, I guess, but at least it's not indecent.

Wet weather

Yesterday was cold and windy, and we didn't get to go for a walk till around lunchtime, so we walked to Crows Nest to find a café for lunch. We chose the Vineyard Bar Café because it looked interesting, the prices reasonable and the place not too crowded. That last point turned out not to be well judged, since there was a party of twenty in the back room, and a wait of twenty minutes for meals. Never mind. We chose to eat inside since it was cold and windy and there were people smoking outside. There were fake grapevines hanging from the ceiling, not too tacky, and pink hangings in the back room, all very atmospheric. The chicken burgers, when they arrived, were delicious, the burger buns neither soggy nor hard, and the chips hot and crisp.

We visited Graham's Nan in the afternoon. She's 92 years old and still lives in her own home, but when we visit there are usually a couple of chores for us to do. This time we put up some lace curtains and threaded a lot of needles so she could sew coathanger covers. This photo shows Graham's Nan on an earlier visit.


Louka fell asleep at 8pm, and slept through till 6am. We woke to the sound of rain, and the Bureau of Meteorology reported over 20mm of rain overnight. And it kept on raining all day, grey and cold. We visited Trishy and John for lunch, but we won't be seeing them again till next month because they're going to Italy.

General update

There hasn't been much to report for the last couple of days: I went back to DJs and exchanged Graham's pants, bought myself a new dressing gown (size XL, but then dressing gowns don't need to fit) and for Louka some singlets and (as we had a nappy leak) a pair of pants. Six people in a row assumed Louka was a boy: I'm going to have to dress her in pink and put ribbons in her hair.

This afternoon she had her first bath with dadsy. Great fun for both of them.

For dinner I made (with Graham's help) pasta with pumpkin, chorizo, tomato sauce and basil. This was based on my hazy memory of a dish served at Tongue and Groove restaurant at the Junction, Newcastle - and very nice it was.