Happy December everyone!

In the last month we've had lots of visitors - Andrew, then Aidan's parents, then my parents! Everybody, naturally, came only to see Elspeth. She's the popular one! And now the dreaded C-Day approaches (or X-Day, if you're American or lazy), and we are left quietly alone to not-celebrate. Aidan's working on the day anyway.

Elspeth has been a marvellous little baby, although she did forget her grandparents and cry at seeing them for a little while. But as soon as she realised they were nice, she was nice to them!

She was horrid to an old lady today, though! We were in the supermarket, and some nice old lady came up to say hello, and what a beautiful baby, and all those things old ladies say when confronted with gorgousness. And what does Ellie do? She starts screaming, of course! The poor woman was mortified that she made my baby cry!

Just a few random snaps of baby Elspeth!

Just had a very nice few days with Andrew. Didn't get out of the house very much - tough with the bub - but as shown in this grainy photo, we did go out to dinner at the local Spanish restaurant which I love. Thanks Andrew!

Tired. Elspeth had a restless night. Me too.

Ok, rant time. If you don't like swear words, don't read this.

What the FUCK makes anybody think they have the right to bash the shit out of somebody?

Where do people get off? What the hell are they thinking?

Some utter wankers in Melboure this morning bashed the crap out of a taxi driver because he wouldn't drive through a red light.

I mean, seriously, what the fuck? The taxi driver was doing his job and obeying the law. So they broke his nose and a car mirror, took back the money they'd pre-paid him, and scrammed.

Where has society gone wrong, that people seem to think this behaviour is ok? What have we done to make it acceptable amongst some groups to be like this?

This sort of thing makes me really angry.
I mean, shit, sometimes I feel like hitting somebody - but I don't! I have restraint and self-control. What is wrong with these people that they can't seem to stop themselves, or maybe they don't want to stop? It's happening more and more these days - not a day goes by that the papers don't have some story like this, and it's really getting to me.

I'm beginning to embrace a very right-wing view of crime and punishment, despite my generally left-wing politics.

Take these people, put 'em up against a wall, and shoot the fuckers.

No more second chances, no more getting out on bail, no more slaps on the wrist for violent crimes.

Fuck up, break the law, and that's it. In the slammer, or in the coffin, what do I care! I've had enough of the cunts. Yes, I said CUNTS! And I meant it.

I want my own country.
I don't want to share a world with these people.
I don't even like to think that we're the same species.

I have done very little today. I may consider leaving the house later. I should probably go and get something for dinner. I'm tired. It was a restless night.

Good morning Blogosphere!

Yes, it's morning. 7.30am. Having babies does really strange things to you - like make you get up before midday.

Normally I feed her then go back to bed, but she's been an irritababy of late so I'm trying to follow one of Tizzie Hall's routines a little more closely.

Tizzie Hall is an odd name. But she is, apparently, a baby whisperer. I can whisper "baby" too, but I don't think that's what it means.

She has set out routines for babies of all ages - how long they should be awake and asleep, how often they should eat, and when they should eat solid foods.

I've been using her routines as a guideline and they have helped. But my own laziness drives me back to bed instead of keeping Elspeth up for 2 hours.

But not this morning!

Upon Aidan's suggestion, I am going to begin documenting the odd things that happen around this apartment. We believe the place is haunted, despite natural skepticism, and here's why...

A necklace of mine went missing. I mean really missing. I've had four people search this place from top to bottom with no luck.

Other small items have occasionally vanished, usually to be found shortly after asking for it back aloud. (These items are usually found somewhere I've definitely already looked, like where I thought I'd left it in the first place.)

A piece of pizza disappeared - I was leaving it for Aidan, but he swears he never ate it, and I know I didn't.

A bottle of Elspeth's milk was moved from the living room to the bedroom, and neither Aidan nor I recall doing it.

A bottle of baby oil was moved from the bed to the bedside table, ditto. (This was just last night.)

At night I often here little tinkly noises just like one of Elspeth's toys with a bell inside it. But Elspeth is asleep in her cot beside me.

Aidan and I have both seen a person - or at least the suggestion of a person - in a particular spot in the apartment. I generally see a silhouette out of the corner of my eye, nothing clear or definite, but Aidan says he's seen it directly.

These are the things that stick out, which I remember having happened at some point since we've lived here. I will continue to update if anything else weird happens.

For the record, here are some common "symptoms" of a haunted house that I have not noticed:

cold patches
marks on the walls
objects here that aren't ours
lights going on and off
unexplained bloodstains
discord or animosity in the house

And another symptom which I'm not sure about is hearing voices, footsteps, and doors opening and closing without explanation. It is sometimes difficult to be sure if certain noises are coming from our place or next door - we are in an apartment block. If I had to guess, I'd say that most of what I hear is from next door, although sometimes at night it really does sound like water running in our bathroom. Not sure on that one, though.

I have noticed a feeling of being watched, which apparently is common, but I'm going to put that down to paranoia and nervousness induced by the other things.

Today is our 3 year wedding anniversary!

It's been a jam-packed 3 years with lots of happenings and changes. The one thing that hasn't changed is our happiness!

We have a lovely day not-planned: nothing concrete, just snuggles and declarations of love, followed by an Indian meal to be delivered to our house later tonight. Screw cooking on our special day!

The giggle videos

Right. It has been far too long since I blogged, so here I am to tell you about Elspeth's amazing week and our holiday on the coast.

She is now four months old.

In the last week she has rolled over, eaten solid foods, begun to regularly sleep through the night (11pm to 7am), and been dunked in the ocean. How awesome is my baby?

So anyway, mum and dad picked Ellie and I up on Saturday to head down to Merimbula - Aidan had to work, so he came and joined us on Monday. The weather was great - almost cold at times, a lovely contrast to Canberra's unholy heat. We swam in the sea, we walked on the beach, we read books, mum and dad were utterly enthralled by little Elspeth - she's turning into such a giggle-pot! It's gorgeous. She is just growing up in leaps and bounds; it won't be long before we need a priso- er, playpen!

And now we're home again, and that's all I have to say about that.

Things that make me hate the world:

A man threw his daughter off a bridge, and will probably be acquitted or get off lightly on mental health grounds.

Kids are bullied to the point of suicide.

A woman is murdered, and people who aren't even suspects won't come forward to assist police.

Doctors rape their patients in shocking abuses of trust.

Alcohol related violence is on the rise.

And this is just today's Fairfax news; I haven't looked at world news or any other news sources today. I want to become a vigilante and just shoot the deserving in the head. Do you think I'd look good in PVC?

There is just one month left until NaNoWriMo! One month in which to decide subject matter, think about it, and plan it, before I have to sit down for a month and write 50,000 words. Again. This time I'm thinking of writing about preganancies, births, babies. Just because I won't have to do much in the way of research! I've just been through all that, and it's all fresh in my mind. But I don't know yet. Of course, I could just as easily write about an alien invasion - from the point of view of the aliens. Or humans invading another planet, so we're the aliens. Or the day the fruit juice factory exploded and covered the town in orange juice, causing dreadful problems for people with citrus allergies. Who knows?!

Our oven hasn't been working for a few weeks now. Not a big deal, as we don't often use the oven - the stove-top is more our thing, and that still works. So anyway, the electricians are here now fixing it. Yes, plural. One guy arrived, and I thought that was fine. Then another guy arrived. Finally, a third guy came. Three dudes to fix one oven! Except they can't fix it. They took the element out and apparently it just fell apart. They're going to recommend to the real estate agent that a new oven is in order - frankly, I could have told them that two years ago, but now it's official!

I had a dream last night. A very bizarre dream, which, unusually for me, I remember in great detail and with clarity.

It went like this.

I left my house alone, leaving Elspeth by herself. This, by the way, I would never actually do. The city I walked out into looked a little like Madrid, and a little like Melbourne, but wasn't either of them. I went to this really odd little shop which sold lots of old-fashioned children's/baby's accessories and furniture, staffed by two older ladies who looked like they'd stepped straight out of Victorian England. They had two very scrawny ugly babies in the shop, and I stayed there for about an hour looking after those babies. God knows why. Finally I realised I should get home to Elspeth, so I left the shop. After I'd left, I realised I was wearing nothing but a dressing gown, and didn't have my wallet, keys, or phone. I was locked out of the house, and I couldn't call Aidan to come home and let me in. So I was running around the streets of this increasingly-Madridesque city desperately seeking a solution, when suddenly I bumped into an old teacher of mine from high school. He didn't seem at all bothered or surprised to see me, even though I was very nearly naked, and he came with me to my house. Together we found a window that I got through somehow, and that was it. Either I woke up, or I just don't remember any more.

Our little girl is 10 weeks old now! Actually she was 10 weeks old on Wednesday. Time is flying by so quickly!

We had a visit from Aidan's parents last week, which was wonderful. We went to Floriade (again; we went with my mum the week before!), and just generally hung around having a nice time.

Elspeth is a great sleeper; in fact I'm about to have to wake her up for a feed. I find it's good to do that because it means she doesn't have to cry and get stressed about being hungry; I anticipate it if she hasn't eaten in four hours.

So, a quick one, just to say that all is going well and to share the above photo. It's one of the very few shots I have of the whole family! (Normally I'm the one holding the camera, so there aren't many photos with me actually in them!)

It has been a long time between blogs. For that, I apologise to my readers if I have any left. Things have been busy, as I'm sure you can imagine!

Some things have been going on, as follows:

Firstly, Elspeth is eight weeks old today! I can't believe it's been that long already. She's doing really well, growing and eating like a pig. She's on soy formula now as we believe she may be lactose intolerant. She's so gorgeous! She can hold her head up most of the time now, and she's really getting the hang of hand-eye coordination - I hear jingly bells every time she whacks one of her dangly things. (I don't care if it was by accident, it's still wonderful!) She also seems to be smiling at me quite often! A lot of books say it's just gas or something, but it really does seem to be in response to seeing me smile at her!

From Elspeth - One Photo Per Day

From Elspeth - One Photo Per Day

Secondly, I've been studying away like... well, honestly, like somebody who really doesn't want to. I loved my Ancient Myth subject, I've finished everything for that and I think I'll do quite well. But my Religion subject is fairly dull really; I'm procrastinating doing this damn essay which is due in two days... bah!

Thirdly, my mother is coming to visit this weekend!! Yay! Always nice to see her, and she just loves seeing her little granddaughter! Last time my parents came up, mum kept just going over to stare at Elspeth with an adoring smile on her face.

Anyway, for somebody who hasn't blogged in weeks, I've said remarkably little now. I suppose I just don't want to bore by going on and on about Elspeth - although I could!! Anyway, very probably almost everybody who reads this has seen everything on Facebook.

Elspeth with gas :)

We have just had a lovely family weekend, with my parents and my brother visiting Canberra to see Elspeth and I (and Aidan but he was working for most of it). It is the first time my brother has met his neice; I think they'll get along better when she's a little older. My apologies for the very poor image quality - I keep forgetting to bring my camera with me, so these were taken on my phone.

The weekend has been a complete write-off in terms of study, so I have to get back into it fairly solidly tomorrow, but it's been worth it - great to see my parents again. Especially my mum - she is LOVING being a nana, taking every opportunity to hold, touch, or even just stare at Elspeth!

Half an hour ago when I said goodbye and left their hotel room to come home, I was really tired. The walk back here in the cold, then changing and feeding the bub, have woken me up so now I can't sleep... which sucks - I was hoping to take advantage of her being asleep before Aidan gets home from work, which should nicely coincide with the next time she'll need feeding... oh well, it won't work out now. The best laid plans, etc!

Now it is time to gloat about how good I am.

Not only do I have a happy, healthy, three-week-old daughter, and not only was the real estate agent pleased with the property inspection this morning, but I am also keeping up with my (officially) "full-time" study load and getting quite good marks!

I've been really surprised and quite impressed with myself; in the past, when attempting online study, I've quickly lost motivation and ultimately failed. However, with just three weeks of this study period to go, I've kept plugging away at my two subjects and remained interested.

Here is where I currently stand:

For the Myth unit, I have to submit four tutorials (all of which I have done) and one major essay (which I am halfway through). I'll be graded on the essay and the best two of my tutorials - I've got one 7 and one 8 out of 10, which I'm fairly happy with.

For the Religion unit, I have to submit a 500 word tutorials on each of the six religions covered, and one major essay. I've done three and two-halves of the six tutorials, but have not yet started my major essay. This unit is quite flexible and permits extensions, and my course co-ordinator knows I've just had a baby, so I will be taking full advantage of that, but I'm still pleased that I've done as much as I have so far. (Incidentally, for the three completed tutorials so far, I got a Distinction.)

Having one child has given me a new respect for mothers of multiple children, particularly twins. However my own mother (who had two of us) has expressed admiration for my efforts at mothering and studying together. Go me!

My next challenge is to figure out what, if anything, I should do in the next study period (which starts at the end of this month). I know that, as Elspeth gets older, she will take up more time and won't sleep as much, so I will probably only do one unit instead of the two I did this time. But which one? I would love to do an English subject, but there's a lot of reading involved and I'm not sure that I'll have the time or the concentration to do it justice. Another history unit would be interesting; I was thinking perhaps one on the fall of the Roman Empire. Creative Writing could also be fun, but again I'm not sure I'll have the required concentration - unless I could write about babies!!

So anyway, I've got some thinking and some work to do. I'm really very glad I did decide to undertake some study - not only does it improve my future prospects, but it also keeps my mind active and gives me something other than Elspeth to think and talk (and blog) about!

Elspeth is now officially a formula baby. After breastfeeding of late she's been irritable, extremely gassy, still hungry, and difficult to settle (most likely because of the above). However after two bottles of formula today, each time she has had very little gas and settled down well again afterwards. She just seems to react better to the bottle than the breast. I can't say I'm all that disappointed; honestly I was quite depressed and stressed about breastfeeding anyway, but willing to keep trying so long as it was best for her. But that appears to no longer be the case. Perhaps I'm just not producing enough. At least with a bottle I know just how much she's getting, which is something that had bothered me the other way - why don't breasts have measurements marked on them? Very poor design. I will do my utmost not to feel guilty about this decision; at least she had over two weeks of the good stuff, that's more than many babies get.