2009: the big year that brought us a big baby

2009 has been a big year for Bryan and I, most obviously with the arrival of Liam.


Liam is now a little over 4 months old, and growing like a weed. He's doubled his birth weight now, at 7.2 kg and 67 cm in length. This puts him in the 75th percentile for height and 90th percentile for height among baby boys his age. I suppose this is to be expected though, given his Daddy's stature. He's still got his gorgeous big blue eyes, with lashes that any girl would kill for.

For Christmas and New Year this year we came to my parent's house on the south coast of NSW. A very relaxing place to be, which is just what we need. Not much to do other than read books on the balcony and walk on the beach. Here's a photo of Liam in his beach gear.


2010 will see me return to work, part time at least. And no doubt it will be a big year of changes in Liam. I can't wait.

Overdue

It's August 11th, and baby has not yet arrived. I will have words with the courier about this. Tomorrow I will be 41 weeks pregnant, which is intolerable. I've been on maternity leave for almost 6 weeks now and am bored out of my brain. However, I lack the energy to do anything with my time other than take showers and naps. Tomorrow we are going to the doctor to talk about getting me induced.

I did manage to get out of the house today to waddle around Toys R Us for a bit (note that I said this was Toys R Us, purveyor of quality products for kids and babies - not some cheapo dollar store full of crap made in Taiwan). And I saw this:


Surely they are implying that any "little angle" that wears these booties is acute baby!!

Sorry. The 41 week old bump where my flat stomach used to be has done strange things to my sense of humour.

Preparations

We have 6 weeks to go until the baby arrives. Yikes! Here's a photo of me taken this morning.


But we are surprisingly prepared. Prepared in the sense that the nursery is ready and the 'go-bag' is packed. Unprepared in the sense that this is going to hurt more than ripping off a band-aid! We've been going to antenatal classes, which have advocated the benefits of whale music, aromatherapy and massage as pain relief. I'm thinking more along the lines of a general anaesthetic. Wake me up when its over!

Anyway, here are some photos of the nursery. Please don't inundate me with comments about what the decor might mean in terms of the baby's gender. I'm not telling (because I'll get in trouble from Bryan if I do). We've tried hard to go for fairly gender neutral decor anyway, if for no other reason than to save redecorating in the future if a baby of a different type comes along.

The cot was given to us by my boss, who's 3 children are all grown up now. I painted it white, to make it look as good as new. The sheets have a Noah's Ark theme, and we've used an animal theme throughout the room with the mobile and various other bits and pieces. Above all else, we intend for this baby to grow up loving animals.


I made the animal pictures on the wall by stretching some fabric across a wooden frame. I think they look great.

Apparently hanging a mobile above the changing table will distract the baby for long enough that it won't try to put its hands into the contents of a dirty nappy. We'll find out if this theory is true soon enough.

A nappy stacker, containing 109 tiny nappies.


And that's just a cute little storage unit from IKEA, to keep baby's tiny clothes in.

My new favourite time waster

Things are very hectic right now, and will be for another 4 weeks. So in the mean time, let me share with you what I like to do when I need a break between PCRs, DNA sequences, statistics, powerpoint presentation making, and breathing deeply into a paper bag.

Behold:

I want one!

:-)

I am so freakin' happy right now!

Molly is on the mend and back at home now. It turned out to be a severe anaphylactic reaction, probably brought on my eating a bee or a bull ant. I seem to recall her sniffing around some really big ants on the driveway the other day.


The only bad thing is that her chest got shaved when they operated, which means that her Batman Badge is temporarily gone (that's what we call the little white patch of fur on her chest - common in staffies and often shaped like the Batman logo. Although, Molly's is more star shaped than bat shaped). Hopefully it won't be a drain on her superpowers.

She's going to get such a tummy tickle from me next time I see her!

Best proposal ever!

I only wish Bryan had thought of this. A wedding proposal via my favourite website, Cute Overload.



And the answer is

Cats that look like Hitler

There's a website for everything on the internets these days. Even cats that look like Hitler (kitlers).

Its a boy!

Congratulations to my sister and her hubby, who welcomed their first baby last night.

Benjamin Thomas Khuu weighed in at 7 lb 6 oz (3.3 kg) and measured 49 cm.

I'm still waiting to receive photos of the little guy but I have no doubt he's the cutest little thing in all of Hong Kong.

I'm such a proud aunt!


Update: Photos reveal that he is the cutest thing in all of Hong Kong, and maybe even all of China.

It's Valentines Day...

And I'd like to explore the true meaning of Love. Unconditional, faithful, adorable, caring, gentle, affectionate, playful... terrier

When all else fails hug a puppy

I haven't blogged about it yet, but the last couple of weeks have been pretty crappy after our house was burgled. Bryan and I were feeling pretty stressed after that, but we started to feel better last weekend when my parents and Molly came to visit for a few days and brought with them some home comforts and cooked us some roast dinners.
It didn't take much puppy hugging for us to start feeling that everything was right with the world again.

Awwwwww

Mum and Dad recently bought a new boat. It came with lifejackets for the whole family. Which is important, obviously.

Cutest images EVER!!!!!

Cute overload really outdid themselves this time. I actually don't know how they can continue, because I absolutely can't imagine there being any photos cute enough to top these.

Nougat the Guinea Pig: "Hey! that is MINE and you know it!"

Toffee the Guinea Pig: [shifty eyes]

Nougat: "Give it baa...GALGGGH"

Latest shoe fashion

Bryan and I went to Calgary last weekend, to visit the newest member of the family, four month old Conor. We found ourselves in ToysRUs on Saturday when we saw these:



They are little monkey slippers, with tails (that's my favourite part!). They even rattle. We thought we knew a little chap who might like them so we bought them for him. And we were right, he loved them! He spent the rest of the day (between naps) trying to reach down to his feet so he could touch the monkeys. It was worth every cent to see that!

Farm Hustle

Conscience: Why haven't I made a post lately?

Sarah: [Grade 5 'dog ate my homework' voice] Ummm, my computer is broken? [/Grade 5 'dog ate my homework' voice]

Conscience: Is that really the reason, or have I been too busy playing computer games?

Sarah: [Grade 5 'please don't tell my parents' voice] ummmm, well, maybe I.... [/Grade 5 'please don't tell my parents' voice]

Conscience: Speak up, I can't hear you!

Sarah: Yes!!! You got me! I've been playing Farm Hustle, the cutest game since the cow herding game.

Doggone cute!!

Ever thought a pit bull would make a good mother to orphaned kittens?


Check out the video clip (Warning: Seriously Cute!!)

This is a puppy after my own heart

Image from Cuteoverload (best time-wasting website ever!!)

New features

I found a cool new blogger hack that lets me add "On this day" information to my blog posts. There was the option of including information from a lot of different sources but I chose to use just BBC and Wikipedia. Now I feel some pressure to post every day, just in case we're forgetting some huge anniversary if I don't.

You may also have noticed my "Very important poll" on the sidebar. That was brought to us by Ning. I may or may not have submitted a photo of Molly to the poll. And so if you see this picture come up,











obviously she is the cutest, and you should vote for her.

Your daily dose of cuteness

I can describe my discovery of Cute Overload only as a little Christmas miracle. Seriously, check it out, you won't regret it.

Thankyou Bryan, O Bringer of Christmas Miracles!

Thanks to Bryan for making me aware of this. I'm going to get some fascinating spam comments to moderate I think!

Wombats' sex symbol push

December 12, 2005, From News.com.au



















A COMPLICATED dance, a bite on the rump and ferocious backward kicks are all part of the wombat's lovemaking repertoire, a new study has revealed.

Until recently, there were no recorded observations of mating between wombats.

But the director of Nocturnal Wildlife Research Ltd, biologist Clive Marks, found wombats were more likely than the average Aussie male to emulate moves from the Kama Sutra.

Mr Marks, whose findings are to be published this week, says the first successful captive breeding of wombats was recorded in Hannover, Germany, in 1982.

"With absolute precision, details of the wombat's sex life were recorded and, surprisingly, it seemed anything but modest," he says.

"It appeared to be a physically demanding process, complete with chasing, biting, grunting and loads of heavy breathing."

Then in 1990, Mr Marks filmed the first common wombat courtship and mating in captivity in Australia, at Tonimbuk Farm in south-eastern Victoria.

"The female, after a prolonged period of copulation in the same position, broke away and began to trot in a pattern of circles and figures of eight," he says.

"The male chased her, following closely behind, and then bit her on the rump. She immediately stopped just long enough to permit him to roll her on her side and begin copulating again.

"If the male was slow to mount, she would kick back aggressively and not let him roll her on her side again until she had run round in more circles and figures of eight. This happened seven times."

Space seems to be the key. Mr Marks says without the "hard to get" figure eight dance, the female will not allow the male to mount.

But zoo keepers are catching on. Mr Marks says biologist Catriona MacCallum at the Western Plains Zoo in Dubbo has had spectacular wombat breeding success.

"Joining and modifying the pen systems to permit a chase, she not only found that wombat breeding was possible in captivity, but she found herself with the first recorded case of wombat twins."

Mr Marks says he hopes his study will solve the sloth-like image problem of the common wombat, making the furry marsupials "the symbol of Australian male sexual virility".