Weee! I has power again! They turned the power off at 8 this morning so they could replace the power poles. I asked if Leoma could babysit, because the thought of staying home all day with a 2 year old and no power just did not appeal. This also meant I got to go see Harry Potter!

So, Leoma came over this morning to pick Amie up, and she dropped me off at Chermside on her way home. Amie was more than happy to go with Leoma, she even said bye bye to me as she headed for the car in a tone that indicated I wasn't coming with her. When Leoma dropped me off, I thought that maybe Amie might get a bit upset to see me go, but nooooo. She just laughed and was very excited to still be in the car and doing fun things with Leoma.

I enjoyed the movie, though I had a headache this morning that reappeared towards the end of the movie. On with the show!

( Harry Potter talk - don't read if you don't want to know! )

Flickr has been a real bitch about letting me upload stuff, so I've only now been able to upload my photos from June. I also haven't been taking many photos lately, and I should change that.

( Amie spam )

I'm not coping very well at the moment. Amie's sleep has gone to hell, with her being too scared to go to sleep unless I'm in the room with her. If I leave her in there by herself, like I normally would, she'll have a huge terrified tantrum, and work herself up into a right state. It can take up to an hour for her to fall asleep WITH me in the room, and this is for nap time as well as bed time, so I don't think it's an afraid of the dark problem. And then she's waking up during the night terrified, too, and the only way to get her back to sleep is in my bed. I've bought nightlights, but they don't seem to help, nor does leaving the light on. She's getting up early, going to sleep late, and not napping enough, so we're both sleep deprived.

And on top of that, I'm freaking out about my housing situation. I'm applying for places, but most of them are up towards Caboolture/Redcliffe way, because there's not much closer that I can afford. I'm waiting to hear back from the various real estate places so that I can arrange inspections. Anyone feel like driving me around once I get some times and dates? I don't know anyone looking for a place, and I really really really don't want to live with a stranger, so I guess my only option is finding a smaller place. The ones I've got my eye on are either small houses or flats with a small yard. If I get my group certificate back soon, I can use my tax money to help pay for bond/two weeks rent, but I'm not sure how I'm going to afford moving costs. IF I can get a place, and get the money together for that, then I'll bond money from this place, but it just messes with my mind to think about it all.

So, in short, I'm sleep deprived, stressed, starting to feel depressed, and incredibly broke. Fun times.

Good parenting or bad?

I picked up a small ocean felt board set at the Salvos yesterday for $2, and Amie found it this morning and is in love with it. She's been playing with it a lot, and makes different underwater scenes.

Well, there's a killer whale in the set, and I had it chase the people across the board, while singing the Jaws theme music, before attacking the people and having them scream. She LOVES that, and then took the whale and had it attack the people, then her, then me, doing her version of the theme music and screams as it attacked.


It's as hilarious as all get out, really.

Tonight, I made pizza from scratch, and it was pretty damn good. I probably could have let it cook for another few minutes, but I enjoyed it. Amie helped me with it, she was very interested in the process. I let her help me put the toppings on (I want to say decorate, but that's so not the right word!), and she loved that. Though she did eat a good chunk of the ham, salami and cheese during it. I was very impressed with the dough, though I only got one pizza out of it.

We went downstairs around 7 to hang out a load of washing (she slept for a REALLY long time - from about 12:30-4:30, so I let her stay up later, because there was no way she was going to sleep at 7t), and on the way down the stairs she was stomping (because I won't let her jump on the stairs, so we stomp), and she was making GRR GRR noises. I asked her what she was doing, and she said she was a bear. Aww.

We've had a great deal of fun playing with her stuff animals lately. Back when I had her portraits done in February, I bought her five small stuffed animals - a cow, a pig, a horse, a dog and a monkey. They were $3 each, and they're all really cute. She's been carrying them around in a basket, and they give each other kisses and cuddles a lot, and the horse gives the other animals rides. And then the fall asleep, wake up, and scare each other.

Dan gave her a bunch of books, and she's been loving going through all of them, and she's picking up so many words. She's definitely repeating everything as you say it, so if you point something out and say what it is, she'll repeat it for you. Though steam roller comes out as steam doller, but her pronunciation of some things is very cute.

Amie just showed me how she can reach the light switches by standing on her chair. o_O

I was playing my Sims 3, and Amie saw this picture:



and immediately said "Cathy!!" I suppose there is a bit of a resemblance, if you're looking at the hair!

She seems to have Cathy on the brain, too, because when I was on the phone to Leoma the other day, she wanted to have a go. So I let her talk on the phone, and the first thing she said was "Hi Cathy!" After a bit of babble, she said "Hi Grandma!" So I guess Amie is paying attention when I'm on the phone!

Dan's been over yesterday and today, and so far so good. Amie went looking for him after she woke up from her nap yesterday. He even mowed half my lawn today, and will do the rest tomorrow. Amie's enjoying having him here, and I think he is too.

She's taken to not wanting to go bed the last two nights, which is not fun. She is just wide awake and ready to go! On Friday night, she didn't go to sleep til 10:30, and that was only because I gave in and took her to bed with me. Last night, I gave up at 8:30 and brought her to bed with me. she woke up at 3:30 and wanted to play. Noooooooooooooo. So I got her to go back to sleep -though her manners were REALLY good at that time of night!- and she slept til 8!! I snuck out of bed at 7:30, and she sounded confused when she woke up later.

But I hope she's over this late night deal, because I am just not on board with it!

It's freaking freezing, and only going to get colder. I need to buy more heaters. And more winter clothing. :/ My heater doesn't oscillate any more, and I only have the one space heater which I have to lug from my room to the lounge room. I should get at least two more. And a bigger one for out here.

We spent the afternoon at mum and dad's because Alex, Dee and Gene are in town briefly. Amie looooved it, especially playing with Penny. She also loved playing with Gene, though she wore Gene out :) And she kept calling her Lulah! Amie kept calling Estha Lulah when she was at Leoma's, too. I guess all girls of that age are now known as Lulah.

Photo spam time!

( cute within! )

I don't know what's wrong with Amie :/ She's been in bed for about 2 hours, and she just woke up crying and crying and shaking like she was freezing. She's warm to the touch (but not hot), didn't want her dummy or bottle and had no interest in food. She didn't want to be held, but she was very upset and clearly wanted something, though I couldn't figure out what it was. I checked her temperature (which she hated) and she was bang on normal. I gave her some Panadol anyway, because clearly something was bothering her. I changed her into her warmer pyjamas, so I hope that and the medicine helps. She has calmed down now, which is why I'm back out here. But it took about twenty minutes to get her to calm again.

Apparently Dan did arrive this morning, though he only emailed me about twenty minutes ago. Bah.

It's 7am and Amie is still asleep!

It's also 7ºc and I'm freezing! I need to get the heaters out and get more winter wear. And I should find my ugh boots!

( Amie spam! )

There were some fireworks not far from here, but we could only see the top half of them, as it was blocked by trees. Amie thought it was fantastic, though she did tell me something about losing her hair during it. We weren't THAT close. But every time the big ones would go off, she'd squeal happily and go BANG BANG PRETTY STARS SPARKLE, among other things.

Do you know what's really good? When you discover you have a lot more winter clothes for your child than what you thought you had.

I was putting the washing away, and I thought I'd go through and clear out Amie's drawers properly of all the stuff that's too small. That left her drawers pretty empty. So I thought I'd put away the stuff that was too small, but that I want to keep, and that I'd go through the tub of clothes I put away because they were too big. Well! She now has at least five more pairs of winter pants, five or so new dresses, a bunch of shirts, a jumper, singlets and I am just so happy! She's going to look so cute in some of these outfits.

I made dough before to make pretzels, and that should be just about ready to start rolling. So I'm going to get on that while I can, because Amie is still with Leoma! I've had the house to myself all day, and it's been a lovely change. Though both my cheeks are really flushed, and I don't know why.

On with the pretzels! I've had a hankering for them lately, but they're a bother to make when you have a toddler demanding your attention.

Do you know what's really good? When you discover you have a lot more winter clothes for your child than what you thought you had.

I was putting the washing away, and I thought I'd go through and clear out Amie's drawers properly of all the stuff that's too small. That left her drawers pretty empty. So I thought I'd put away the stuff that was too small, but that I want to keep, and that I'd go through the tub of clothes I put away because they were too big. Well! She now has at least five more pairs of winter pants, five or so new dresses, a bunch of shirts, a jumper, singlets and I am just so happy! She's going to look so cute in some of these outfits.

I made dough before to make pretzels, and that should be just about ready to start rolling. So I'm going to get on that while I can, because Amie is still with Leoma! I've had the house to myself all day, and it's been a lovely change. Though both my cheeks are really flushed, and I don't know why.

On with the pretzels! I've had a hankering for them lately, but they're a bother to make when you have a toddler demanding your attention.

**edit** They were fantastic. Leoma and her kids loved them, and Amie had a fantastic day over there. They were fantastic. Leoma and her kids loved them, and Amie had a fantastic day over there. She didn't sleep, but she did rest quietly for an hour or so. When Leoma was leaving, Amie got really upset. She didn't want them to go! And then only five or so minutes after Leoma left, Amie asked for a drink, then her bottle, and took herself to bed! She let me change her nappy first, but she went to bed just after 5!!

Amie and I were playing on my bed before (which involves her climbing on me, jumping all over the place, and me pretending to be asleep so she can wake me up), and we had an awwwwwwww moment. She'd just finished climbing over me, and was sitting in front of me, when she looked over at me and we had this conversation:

Amie: Mummy?
Me: Yes?
Amie: I love you.

And then she threw herself at me and gave me a big kiss and cuddle. Of course, the "I love you" sounded more like "ah wuv oo", but that's to be expected at this age. It's the first time she's said it without being prompted! And it was completely spontaneous :)

Amie and I were playing downstairs, and when it was time to come back up, she didn't want. I let her play for a bit more, and then picked her up off the trampoline to carry her to the stairs. As we were heading in, she started pushing on my boob going "honk honk! beep beep! honk honk!"

Now, I know that boobs can be traffic stoppers, but not like that! And just now, she was scooting across the lounge room floor like a dog with worms. Nice!

( Amie spam! )

I also introduced her to washing up last night, and she loved playing with the water in the sink. She did use the dish mop on a few things, but mostly, she just poured water from cup to cup. She did get cross at me when I took the chair away :)

- I was sitting on the couch, reading a magazine, and she was sitting on my lap, eating popcorn. On one of the pages was a lot of pictures of dogs, so I showed them to her and said "puppies!". She put her hand on my chest and said "boobies!" I guess it was a game of State the Obvious.
- She's now REALLY into giving kisses. She makes this very exaggerated "MWAH", with this big build up. So it's more MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMWAAAAAAAAAAAH. And sometimes she just likes to give you lots and lots of kisses, on your cheeks and lips. And her toys.
- She woke me up by screaming extremely loudly, in an extremely terrified way last night. Like, proper shrieking. I went in there quickly, because that's not a normal noise for her. But...she was fast asleep. So I either imagined it, or she was having a nightmare. I don't know.
- She woke me up with some more yelling this morning, but her feet were trapped in her sheets.
- If you use nappies that have day AND night time nappies in the pack, make sure you use the correct one at night time. I somehow mucked it up last night, so it's no surprise that the OUTSIDE of her nappy was wet this morning when I took it off. Ew.

One of the dangers of leaving the water in the tub, is that Amie decides she's not the only one to need a bath. Three of her stuffed animals - a dog, a giraffe and a monkey - all had baths today. After the puppy and the monkey had their dip, she thoughtfully climbed out of the tub with them (naked, of course), and put them in her toy stroller to take them for a walk. Dripping everywhere.

Also, I think she'll grow up to be warped. But in a good way. Tanya sent us a really awesome package for Christmas, and one of the items was a fish hand puppet. Amie loves it (and the moose one, too), even though they try to eat her, steal her dummy and demand kisses. She'll put her dummy in their mouth when they cry, which is cute. But with the fish, I've started singing the Jaws theme song when we play with it. Then it tries to eat her, and she giggles madly. NOW, she'll start doing the Jaws theme to get it to eat her.

Ah, my child, what have I done to you? :)

Also, we were at Chermside yesterday, looking at the puppies in the pet store window, when she started pointing to the nearest exit, which was about ten metres away. She would point and say "Lulah! Ryan!" which impressed me, because that is the exit to get to where Cathy used to live. How does she remember these things??? The last time we went to the house there was the day that Cathy moved!

My house is almost surround by lakes! The neighbours backyard is GONE, it's all underwater. The creek has exploded over both banks, and is now from INSIDE my backyard to well across the park, and it has flooded up into the empty lot beside my house.

I'm uploading photos to flickr now, because holy hell. This has just been constant rain for over 24 hours. 36? I think it started Sunday night. Caboolture has been cut off entirely, those roads are blocked.

It's kind of exciting, but kind of not! We don't have too much of important downstairs, but we're fully insured, including flood cover. I have to go down to hang out the washing soon, but I won't bring Amie down. She had a great time playing there, but got soaked and really cold. I had to pry her off the slide to get her to come in. It was fun splashing in the puddles, and she LOVES doing that in her boots. But she's all snuggly in her My Little Pony pj pants, a long sleeved top and hoodie, so I don't want her to get wet again.

Also. It's cold! And wet!

The Princess Bride is on tv. Amie is in bed. I have Pringles. This is fabulous.

I mailed your dvds off today Cath, so that should get there soon.

Amie ate nearly a whole tuna sushi roll. Or sushimi, if you want to be pedantic. She looooves them, but rarely finishes them. She sat at the table next to me when we were shopping, and she kept going "mmm YUM" and "plizz mummy, plizz mummy!" when I was getting everything organised so I could give it to her. Ain't she a darling?

I hung up my "curtains" over the doorways in the lounge to keep the heat in the other day, which meant I had to move the clock. It's currently sitting on the table next to my desk, and the ticking makes me think the table is leaking. It's really annoying.

I like this. A LOT.

Dan bought me a webcam, so that he can see and talk with Amie, and I got it today. It's now all set up and working!