Love Flying With Kid!

Jaz has been on 6 flights so far - it's always an adventure, so I could totally relate to this post on a Sydney Morning Herald Blog!

"Sascha, I have a comment that unfortunately relates to your impending flight, what with the airlines "no useful carry on baggage" requirements.
We snuck in with our 10 month old just before the regulations came into force in Oz. Fortunately at the other end we were embarking in Rome so despite what the regs say you could just point at your yoghurt, bread, grappa etc and say "Per bambino" and through you went.
Anyway, on the outward journey I foolishly decided to rely on an "infant's meal" being supplied by the airline. It was commercial tinned stuff - never exactly a favourite but I think this was probably rejected even from the "Bachelor Chow" canning line. Felix looked at me as if I must have been joking when I served it up. I tasted it. It was RANK. Do whatever you need to to get a banana or whatever failsafe food Edie eats on board."

We ended up buying Pringles chips - the only thing that Jaz would like on the menu at a ridiculously over-inflated price!

New Barbie

Exhausted!!

Went over to Emma's this morning and stayed till quite late this afternoon :) Had a good time. Emma even made Jazmin a birthday cake which was SO nice of her - and it tasted great too!! Jaz was so tired she was asleep by the time we were driving into Kallangur, covered in chocolate bikkies!!
























Not quite a "Tequila Sunrise"...just tonight's "Caboolture Sunset".....Cheers!

Happy Birthday Jazmin!

Yesterday was Jazmin's 2nd birthday. We didn't have a party - I had my grandparents up for lunch and John & Leah & kids over for dinner.






































This supermarket is what we got from Nan and Grandad in Sydney.










































Justin booked a cab for 7:30pm to come and pick him up and take him to the airport - he's in Melbourne now till Thursday night - but the cab never came, so I had to take Justy to the airport. Not too bad but it was hard to drive home through the bucketing rain. Jazmin must be a little drought-breaker because it has rained every 27th of May where we are including the day Jaz was born!

GOSFORD (NARARA RESEARCH STATION) AWS 0.2mm 27/05/05

WILLIAMTOWN RAAF 7.0mm 27/05/06

BRISBANE AERO 7.4mm 27/05/07

GTA

Shrektrix

Princess at Playgroup

Took Jaz down to the local playgroup and she loved it. She's exhausted and in bed now.

My Little Apocalypse Pony

Not quite true to colour but My Little Ponies Never Are!

Super-downsized world would be a big move for the better

Today's Heckler - am inclined to agree.

Valda Ulm
May 23, 2007

SIZE matters. I am tired of big, big, big. Everything's getting larger, and like King Canute I am trying to hold back the tide. Houses are bigger. New houses now are McMansions with five bedrooms, five bathrooms, a media room and a four-car garage. Cars are bigger too. I saw a stretch limo the other day that looked at least a couple of blocks long.

Babies' strollers are bigger. When my children were small, they went into a stroller that folded up neatly like an umbrella, one I could carry onto a bus or train with a toddler tucked under the other arm. Now they're the size of a Sherman tank.

As far as food is concerned these days, there's no such thing as "small" if you're ordering a hamburger. If you want a small burger you ask for a regular one. The same goes for french fries and soft drinks. The plates in restaurants are bigger. So are soup bowls; you could bath a baby in some of them.

Garbage bins are bigger. They now have to be rolled out on wheels and it won't be long before you need a driver's licence to manoeuvre them. I remember when the garbage bin was a humble affair made of metal, and if it wasn't being used for garbage, it made a handy wicket for playing street cricket. Now we're such a consumerist society, I guess the old bins would no longer do the job.

Have you noticed how everything sold in supermarkets is bigger? You can't buy a single roll of toilet paper any more; it comes in packs of anything between four and 16. Breakfast cereals are in boxes labelled "giant".

Don't get me started on toothbrushes. Once they were a simple handle with a small brush on the end. Now they're designed so they all but talk back to you - and none of them fit into my toothbrush holder.

Television sets have become bigger. The TV once sat in an inconspicuous corner of the living room; now it dominates the room.

The size of a TV screen is the new benchmark of status and success. Talk about keeping up with the Joneses.

The one item that's got smaller is the telephone, but while it has shrunk, it has also become more complex. All I want is a phone that goes ding-a-ling, but it's impossible to buy something that simple. Mine has 22 different functions, including a clock and a message screen that lights up and tells me when to speak and when to hang up.

Please, let's stop making everything bigger and get back to the simple life. It's a small thing to ask.

On second thoughts, make that a regular.

As for the TV a bigger one won't fit in the cabinet - and that's a good thing coz it's the same rubbish on no matter the size of the TV!

Also today is our engagement anniversary - it's been 4 years :) we went out to the movies on Friday and saw 28 Weeks Later - It was OK for a sequel, but I liked the first one better.

In Today's News

Thought this was pretty good.

Gel made from patient's blood speeds healing

By Will Dunham

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Treating skin wounds with a gel made from a patient's own blood platelets speeded healing, researchers said in a study showing how doctors may be able to harness the body's innate healing ability.

Skin wounds treated with this gel healed about 10 percent more quickly than wounds in the same people treated with only an antibiotic ointment, Monday's study in the Archives of Facial Plastic Surgery showed.

The researchers cautioned that this was a small pilot study -- only eight people were examined -- but said the concept could change the way doctors deal with wounds, from surgical incisions to, potentially, internal injuries.

"I'm excited about it because it changes our way of thinking about wounds. Instead of passively just watching it heal, we can now actively intervene to possibly speed it up," said study leader Dr. David Hom of the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine in Ohio.

Hom said in a telephone interview that improving wound healing could get patients out of the hospital and home more quickly after surgery, reduce the chances of complications and help people such as diabetics or chemotherapy patients prone to poor healing.

Hom said the next step was to put together a larger study to test the concept.

Wounds that ordinarily would heal fully in 28 to 30 days instead healed two to three days more quickly when the concentrated topical gel was applied to them, Hom said.

The researchers processed a patient's own blood into a concentrated plasma packed with platelets -- vital to blood clotting -- and then into a gel that could be applied directly to the wound.

Four men and four women volunteered to get 10 small wounds, five on each thigh. The gel was applied to the wounds on one thigh but not the other, and the healing process was tracked for six months.

"By concentrating a person's own blood and giving it back to the patient into the patient's wound, we basically concentrated the growth factors (proteins) which are important in wound healing in attempting to improve their healing," Hom said.

Hom noted that nothing foreign was being applied to the wound. "You're just taking from the patient," added Hom, who conducted the study while at the University of Minnesota

Di's Baking Adventures

Anyone who knows me well enough to be reading this will know that I pretty much hate cooking. SO...I rarely use anything in my kitchen except the microwave and the breadmaker. On several occasions I have tried to make fruit/ museli bread but normally it doesn't turn out. This was last week and since the bread turned out, it was half gone before I remembered that I wanted to take a photo of it.










Jaz in the background eating some of the bread and watching Shrek.

Crayons

Our budding artist was practicing her drawing (She can say drawing now too). I just have to remind her that the crayons need to only be used on the paper (not the coffee table or floor) The pics are a bit blurry coz it's very hard to get sharp ones of a moving toddler!

I agree!

This is a post from an e-mail newsletter I get which is for at-home parents and is affiliated with the Dollar Stretcher site. In the original question, the lady was asking about whether of not she should go back to work. I have been asking myself the same thing.

"I have so many thoughts running through my head regarding the
decision to continue to be a SAHM or not when the kids are
 in school full-time.  
Let me see if I can organize them.

First, returning to work is an individual decision.  Each person has to 
know themselves.  Can they handle of full-time employment and family life?  
Some find the pressure too much, while others find the unstructured hours at 
home nerve-wrackingly mundane.

Second, do not let other's ideas of what is "normal" influence your 
decision.  Some may wonder what you do with all that "free" time, but 
as a SAHM with both my kids in school, I find very little time to lay 
around.  
Whether it is keeping the house in order, running errands, volunteering 
at school, church or in the community, I stay very, very busy. In fact, I 
run the risk of being overbooked--not much different from my full-time 
working days. Sometimes I wonder where I ever found the time to work.

Third, what makes you most satisfied?  When compared to the other jobs 
I've held, I love being a SAHM the most.  Our society is notorious in 
attaching meaning/validity with the size of a paycheck, or a title on an office 
door, but the Lord has changed my mind on that issue.  Doing His will is 
paramount. Right now, that means staying at home and being the best 
wife, mother and church/community volunteer I can be. Maybe someday a 
paycheck will be attached to what He calls me to do, but for now, I rest in His 
care.

I know why I choose to be a SAHM, but I've known others who have chose 
to go back to work.  Interestingly, most are school teachers, who will be off 
when the kids are off.  Either way, I would advise anyone to prayerfully 
consider what the Lord wants them to do. "-- Angelia

Yawn!!

Happy but exhausted. Thankfully Jazmin is asleep now.

Wednesday/Thursday Justin was in Adelaide and Emma came over. We went shopping.
Friday: didnt do much
Saturday: Went to the pool at Bribie Island - Had Denise, Chantelle, Rebecca & David over for dinner and the night
Sunday: We all went to Sizzler for breakfast then went to Pine Rivers meeting. So stuffed from breakfast that we didnt bother with lunch. Went to Fasta Pasta for dinner
Monday: Justin had a meeting on the Gold Coast, so he took the car - it is at Coolangatta Airport till he gets back - he flew to Melbourne yesterday evening and he will be back late tomorrow night.
Tuesday: Had Amanda and the kids over for morning tea which was nice, and Fran came round to do rental inspection. No dramas but I am still waiting for my oven to get fixed - it's been broken since December....

Looking forward to Justy coming home tomorrow night, Jazmin has had a growth spurt - got taller and a bit chubbier - which tells me that she hasn't finished the upwards side yet. Justin will be able to see the difference. I cannot believe that Jazmin will be 2 in less than a fortnight! She is so cute and funny. If I say "How big will you be on your birthday?" she answers "2" clearly and confidently. New words include "Tummy" "pobby" (potty) "Daddy all work" and the two-year-old tantrums have started -its hard not to laugh sometimes! Yesterday she came up to me and said "Chokle peas mummy" and had a tanty when I told her that I didnt have any chocolate, but thank you for asking nicely. She asked so cute that I would have given her some if I had any!

Busy Week

Tuesday: Leanne & Sophie came over

Wednesday: Rose & Madison came over

Thursday: Caught up on household chores

Friday: Took Jamin & Alanah to school and Jazmin was sick in the car and has been vomiting sporadically ever since. She's eating and drinking ok so I think we'll just have to wait it out - there's nothing a doctor can do. Took all 3 kids out for ice-cream in the afternoon and had John over for tea.

Saturday: Didn't do much at all! Nice quiet one

Sunday: Went to the club for breakfast and then Justy and I went and got our hair done - Justy got a cut and colour and I got orange and bleach foils. Later on we went to the beach on the other side of Bribie Island. We had not been there before. It was a great becah for me and & Jaz because there's no surf. I hadnt been to the beach in over a year so it was almost a new experience for me too.

Monday: Public holiday here in QLD. We drove to Maroochy through the hinterland which was very windy, but looked like it would be a nice place when it's not raining. Had lunch at the Pig 'n' Whistle at Sunshine Plaza and got some cute footage of Jaz saying "pub".

This picture was taken last week: Jazmin's opinion of the new Mr Bean movie