Employed!

Just a quick entry to say that I got the job. I start in 3 weeks :)

Employment?

I had another job interview this morning, and I think it went well (mind you, I thought that last time too so perhaps I'm not the best judge!) I find out next week. I also started doing some casual work at the State Library yesterday as an XML encoder in the manuscripts/archive area. Don't ask! It's actually very interesting work, and I'm hoping that even if I do get this other job, I can juggle them both for a while. The one I went for today is only 10 hours a week, so it's a distinct possibility.

Heidi is becoming a real chatterbox. Since my last entry, she's added Grandpa, Grandma, grape, cheese, look, and a few other words to her vocab. She's also walking by pushing chairs around, but hasn't quite stood alone yet. I don't think it will be long now.

I'm in denial about Juliet and her need for a nap. She's currently "resting" (i.e. playing and talking) in her room. Given she only actually sleeps perhaps one day in 10, I would give up completely except for the fact that by about 4pm she is overtired and totally out of control.

Chatterbox, camping, more...

We fulfilled James' dream of camping at Wilson's Prom as a family a couple of weeks ago. Loaded up with enough stuff to get us to Antarctica and back, we set off for 3 days and 2 nights at Tidal River. Heidi got a cold on the morning we left, but was in fine spirits nonetheless. The nights weren't quite as peaceful as we'd hoped, as she thought sleeping on a mattress was a bit of a game and just crawled on and off for hours and hours.

The girls had a ball playing in the river and in the surf. Much chocolate icecream was consumed by Juliet, and they revelled in getting as filthy as possible :) All in all a good childhood style summer holiday.

Heidi is cruising now, and really becoming a toddler. She loves playing with dolls, drawing, pasting, and playing with the dolls house. She tucks the little dolls into bed and wishes them "nigh nigh". Very cute!

Her vocab is really coming along. Her words now (at 15 months) include: Mummy, Dadda, Heidi, no, yes, up, down, poo, dog, woof woof, bye bye, nigh nigh, more, milk, broom broom [car]. She's come out with a few 2 word phrases, but they are very rare still.

She's still enjoying daycare where she is known as the "little koala", as she loves cuddles so much.

Juliet is still her feisty crazy self. She's taken to going shirtless and calling herself "Eggy Pop"!Mmm, wonder where she got that from. She makes us laugh constantly. This morning I was cleaning the oven and told the girls to move away from it, and asked Heidi to stop trying to crawl inside it. Juliet said, "She thinks she's a turkey!" Honestly, if she's like this and she's not even 3, I think we have many years of comedy ahead of us.

Quite mad

I am. Because I've just enrolled in the NEXT bootcamp when this one ends. I ended up staying in my platoon, after a short time (10 minutes!) in the lowest one. They were sooooooo slow, I didn't feel I was actually exercising at all, so rejoined my "proper" group. My fitness definitely seems to be improving, even though the weightloss is minimal (in fact I don't think I've lost any weight at all).

On a totally different subject, I asked at Juliet's daycare centre about when she will be moving up into the kindergarten room - is it by age or by calendar year? They said she'll be moving up in June, and she is "so ready now, she's practically running the toddler room". Why do I find that easy to imagine!? This morning James called her for breakfast, and her pensive response was, "Mmm. Maybe in five minutes..." I also overheard her putting away a couple of toys yesterday (a teapot and cup) saying, "I'll just put you here, sweetie pies!"

Heidi is desperate to walk. She's starting to walk on her hands and feet in a kind of spidery yoga looking pose, which is very funny to watch. Her biggest passion in life is music though. As soon as we put any music on, she goes crazy. Her favourite is "Somewhere Over the Rainbow", which she sings along to with her hands in the air. It's absolutely gorgeous.

When the girls aren't beating each other up, they are very affectionate. Heidi often crawls up to Juliet and starts loudly kissing her legs, which will prompt Juliet to start kissing her equally loudly. Mind you, she will then stand on her hand or take a swipe at her, so the lovely games are usually pretty shortlived!

Sassy lass

A few photos from our morning at the zoo. Most are of Juliet, as Heidi had Vegemite smeared over her entire face for most of the trip!

Standing girl

Heidi has suddenly become addicted to standing. Apparently yesterday she cruised along our couch! She didn't do it today, but she's pulling up on anything and everything. I think it will be only a few days before she starts cruising properly.

Juliet's being a real handful at the moment. Openly defiant, and constantly testing boundaries. She's gone back to refusing a midday nap, and by about 4pm she's overtired, unbearable and plain aggressive. I'm struggling with her to be honest. When she's good, she's adorable - full of affection, kisses, helpful, sweet... but when she's playing up, she's a bit of a nightmare. I think Heidi is starting to enter "proper" toddlerhood now too - heaven help me!

Disappointment

I finally heard back about the job yesterday. Apparently it came down to a 2 horse race, and I lost :( I asked her for feedback on the interview, and she said she had none. The interview was "exemplary", I did everything right, it was extremely close, blah blah blah. All fairly pointless as I didn't get the job! Oh, she did say that my skill set was possibly "too advanced". I can see this being an issue in my search for work - it seems that everything that matches my skill set is full-time.

And I've put on an entire kilo since starting boot camp.

All rather disillusioning.

Home produce

Check out what's been keeping me busy recently!

Here we have: home-grown tomatoes (fresh and bottled), pickled cucumbers (home-grown), preserved mango, preserved peaches from Mum & Dad's tree, figs in port, and fig jam (both from our fig tree). I've also been making lots of pesto as our basil plant has been very productive. And tomorrow I'll be making some home made chilli sauce with our birdeye chillis, which are extremely prolific. It's all quite fun!

Yes, I'm alive

Just!

Week 2 of bootcamp started today. I'm in the second lowest platoon, and am by far the slowest person in my group. I haven't been taken to hospital yet though, which I suppose is a bonus. I weighed myself this morning and have not managed to lose even 100g of weight. Impressive, huh. I got James to take "before" photos of me before bootcamp started, and I'm starting to fear that the "after" photos will be identical! Even though I'm finding it very hard going, I am actually enjoying it quite a lot. Mostly when I'm not doing it, however.

Here's a couple of photos I took at the playground this morning. Juliet decided she'd give James a go on the hammock - please note the expression of abject fear in his eyes. And here's some proof that Heidi really is on the move.

Bootcamp begins

Based on this morning's efforts, I am clearly one of the most unfit people in Australia. I think I came 156th out of 160 people in the fitness assessment (which involved running/staggering for 2.4km).

It can only get better, right?

And she's off!

Heidi stunned us all this afternoon by crawling! She started off doing 2-3 "steps", then suddenly just went for it and crawled across Dorothy's loungeroom. We're all extremely excited. The fun and games start now - and I can't wait.

How did I go...

I think I went OK. I'm always pretty bad at judging interviews though.
They told me I went "very well", but also said that they were interviewing a "quite a number" of people today, so obviously I have quite a lot of competition.

Fingers are crossed. The more I think about it, the more I really want this job. Let's hope my incredible charm and professionalism stunned and amazed them. *cough*

Interview tomorrow

Big day for me tomorrow, with my first job interview in many years. I'm not feeling too nervous, but I'll still be glad when it's all over!

Playing in the sandpit

Just a few photos from yesterday.

I got an interview!

Yep, just as I was about to abandon hope, I finally got a phone call this afternoon. I have an interview for the job! I'm trying not to be nervous. Of course, it's all an excellent excuse to get a haircut, buy some work clothes etc. etc. What - I should actually think about interview questions?! Surely not.

Heidi was back at daycare again today for her first really big day alone. She did brilliantly. She seems to be adapting extremely well, and has no trouble napping, eating, playing or just generally being happy. The carers all say how lovely she is (of course ;-) )

All in all, an excellent day.

Heidi starts daycare

Heidi officially started daycare last week, but I only took her for an hour or so each day (Tues and Thurs). Today was her big test - the first nap. I must admit I did NOT think she would sleep, given that one little baby boy in the sleep room was screaming his lungs out. However she just chatted for a bit then had a lovely big nap. I was amazed. She also had a big lunch, big afternoon tea and all in all she seemed to enjoy herself immensely.

I've applied for a job, but haven't heard back from them yet. I'm not too worried if I don't get it. I'm in no rush. I'm actually quite looking forward to having a few hours a week at home alone, simply to get some jobs done around the house.

I'm also about to launch into my first ever experience of food preservation. We have a bumper crop of tomatoes this year, and I'm planning on making some into passata and sauce, and preserving some more (if we get that many). Mum's given me a heap of old Fowlers jars, so once I've got some new clips/rings I'll be all ready to go. We also have a crazy number of cucumbers, so I'm planning to pickle some over the next day or so. Gawd, I'll be joining the CWA before you know it...

(Actually I'm also thinking about making our own soap. See, this is what happens when you take someone out of a "normal" corporate working environment and stick them at home for years on end. They go quietly insane, then start thinking of "busy work" for themselves. I'll be handweaving rugs out of swamp reeds by 2009 if I don't find a job).

Eeeeeeeek!!!

I'm officially insane! This afternoon I enrolled in bootcamp. It starts on Feb 9, and involves 3 sessions a week plus 2-3 extra sessions in my own time. I currently do absolutely no real exercise (I don't count leisurely strolls with the pram) and am carrying about 10kg more than I would like to be. I'm very nervous. Having done it once before (right before falling pregnant with Juliet) I know what's involved, and it's HARD WORK!!!!! I do think I need that extra push to get back into the habit of exercising though. Last time I lost 5kg and felt fantastic, so I'm hoping the same happens again.

We had a fairly social day today; mothers group this morning, and Megan and Freya visited this afternoon. Juliet's back at daycare tomorrow, and I'll be taking Heidi in for an hour or so too. Hopefully it will all go well.

Oh, and our rainwater tank is finally being installed in the morning. Now we just need some rain...

Crawling (of sorts)

Heidi is getting more into the swing of things with crawling. She can now get herself into a crawling position from sitting, and scoots backwards across our wooden floors. She's also starting to try to pull herself up to a standing position. At last!

Juliet has successfully toilet trained herself. She hasn't had an accident in nearly 2 weeks. Mission accomplished.

Nothing else much to report. Does anyone actually read this blog anyway?! :)

Hooray for everyone!

Some good news today.

Heidi is finally rolling from her front to her back, and as of today she is getting into a sitting position from lying down. Hooray! She's very pleased with herself. Although emotionally she seems to be entering toddlerdom already. She's started squealing and almost having mini-tantrums - NOT like the Heidi we know! I'm hoping it's just because she has 2 teeth about to poke through.

In other good news, Juliet's toilet training is continuing to go very well. We've had 4 days with no accidents at all, and she is now taking herself with almost no prompting. I must admit I didn't think it would be so easy. On the downside, I think I've put on about 5kg from eating all the leftover M&Ms...

Seaspray

We just got back from a lovely holiday down at Seaspray, where we stayed with some friends at their beach house. It was the most relaxing holiday we've had in ages, and we wish we were still there! Juliet had an absolute ball with her mate Indie, and had heaps of fun playing in the river and even the surf.

Last Thursday Juliet decided she no longer wanted to wear nappies. So we're now in the thick of toilet training, and it's going brilliantly. She's had perhaps 5 or 6 accidents in a whole week (only a couple of which have been messy, thankfully enough). This morning she even woke up with a dry nappy and took herself to the potty as soon as she woke up! I must admit that there is a bit of M&M bribery going on, but it is working. What a big girl!

And in another milestone, we've completely entered the "But why?" stage. I haven't resorted to "Because I said so" or "Ask Daddy" yet, but give it a couple of days...

Heidi is STILL not crawling. She's standing a bit more though, and did some rocking on her hands and knees yesterday. I think I will call the physio again in a couple of weeks. She's going well in every other way though. She even had her first bike ride last week, which left her a little bemused!

I'm starting to look for work again, just for 2 days a week. Unfortunately most part time jobs are 3 days a week, but I'm not worried if it takes me a while to find something. There's no real rush. Heidi has a place in daycare starting in 2 weeks, but I will just put her in for an hour here and there to get used to it until I find work. I'm not nearly as stressed out about the prospect of Heidi going to daycare as I was when Juliet began. Mostly because Heidi is so easygoing, has no separation anxiety, and I'm much more familiar with the daycare centre now.