Happy happy joy joy (its the humidity)

This whole week has been HOT. Not just hot hot either, but humid hot. And SUNNY. And STORMY. It's such typical Sydney summer weather and I'm in heaven. There's that sort of sweet-grass smell in the air, and Christmas decorations are going up, and there are mozzies everywhere and our doors are constantly open so the breeze comes in and it all points to summer and lo, a happy Nell is born.

So i haven't blogged in ages and my excuses are, busyness and laziness. It's just been one of those weeks. Last weekend was all about the wedding (not mine, and it's a whole other post away) and the crabs. Real crabs, not crab crabs, if you get me. We had some family here from interstate for previously mentioned wedding, and since the sun came out to play, we decided a seafood Sunday lunch was in order.

My cousin Ben makes the best crab-in-red-sauce ever, and so I spent the day happily nom-nom-noming, much to Jo's disgust. I believe he referred to me as "an animal", as he watched me ripping them apart and sucking them dry. But. That's how you eat crab. I mean I'm not going to use a fork for godsake. What's the point of that? But he's not much into shellfish so he doesn't get the love, and as Ben says, there's no point trying to convert them. Once you do, you'll just have to share.

The kids were a laugh as always -

Zara the chubster. (Don't worry Z, it's cute right now.
I mean. Hopefully you'll totally grow out of it though.)

"I'm sorry, what? You don't like THIS dress??"

Row row row you're boat, or something similar.

The Raffster playing a childhood staple, backyard cricket.

Christian. I'm pretty sure he's saying "I'm three, dumbass."

On Monday, we babysat Barney. Barney is not a child, as you may remember. He's a dog. But David doesn't like leaving him alone, cause he's precious like that, so we took him on Monday night. I was assured he would go to the door if he needed to go to the toilet, but a couple of poos and several wees later, i realised that wasn't going to happen. And that crap stank. Thank God we have tiles.

Barney

We tuckered him out in the end.

Other highlights from this week included our marriage class, the first of THREE we have to take in order to get married in a Catholic church. Although we were dreading it, Jo was a good sport about the whole thing (being the non-Catholic one), and kept us laughing for the three hours we were there. Yes, you read that correctly. Three hours. Times three classes. That's nine hours of our lives we won't be getting back. Still, if you have to be there you may as well make the best of it, and it wasn't as bad as we thought it would be. It's all very new age - what "couple style" are you (wtf?), and why men and women communicate differently (i mean really. duh.), and what sorts of feelings do you feel when you have a fight....and that's just week one. In week three we get to tackle fertility. I mean please. How can i contain my excitement until then?

It was boiling today. Downright boiling. Mum and I went shopping. Her search for an outfit to wear to the wedding continues (hint: try being less fussy.) We checked out the new Westfields in the city (very swish) before heading down to circular quay for a well-earned ice cream.

Trees in bloom

Mum!

This afternoon was so warm we had our first visit to the beach for the season. It was too late for a swim, but...maybe tomorrow! If it stays this warm. I think we're going to have a very typical Sydney summer this year - almost tropical, you know? Sunny and humid until about 4pm, when the clouds will roll in and then it'll be overcast and humid for the rest of the day, till it pours with rain. Gets a thumbs up from me.

The season is in full swing, and as always it seems that this time of year is ridiculously busy. Melbourne Cup has been and gone, which is the start of it all for me (even though this year I MISSED IT because i was sick), and now its all beach and kitchen tea, mum's birthday, my birthday, Christmas parties galore, and then it's Christmas and New Years and before you know it it's January and I'm moaning about the year flying by and frankly I'm tired just thinking about it all, so I'm off to watch Graham Norton.

Rugrats

We've been uber busy, and now I'm sick. I blame Jo, who bought the sickness home, where its been festering in ever corner just waiting for me to inhale. He's been out of it the last 4 days, but I'm hoping i don't get it as bad, because my immune system is generally better than his, which is awful. The thing is, how are you supposed to avoid getting sick when you work in an office? It's the worst kind of breeding ground for germs. They LIVE in the air conditioning.



Maybe i should become one of those weirdo's that wear face masks everywhere.



So we've been in kiddie-land the last couple of weekends, doing the rounds, seeing the peeps, that sort of thing. I haven't seen Max and Joshua in a little while, and their cute-ness has increased by at least 20 points since i saw them last. A word on my cousin Susie - she went ahead and married an Aussie, and in a big Italian family, that can be a rarity. When it DOES happen, the union will usually produce an Aussie-looking child, which results in said child becoming a total novelty. That's what happened with Max. I mean look at him - does this kid look like he has an Italian mother at all? Sometimes she looks over and thinks "Who the hell is that Aussie kid in my kitchen?" It's hilarious.







Then his little brother came along and evened things up a bit. Joshua has the darker feature we're used to, which meant he was frankly boring for a really long time, despite Susie's attempts to up his profile. I mean we just weren't interested. Bring us fair-haired novelty child please.



But as he got older, i realised she had a point. Joshua was pretty cute. Look at this face.

We took Jack to see the dinosaur exhibition at the Australian museum, which he was sort of wary of, i think. Dinosaur toys are altogether different from life-size models. When you're a kid, you're thinking - this shit could come alive anytime. Get me the hell out of here.

He's been very entertaining lately. I don't even know how he comes up with some of the stuff he does. For example, this exchange:

Me: "Where's your mum?"
Jack "She's dead."

Oooooooo-k. I won't even try to dissect that one. Or this:

Grandma: "We have to change your nappy."

Jack: "No."
Grandma: "Yes, we have to change your nappy now."
Jack: "Don't you say that again or I'm calling the police." "Hello, police? Nonna is being very naughty and you have to come and get her."

Or you'll hear a crash from another room and his voice drifting down the hall - "I did nothing!!!" Yeah kid. Way to prove your innocence.

Luckily he does, at the tender age of 2 and a half, have his basic tactics sorted out. After we left their place the other day, Maria spotted ALL of his toys tipped out on the floor and asked him who had made this big mess. Caught like a deer in headlights, he reasonably did what any other person would in a situation like that, and that is blame someone else. "Jo did," he promptly responded. Nice one!

Lastly, his current favourite word is "fantastic." As in, "this pasta is fantastic." But he will also use it in the negative. About his juice the other day, he told Maria witheringly "This juice is NOT fantastic." Solid gold.

The pest

I have been doing lots of reading and movie-watching, but i don't have anything intelligent to say about any of it at the moment, because my brain is in ibuprofen-induced coma, so i'm going to go and curl up on the couch and make Jo wait on me for the rest of the day, or week. Who's counting.

The kids are alright

I'm gonna come right out and say that kids love me. They do, and i can't help it. In fact there are times i wish they DIDN'T love me so much, so i could go hang with the adults. There's only so much Wiggle-time one can handle, after all. Or so many times that i can read The Very Hungry Caterpillar before i want to rip the pages out and burn them. And honestly, i can't remember all the names of the engines in Thomas the Tank. It feels like they've multiplied since i was 5. Here's another little insight - running around screaming like a crazy person? It's not as fun as it looks when they do it. Neither is pretending to kill monsters. Or pretending to be asleep. Or pretending the couch is a boat. Or pretending to eat pretend food on pretend plates with pretend cutlery. On this front, i have a deep and profound respect for parents, who, unlike me, cannot escape this madness for the pub. Ever.




Of course, being that i can indeed wave bye byes at the end of the day, for the most part i don't mind at all - actually I'm pretty damn lucky to have so many crazy-hilarious kids in my life. There's really nothing like a cuddle from a little person. And some of them, i literally couldn't imagine living without. Now that's love y'all.




One of the newest additions to our family, Luca, has until now mainly puked, cried or slept whenever I'm around. (The puking he particularly excelled in.) Anyway I'm pleased to announce we've now moved into the next stage of development - i call it the 'i want everything around me in my mouth' stage. Fingers. Toys. Rubbery chewy things. Whatever you have handy. Actually the rubbery chewy things remind me a lot of what I'd give the dogs to play with. No comparison of course. I'm just saying. Here's the little man at brunch last week:

Bib at the ready. Child is trained to understand bib means food, and generally accepts wearing one for this reason.



Getting into one of those rubbery chewy things. The dogs look just as satisfied when they have one.

Jo and Luca and their chew-toys

Awww happy baby. It'll take him approximately 2.5 seconds to realise he has nothing in his mouth, at which point screams or tears will be produced, and 4 otherwise normal adults will scramble around like idiots to find chew-toy again. FYI the dogs are not indulged in this manner. It doesn't matter how hard they cry, they can go find their own damn toy.

Jo and Luca again. He is looking directly at me because i have his chew-toy. His expression says "I know you have it, and I'm gonna do this photo thing for now cause i like you on the whole, but if you don't give it back soon i WILL screech at high pitch for several consecutive minutes and you know how that embarrasses you when we're around strangers. So watch it, bitch."

Seriously. That's what it says.

Me and the puker. Notice he is trying to launch himself out of my arms and onto the table, where chewable stuff lies in abundance.

Look at the love in his eyes! He adores me! (Joking, it's another ploy. See how he has my hair in his grip? That's sign-language for "I'm all smiles now, but if you don't produce the chew-toy real soon I'll rip this shiz out so fast you won't have time to scream. And you've got some greys coming through lady.")

Meanwhile, I'm convinced the pest is accident-prone. For reals. There's not wall in the house he hasn't run into. So. I mean he could be blind. That's the only other explanation. But he sees OK when you've got chocolate in your hand, so that's probably not it. The other day they came over, and this is what i see when he walks in the door:

Seriously. It looks like a cranium deformity. I was actually worried it would never go away, and he'd be ugly like that forever. (Just kidding. Not even a lump the size of a golf ball could take away the cuteness.) Apparently he fell of a chair again. Hell i didn't care what happened, as long i got a picture of it. That sort of hideousness doesn't come around very often. I had to capture it for the sake of his future girlfriends. They shouldn't have to miss out on any opportunity to laugh their pants off at his expense.

In case you aren't getting the full effect front on, here it is again from the side:

That's all for today. No wait, one more thing - GLEE IS BACK SUCKERS! Enjoy season 2.