MORE babies!

Don't panic - it's babies of the green, chlorophyll kind.

We spent Saturday buying veggies, herbs and plants for the garden. Catherine had given me a lithianthus plant earlier in the week. She knows I love them. They have lovely little blooms that are almost rose like. To them we added basil, oregano, thyme and sage, tomatoes, strawberries, zucchini, eggplant, silverbeet and a variety of lettuces and rocket. We now tend them carefully, watering them nightly (except last night because it'd rained all day) and chasing off the snails (the snails are kept away by the sugar cane mulch when it's dry but don't seem to mind it when it's wet).

In the evening we had Karen, Dan and Xavier over for dinner. Ben was away partying in Hazelbrook. We also had Sharon, Janet, Steven and Georgia over and they all goo-ed and gaa-ed over our little boy who slept peacefully through the whole evening except briefly to ask for a nappy change and feed.

On Sunday afternoon Robbie had a cricket match but they lost. Ishbel had a birthday party at the pool and had a great time. Jamie was supposed to go with Dad and Rob to cricket but mananged to persuade Dad to bring him home and my dream of a few hours in the house all by myself in perfect peace and quiet was ruined.

The weather has been all over the place. It was wet before the weekend, very warm on Saturday and it's been wet again since. Our rec AFL was called off last night because it'd rained all day. As I sit here typing with a fleece on, it's hard to believe that the forecast is for 36C tomorrow, a Total Fire Ban has been called for the 24 hrs from midnight and we'll be on standby all day tomorrow. No wonder the kids have colds!

Fraser George Colquhoun

Faser George Colquhoun, born 9.09pm on 9/10/08, grandson of Ian, son to Jono and Narelle. Weighed in at 8lb 7oz and 52cm after 6 hours of labour. Fraser arrived home in Kingaroy on Monday 13/10/08 with Mum and Dad and Grandma Sarah. On Wednesday I flew to tag team with Sarah who went back to work in Brisbane(reluctantly). Fraser went straight onto a management programme of feeding, pooing and sleeping. He has been sleeping 4 hours regularly since. He hasn't yet got the bit where he eats and poos in 30 minutes but Mum and Dad are working on it. The ultimate complimate, I got to have Fraser to myself on Friday morning while Jona and Narelle attended to messages. I had to leave them to cope alone this morning 19/10/08 to fly home, confident they will do better than manage.
I rang on Tuesday, the anxious Grandad, of course they are doing well, Fraser is sleeping 5 hours night and morning, Mum and Dad are healthy and happy at having tamed, for now, the beast.

The Great Escape

Have a look at this clever pup

~ even puts old Derek in the shade!

Japanese banking crisis

Following the problems in the financial sector in the US, uncertainty has now hit Japan. In the last 7 days Origami Bank has folded, Sumo Bank has gone belly up and Bonsai Bank announced plans to cut some of its branches. Yesterday, it was announced that Karaoke Bank is up for sale and will likely go for a song, while today shares in Kamikaze Bank were suspended after they nose-dived. While Samurai Bank is soldiering on following sharp cutbacks, Ninja Bank is reported to have taken a hit, but they remain in the black. Furthermore, 500 staff at Karate Bank got the chop and analysts report that there is something fishy going on at Sushi Bank where it is feared that staff may get a raw deal. Oh yes, and the Karma sutra bank is f****d.

(Thought I'd get a laugh in now whhile we can)

Sign language

These Sign Language pages from the Daily Telegraph had me laughing out loud.

There is more than just one sign each week; see there are more to scroll through at the top right hand side of the page. To go to a previous week click on Related articles under the scrolly thing or on the Last week's sign language link under the main picture.

Not the weekend round up

Ian is away up in Queensland to help Jono and Nelly with young Fraser. Sounds like they are all having fun.
Meanwhile, Ishbel and I got our baby fix by spending some time cuddling with Xavier. He likes sucking and got a little ratty when he couldn't get his finger in his mouth. At other times he was sleeping and lovely to cuddle.
Ishbel and I were at the bus stop a bit early this morning (she takes the bus from outside the front of the library). Jamie had announced at 10 to 8 this morning that he needed $10 for a calculator for his maths exam today. I had not 10c, never mind $10 so we had to duck up to the shopping centre and raid an ATM. So Ishbel and I were at the bus stop a bit early this morning. We decided to go and get a hot chocolate. Ishbel also conned me into getting her a chocolate freckle too.
Getting to the end of the chocolate freckle, she announced that it had been too chocolatey. She doesn't really like chocolate. What is a girl who doesn't really like chocolate doing having hot chocolate and a chocolate freckle?? Anyway, I didn't even get a little nibble.
The children have all gone back to school this Monday after two weeks holidays. Jamie and Rob went straight into exams - on Monday morning! Didn't have a chance to catch their breaths. Rob finished his last exam this afternoon and was angling for a day off - no way Jose and Jamie will finish tomorrow. There'd not been much evidence of study so the results will be interesting. They have the proper School Certificate exams in two or three weeks (equiv. to the O Grades we did).

Here's Karen's new boy

Xavier Christian Hale

Born : 12 October 2008

Time : 21:52 hrs

Weight : 3.845 kg (8 lb 7 oz)

Length : 54 cm (21.25 in)

Head Circumference : 36.5 cm (14.3 in)

Pictures in the slideshow at the right or via the Flickr site (link above).

Giving Karen Curry

With the Colquhoun boy arriving on his due date, young baby Hale is on notice not to keep anyone hanging about.

Karen and I had lunch today and decided to try out the (relatively) new Indian restaurant in Springwood, something I've been wanting to do for ages as everyone I've met has enjoyed their meal there. Folklore has it that curries hurry babies so we had extra reason for giving it a go. That having failed (as far as I know thus far), he's in for a long drive down a bumpy track! And other remedies which are too rude to write about.

Another generation of Colquhouns

Fraser George Colquhoun

So the long-awaited first grandson has arrived, born last night in Brisbane.

His grandmother reports that "He's pink, well-covered, 52cm long and "chatted"!!!! Long fingers and toes, significant shoulders! Mum was very calm, probably pretty tired, but happy and well".

Jono, Nelly (Narelle) and Fraser George

Aussie Rules

I've been playing Aussie Rules tonight! There is a summer social comp. for over 14s and other old folk and Jamie and I are going to go only Jamie is at his friend's house tonight and didn't go. I didn't have much of an idea of what was going on but it was a fun time.