Oh wow, what an honour. first id like to thank the academy, my loving hiusband and son, my mum... hmm on the other hand... i have different fingers! stufff the academy!!

arlgith here i go. our wonderful friend clay picked the hardest darn questiond but i will get the answers in!

1. who won tha AFL grand final in 2005?

The Swans!!!

1. what is the most popular beach in Perth?

is the rock that looks like a giant wave classified as a beach? hmm ask me questions about YOUR loacality why dont ya Clay! ill take a wild guirees and say cotteslow beach (if thats even how its spelt!) i dont know... its the only beach in perth i know of!

Okay so now ihvae to tag two people and give them two NEW questions! oh hahaha i love asking trivial questions!

Okay, im going totag missjoy and trishyswishy and my wuestionjs for them are....

(sorry guys, these are really cryptic!)

1. What Ludwig Satel called his entry into the lo-cal beer market or an object revolving around a celestial body.

2. Swindle a Greek Island or a building material.

after you guys have answered you can email me for the answeres if you want em ;)

3 days to go and i have all of twoboxes packed. and one of them isnt even sealed!!!

where do i find myself instead? on minti of course! :)

Oh well. at least i'll be happy until the internet or phone gets disconnected- whichever one happens to go first...

on another note- i finally finished that assignmetn! i emailed it in at around 1 am, so i only really needed like a 7 hour extension instead of a week!

ok so i am am i? oh well ehre goes!

. What's your child's favorite book? Liam like books. they taste yummy :)

2. What's your favorite children's book? My two most favourite ooks as a child were The folk of the Faraway tree by enid blighton, and the pilgrims progress. I dont know who wrote it though.

3. What's your child's favorite thing to eat? Whatever goes into mummies or daddies mouth is alwaysa favourite.

4. What's your favorite thing to eat? anything with a lot of sugar in it.. mmmm cookiedough!

5. What's your child's favorite game? .peekaboo and 'where's raffi?' (hide teh giraffe somewhere in plain sight and wait for him to find it...)

6. What's your favorite game? "  Disney Monopoly

Okay, now I tag: Cheleinkal, Missjoy, Nomes, MentorMum and mewannaboy.

Here is how it works, answer all these questions and then tag 5 more minti members! Have fun ladies!

No, not the band that nobody has heard anything from the past few years.

the amount of time before centrelink will give us money.

yes. 4 weeks. Nice huh?

Back to the drawing board on that one i guess.

On another note Liam now says dadada all day long, has said daddy twice and boh-ool once (bottle). he seems to be trying to say lots of words. It could be a coincedence, but there has been a lot of things he has said at different times repeatedly throughout the day that sounds like what is happening. or maybe i am just imagaining everything sounds like something.

good news is my migraine seems to have gone. and replaced with a heavy sense of burden and dread.

we decided that my husband is goin to apply for austudy and work one day a week, which should get us through- and we are also going to get a bond loan which will ease things tremendously as well. still have the migraine i took to bed with me last night so i thik i will try and sleep it off some more. Thanks to everyone- you have all been very supportive.

turns out they changed their mindon the issue.

They sent him home now instead of finishing out the night.

i think im going to cry.

My husband has just rang me with the worst news i have heard in my life to date.

His boss wanted to knock $5 off his pay. and switch him to day shift. (starting at 3am). but they also want him to do his normal shift on tuesday as well. so he will work from 3 am to 11 pm only to go to work again at 3 am. when he refused they told him tonight would be his last night.

Just what I need right now.

Dont you just love those new IR laws?

John Howard- you are now officially liable for my finances! And i expect to get paid....

well today started off great. Liam woke up but didnt wake us up which was nice. he was sitting ins his cot playing with his toes when i went in. then when he came into our room with us he said 'dad dad' which amazed us. in fact, the hubby was still talking about it at 6 when he rang me!

i logged onto minti and saw my rank had jumped to 9!!! How in the world did that happen!!! last time i noticed i was 17.... another great thing.

i (i know its bad that it came to this) put minti in the restriced access zone so i couldnt spend all day on here instead of doing my assignment. after spending only half the day (being generous here) on teh assignment, a while adding my emoticons back into my mesenger after the tragic loss of my old ocmputer a few weeks back, and trying to sort out my brothers love life. both he AND his girlfriend were asking me for advice at the same time. it was really weird ot say the least. and took  a darn long time.

after spending some more time working on my assignment i am ready to bribe someone or fail. it s just to hard to do at the moment, not to mention it is a hard topic full stop (critical thinking of all things!) and i just dont have the brain power or patience to crawl through it at the moment. but for being so good i decided to treat myself and log onto minti again, only to find that everytime i log in i am automatically logged right back out. what the? and then i remember... restricted zone....

ps- if anyone know the correct procedure for bribing universities please feel free to let me know! also please send the required bribe as i dont have it!! :)

I hate moving and having it take forever to unpack. i always have this vision of starting over again, hving th perfectly clean house from the start and never have to do more than ten minutes of house work a day for the rest of my life.

but we all know the its the time our hosue is the messiest. half unpacked and open boxes EVERYWHERE.

my rule is that our computers aren't set up until every single last box is unpacked. why?  i am great at procrastinating. I would live on minti. i am making my sleepnig bagalready  . i will live eat breath and sleep minti.  even without the net connected i have known to become quite addicted to minesweeper and pinball.

but thats only one reason to get the boxes unpacked quickly.

My next unit for uni starts monday, BEFORE we move. it is completly online. so before i can get into my next unit i have to have the net connected. cant do that until i have the computers up running and networked (the printer included! its playing up at the moment) and to do that i need to be unpacked, so i am going to be darn busy!

What we have planned is this : the alley is too small for the truck we were going to hire/borrow/ommandeer/steal/ find/ fell off the bakc of another truck or wahtever we were going to use, so we are now hiring a trailer which is much cheaper ($80 for 24 hrs as apposed to $140 for 10 hours) which comes with the added bonus that my dad now is helping us move as we dont have a towball on our car and he does. his car is also a ute . so we are going to load our little bitty car up with the urgent stuff (bottles nappies, lunch, etc) and me and liam. then hubby and the father figure are going to load the ute and trailer up, and we al go over . me liam and stuff are dropped off and left there.  they both keep making trips while i stay and unpack as fast as humanly possible. This means that 1. hubby can take the car seat out of the car for extra room (we have a 87 n13 pulsar hattchback, so its tiny) and 2. liam is with me so we dont get stuck somewhere without food/bottle/ somewhere for him to play or sleep. and he doesnt have to be around the stress that goes with loading and unloading trucks and the yelling and stuff. a very peaceful bedroom with his toys and his playmat, familiar things.

i think i am going to write an advice soon, as i have a LOT more tips for moving with kids (did it every six months or so, my mum was never happy and i ont think she understands the concept of renknewing a lease. or chucking out junk. no kidding, last time she moved they actually fuond a garbage bag she hadnt unpacked from her previous move. when she opened it to look inside she worked out why. it was from their bin. it made the trip too. from the last move! Yuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck!

but anyway, what this blog entry is really about----- goodbye minti

i am not going to have much time for minti before the move, huuuuuuge assignment to finish off, (by friday i hope!) and then so much packing to do! I will still visit (probably everyday) until i do move, but only short and wont be doing a lot on here. So i might not speak with you for a couple of weeks, so i am going to say buhbye now, just in cases!

ps- i got my personal minti invite cards today, and they are awesome! i think everyone should get some!!!!

put our deposit down this morningand get tp pick up the keys next wednesday. woohoo!!! if  you look in the picture you can see our place in the background :) i love the little alley thing you have to go down, i cant wait to see it at night time!! it has solar garen lights and those magical looking trees that drape their folage eveerywhere.... sound like a disney movie :)

all in all its really cool. Now i have to get my assignment done before i can pack.. boo hoo. thats the stupid part about moving the week your assignment is due i guess.....

**Sorry, I had t oput in  picture of the pool too... this edge here that we cant see is where the last picture joins on... its salt water too!

Well he has done it again. completely blown my mind. here i was thinking i had a clever little baby that could pull himself to a standing position. and i have yet again under estimated him.

When reading to him tonight in his room he got a little distracted and decided to pull himself up using daddy. then he was standing on his own holding nothing but daddy's t-shirt. then he let go of the t-shirt.

and stood there

for like 5 whole seconds.

all on his own.

no wonder i think im going to go bald before i go grey.

How old was everyone elses little angels when they first did this?

The Lady from the place we applied at rang about 5 minutes ago- we got in! WE are so stoked ... now all i have to do is pack.... haha yeah right! but this should be so fun.

Thanks to everyone who showed us support this past week or so! It helped us through and gave us hope :)

this morning when i went in to get liam out of his cot i found he was standing at the end trying to climb over.

darn it. we now have to lower the bed. not an issue. my back problems will be though. ouch. im heating up the water bottle just thinking about it....

hes been pulling himself up to a standing position all day.we cant he just be a baby and act his age ?  :P

i am proud oof  my little munchkin though, just wish he wouldnt be such a full on handful EVERY day...

having a rest from house hunting today-0 i need to concentrate on my uni assessment instad. we find out on tuesday about this place we applied for so cross your fingers, pray, whatever it is you do....that we get approved...

Yesterday we hit all the real estates. none of them had anything in our price range- they only had one or two rentals to start with.

Hopeful of this place we applied at- they seemed confident we would be moving in. (and if not, I have the gate code to get in and use the pool anyway :P)

THis is the link in case anyone wants to look at a dream house : http://www.seqrents.com.au/riverbendgardens

:) our unit is the one next to the pool and barbecue area....great!to get to the front door you have to go down this little alley with a cypress of some kind and it has solar lights to light it at night. it looks really magical. i cant wait tuntil i find out! i forgot to ask when she'll let us knoiw, but i cant imagine it being too long!!

Tip 1:  Don't let hubby make bottles for the outing- he will be that stressed he will make them and leave them on the kitchen bench.

tip 2. dont look in stretton at the lovely houses there. they look like they are from hollywood hills and make you want to cry because you cant have one.

tip three- ifg you need to speak with centrelin kcall them about three weeks prior to the date yuo need to get hold of them by. that way, you might get off hold by this date.  if this is not working for you, go into the office past the line and march right up to the desk and demand to be seen right away and that  you wont move until you have been served. three weeks on hold can do that to a person.

I decided i would post the top five things that have made Liam laugh, for today anyways.

1.   the sound of masking tape being pulled off the roll. this actually concerns me. his face turns red and he has trouble breathing, cant remember the las time i laughed that hard.

2.   the sound of a zipper (boy can i have fun with this one!)

3.   having his chin kissed (cracks up- is absolutely hilarious)

4.   talking to daddy on the telephone (followed shortly thereafte by a desperate want to eat the telephone.

5.   my terrible singing :) at least i have but one fan in this cruel cruel world.

now i had decided my sisters baby would end up looking something like adrian ( at least i think it was adrian- the hippy with the long wig) from the young ones. she just rang and asked a what age is it ok to dye bubby's hair if i knew? i have changed my mind. her baby will loo like vivian from the young ones.

i do not have a single box filled now. they have been completely emptied again. sigh. have i mentioned i hate moving? credit  ratings and the fact that i pay rent to my mother seem to be hindering us getting allowed into a place. i still keep getting the term 'not baby friendly'. how can you not be baby friendly? one place refused us because i dont have a job. now thats ridiculous.

to make things worse i have had my very pregnant sister and her *&^&% boyfriend staying with us this week. well not actually staying. morel ike 'using' us. taxi on saturday. stay overnight when they feel like it. make a mess. and oh my god make the bed squeek. they are staying on the bottom floor in the opposite corner ofthe houise than ours, and it was just scary. nightmares. insomnia. illness. can't wait for the mto go. love my sister, and she's always welcmoe to stay, but NO PETS ALLOWED!!!! leave him at home for crying out loud! he drives me crazy! wake ujp and hes using my computer darn it. downloading game cheats.abd printing them. like 1/4 of a ream of paper's worth.

but i did kick butt in monopoly last night :) I owned the whole board with castle on two adjoiing sides before my  sister gave up. it was awesome. i had to take aphoto. pity the camera hadn't bee ncharged though. but even so. i won and it was good. she didnt want to play again this morning though. need to find a new helpless oponent...

moving tip for the day 1-

just dont do it

moving tip for the day 2-

if you ignore tip 1, hier somebody else to do the absolute lot of it and go on holidays. kokomo sounds nice this time of year.... or you go do your husbands job and then get HIM to do it all! no, i shouldnt say that. BAD IDEA!

tomorrow hubby has the day off for ekka holiday- we will go around to some more real esate agents and see how we go. we have a beter chance of getting a home loan we cant afford than a rental agreement.

Here we go day one house hunting.

Started off the weekend by packing  It ties in first place with unpackign as the worst part of moving, followed by a close second- the reaking and losing of belongings.

Sunday night saw half of the boxes re-opened as i had packed things my husband did not want packed. 'just in case he needs them' sigh. it starts

we get up early to go house hunting. our early turns into about 10.30 am. we put in a few apllications, but nothing seems to promising. a few places tell us they are not 'baby friendly'. whatever that means.

there is one place we hope goes through ok. in a secure comples, it looks absolutely lovely. except, as usual they are a pain in the butt about EVERYTHING! but heres hoping!

moving tip 1-

let your husband do the packing as he will only pack stuff that should probably be tossed out as he is a packrat. open the boxes and toss the stuff out, going through it arefully first just to make sure.

moving tip 2-

make sure he knows how to wrap, protect and pack delicate items. like your great grandmothers sherry glasses. maybe you should do those yourself.

moving tip 3-

do not let your husband pack without some kind of supervision. he may pack baby!

moving tip 4-

do not let husband pack if baby is awake and you need a shower or break. he will fall asleep and baby will end up covered in masking tape and sucking on the open end of the nikko pen.

moving tip 5-

be vigilent in ensuring your nikko pens are non-toxic before buying in case of eventuality of tip 4 occuring.

Lunch was terrible.

the girl at subway knew me through a freind a few years ago. she asked me when the baby was due. i told ehr january, dindt say the one just gone though. vowed never to leave the house again. put said girls picture up on target website and hope she will be annihilated.

more tomorrow or the day after i guess.

WEll now i am sooooooooooo annoyed! My mum owns the house I live in, and its being re-financed. the valuation wasn't high enough, so the bank rang her this morning and said right- you can either sell it, or we will. that was fine, they wanted to sell in a few months anyway. then a lovely commercial agent shows up on my doorstep with a letter from the banks solicitor saying that I have four weeks to get out! Now what the heck! I don't have enuogh money for a bond, and rent around here is double what I am paying now. my parents said to jsut find a place and they will pay whatever I am short, but I dont want to take their money! they dont have enough of it in the first place! NOw i have to take an extension on my uni assignment, i was trying not to though. i dont have much of a choice now. this SUCKS!

I received some pictures back from my photographer today for our canvas prints, and i love them! just wanted to show everyone!

 Brian and liam

Baby playtime :0)

I know they are simple, but they have to be for the canvas!

my little boy is gtetting smarte every single day. no joke.

now when he wants me to go somewhere ie- kitchen to make a bottle., he will throw ALL of his weight into the doorway to put me off balance and i end up turning into the room. clever boy. helpful though. if I am taking him up to change his duds he'll let me know he wants a bottle and i can mcrowave it while i changing him, and he can let me know if he wants to stop into the bathroom on the way down to talk to the mirror baby. his alter ego.7 month sold and he has alter ego. i wihs i had one! oh wait, i do. JadieLady :)

He spoke on the phoen with his daddy today. he usualyl listens and smiles befoe trying to eat the phone. if its not daddy he usually just eats the phone. today he gooed and razzzzzbrsh 'd back at him. very cute. then he kept trying to get the phone after he had hung up. i managed to take a video of him on the digital camera, but it was set to sepia so i was disappointed. but the video looks really cool, jsut has that old fashoined american movie feel to it.

well i guess i have finished gushing about how adorble my little munchkin is.  i wish i could add pictures to the blog!

After reading an article here the other day, i surfed the net for a wjhile researching baby signing. i had heard of it and was interested, but didnt know it was so common. my husband discussed it with me on his lunch break and sounded a bit doubtful that liam could do it long before he could talk anyway. we decided to give it ago and i sat down and learnt some signs and started using them right away. it looks like he is picking up that this signal is related to this word, but i dont think he has quite got it yet, not that i expected him to! it will still be a while before his little hands are able to master the art of making th shapes and signs anyway, but thought we may as well get in now so he at least understands the signs you know? if anyone is thinking about it i rcommend at least looking into it! the website that was recommended in the advice rticle even hada streaming video that showed you the sign as well as dscribed hwo to do it! it made it really easy to learn.

To day has been a great day. Hubby has the day shift on fridays, so we can have our friday nights together. which usually onsist of grocery shooping lol. but its time together, and we enjoy it all the same. we actually look forward to it.

Liam seems to be going through another growth spurt. he literally sleeps the day away and i need to wake him occasianlly to have a bottle!

its been good though- given me a mush needed rest and given me more time to do stuff that i should be doing- like studying (or procrastinating) and type a blog on minti! I have seen some of those parenting sites online and they are jsut junk. no community, not communication, just the same junk about whats happening to your baby today. yes, its cool to learn that this week our bubs is learning to discern patterns in relation to his eyesight, but we don't want to hear it over and over and over and over and over... you get the point. this site is by far the best i have ever seen, and finding that i will be soon if not already, completely addicted. i am excited that i can ask questions, and support people and that i can give something back, but most of all communicate! i dont get out much and dont have many 'real' friends outside of home, so this is a great opportunity for me.

a bit about my family, my partner and i are both very family orientated, he rings me whenever he has a break at work and when he finishes. we love to spend time together and he is such a snuggly person! loves his cuddles. he is a very excited daddy. he is like a little kid at heart, and acts like it. sometimes he gets that gushy over the little angel that he reminds me of a 15 year old girl! not that he is feminine or anything, just gooey. its just so lovable. thats all for now i guess.