New library

Back at work this week... The new library and IT building is open, and looking great. Very bright, lots of groovy and comfy seating, the bookshop and an Aroma cafe half in and half out of the library, a big e-lab and heaps of other computers. Still a bit of unpacking and settling in to be done, and my office doesn't yet have a phone, but it's all so much better than the old library. I'm staying in my office in the school in the long term, but I'll sit in the library office for the next couple of months so that students finding their way around the new library can find me easily. It's actually really quiet, so I'll probably get a lot of work done.

H settled in well at daycare. He's a "big" boy in the toddlers room now, and seems to be loving it. The girls can't believe how much his tummy has shrunk since last year. It's so funny watching him go through his little routines there - putting his hat back on the peg, and stopping to take his sandals off before bouncing on the mini tramp without being asked. UWA is great with hygiene and tidiness and getting the kids to take responsibility, but they're also incredibly warm and loving. They were genuinely glad to see Harrison again and take real pleasure in seeing him happy and healthy. There was a birthday at daycare yesterday and he couldn't share the cake, so I made and iced a gluten free one last night and sent wrapped slices to daycare today for them to keep in the freezer and take out when there's a birthday. Hopefully it will taste OK!

We also swapped the breadmaker the family gave me for Christmas for the Panasonic one that has a gluten free setting. Made bread for H on Sunday and it was amazing! I liked the GF bread that came out the breadmaker we'd borrowed from Mel, but the stuff I made on Sunday was a much better texture, even though it's the same mix. Who knows, I may even start making ordinary bread for Simon and me.

Day from hell

Yesterday was quite a day... Up early to get to the airport and drop the hire car off. Got confused getting petrol for the hire car, and somehow ended up in the taxi queue at the international airport. So that made me later than I planned. When I arrived at the automatic check-in, the screen said to see a staff member - who duly informed me that I was one minute late checking in. She could see I was travelling alone with a toddler, and I told her I was going to Perth. But she refused to allow us on the flight. In fact, she triumphantly told me at the end of our conversation that I was now 3 minutes late. It was 5 hours until the next flight to Perth, I had no stroller for Harrison to sleep in, no car, and no baby seat, so no one could pick us up. The food outlets didn't cater for coeliacs at all, and the snooty manager of the big one refused to even let me read a label to determine if Harrison could eat anything. With a 5 hour flight on top of the 5 hour wait at the airport, it was shaping up as a very trying day. If I had been travelling alone and going to Sydney or somewhere the waiting time and flight time would both have been much less significant, and I wouldn't have cared. But travelling alone to Perth with a toddler - it just seemed cruel to put us through that for a one minute delay. Luckily I found a fruit salad for Harrison and had some milk with me. He slept on a bench for an hour and a half while we waited. He was full of beans on the flight, but very well behaved. He walked up and down the aisle in his flashing sandshoes about 20 times and flirted terribly with the stunning woman sitting beside us and all the flight attendants. The only concession Qantas was prepared to make was to get a coeliac meal for Harrison on the later flight, so at least he was fed. The flight was very long - 5 and a half hours, and then we waited for another hire car. Simon wasn't home until late the next day and he had both keys to the Forester, and I would otherwise have been stranded without groceries at home. By the time I got home it was 7pm, and I still had to get milk etc, and feed and bath Harrison. It was after 10 by the time he was asleep. All in all physically and emotionally exhausting, and not a day I want to repeat.

Back from holidays

We're both back from our eastern odessey... not without it's dramas. The drive over went reasonably well. Harrison was fabulous in the car for the 4500km trek. We camped all but 2 nights, and he loves the tent. It was a challenge keeping a toddler safe in dusty campsites in the middle of nowhere. There wasn't a blade of grass in sight between Kalgoorlie and Broken Hill. At Broken Hill we had grass, and there was a pool at the van park, plus an excellent airconditioned campers kitchen, so we stayed 2 nights and made that our rest day. We arrived a day or two early in Toowoomba. As usual there was lots of running around trying to catch up with people. Harrison met all of his cousins and loved every one of them. Simon had only a week in Brisbane and then drove back, while I stayed on and flew back on Thursday. A day or so after we crossed the Nullarbor the cyclone aftermath brought several inches of rain to the area, and destruction to Esperance (where we had holidayed in December). And then as Simon was driving back, floods hit South Australia and western NSW. He was a day or so after the roads were cut, so the highways were all open again when he went through. Some of the roads around the national parks he wanted to visit were still closed, though.

Veronica's party was great. She fed the whole family (all 11 kids and all their children made it), and we got some family photos before the party. Her friends arrived a bit later. It was a "wake" - she thought she'd be dead by 40 so decided on the funeral theme. She had a coffin with ice in it for the beer, RIP signs and a wreath, and people gave her condolence cards. Dad did the eulogy. He got a bit preachy so Harrison was on hand to do a loud rendition of "Toot toot chugga chugga big red car" at his feet. Bridget and Jacqui (two nieces 8 and 10 years old) partied almost all night. I think Bridget went to bed just before me at 2:30 in the morning. They were being the fashion police and rating people's outfits (they weren't very harsh judges, because I got top marks)... They told one guy his belt was substandard and he needed to get a new one from Stockwhips for Stock Men (Dad's leather work business), and then they added that he could get a wallet as well. Dad would have been proud.

Harrison and I saw Paul and Anna's house - almost complete . Apparently in about 6 weeks the interior will be finished. It looks really impressive. It has fabulous entertaining areas, a 3 level proper home theatre, and wonderful curved upper deck with water views.