Finally, an update with pics!

Lately Stylish has been feeling very creative, she drew this dragon, I love it!

Spikee has just taught himself to skip with a skipping rope, I must take some video of that with the new camera. But this is a photo of the jigsaw he is in love with - minus two pieces.

On a side note, we have decided to go ahead and take the lunge, the great migration will happen some time after the baby is born, probably in mid october. To celebrate and keep track of the journey I have started a new blog, hope to see you there some time!

Us In Antarctica

General happenings

We have a new camera, I should really work out how to upload some pics coz we have quite a few!

As I hit 8 months pregnant I flew down to inspect a house. I spent a relaxing 3 days without children! I really like the area we're looking at moving to. There is a small village within walking distance of the house, lots of parks, bush, and it's all within reasonable driving distance of Hobart. It'll be a massive change, but it'll all be worth it once I adjust. I suspect everyone else will adjust more easily than me.

So the move to Antarctica is all looking very promising, we have put in an offer on the house and been accepted, and are now waiting on finance but I don't see any problems arising there as we have a substantial deposit. The kids are very excited and have been choosing different colours almost daily, that they might be able to paint their rooms. Spikee wants a lilac room with turquoise trimmings today and Stylish wants similar but darker colours. I think we'll let her paint her own room, she's old enough (in fact she will be 12 on Saturday!).

Stylish has taken to drawing dragons, they look amazing! She's also getting quite good at computer drawings lately, I must work out how to upload them onto the blog. The rat has had 13 babies, she had 14 but one died. I got an excited phone call on my first day in Tassie, telling me of the delightful event.

Spikee is fast approaching 4, and still happily breastfeeding and anticipating the arrival of his new sibling any time in the next 6 weeks. He is really enjoying his duplo and building tall towers and arches and whatnot. He's enjoying lots of books at the moment, from hide and seek ones, to adventure ones where you have to work out puzzles to finish the story.

Remembering Times Gone by ....

Since my camera is broken and I sorely miss posting photos of our daily happenings, I thought I'd reminisce over OLD photos and daily happenings!

Frog tank made by Stylish

An interesting frog from Cairns - I dunno what it is, Stylish does though.

A day at Sydney Aquarium

The no recipe cake

The LemonAID stall - raising money for animals hurt in Victorian Bushfires

Remembering Times Gone by ....

Since my camera is broken and I sorely miss posting photos of our daily happenings, I thought I'd reminisce over OLD photos and daily happenings!

This is a basket of delicious herbs and veggies from our garden

A crocodile warning sign in Cairns *gulp*

A deserted birds nest Stylish found when she climbed a tree

The frogs!

Cold Breakfast Not In Bed

Today is my birthday! Stylish wanted to make me breakfast in bed so she saved her pennies and went to the shop this morning to get a few things. Then she set about cooking up a storm, complete with sending Spikee into the bedroom where I was hiding in bed, to ask for my order.

It's interesting to see a child set free in the kitchen. She's seen me cook bacon and eggs a million times so I knew it wouldn't be too much of an issue. First she put the bacon and eggs on, at the same time, so the eggs were ready way to early, and the bacon wasn't as cooked as she was hoping, and then she burnt the toast. The tea was perfect.

She was very pleased with her efforts, and I was too, and when she asked me about it I was honest, but told her that I enjoyed it very much - and I did! It was a lovely, thoughtful present.

The kids both made me beautiful cards, Stylish's was naturally covered in frogs, and said that she loved me as much as a rabbit on fire (which seemed to giver her laughter convulsions!) and Spikee's was just colourful and Stylish wrote Happy Birthday Mum on it for him. He was very pleased with himself. He's been a bit baffled by all the celebrations lately, with it being Mother's day last Sunday and my birthday today. He's woken me up every morning this week by shouting HAPPY BERFDAY MUM!

What more could a mama want on her Birthday?

Unlearning Continues!

I was just pondering how much we've done lately, with me being practically bed ridden with exhaust, when Stylish came in to show me the dress she is making. Yes, you heard it here first ... she's MAKING A DRESS! She found some old scrap material and draped it around herself, and is trying to find different ways to tie it on. I offered to help her sew it together this afternoon. Having never voluntarily worn a dress in her whole life this is quite a turn of events, somehow I doubt it spells change, just an afternoon activity. Times like this make me really mad that the camera isn't working!

She was very disappointed to hear that there are no tennis lessons today or next week, it looks like she's really getting into it. She even got out her racket yesterday and practiced hitting the ball against the wall out the front.

Spikee's fascination with cave people and dinosaurs continues. He spends a good deal of time in the garden digging for dinosaur bones and getting absolutely FILTHY, which I am assured is a sign of a happy child. We have swapped sleeping arrangements because it was getting too hard for me to roll myself out of bed around the side car cot, so now A is sleeping on the same side as Spikee and the cot. Spikee was extremely unimpressed by this change the first night, but last night Daddy suggested that he get some books out and they could read for a while. Spikee went to his book shelf and chose a book about cave people, and one about pyramids, and they spent ages reading them. He's fascinated by it all!

The kids are currently on the way to the shop to get a few things for lunch. We usually cut up stuff and put it in the middle of the table and then they make their own sandwiches. They quite like having a shopping list with a few things on it and going up to the local shops together. I suppose I should go and get everything out and ready for lunch!

Frogs and The Grand Prix

Spikee has been taking a lot of interest in car racing and he and Stylish have set up a big race track in the hallway. They spend hours picking the fastest car teams and having races, measuring winners with a ruler in some complicated fashion that eludes me completely. The Mr.Men obsession continues unabated, and recently when he had a cold he spent nearly all day in bed with either me reading the books or watching the stories on youtube. Since making daisy sandwiches he's developed a real interest in making his own sandwiches.

Stylish has been busy with her frog tank again. Yesterday she took all her hard earned pocket money, caught a bus by herself to bunnings, bought black silicone and foam expander, and then came home all by herself. I was so proud that she managed to navigate her way there! She even remembered to call me upon arrival. Last night she made a rocky background out of the expander, this afternoon A helped her to cover it with black silicone and peat moss. Apparently the moss will grow! So the tank should look really good one of these days, I can't wait to see the finished product. For now it's lying on its' side on the front porch, drying.

Mr.Men land

Spikee is seriously obsessed with Mr.Men stories atm. I read them all day long until my voice is hoarse and I can say the lines without reading the book. Fortunately I discovered the animated version of the stories on youtube, being read by Roger Hargreaves, so Roger and A and I are taking it in shifts now. Tonight's dinner was inspired by Mr.Funny and Mr.Nonsense. Mr.Funny east daisy sandwiches .... and so did we! A daisy sandwich is an English muffin cut in half, topped with ham, a slice of cherry tomato for the centre of the daisy, and pineapple for the petals, all covered in cheese, and baked. Spikee made his own, and ate two of them! Then for dessert we're having custard when I can drag my pregnant self off the bed and cook it. Mr.Nonsense thought there was custard everywhere, but it was snow. Snow is yellow in Nonsenseland apparently. I wish our camera was working!

The belly babe is busy as busy can be, and that's really no surprise at 7 months! It's going to be a busy few months coming up, with baby planning and house buying, and organising the move, and buying a dog (which is apparently a real emergency item according to the kids), and a new car. Plus we have all the birthdays in one hit, starting with mother's day, then my birthday three days later, then Stylish's in June, Spikee's in July and a baby due at the end of July - aiming for August. I'm planning to fly to Tassie to look at the house we're interested in in the next month, we're praying it's still available! There are a few in the area but I particularly like one of them and it's right in our price range with plenty of yard, and room to renovate exactly how we want. Keep your fingers crossed for us!

The Bird Leaves The Nest

It looks as though the noisy mynah has finally taken leave and gone back to nature - in the middle of a major city. Although we always knew this day would come, Stylish is upset about it and constantly checking the garden for signs of Bird Brain, and micro managing the cat - poor long suffering cat he is. I've explained to her that the fact the bird isn't coming to her calls is a GOOD sign, not a sign that it has been torn to shreds by the cat (or her pet rat who gave it a good whirl!)

Owing to some boredom lately I've given her a small list of things to do. They include learning the provinces of China on the geography game, learning about eh one child policy and the effect it has on women and girls, finding out about the Chinese government, learning about some frogs from China and some other animals. She's sunken her teeth into the list with a vengeance I wasn't expecting! I also gave her some sums - which she always loves since leaving the institution - and a few other odds and sods that I can't remember off the top of my head.

Spikee has suddenly taken his love of dinosaurs to a whole new level, and we're reading dinosaur books every day. He's also really interested in ancient Egypt, and cave people, so we read books about them too most days. I must read Mr.Funny about five times a day, and The Three Billy Goats Gruff just as many times. It's good that he likes reading stories so much because running around after him is challenging at this stage of pregnancy when it's still hot and my blood pressure is stupidly low. The other thing he is loving is his uno moo game, which is just uno, but for little people so it's got coloured animal figures instead of cards with coloured numbers, and you put them all in a barn.

It looks more and more as though the Great Migration to Antarctica will be happening, and probably in October! We've found a number of houses that really tickle our fancy and I'll be going to look at some in the coming months - leaving the children at home! I won't know myself!

What Are We Up To?

The pets are all doing well, Zippy the rat went walk about for a couple of days but was found in the bottom of Stylish's chest of drawers this morning. The noisy myna will be ready for release soon, and is learning to catch it's own food by instinct very successfully.

Stylish is still going with the science textbook, and has been playing a geography game online, learning about the different provinces of Italy, now that she has the globe down pat.

Currently she is watching a show about some young British people who have traveled to India to work in a sweat shop factory. She is is awe of the low wages, stifling conditions, and the cost of groceries in comparison to the low wages. I suspect she will understand more about why we prefer second hand shopping, and perhaps think I'm less of a stickler for fair trade and more of a concerned world citizen.

How goes it?

It's rather busy here! I bought a 2nd hand science text book - although I have no idea why - and Stylish has started doing it off her own bat. She can't STOP doing it actually. Todays efforts were about food additives, pesticides, and a few other foody things. She raided out cupboard and read food labels, wrote down her findings, and was assisted by Spikee.

The bird is going well, it's drivimg me mad coz it's so loud, but hopefull it'll grow tail feathers and be ready to get back to nature soon. It's flying quite efficiently now, but apparently they grow tail feathers before they leave the next.

The rat is doing well too, but she still refuses to look at rat food. You wouldn't know that a few short weeks ago she was at death's door!

OPERATION I SMELL A RAT!

I've been considering getting myself a really big treat for my birthday, a daschund. Whilst scouring the internet looking for breeders, I came across an ad that JUST FELT WRONG. It said "Hi, if you need to re-home your pet rats, please email me. You can drop them off at my house. I have room for 7 rats all up, and offer the best care possible whilst I re-home your loved one" or words to that effect. It also described the rat this mystery person already owns, and gave some details about the happy existence it has. Soooo, feeling a little bit suspicious about this, I checked the contact email address and to my non-surprise I discovered that IT WAS STYLISH'S!

As tempted as I was to charge down the hallway, guns blazing, calling for blood, I decided that that particular method would not involve any lessons learnt, and may in fact just cause further tensions. So I thought carefully about what to do, and then contacted a few friends and asked for their assistance with this matter. One friend volunteered to email her and OPERATION I SMELL A RAT began!

My friends sent her some emails offering her rats! One had a litter of 12 that were of an undisclosed sex, and were only 2 weeks old. One had three male rats. One of the emails said ...

I have 6 rats, one has a resected bowel and needs regular care because it basically leaks diarrhoea constantly, but she's a real sweetie, very cute and cuddly. One of the other ones was born a siamese twin, it's twin was removed by the vet, but it still has one extra leg that couldn't be removed, and the scar is prone to infection so you need to be on to that - I'll bring you the rest of the antibiotic cream to put on it as well.

Thanks so much, I think it's great what you're doing.

and another said ...

Hello,

I saw your ad on xxxxxxxx and would like to offer you 3 pedigree Poodle Woollen Rats (One is fluoro pink, accident with highlighter I'm afraid), 1 Blueberry Rainforest rat, 1 White tailed Chocolate Rat and 1 Skipping Tree Rat. When could you take them off our hands? We are moving out of Cairns to Kuranda and need to get rid of them ASAP. I can throw in the cage and the dry food too.

L.

P.s The Skipping Tree rat bites. Suspect its not pedigree but a mutt given how close to the common garden rat it looks like. And it doesn't skip anymore.

She sent responses like

Hi

Oh I am so sorry but someone just abandoned two rats with litters and now I have 22 rats! I am having a hard time hand rearing 6 that the mother won't feed so I can give you a contact number for someone who can help as I can't?

and

Hello, OMG I would be so happy to help! but they would need their mother at that stage up until 6weeks so can can you deal with giving her up to? I am quite capable of helping I just raised a litter of rats with my mum that were found abandoned at my door step they were rehomed to a lovely woman

Then she sheepishly came into our bedroom (where A and I were muffling our laughter because we knew she'd just checked her email) and told me about a terribly sick rat that needed to come and be cared for by us. And then added something vague about how she'd put an ad on a website and then "forgotten about it" - not before we got two revolting, stinking male rats the size of your average Great Dane! And it was at this point that I said to her "You should be careful what you advertise on the internet, because YOUR MOTHER MIGHT FIND THE AD". She didn't cotton on, and repeated the case for the poor sick rat with 5 legs and a seeping wound ... so I repeated my sage advice, and suddenly she froze. She'd worked it out! She wanted to get angry at me, but she was laughing too hard, thank heavens!

Soooo, I think that a valuable lesson was learnt here tonight! There are lots of freaks on the internet, be glad it was your mother (and some freak with a pink rat!) who discovered this ad and not a real, dangerous, predator.

She has removed the ad now I'm pleased to say.

Rats, Birds, and Tennis

Today we went to Stylish's first tennis lesson with a bunch of home schooled kids, mostly about her age. Apparently it was BORING ... but isn't everything meant to be boring when you're nearly a teenager? I told her that she can do a few more lessons before she decided that she doesn't like it, then if she doesn't she can stop going. I thought if she REALLY hated it she'd kick up a stink but she barely managed a moan, so it can't be THAT bad.

The rat is almost back to full health! She still turns her nose up at rat food, but she eats so little that it's not really a big issue. After her ordeal recently we're just happy to have her, so if she wants boiled eggs and strawberries, I suppose she can just have it. She was well enough to go for a walk around the block on Stylish's shoulder this afternoon, and her coat looks so shiny and her eyes are so bright and sparkly!

The bird is sprouting feathers and starting to flap them enthusiastically. It's also formed quite a bond with Stylish, and this evening when it was tired it called and called until she went and got it, brought it into the room where she was watching tv, and sat it in her lap. The baby bird fell asleep straight away - birds are big on attachment parenting apparently! It's such a loud little thing, it has her up, feeding it nice and early every morning, she even tried to reunite it with it's family (unsuccessfully) because of it's early morning antics *I will not laugh*.

Our move to Tasmania is starting to look like a very real part of the future! In the next couple of months I will leave the kids here with A and fly down to look at a few places, then if we find one we're perfectly happy with we'll buy it. We plan on having the baby while we're here with a fantastic support group, everyone from our wonderful doula, to our midwife and my counselor! Then in October - or there abouts - we'll head on down to Antarctica! Spikee is very excited because one of the houses we looked at had snow on the front lawn, and Stylish wants a ferret (which we will not get, but she insists we will).

Bullying Builds Youth Suicide Rates, NOT RESILIENCE!

The other day someone told my daughter that if she were at school and bullies gave her a hard time, it would build resilience. Is this common opinion the reason we don't actually put forward any real methods of dealing with bullying? Because it's making kids resilient? Does violence in the home make children resilient?

How often do you hear of someone who was so damaged by bullying that they attempt, or even succeed to commit suicide? And plenty of adults are in therapy because of bullying.

Why do we take bullying in the work place seriously enough to let the law deal with it, and yet many incidences of bullying in the playground, where children are forbidden to leave, are all but ignored.

I know from personal experience, from the experiences I had attempting to deal with bullying when my daughter was in prison, to the many many anecdotal stories I hear from individuals as well as media outlets, that schools are completely inept when it comes to dealing with violence. I also know - and would like to stress - that violence is not just physical, it can be emotional, financial, verbal and I'm sure there are other varieties of violence too. A child does not need to be punched to be a victim of violence - threatening behaviour, name calling, stealing (money or other property), online bullying and stalking, and all manner of other beastly acts are VIOLENT.

Perhaps we need to re frame bullying as VIOLENCE because the word bullying has come to diffuse the seriousness of this abuse, and the ramifications for victims are all too often a lifetime of pain - or suicide.

SMH article - School Did Nothing

The Age article - School Is Where Most Bullying Occurs

CNN - 5th Grader Takes Own Life

Suicide.Org - School Bullying Advice

A Bird Story

Stylish's obsession with wildlife is gonna be the death of me! The neighbour found a baby bird and brought it to us because she knew A would know what to do with it. She took one look at it and said "that's a noisy myna, it's about two weeks old, they're nectivores, it'll fledge in about a week, and then be independent a week later" then bustled it inside and started feeding it honey water and cockroaches. To think, if she were at school she could be learning about .... gee I dunno!? And I doubt she could tell me THAT much about whatever it was.

I can't wait for this fortnight to be over ... they're not called noisy mynas for no reason.

A Ratty Update

The little rat who has been in labour for days seems to have taken a strange turn. We have a feeling that she was too young to give birth, she' is an extremely small rat - not that I ascribe to that school of thought, I know pelvises open, but she laboured for over 72 hours and no kittens appeared. Rats have babies in about 2 hours generally speaking. Sooooo she was exhibiting labour behaviour, lost blood, and didn't have babies for three days, leaving us all terribly worried that she would die of an infection. But miraculously, her swollen belly has gone down, and she appears to be on the mend - sans babies! The only explanation for this is that she is reabsorbing the babies, as can sometimes happen in small mammals.

She has been sleeping on Stylish's bed, we left her well alone in a darkened cage while she appeared to be straining in labour, when it looked like it was going to be a marathon effort we did give her honey water and lots of protein rich food every few hours. She seemed to want company but we didn't want to disturb her body in it's efforts to do what mother nature intended for rats to do. When her labour stopped she seemed so desperate for company, climbing up our hands when we put food in her cage for her. So we got her out and gave her lots of cuddles and spoiled her silly with tasty food.

After all the worry, when he eyes got bright, and she seemed to want to move about, and she was eating, drinking, pooing and weeing, we started to feel like there could be some hope, but she was still very weak and we didn't wanna get out hopes up too much. But it's been three days now and she really seems to be recovering! Last night after consuming half a strawberry she got up and walked out of her little nest. She walked about 30cm, and then back to her nest, which was the first time she had been able to do that. then over night Stylish woke up and went to check her and she had vanished, she was found in her favourite play spot, under Stylish's bed! She is still in her nest now, and refusing to eat rat food - why would you when you keep being given such exciting treats as strawberries, yogurt, and green tea?

So the vigil continues, but we are certainly hopeful that she will pull through.

School - Teaching Dependent Thinking

Since the fall of the World Trade Centres we have heard time and time again how Westernised education teaches children to think for themselves, whereas schooling where "our enemies" are from teaches children by rote, without provoking independent thought or an ability / desire to question the powers that be, and read between the lines. The reason they question our system of government is because they are not free thinking ... apparently.

However, I can't comment on any style of education outside that which I have been exposed to.

In Westernised countries children are supposedly being taught to think for themselves, however I really don't see much evidence of that. Take the adults we encounter daily - those who were schooled for between 11 and 13 years in our free thinking system. How many of them are totally horrified at the state of education within the institution, complain about it, can see how unhappy many children are, and yet feel that my choice to homeschool is a purely rebellious and dangerous act that disadvantages my children!?

It's the same with hospital birth. One can spend hours bemoaning the state of our hospitals, how people are dying from anti-biotic resistant super bugs, they are understaffed, staff are over tired and make mistakes (like amputating the WRONG LIMB!), cesareans are all to often performed for no good reason, equipment is old and out dated, and yet my home birth is crazy and dangerous?

Why is it that [almost] an entire society of people, who have reportedly learnt to think for themselves, and question the status quo, fail to see the irony?

Possibly because it's impossible to teach people to think. Thinking is a natural ability that everyone has. However the institution judges individual thoughts and grades them according to a list of criteria that don't necessarily support real thinking. Given that a criteria must be set, in order to judge pupils evenly, it's impossible to include all the realms of possibility in that critique. So some thoughts are judged to be valid, and some fall outside the criteria and are deemed to be a failure.

It's also possible that the peer pressure in schooling means that children actually spend more time learning to question what THEY are thinking, and deciding whether or not to voice that idea, than learning to confidently consider the personal truths behind their ideas.

Another very real possibility is that schools teach children that some things are not up for question, only certain things warrant deconstruction, and they will be laid out in front of students neatly - with pre-packaged plans for class discussion and the rest will stay in the closet. For example if a student questions part of the curriculum. That is NOT up for discussion. The teacher knows best, the curriculum has been designed with the students best interests at heart, and as such ... it is not up for discussion. Another example would be that any decision a teacher makes about punishment is final, no discussion will be entered into - any discussion will result in further punishment.

So there are permissible subjects, and illegal subjects of discussion within the institution. That must definitely sway a child's ability to question the powers that be. A group of kids sitting in the playground mumbling about how irrelevant a particular subject is to them, or how unjust a teacher has been, feel like little rebels. Not Free thinking, valid, smart, aware people! By the time that same group of little rebels hit adulthood they have most likely been brainwashed into believing that their free thoughts were no more than the quibbles of insignificant children - personally I find that very disturbing!

There is so little room for freedom within any given institution that it is impossible for them to cater to each individuals needs. And the people that are given the responsibility of raising functional humans, humans to populate the work force, and re-populate the education system , are mere products of that institution! Drones! And one of the greatest lessons they learnt in school is that they are living in a free thinking country, surrounded by free thinking, FREE, citizens.

Dissent is silenced in our culture - something we are very fast to criticise other countries for! But the truth is that people are put in prison for expressing some views, they are chalked up as loonies, and laughed at by the wider community. For example, those who believe that the World Trade Centre attack was actually a government plan. Regardless of the merits of such an idea, the people who have used their free thinking skills to research and document their arguments are labelled as dangerous dissenters, little more than crack pots. Journalists who have reported - or attempted to report - these views are fired depending on the light in which they air this angle.

But surely, if we live in such a free thinking, free speech generating society, these ideas shouldn't be so threatening! They should receive the polite respect due to each individual when they express their opinion, shouldn't they?

I used to believe that schools were the only way to educate children - but I knew their limitations, I used to think that hospitals were the only safe place to give birth - but I knew how dangerous they were! I wasn't thinking for myself when I sent my child to school, or when I gave birth to her in a hospital. I didn't know there were alternatives! Our free society hadn't informed me that I had any choices in either matter. I used to think that terrorists hijacked planes and flew them into big buildings, killing thousands of innocent people. I still think that, but I now question whether or not there was government involvement behind the plot. The US Government would not be the first government to do something that harmed its' citizens in order to sway political direction.

In order for children to receive a full, free thinking education, in order to make them genuinely free individuals who can raise more free thinking individuals, we must give children BOTH sides of the argument, and allow them to discuss freely their thoughts, feelings, and ideas. For this to happen, schools must operate on a democratic system - something our country is unable to do. We must allow children the right to be children, allowing them complete bodily integrity (eat when hungry, pee when the need arises without seeking permission, seek comfort when necessary etc etc) allowing them to voice their views, follow their own interests, learn at their own pace, be judged against themselves and not other students, and most of all children must grow to understand and meet their own needs at a time that suits them. No institution can offer that, the fact that they claim to is worrying.

At home my children live in a far left wing, secular environment, but we openly discuss the views of the middle left, right, and far right. We not only discuss them, we try to imagine why these people hold their views so closely - the same way we do. We discuss religion and validate the rights of all people to choose and follow a religion. We allow our children to research subjects that interest them without telling them that any subject is not worthy of their interest (although I struggle with the monster truck as a worthy interest) or suggesting other subjects that society may consider more valid and useful.

My children will learn to think for themselves. They will epitomise everything our society is meant to foster .... their views will likely differ from the views of the state, and other schooled children but, for that I am glad! My children will be free thinking individuals! Unfortunately they will reside in a society that views it's greatest attribute to be one that it is not even in possession of - FREEDOM OF THOUGHT AND SPEECH.

Events ....

Today Stylish's rat started acting strangely. We have a friend who is very involved in the local Fancy Rat Society, ans as soon as she heard our rat was being strange she came straight over to have a look. One look determined that she is in labour .... so we are about to be overrun with small fur free rodents - DRAT!

We went out for lunch today and on the way home we stopped in at vinnies. I found a jumper for myself, a green earthy t-shirt for Stylish, and a mauve pair of skinny leg jeans (apparently these are desirable items!?) that fit her PERFECTLY. it's like they were tailor made! I also got two triangular "made in Japan" brand plates, a Katherine Kerr book, and a fantastic book from the Eye-spy that is all about archaeology. Hopefully one of them will take an interest in it at some stage! All up, my shopping spree cost $19

I am now half way through a pregnancy, and feeling quite excited! The baby is starting to get quite active and I feel a lot of wriggling throughout the day. The kids are thrilled and keep asking me when the baby will be born, and being disappointed with my same old, same old answer. Spikee keeps insisting that he will be asleep when the baby is born, and if his prediction is correct then there's nothing we can do, he won't wake up, no matter how exciting the reason! Stylish should be about though, so at least one of them will witness the arrival of their sibling!

General happenings

Spikee has started to take a real interest in reading. We spent a whole bus ride today discussing B is for Bus and D is for Dinosaur and so on and so forth, and I had to read all the signs to him. Tonight I'm thinking of showing him the Reading Eggs website and seeing if he's interested.

It's fascinating watching a child start to develop an interest in reading and writing, and not feeling like they need to go to school to learn. Knowing they will simply absorb it by immersing them self in daily life is such an amazing thing!

Stylish's latest obsession is birds and bird nests. She's become a regular bird watcher and can identify different types of birds and their nests. She's learning about which birds are native and which have been introduced, can tell you how long a baby bird stays in its' nest and when it learn to fly, what they eat (pigeons feed their young MILK!?!?!?!), the different names for the birds, depending on what they eat and so on and so forth. She even floated the idea of becoming an ornithologist ... but I'm confident we'll be back to frogs soon.

The maths obsession continues, and her quest to learn all her times tables (up to 12) is going unbelievably well. nearly seven years in a school failed to teach her what she's self taught herself in a matter of weeks. Her confidence in her mathematical ability has sky rocketed and it's really lovely to see the change from "I'm hopeless at maths" to "I can do this now, I just had to WANT to do it!".

We are thinking of moving to Tasmania towards the end of the year and buying a house there. There are several reasons to move to Antarctica ... I mean Tasmania. Firstly it means we can buy a house and have a very tiny mortgage on it, whereas if we stay here we would need a huge mortgage and be unable to afford holidays and other little joys like dining out. Also, the weekly repayments on a tiny mortgage are quite literally only 10% of the cost of our current rental property! Secondly it means we will be able to afford a solar panel! I want a solar panel because a) they're environmentally sustainable and b) it will cut our power bills dramatically - making living even more affordable! I also want a water tank for the same reasons. Thirdly and, possibly one of my greatest motivators, we will have the room for chickens and maybe even a couple of ducks! Plus a big veggie garden and a green house, and a dog! The lifestyle change will be dramatic, from living in a major city to living in a glorified country town (we're looking at places just outside Hobart), and I expect it will do us all the world of good! A move towards a more sustainable lifestyle is the greatest gift you can give your children in my opinion.

General happenings

Stylish has been asking questions that are long multiplication so yesterday I sat down with her and reminded her how to do them. She had so much fun she asked for more. She seems to struggle with which column to put the carried over numbers in, and then forgets which one to add on when she is faced with that column, but it's nothing practice won't straighten out. Amazingly enough she seems to really know her times tables now, and that's more than half the work in this type of sum.

Spikee was very impressed with his sister doing maths and announced that he wanted to do some too, so I wrote numbers and he scribbled over them. He is starting to be familiar with some numbers, I'm sure Stylish could read all her numbers by now, but I could be wrong.