Scott Ludlam's Speech to Tony Abbott

"...For anyone listening in from outside this almost empty Senate chamber, the truth is that Prime Minister Tony Abbott and this benighted attempt at a government are a temporary phenomenon. They will pass, and we need to keep our eyes on the bigger picture. 

Just as the reign of the dinosaurs was cut short to their great surprise, it may be that the Abbott government will appear as nothing more than a thin, greasy layer in the core sample of future political scientists drilling back into the early years of the 21st century...

Prime Minister, you are welcome to take your heartless racist exploitation of people's fears and ram it as far from Western Australia as your taxpayer funded travel entitlements can take you..."

=D>  Well said, Senator Ludlam.

Scott Morrison's Operation Sovereign Murders

That's quite some Freudian slip.

Life is a Blur

These tiny feet are hardly ever still anymore. Baby Bear started walking 3 weeks ago, a week after his first birthday... my earliest walker.

There's no stopping him now. He's still tiny (on the 3rd percentile line of the growth charts) but he's happy, healthy, growing, climbing higher every day, learning new things all the time, and just as gorgeous as ever.

HeartKids Birthday Card

Baby Bear received a birthday card in the mail today... from HeartKids! What a lovely surprise!

I never made it to any of the HeartKids Thursday morning teas at the hospital but I certainly appreciated their visits to Baby Bear's room. It made the hospital stays and surgery just that little bit less lonely and scary.

And speaking of hospital stays, I've just realised that in 2 days it will be 1 year exactly since Baby Bear's CHD diagnosis and first hospital visit. Wow, a whole year. And what a year it's been!

Going Batty

In the wee hours of the morning, The OH and I were woken by Loo Bear screaming. As we cosleep with Baby Bear and breastfeed, I'm on baby duty overnight and The OH takes kid duty so he got up to see what was going on. Apparently Loo heard a squeaking noise but after a brief investigation, no squeaker could be found.

Ten minutes after returning to bed, there's yelling once more. This time Loo heard a flapping noise and The OH heard it too. In the dim light The OH also thought he saw something small flapping about. Thinking a large moth must have gotten into the kids' bedroom, he turned the light on and got ready to catch and remove it... Except it wasn't a moth, it was a bat! Catching it in a cot sheet, he released it out of the kitchen window.

Come (later) morning, The OH got up and was feeding the cat when he heard a little screech and squeak. Sure enough, there was a little bat, attached to a curtain. We're not sure if it was the same one who managed to find a way back in, or a different one. The OH popped it into a box and tried in vain to get in contact with someone from the Parks & Wildlife Service after I found this information about Tasmanian bats.

The little bat was happy to stay tucked away in the box all day and we released it after dark tonight. A nice lead in to a mini study about bats...

Painting

The OH and Shmoo Bear helped out with painting the community hall's fence this morning.

Snakes & Ladders

Inspired to get our board games out again...

Vacuum #4

We were away over the Chinese New Year so all the Asian relatives (and all of the 'aunties') showered the boys with those little red envelopes.

Shmoo had grand plans to save a little more and purchase a Dyson vacuum cleaner, however the temptation of a certain big LEGO set was just too much. He did have enough money left over for a vacuum from KMart and is now the proud owner of a Piranha upright.