The Zoe Chronicles - First trip to the hospital

Well, I suppose we are quite lucky since up until last night, we have never had to go to the Princess Margaret Hospital for Children That Don't Feel Good. Almost 15 months. Alas, our girl has had a fever and yesterday I bought the high tech ear thermometer (because our digital ones consistently read a degree or two low) only to find out that she was running 40.6 degrees C. This is hot. So, I called Health Direct, an 800 number with nurses to answer questions. I had about 5 questions; What is the best way to cool her down? What should she sleep in? Can we alternate panedol and neurephen? etc etc. The nurse rattled on for 15 minutes and then I said "I've just got a couple questions" (see questions previously stated) and her response was (and curtly) "I am hanging up now. This is a triage service and I have 100 callers waiting. I have given you the advice. You are to take the baby to the hospital in the next 5 minutes. Don't dress her. Take her as she is." Helen, you are a COW. I wasn't worried about the fever until I talked to you. And, uh, hello (cow) you never previously mentioned that we were to take her to the hospital IN THE NEXT 5 MINUTES. Anyhoo, so we rushed off to a lovely 4 hour wait at said Princess Margaret Hospital for Children That Don't Feel Good. Zoe is still running quite hot, but she's fine. It's an unexplained fever. I guess they happen.

In other news, I just finished Zoe's Halloween costume. We are having a party on Friday afternoon for the moms and babies we know (I mean, COME ON, how cute is a dressed up baby?) and I made her a Cave girl outfit. Very low tech, but looks pretty damn cute. I hope it fits or she'll be dressed as Trailer Trash Baby (just running around in her nappy with a can of beer). I don't want to resort to that. But, regardless, I'll post photos.

Must dash, dinner is served, and I'm starving. Cave girl starving. I was at the Princess Margaret Hospital For Children That Don't Feel Good all last night and didn't get to have a dinner. I must make up for it.

Good night. And, Zoe, sleep tight little girl. I'm sure you'll feel better in the morning!
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Another thing to obsess about

So, I was at my friend's house recently -- I won't dob her in (but, Nadia, you know who you are) and I must tell you about her place. She has one of those gorgeous designer-looking two stories, with a kitchen to die for. To my envy, I think her oven even works properly. She has beautiful stainless steel appliances -- her shi-shi cake mixer even sings her lullabies. The streamlined fridge gives her hot water, cold water, ice, and I'm pretty sure the morning news. And, I think her dishwasher was coming on to me. It was all "Hey baby, how YOU doin". I think it was loaded.
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But, now I've seen it all. She has DESIGNER TOILET PAPER. It was a pleasure going to the toilet because if you are like me (and ok, so maybe not too many people are), you like nice things, and OMIGOD this toilet paper was gorgeous. It was a friendly weave with appealing brown and soft green geometric designs. Ok, so I can't describe it well enough for you to appreciate, but I must say, if you're in the area, ask her if you can use her loo. How have I missed out on decorating my WC??? How bland am I with just PLAIN WHITE TOILET PAPER?? I don't even have a fancy weave.
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The Zoe Chronicles - 14 months have passed

Dear Zoe,

Well, I'm not going to lie to you. This has been a hard month. You have been fussy. Not quite "trade you for a Rod Stewart CD" fussy, but fussy none-the-less. (maybe a Foo Fighters CD?)

This month you had the big grand-parental switch. My parents flew home and RJ's mom flew in. You had a cold. You've woken up twice, screaming as though you'd been stabbed with a blunt garden tool. You've had a lot of night wakings. You've discovered your temper. We avoided the ballroom because of this temper for 2 weeks.

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But, you've also discovered how to do zippers. Velcro can't slow you down. Buckles and snaps are for babies! You love keys and locks. You turn the computer on, you turn it off, you turn it on, you turn it off. You open the CD drive. You close it. You open it. I've taped it all up. You can turn the tv on without touching the "power" button on the remote. I think you get your ESP from me. I have obviously passed down some very mild super powers. (like, in a kitchen, you have the uncanny ability to know where the cutlery is stored).

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You've taken your first steps. You are wobbly and we've nick named you "fancy feet" because you keep crossing your feet when you cruise around the furniture. But, you've taken a couple "leap of faith steps" to and from mommy and daddy.

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And, my favourite part about this month is that you are SO VERY AFFECTIONATE. You pucker up and want to give kisses ALL DAY LONG. You give tight squeezes, and they're even intentional (not because your fancy feet have got caught and you've done a face plant).

We love you Zoe. But, we also love the Foo Fighters. Let's try for some serenity in the next month, eh?

Big slobbery kisses,
Mommy and Daddy
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The Zoe Chronicles - The Best Toy Ever

In our lounge room, we have a tiger-shaped inflatable pool that is stuffed full of plastic balls. This, at one point, was Zoe's favourite place to hang out. My dad dubbed this room the "ballroom". This is not the "best toy ever" story.

This is:
So, we keep our computer in the ballroom. And, sometimes during the day we would twitter away at email or googling, and would have Zoe on our lap. She would cleverly type away (we'd have to backspace all the sdfffffffffffffffffffffffff and i8tuiiiiiiiiii) but then she was getting a little aggressive as she aged. 14 months and hitting is fun. If we were IN the ballroom, she NEEDED to be banging away at the keyboard (and consequently changing our desktop background to a word document, etc). However, if we didn't let her at it, she would chuck a major wobble. This is where I also mention that she has recently discovered her temper. It got to the point where we completely avoided going into the ballroom AT ALL.

Enter Best Toy Ever

I was able to acquire another keyboard! (from an undisclosed source, although, I'm sure it won't be hard to guess… I work in an IT department). Now we can upload photos and blog in peace.



PS - if you're wondering, yes, I was allowed to take it. And, anyhow, it was a crap SGI. No one uses SGI anymore. I'll give 10 bucks to the person that knows what SGI means (no googling).

PPS - How many times have I typed on the wrong keyboard?? RJ thinks this is hilarious. To which I answer "Laugh it up fuzzball". He'll do it. He just hasn't been on the computer yet.