I admire the dedication here. And wish I had the time and creativity to do stuff like this.

(Spock was MADE to dance to Ke$ha…)

Another is to start thinking like a professional librarian again, so for library people, I’m starting a weekly journal article review blog over at Rock Chick Librarian – the Thinking Librarian’s Blog. Come have a look!

To jump back into this blog, a SuperMeme!

1. Name one person who made you laugh last night?

My little scouts, as they did ten-pin-bowling with oranges.

2. What were you doing at 0800?

Probably doing breakfast for either me or the little man.

3. What were you doing 30 minutes ago?

Having a bath (sadly, not involving bubbles and wine and being alone. Mostly involving cleaning chicken and vegetable puree off myself and the little man.)

4. What happened to you in 2006?

Got my first proper librarian job and driver’s license.

5. What was the last thing you said out loud?

“Good Dog” (upon feeding our labbie some dinner)

6. How many beverages did you have today?

Coffee in the morning, and 2 bottles of water.

7. What color is your hairbrush?

Black. All three hairbrushes I own are black (aren’t most?)

8. What was the last thing you paid for?

A cup-a-noodle, Kit Kat Dark and bottled water. $7.50 all up. Disgusting.

9. Where were you last night?

Scouts, then dropped my mother off at the bus-stop, then home

10. What color is your front door?

Brown.

11. Where do you keep your change?

In my purse, and in a big Corinthian Wafers tin for (supposedly) saving it up.

12. What’s the weather like today?

It was nice. Little man was in a onesie with no socks most of the day because it was super-warm. Dried 2 loads of washing.

13. What’s the best ice-cream flavor?

I’m more of a sorbet girl. But chocolate, if pressed.

14. What excites you?

A surprise present. Or more accurately, the leadup before I get it. I’m shallow.

15. Do you want to cut your hair?

Just did, a couple of weeks ago. Short hair = less for little guy to grab…

16. Are you over the age of 25?

Yes. And getting further over it every day…

17. Do you talk a lot?

Inanely far too much. And mostly to people/creatures who aren’t about to talk back anytime soon.

18. Do you watch the O.C.?

I have never watched the OC. Not even once. It remains one of the things I’m proud of never watching. Said list includes Jersey Shore, the new 90210, and any of the Twilight films.

19. Do you know anyone named Steven?

My sister-in-law is dating a Steven, and my husband has an uncle named Steven. This being Australia, they are both just “Steve”.

20. Do you make up your own words?

Not really. Not in English, anyway. If I don’t know a Latin word for something when we’re speaking Latin at home, I’ll make it up.

21. Are you a jealous person?

Insanely. And over little things just as much as big things. I’m super-petty like that.

22. Name a friend whose name starts with the letter ‘A’.

Alison, from Mothers Group, Eleanor’s mummy.

23. Name a friend whose name starts with the letter ‘K’.

Harder… my brother’s girlfriend Kath?

24. Who’s the first person on your received call list?

My Mum.

25. What does the last text message you received say?

“Haha. Lets [sic] hope. Luvya!” From my Dad, as I was saying I hoped I could get a Blu-Ray player with my tax return.

26. Do you chew on your straw?

No.

27. Do you have curly hair?

If I air-dry it without brushing, yes. If I attempt any taming at all, it’s just frizzy.

28. Where’s the next place you’re going to?

Work tomorrow . Via my husband’s work to drop him off, since he’s going away for the weekend.

29. Who’s the rudest person in your life?

If rude = crude, then it’s a hard-fought contest between every member of my family. My sister might win on sheer showiness of crudeness.

30. What was the last thing you ate?

Chicken and vegetable soup (mercifully unpureed)

31. Will you get married in the future?

That’s a tricky one. I’m married now, and I’m very strongly against the thought of divorce (guess I don’t want to become my parents!) So I think it’d take something pretty serious to have me leave my husband, or he’d have to die. If it was the former, I’m not sure. The latter, I think so. Unless I was really really old…

32. What’s the best movie you’ve seen in the past 2 weeks?

The only movie I’ve seen in the past 2 weeks is “Red Dog”, but I highly recommend that one!

33. Is there anyone you like right now?

My husband, my baby, and once I get the ironing done, myself

34. When was the last time you did the dishes?

Um, is “constantly” an answer? Bottles, food trays – not to mention little man needs 3 spoons to eat dinner (one in each hand and one for me to feed him). I would just about commit a capital crime for a dishwasher…

35. Are you currently depressed?

I don’t think so. A couple of months ago, yes. But not now, in a good place and life is sorting itself out. I think I’m just tired…

36. Did you cry today?

No. But I did yesterday, when I saw “Red Dog”. Stupid tear-jerker animal movies…

37. Why did you answer and post this?

Because I felt like I badly needed to make a big effort in returning to blogging.

1.  Favorite flower?

I love Singapore Orchids – I wore them in my hair at my wedding and someone gave me one when my son was born, so they’re very special for me.

2.  Last time you ate chocolate? 

Finished the last of my Easter chocolate on Sunday

3.  Mood right now?

Content – sitting in the warm sun, Haydn string quartet music in the background, sleepy baby on my lap…

4.  What hurts? 

My nasal passages – I’ve got a cold, and high BP means no decongestants so I’m on my own…

5.  Word for today?

Soporific. I really hope sleepy baby becomes dead-to-the-world-for-hours baby, as I’m ripe for a nap myself!

Music

Other

Why Cats Are Not Doctors

The Vatican embraces the internet age and puts all its porn online…

Cool virtual tour of the Strahov Monastery Library

Visited the doctor on April 5th. If you’re a regular reader, you’ll know I’ve got high blood pressure and it’s been on the watch-list for the last few months, and it was a little elevated so some tests were requested which came back negative. I was told off for not monitoring my blood pressure regularly, and told to repeat the tests in 3 days time.

The next day, Wednesday 6th, I guiltily checked my blood pressure when I woke up – 151/105. Not fantastic – checked again at about 10am – 153/108. Also not fantastic. About 1pm a third check revealed the same elevated readings, so I phoned my doctor’s practice. 3.30pm she came on duty, returned my call and suggested I go to hospital for observation.

I phoned my husband to suggest he come home, and phoned my mother, who revealed same thing happened to her and that she was kept in hospital on bedrest for a few days. I grumbled at the thought of this, packed an overnight bag, stuck my maternity hospital bag in the car just in case, and waited for hubby to return.

Once he got home, we drove leisurely in and headed down to the pregnancy assessment unit, with me moaning the whole way about how boring bedrest was going to be. We arrived, waited an hour as my doctor’s receptionist had not, as promised, phoned to let them know we were coming, then got to see the doctor who luckily was on call for the evening. She took my blood pressure, felt my stomach. Then dropped a bombshell on us.

“It’s a good night to have a baby. Let’s not risk anything, let’s take you down to theatre now.”

Then in a blur I put on my anti-clot stockings and theatre gown, nodded dumbly at the anaesthetist’s explanations of what was going to happen, waddled down to the operating theatre and watched my husband go off to change into scrubs.  And promptly burst into tears. What the hell? Three hours previous I was watching the X-Files, eating macaroni and telling my cousins that I’d only go to my grandfather’s birthday party if they went. Why was I having a caesarean? I didn’t want a caesarean. I wanted blood pressure drugs and a ride home!

Hubby came back, I finished my cry, we went into theatre. I had my spinal, lay down, and about 30 minutes later I had a baby brought over to me. All of a sudden, with very little effort on my part, and pretty much zero mental preparation on my part, I had a son.

Holy crap…

Anyway, from there it was a hour of recovery and then five days in the post-natal ward, which were kind of crap for a variety of reasons and I don’t feel like whining about now. We’ve been home for just over a week, and it’s still a big adjustment, every day feels like a step forward and a step back at the same time.. Nothing is like it is in pop culture. Nothing is much like it is in the specialist baby books, pregnancy books, breastfeeding guides or mother and baby magazines either. But I love the hell out of my son and we’re making it work so far, so we’re going to be okay.

I am not doing any of this again for a very, very long time…

Let’s finish with another baby shot. Because he’s cute as, and he’s already starting to change his features and the faces he pulls, and I’m taking any opportunity I can to share these early pictures.

If you think he perhaps looks a little goblinoid here, it's okay. We think so too... it's the ears...

LiberryBaby, AKA Eric, is here!

We’re home but in heavy-duty ‘adjusting’ mode, so blogging might be a bit more sporadic for a bit. But I’ll try to keep bringing you the fun things I find (they may now have a decidedly 3am slant) and memes here and there. Occasional cute baby news is probably inevitable, but I don’t want to turn this into one of those blogs!

1. What new book coming out soon do you plan to buy?

I almost never buy books new…I do know we’ll be getting the next Harry Dresden the second it comes out though. (Warning: spoilers for previous book in link!)

2. What upcoming book are you dying to read?

A Dance with Dragons. Like every other Game of Thrones fan. (At least, still holding on to hope and assuming it’s still upcoming…)

3. What series is a must read for you?

The Dresden Files. Discworld. Also, sadly, the Stephanie Plum books too…

4. What new author have you found so far in 2011?

New-new, or new to me? New to me = Many. None mind-blowing, from memory. I never know who’s new-new, but I haven’t been impressed with any first-timers I’ve come across yet. ‘Oldies But Goldies’ have done the trick for me this year…

5. What little known author are you a fan of?

I’m probably way-off about who’s little-known and who’s not. I don’t suppose Markus Zusak is particularly well-know outside Australia, but I thought The Book Thief was masterful…

One Good Thing: Made it through March without surprise baby showing up! Yay!

One Bad Thing: By not being at work, I will have missed out on all the university April Fools Day jokes. In the past we’ve had some wonderful things, from reported “loose animals” to fake voice-recognition on photocopiers. No giggles for me…

One Thing I Learned: How to make bechamel sauce. And, having stuffed up the original Italian recipe from the Margaret Fulton Italian cookbook utterly, how to cheat on bechamel sauce…