Where have I been?

Wow. I have just dragged myself onto my computer for more than 10 minutes at a time for the first time in almost two months. Lots of wonderful blogging been going on in the world of blogging, but not any of it here. Warning, this is a very wonky post.

December: the end of school, planning for being 'properly' back at work, pre-Christmas preparation, house guests (my parents) arriving, other family arriving to stay with mother-in-law, my brother-in-law's short notice wedding (Sydney), Christmas, Lillian not well for the week of Christmas, then I had gastro.

January: Mum with gastro, husband with gastro. Purged unwanted toys, clothes, rubbish. It continues. Bought a new barbecue to replace the one that The Vandal destroyed on his rampage around our house in November. Husband turned 50 yesterday, we threw him a big party on Saturday and had 32 people in the house. Spent yesterday recovering, having quiet brunch and then napping in the afternoon.

My sister had her first baby on Friday 9 January - welcome to the world Grace Jacqueline Lenden Barnes. Now there's an aristocratic name, don't you think? She wasn't very willingly evicted but got out eventually to see the world and meet her stunned parents. I've seen photos but probably won't be able to go and squeeze her in person for a few months yet. *sob*

Despite having had the holidays, I am tired. Tired, very tired. I don't know if it was a good idea for us to stay home for the summer. We haven't had much warm weather yet although tomorrow is expected to be 31 degrees (C). We've had a house full of people, and small children and illness are always tiring. I still feel like I haven't had a holiday, even though I haven't been working or driving anywhere - don't know, really, just feeling oddly unsettled this evening.

Poor Lillian is all over the place with her sleep, both day and night. I feel like I'm doing it all wrong. Trying desperately to discourage her from waking at 5.30am, but when she does then she needs two day sleeps, but if she sleeps a little later she will only sleep once a day and it's hard to know when to put her down. Then she is yelling her head off every evening at bedtime, no matter how tired she is. I took her to the doctor today because she's been coughing at night and waking up a lot, and he says she has tracheo-bronchitis but should be better by the end of the week. *sigh*

So here we are in 2009. From 27 January I am back at work, just two half-days a week. I'm now head of composition, which is so exciting and terrifying at the same time. Many expectations, lots to do. We have a new Head of School - amen to that. I will still be doing some co-ordination for the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra's Australian Composers' School, which is in June this year. And there are a couple of commissions in the pre-discussion stages which look promising.

Alexander starts school on 5 February. I'm so excited for him. I want him to be as independent as he's ready to be, to leap into his learning, to grab life with the horns. I don't feel too many pangs about him being at school every day this year. He is growing up so fast and very ready to be a Prep boy. He loved Kinder, but he's particularly happy to be back in the same class with his best buddy, Oscar.

Vegie patch update. The tomatoes haven't done anything. I had one snowpea. Lots of radishes but we don't eat them, so I'm not quite sure why I planted them. No beans yet. The corn, zucchini, spring onions and cherry tomato plant are doing really well. I think those get more sun, so we'll see. Because I started so late (late Nov), I may have missed the boat with all of it but never mind, it was a good start and given that summer always comes late to Hobart I may still get some vegetables in the coming months. *sigh*

So, I'll press on. Hopefully a chance for some rest before going back to work in a couple of weeks. I need some space and time to myself just to think straight about anything. My head is spinning and I've been surrounded by people and things to do for just a wee bit too long. Time for bed. Night-night.