Catstiptoes's Journal

Hi guys, I'm so sorry I've been gone for a while! Things have been frenetic, but I'm back and I'm feeling MUCH BETTER!!!! Refreshed and recentered. I just went on my first overnight trip to Melbourne with Kiki and without Greg (he had to work).

It was awesome!!!!!! I got to see so many wonderful friends again, and I felt like I belonged again and was embraced and known. I caught up on huge amounts of news which you have to be around in person to hear, and which explained a lot to me about certain things which had been happening in my circles of friends in Melbourne. I got millions of hugs. Kiki met lots of my friends for the first time, and my mom got to play with her a lot, which both of them loved. I feel bonded and settled again. Re-energised. Sigh. It feels wonderful.

My mom now has a car seat fitted in her car for Kiki, so there will always be one when we're down that isn't just our car (Kiki and I went by train this time to and from Melbourne, and my mom drove us around in her car while we were there).

Kiki was delightfully calm and quiet and happy on this trip. She likes the train much more than the car, because she can get out of her pram and play and have cuddles. There were constant comments from people (strangers, acquaintances and friends) around us about how quiet Kiki was, and how content and well-behaved she was. :0) I glowed!! She is an awesome baby, a truly sweet treasure. Greg and I are overjoyed with her. Kiki LOVED my friend's King Charles Cavalier!!! She squealed and laughed and patted him gently. She must have learned about patting more than I realised, from having our cats. Greg and I have already been thinking about getting a dog, as our friends' dog has had puppies. Pale blue-eyed parents!!

My friend's birthday party was FUN!! Everyone was painting her white dinnerset together. I didn't get to paint nearly enough, because my mom and Kiki and I went to a Christmas in July lunch, then raced around buying three pairs of Cheap pants on sale which my mom had spotted for me, then we only had two hours before I had to catch the train home with Kiki, to go to the party in. I spent a lot of that listening to another friend because he just broke up with my old friend and ex-boss. Very messy. Kus, whose birthday it was, bought about 50 colours of porcelain paints and we just used what colours we wanted, and all put in some money for them, and she'll take back to the store what we didn't open. What a fantastic idea!!! WHen we were there, there were probably about twelve opened. Over two tables. One was kids and the other was adults. SoooooOOO fun!! This is totally my thing, doing crazy creative projects in big groups. I expect to do this again, now that Kus has these paints and has worked out a great formula. I am very inspired!! She had all different white pieces of dinnersets. As long as they were white and we painted them originally, they will match. One of my favourite paintings was what our friend Steph did on a teacup's plate- "I wish I was a cup." :0) So simple and cute.

Kiki is glad to be back home too. She's busy playing with all her toys like she hasn't seen them in years. It probably feels like years when you're eight months old. :0)

Greg's cooking bacon, I can smell it. I better go and have some family time.

I'm giving myself 10% more on my achieve a few things, for going to Melbourne and back with Kiki and doing all the wonderful stuff I did there.