I finally fixed it!

Yep - no one will ever accuse me of being overly technically capable, that is the truth! I'm not a total Luddite, I'm just not very well informed and vaguely intimidated. At any rate, it's fixed and viewable again.

This beautiful rainbow at sunset was taken on the last day of January. In a lot of ways it feels like the promise of the new year is finally starting for me and I'm looking forward to the next little while. Not least because La will be starting kinder and my training will be starting back up!

One of the funnest bits of January was my very first major road trip with both kids solo. We wandered up through Blackspur, Healesville, Narebethong, Alexandra, Yarck, Merton, Euroa, Benalla etc. stopping and playing tourist along the way at some of our favorite places. We were transporting a rescued dog up there as well to her new mum and dad. Almost a year on, the progression of the regeneration I see every time I drive up that way struck me with a lot of hope. Despite it all, life is an impossible force to deny.
We went up to Albury-Wodonga, stayed in Tabletop NSW and then later on out near Sandy Creek/Kiewa our nearish Yakendandah to play with Jodie and all her poultry and dogs. I am in total love with the area - it is just beautiful! We came home with some really cute guinea fowl keets as well!

We also have five new foster kittens keeping us busy. Meet Mew (little black) and Milla (black/white), Zap (bigger black) and Sonic (tabby). These lucky little ones as they were destined to be put down originally as their mum was a feral that was killed I believe.

And this is Whisp, he was found on the side of a busy road by a good samaritan. He was so covered in flea dirt and crawling with fleas that it took my friend who took him in from his rescuer four shampoos to reveal he was white under the black-red crust. He is deaf as well but sweet as sugar and quite a special lad.

January was a bit of a chaotic month for us though, as life always is it seems. Laurent has proved to be at the center of some of the most humorous bits too.

While I was changing Lily, my darling tornado child chirped at me words that will make any mums heart stop: "Look mum! I did shaving like daddy!" Yep - you guessed it, the little ferret had opened the door to the laundry, the study and the bathroom before scaling the counters and ceiling high cupboards (what you thought we're dumb enough to leave it in easy reach?) to fetch daddy's shaver and gouge several whacks of hair out the front and side of his head. The result: at four years old, just starting kinder, my child has his very first comb over!

A few other La gems:

At one point I woke up from a way-too-real nightmare we'd been in a bushfire and I'd been separated for the kids. It took me several moments and holding them to calm myself into realizing it was just a dream after waking up. I had a totally mushy-momma-moment snuggling up to sleeping bebe and La, thinking how lucky I am just to have them. La curls into me, accepts a butterfly kiss, leans up to my ear and in the sweetest voice whispers, "Mum?" "Yeah La...?" (I melted, how did I get so lucky to have such a beautiful boy...) "Mum, my butt itches." Ah, four year olds, gods love 'em!

La: Can I have a sip of your water mum?
Me: Just a sip or should I get you your own glass?
La: No mum just a sip! *gulps the whole thing*
Me: LA! I said just a little sip!
La: But mum, I DID have a little sip! It was just a BIG little sip!

While I'm dressing Lily the other day, La reached for the cat food we're given for our fosters which he'd just been told to leave be. "La, I KNOW you're not feeding them after I JUST said no!" He looks at me, caught red handed. "Um... no?" Trying to figure an acceptable 'out', he quickly gulped the food himself and grins at my grimace of disgust. My instant reaction has GOT to be indication of my animal lover status though, as rather than being totally grossed out by the fact he just swallowed cat food I heard myself say - "Gross! That's Science Diet! Couldn't you at least go for the Eagle Pack?!" Then I notice Lily gnawing on freeze dried liver she's swiped from my training pouch during this exchange. What can I say? These kids will either grow up remarkably well balanced or they're going to need 30 years therapy for species confusion.
Lily(shown here with her slightly overgrown, kinda slobbery, very sweet teddy bear) is growing like a weed... she is getting so big now, bubbly and happy, she is officially on the move and scoots herself all over the house. She has two sharp teeth, a plethora of baby babble, mastery of the fine art of clapping and blowing raspberries, a keen grasp of the game of "drop-it-and-watch-everyone-fetch-it-10,000x-in-a-row' and is just gorgeous. Ten months old, where did my little newborn go? And proving she's my child, she has learned to immediate the clicker and takes great delight in making an attempt at a whistle sound near the dogs and then clicking before giggling at the tongue-bath she receives.

Shadow is adjusting pretty well, he's staked out his favorite vantage points and is good about keeping an eye on things from there. He is very protective of our home and we often hear him barking at the foxes at night. He's proven a tad too protective against people (sorry Florence!) so we're going to have to work with him on that a bit. He's still not able to be loose with the birds and sheep as he wants to play with them, which they don't quite appreciate despite his good intentions. We're hoping continued exposure helps him settle so we can let him in the paddocks eventually. Even though I usually pen the birds at night up near the house, the old adage that "management alone always fails" has proven true as we recently lost Old Mother Goose, my Chinese pair and Matilda to foxes after one of our neighbors buzzed by with a four wheeler freaking them out when they were in the far paddock to the point they hid instead of coming in overnight. I'm heartbroken over all of them but especially sweet Matilda who was my baby.

Cinnamon had his vet visit the other day for his well-bunny check up, the first vaccination and a discussion of neutering him. As it turns out, SHE is absolutely the picture of health and will be seeking a spay rather than a neuter! Oh dear... how embarrassing! LOL Once that is done and hormones have settled, we will look at having her go on a bunny play-date to pick out a friend at the shelter as the vets at the Melbourne Rabbit Clinic have advised they really do need a friend of their own species no matter how much attention you give them. Hopefully her new friend will enjoy clicker training as much as Cinna does as well - she's really quite clever!