baby wayne

otis remains resistant to food. we aren't quite sure whether there are slight changes in his attitude to food or if we are just hoping to see something different. having said that, we thought that a miracle was in the making last week. within the space of 24 hours there were three incidents - twice otis sucked on/bit a cruskit with vegemite, and once he put a spoon with mashed potato, cheese and vegemite in his mouth.

after a couple of weeks of our new regime - 4 breastfeeds, 3 meals and 2 snacks a day - we were really excited and hopeful that this was a new dawn. unfortunately, there has been no such momentous actions since then although otis seems to be getting more comfortable with at least being in the immediate proximity of food. this is demonstrated by the variety of food that gets spread all over the table and all over us. occasionally some of this food gets on otis' left thumb which ends up in otis' mouth. the grimace that normally follows this seems to be becoming less severe ... i think.

betty the speech pathologist says that this process is likely to take months ... she is coming to visit tomorrow and observe otis "eating" so we will have another opinion on his progress.

meanwhile, at the office ...

both of us have been told that our jobs are proposed for redundancy. we will find out in about 3-4 weeks whether this is definitely the case. after the voluntary student unionism legislation was passed in december last year we knew that there would be changes but i don't think either of us were expecting the job cuts would be quite this severe. at the same time this doesn't come as a huge surprise.

in some ways it is not just the impact that this will have on us and the friends and co-workers who are in the same position it is about the broader implications of the decisions of our employer.

of course, with both of us in this position it creates uncertainty about so many things ... will we have jobs, will we be forced into taking up positions that we don't really want, will we be able to get jobs elsewhere, what happens if we can't get childcare and we both need to work, what happens if otis continues not to eat ... and so many more questions!

it makes it really difficult to think about other things and to try and continue to live life, without feeling like you are becoming completely obsessed and consumed by this.

we are fortunate that the football season starts in a couple of weeks ... but this may not be so good after all!

otis sucks on the cruskit

otis shows the vegemite on his nose and contemplates the cruskit

otis decides that it isn't so bad after all

i have just the thing to wear to the office

chekit