Going South: Melbourne (Feb 16/17)

We were up before the roosters and Luca was looking at us thinking "what's going on here, I'm supposed to be waking them up" as we headed to the airport at quarter of five to catch the flying kangaroo south to Melbourne. The little guy took some serious entertaining on the plane but we got there, got our car and headed out on our first big family adventure (needless to say Kel was prepared with a bound book packed with printed sheets of all our reservations, maps, emergency numbers and shopping destinations she wanted to get to on the trip).

We haven't been to Melbourne since Kelly was in the morning sickness stage while expecting Luca and all that time I have been hanging out for a vanilla slice from Akland St, St Kilda - it was our first stop and I wasn't disappointed. After breaky we headed east to visit a couple of fabric stores Kel had had recommended to her by her blogging pals. I think Kel thought the stores were good, but to be honest Luca and I were just soaking up the warm weather and sunshine - something Sydney has not turned on this summer. It was actually cool to get out to the stores, they were in areas of Melbourne I hadn't been to before and I enjoyed having a sticky beak.

The rest of that day we did some catching up with our friends Adam and Amanda (who helped us enormously by loaning us their porta cot for the week) and Franc and Di. During our visits with both Luca managed to get himself soaking wet, first at a restaurant where he poured drinking water all over himself more than once and then at Franc and Di's house where Luca filled their daughter Sabrina's play kitchen sink with water and then splahed it everywhere. He had fun!

Sunday morning we headed up to Kelly's favourite, Brunetti off of Lygon Street in Carlton. We had a great breakfast and left with boxes full of Italian pastries.

Later we met Franc, Di and Sabrina again and headed out to Werribee open plain zoo. As I said in my last blog about Melbourne (April 2006), no trip to Melbourne would be complete without catching these guys, we have had some great times together over the years and I am so happy that Kelly has really connected with them as well. The zoo was pretty cool, I had expected to see the odd Kangaroo on the trip but not hippo's, rhino's, giraffe's and lions.

On our way back to Melbourne we stopped in at Williamstown for some Gelatto - we seriously had 50 places to choose from. I had never been to Williamstown, another side to Melbourne, and somewhere I would definitely visit again. We grabbed some Chinese take-away for dinner and Luca enjoyed exploring the hotel and then we all dozed off looking forward to the road trip part of the adventure starting tomorrow.

Bath Time

and you all thought I would only post photos of Luca in the bath! Luca doesn't like to take baths, we have no idea why. We are persevering however, he is your typical boy and is a dirt magnet! Our solution has been for either Mark or I to take a bath with him, so far so good. Photo above is of Mark and Luca last night in the bath! -kel

Petting Zoo

During the holidays we took Luca to the zoo. This was his first zoo visit and lucky Luca he was able to touch a small python. I was freaking out, meanwhile Luca could not take his hands off the beast! If given the choice I am sure he would have taken the snake home with him. Note that our next trip to the zoo Mark will be the one holding Luca for any snake petting! Luca is doing great and has made a full recovery from his sickness. We are enjoying summer with lots of beach time and lazy relaxing walks. Here's to no more snake encounters this year! -kel

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

This Christmas we had more to be thankful for than most. A week before Christmas Luca was airlifted from the Base Hospital in Port Macquarie (5 hrs drive north of Sydney) to the Royal Childrens Hospital at Westmead in western Sydney. We still don't know exactly what went wrong but the strong belief from the Pediatricians is that he contracted a major bacterial infection (they couldn't grow any cultures from his blood or urine so we still don't know for sure). The result was Luca running a fever in the 40's (Celcius) having racing heart at 210 bpm and a white blood cell count off the charts, he spent six days in hospital on a drip running some strong antibiotics through him. We are lucky that we had such an awesome Pediatrician in Port and just general great care in the first 12 hours. We were home for Christmas and Luca was almost back to normal so to say Christmas was a great day is an understatement.

Kelly and I spent the week in hospital sharing a tiny bed and managing a wash each. We were excited to get home and it was awesome to open all of the Christmas cards we got from our friends and family.

Post Christmas the weather has been near perfect and Luca is back to normal so we have been hitting the beach most every day and then heading home for a swim and some lounging around.
We would like to take the chance to pass on our best wishes for the new year. Our friends and family are incredibly important to us and you are all in our thoughts.

All the best for '08

Love,

Luca, Kelly & Mark

Tepee

For Luca’s first birthday we made him a tepee. He loves to hid in small spaces (usually between the wall and the couch), we saw a smaller version at the Paddington Markets in Sydney a few months ago and we decided to give it a try. It took a big longer than I expected, multiple trips to the fabric store and hardware store and lots of fine tuning to make it work just right. There are two matching pillows for the inside. The tepee is not perfect by any stretch, there is a tiny spot of blood on the white fabric (pin prick) and the last few weeks while I’ve been working on this it’s been very hot, I’ve sat at the sewing machine sweating and sewing, sweating and sewing…my own little sweat shop. I am glad I put the time into this…something tells me the tepee may up in the living room for the next few years…-kel

Meet Santa ...

Luca officially met Santa for the first time today. There was a bit of sizing up going on but generally the little man got along with the man in red very well and even managed to crack a smile. Being such a good boy today we said he can have what ever he asked Santa for ... knowing that he can only say "Mum" and "Dad" it was a deal I was only too happy to make!

Year 1

Luca celebrated his first birthday on Wednesday. Unfortunately he had a bad cold and a fever and was in no mood to celebrate. He opened a few gifts and then was in bed early, coughing and sneezing. Off to a Santa visit this weekend, so we hope he is feeling better. Photo of Luca with Mark's parents, Graeme and Margaret (this was the only photo we took that he actually smiled). Amazing how quickly a year has passed! -kel

Yogurt?

We had a fantastic weekend, birthday-Christmas party for Mothers group, swim in the ocean, swim in the pool a few sausages, lots of singing along to Christmas songs and an afternoon at the pub to celebrate a good friends engagement. Christmas is quickly approaching and we are getting ready for all of the madness. Luca has recently started to "feed" himself. Photo of him this morning with is yogurt. We miss you all and wish each of you could be here with us during this festive time of year. Cheers! -kel

apple cup 2007

It’s been 6 days, no phone call, no email, no text message, no letters, no postcards nothing. I don’t like to think about it, and I cringe to think that we came so close. Seriously haven’t heard a word from Tiff about the Apple cup, as this is so completely out of charactered for her, I can really only come to one conclusion…she has learned another fantastic life lesson from me and switched sides as she should have long ago to support the DAWGS! (oh and for the record, I lost the annual bet with Mark, and will be changing nappies for a full weekend and doing 10 laps in the pool in the buff, in the dark of course!) Picture of Mark and Luca this morning, Mark’s been participating in Movember, today was the final day, thank goodness! -kel

another year

Family photo this morning…do you know how hard it was to get a picture of all 3 of us looking at the camera! Mark and Luca made a very special birthday morning for me with presents in bed and American bagels and cream cheese for breaky. I can’t believe I am 30, living in Australia (finally a summer birthday), with a beautiful home, great friends and the most amazing husband and son who I love with all of my heart. Not a day goes by that I don’t think about how fortunate I am and how thankful I am for those around me. I am the luckiest girl ever! –kel

Oh and yes Mark is doing “Movember” hence the moustache!

Luca photo's

We are walking…

Luca took his first steps last week, his confidence has grown at now at 11 months he is officially on the move! (Picture from Gunner’s Barracks, where Mark and I were married and our favourite picnic spot) -kel

ladies who lunch (with their children)

Luca and I attend a Melbourne Cup day lunch with our mothers group yesterday. Melbourne Cup is a big horse race in Melbourne that “stops the nation”. It was good fun, fancy dress, hats, lots of snacks and champagne! -kel

Red Sockies!

Sitting in the office crunching numbers with ESPN Gamecast on is not exactly great atmosphere but the emails I am exchanging with friends watching the game live in Seattle, Boston and one lucky mate sending messages from his Blackberry at Coors at least make me feel somewhat connected. No 86 years for the little man, Luca didn't even have to wait one year to see the Sox win the World Series (granted he would be expecting me to be calling them the red sockies and would be more interested in stealing the remote than watching the game).

Cheers.

Fenway dreaming

It doesn't register with people in the office, a few perplexed glances but otherwise they get on with their work when I start celebrating a game one victory at 1:30pm on a Thursday.


The emails are flying to friends in Seattle and Boston - game one goes our way as will the series - much confidence down here.

I thought I was far away watching in 2004 in the bar at the Met in Seattle, I've definitely trumped that this time - there are no geographical boundaries to the Nation - Go Sox!

Cowboy

One of Luca’s favourite things to do when Mark and I get home from work is play on the bed. In particular he loves to put on Mark’s cowboy hat and then throw it off. I attempted to capture this on film yesterday, with some success. -kelly

I'm Seeing Double

Mark's mom brought over his baby book this week. Everyone, including me, always says how much Mark and Luca look alike, however when I saw the baby photos I was speechless. They could be twins! -kel

Tokyo

This week I am in Tokyo for work (I know, crazy travel lately). I was lucky this time and had two free days before my meetings began to explore Tokyo. I’ve been doing lots of sewing back home, I had heard that Tokyo was the place for inexpensive yet very cool fabric. After a bit of research I found a number of different fabric stores and spent most of Sunday and Monday on and off the trains into different neighbourhoods looking for fabric. Was a great way on foot to see the city. Photo of some of the fabrics I bought.

Last night for work we also took a bus tour at night and got to see some of the amazing sights in Tokyo. This city is unlike any I’ve ever visited, full of people, neon, and tons and tons of shopping. A few more days of meetings, then one more free day and back to the boys! I hear Luca’s been rocking out to Neil Young while I’ve been gone. Can’t wait for family sing-a-long when I get home! -kel

Greetings from Shanghai!

I am in Shanghai this week for work meetings, really not that exciting. Outside of work however has been a bit more interesting…so far I’ve experienced some CRAZY and I mean CRAZY Taxi rides (by far they are the worst I’ve ever driven with), lots of people taking my colleagues and I out to very bad American food (why when in China would they think we want American food? We want Chinese!), a very cold hotel room, a frightening plane ride on China Eastern Airlines (AVOID at all possible costs), a beautiful park filled with dancing, Tai Chi and music, lots of funny looks while walking on the street and a few snapshots with random people who stopped to take our picture! Missing the boys at home tons! (photo of my colleague Talia and I on a bridge overlooking the Bund (river that runs through Shanghai) on our way to dinner last night) -kel

Welcome to town W - we're off to Forster

Sydney hosted APEC and to ensure there were less people around to demonstrate all of Sydney was given a day off - an extra public holiday and an extraordinary good tactic. The Fergusons were off up the coast to Forster on Thursday afternoon to make the most of it.

We arrived in darkness and didn't realise until the way back that all of the hairpin turns and going up and down hills were accompanied by great views of the lakes in the area. The area is known as the Lakes region of NSW but as we found out there are also awesome beaches.

Luca's godfather, Mark, provided the accomodation. A reletively new, huge condo a block from the centre of town and a block from the beach. Luca loved the condo with all of the new places to explore and the coffee table was the right height for him to stand and practice walking (he did 52 laps of the coffee table over the weekend).

Forster had many good suprises for us and Friday morning provided the first when Kelly stumbled across a fabric store that stocked some of her favourite designers at prices cheaper than they go for in Sydney - we made two visits to the store over the weekend and Kelly now has a return visit to Forster high on her priority list.

Of the suprises from the weekend the one I could have done without came while we were eating meat pies down on the jetty in Forster - I was my usual undisturbable self while eating and Kelly with a mouth full of pie suddenly started freaking out so I turned behind to see what she was looking at and came face to face with a huge pelican about two inches from my face - he/she was eyeing off my pie which if you know me and my love of the pie is a total waste of time.

Luca absolutely loved the beach - not the surf just the sand. He didn't eat the sand which we had half expected but was happy to crawl around for hours messing up any undisturbed sand he could find. While we were there Kelly spotted a dolphin playing around just off of the shore. The whole beach visit really made me look forward to getting Luca to the beach and in the water this summer.

As we usually do Kelly and I did a lot of exploring around the area and found some great spots - Bluey's beach and Seal Rocks were our favourites. From the Australian bush to China all in 24 hrs - Kel is off to Shanghai tomorrow and Milko, Robin and I will be drinking beer and eating pizza!

Cheers - M