That that does not kill us makes us stronger!!!!!!
Well after our eventful arrival of Keian and the adjustment to parenthood with the help and support of you all and of course having my mum on deck when we came home. You sure know what hits you when you go it alone…..the first day mum left it took me until 4pm to have a shower – great start to going solo not! However I am pleased to say this never happened again and Keian now plays happily on the warmed Bathroom floor whilst I shower and he loves the sound of the hair dryer which is handy.
Just over a week later our next batch of friends started arriving for the festive celebrations! Neil, Doreen, Darren and Mark all flew in and filled the house with chaos, love and loads of laughter it was fantastic. Keian was a good boy and enjoyed the commotion I think….we figure it a good introduction to chaos as there is no such thing as a quiet Christmas in the Murphy or Duffy Clans.
Christmas Day was a fabulous affair, as I sat on the lounge feeding Keian the lunch magically cooked itself….Turkey, Pork and Honeyed Ham! Then back on the lounge to feed Keian and the table set itself for 12, then next feed the table cleaned itself up! What a fantastic gig with all these Christmas elves in the house! Actually it was a great team effort with all pitching in cooking different things under the project management of Paul, all outputs were ready on time and the food was a magnificent feast.
There were lots of funny times which made the whole Christmas event full of fun and laughter………
The ham had a story all of its own….we asked Darren and Mark to bring us a smoked leg of Ham for Christmas as it is not readily available here. Darren arrived with an 8 kilogram leg of a pig smoked but not cooked! So here we are with this gammon leg and the task of preparing it. Paul and Neil got on the internet and found a recipe to cook and honey glaze it but it had to be boiled for hours first. Next problem was no pot big enough…..so off they go to buy a pot to cook it in, it actually took two pots and hours of cooking on Christmas Eve. The boys then finessed the honey glaze, baked it and they turned out superbly. Teamwork!
Darren was loaded to come over here with many requests. I had ordered Paul a complete professional poker chip set and poker table top which I did not realize weighed in at around 25kgs, put the DVDs x 15 which I had ordered and the 8kg Pork and Darren’s clothes which were very little and what do you have???? Excess Luggage and with BA not so in the festive spirit he actually got done and had to talk them down from 100 pounds to 50 pounds so the pork ended up a very expensive exercise with the cost of it, excess luggage, pots and the adventure of it all but worth every cent and we did the traditional practice of eating it for every meal for a week after Christmas.
We ran out of Christmas tags but improvised by cutting the ones we had into 4, only to discover after Christmas day that the Women’s Weekly that Doreen brought me over had two pages of free gift tags! Then there was Jacqui and Eric who had no gift tags on their gifts which made for entertainment at trying to get it right whose was whose….
We had the company of Neil, Doreen, Mark, Darren, Eric, Jacqui, Jenn, Dave, Casey and Jenn’s Aunty Patricia with also guest appearances from Vibeke and Josephine. The mix made for a very relaxed atmosphere and amongst food, wine and Christmas Carols the day raced by. We even introduced Vibeke to a traditional home made flaming Christmas pudding, brandy custard and Ice cream. Interesting was the verdict and unlike anything she had tried. The Aussies verdict was fantastic and superb with Eric winning the prize for largest portion. Great job MUM!
We then spent a relaxing week with everyone leaving at different times going to dinner, playing cards every day and generally having great fellowship at a beautiful time of the year and yes we treated them to snow in the days following Christmas which they liked.
New Years Eve was another great night with Vibeke and Paul cooking two new and exotic courses with accompanying wines for us to eat. We sat to dinner at Vibeke’s dining table which was beautifully laid out. The night whizzed by between children, fireworks, food and wine and before we knew it it was 1.30am and time to come home.
We started our year with a peaceful and quiet new years day with just Paul, Keian and I which was lovely. We made our travel plans to make sure we make the most of Europe this year and had a lovely dinner together before heading to bed at around midnight. Then…….
I woke at 130am with terrible stomach pains, I woke Paul and he got me some panadol, a heat pack and a cuddle. At 4am we knew something was not right when the pain did not subside so I painfully sat while I fed Keian and then we bundled everyone up and headed to the hospital. At 430am I went in whilst Paul got Keian to sleep in the waiting room on a table all wrapped up. I on the otherhand was having blood test and ultrasounds, numerous doctors came to examine me and diagnosis was simple – acute appendicitis that needed immediate surgery. So at 830am after a quick top up feed for Keian I was wheeled to operating theatre.
Yep started the year in hospital with Paul and Keian in the room with me recovering from the second abdominal surgery in 6 weeks and very little pain relief due to me breast feeding Keian. This part of the hospital was very different to the room we had when we had Keian with Shower and privacy and quietness. This was a noisy room with people constantly barging in the room between the hours of 6am and 10am approximately 10-15 different sets of people come in flick lights on and talk loudly. Paul and I nearly committed murder on several occasions, I would of if I could have got out of bed as it took us forever to settle Keian and have him get any stretch of sleep and they were oblivious to the need for Keian to sleep so his poor Dad and Mum could sleep after 36hrs without sleep. At one stage I literally saw Paul fall asleep with Keian on his shoulder burping him standing up! I quickly had them sit down next to my bed so I could reach them if needed. Awful time and thankfully with the support of Jenn and David cooking for us and keeping Paul and I positive we were out three days later sitting at home wondering what on earth had happened it was all so fast. The recovery for this operation was so much faster being key hole surgery than the caesarean so for that I was thankful. I was able to come home day three as Paul was knocked out by the flu and Keian a cough so we locked all the doors and quarantined ourselves for a few days to try and recouperate the family. I have since decided we have had our share of illnesses and hospitals for all of 2006.
Keian is now 8 weeks old and has certainly stamped his authority all over the house and all of us. He rules the roost and dictates four hourly eating and various sleeping times and we dutifully obey. He has been to more restaurants than I can name and 90% of the time surprises us with being an absolute angel…..there is of course the other times where one of us ends up pacing the floors which he is then happy about. He is smiling and becoming very interactive which is lovely and he definitely knows mum and dad now which is all he will tolerate if he is very tired. He has a very big soft spot for Aunty Jenn who he consistently goes to sleep for just to remind Mum and Dad we aren’t the only ones who can get him to sleep. He enjoys the company of his friends Valdamar, Josephine and Casey who all play and kiss him regularly which is gorgeous and his grown up friends Vibeke and Allan who relieve Mum and Dad on much needed occasions. You will see from the photos the remarkable changes that have occurred in his first 8 wks and most people tell me now he is the spitting image of his Dad which is fine by me cause I think they are both spunky monkeys. He is a dear little boy with a lovely nature as best one can have at 8 weeks old. He sleeps well at night with a 5 and 4hr stint either side of his 4 or 5am feed, he is also good during the day but sleeps less it is really only evenings he gets a little hard to please. He is obviously feeding well and as a girlfriend asked me when I quoted his latest stats at 6 wks he was 59cms long and 5.6kgs, “Are you feeding him steroids????”
He loves his food and is now over 6kgs which is amazing. He is aiming to be a hefty 10kgs by the time you all see him I think so he can play with the big kids.
We are now all booked up to come home for March and will let you know where we are planning on being and when so we can catch up with as many of you as possible.
I am quickly typing this as Paul waits for a taxi to come and pick him up as he is off to Geneva for 4 days, Jenn, Dave, Jacqui and Eric are in Vienna so it is me and Keian for the week with respite being given by Vibeke and Allan –they don’t know it yet but no doubt they will see me this week over there a few times. I also have a dinner and visits with some of my prenatal class friends.
Well I hope the new year was a peaceful one for you all and the Christmas break full of fellowship and fun in the extraordinary heat you had Downunder.
Enjoy the new photos and we look forward to seeing you all throughout the year.
All our Love
Corrine, Paul and Keian
xxxx
PS Again thank you for the many beautiful bunches of flowers which I received still until last week. Also the presents that keep arriving for Keian. Since he has outgrown anything below a size 0 the new things are being put to quick use as are the blankets. We love the personalized candle and serviette ring – thank you. I have tried to capture some of the outfits he was given in the photos which are being loaded up to the web as we speak.
PPS
Paul returns tonight, I actually survived the week without them all here but was happy to see Jenn, Dave and Tricia back yesterday, Paul today and Eric and Jacqui last night. Vibeke and Allan rescued me one night and so the week actually went smoothly but is not for the faint hearted and we are so excited Paul is back in 3hrs!