Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas

to our Family and Friends.

Lucas is 6 months old

Well again we have been a bit lax with the blog but we have been super busy with our two bubs. Lucas has just turned 6 months old and is our smiley big baby (some call him a bruiser because he is big, long and has dimply legs). He is also in the process of getting his some teeth. Well the first one showed up a couple of days ago and there may be another on the way. Miss Isabella has been enjoying rounds of Christmas parties with her friends and loves all the extra toys and presents!! We are looking forward to heading back to Oz for Christmas. Lucas has yet to meet his yiayia so we are all looking forward to that, seeing all the family plus the joy of baby sitters.
Have a Merry Christmas!!

New Photo Galleries

It’s been a while since I last updated our website, so over the last few days I’ve slapped my lazy butt into gear and added a few new galleries of the kids, well two so far. One on Lucas’ first month and one on Isabella aged between 18 & 24 months. My plan is to sort through Lucas’ 2 to 6 months photos and hopefully create a new gallery sometime next week and if I can keep the momentum going I’ll start on Isabella’s aged two gallery, but I wouldn’t hold your breath as the kids seem to have the ability to make my spare time disappear.

Another Month Bites The Dust

Well we’ve reached the end of another month without tapping out a Blog, oh bugger, that’s life. On a positive note I’ve started to catch up on the naming of photographs, so I might even get an updated picture of the kids up soon (but don’t hold your breath). Spud (aka Lucas) is growing well, he’s quite a lump of a kid these days weighing in at about 9.3kg at 5 months old. Both kids and myself have a bit of a cold so lots of snotty noses in the household and the tissue boxes always seem to be empty. Isabella seems to have a bit of a tissue fetish; thankfully she’s over the joy of unrolling the ‘dunny roll’. For those that haven’t heard that expression, it’s also called TP or toilet paper. The Grandparents are visiting at the moment, taking the children load of us, well some of it. Oh yes it is so nice to have playmates on hand, playmates that sometimes also cook and keep Isabella busy so we can sleep-in, past 6:30am. I remember fondly the last good night’s sleep we had, it was 30th June 2007 and yes we were kids free that night so we were able to sleep in too.

Thailand

You have to be crazy to go on holidays with a 2 year old and 3 month old. Well we did it last week when the whole family went to Thailand for 5 days. We had a lovely but tiring time. Our sister Nikki and her partner Ralf looked after us in Bangkok for 2 days and then we headed up to Chiang Mai. While there we road tested the Sunday night markets and the Night Bazaar. We shopped till we dropped. We also headed up to Doi Suthep temple and the Elephant camp where we saw elephants kick around a soccer ball and paint pictures. The paintings were actually very good and quite delicate for such large animals. Jason and Isabella got hats popped on their heads and taken off by one of the elephants – lots of fun.
The Thais took a great liking to Isabella and Lucas. They kept trying to touch them. It didn’t seem to matter whether Lucas was fast asleep or not, he got prodded, pinched and groped.

Lucas is three months old

How time has flown by. Lucas is almost 15 weeks old and I have to go back to work next week – egads. That has seriously crept up on me.
Lucas is growing well. He is such a smiley baby who loves to laugh. Isabella just loves her little brother and gives him lots of cuddles and kisses.
We are still waiting for an all night sleep – from both our kids - but I am sure we will get there.

August Almost Over

Well another month is almost over and yet no blog, what can I say, we’ve been busy. Next month will be different, well maybe!

End of the Month Blog

Well the end of the month is here and I haven’t even written one little blog, so here it is. Good Night!

Yoghurt Faced Girl

It's been awhile since we've uploaded a picture of Isabella, so here's one of our yoghurt faced girl taken last month.

Lucas One Month Old Today

Lucas is one month old today and yes we all need more sleep, much more sleep, but that's just part of having a newborn! Here's a picture of me holding him aged one month.

Lucas is three weeks old

Time has already flown by so fast. He has grown so much in these 3 weeks. He is staring around at the world trying to figure everything out. Grandma thinks he will be an engineer because he seems to be dissecting things with his eyes.
We had a wonderful 3 and a half weeks with Grandma. She left yesterday – we were very sad to see her go. She was a supremely big help and made our lives so much easier in our transition from one baby to two. My sister Andrea has come over to step into the void left by Grandma as Bella’s special playmate - lucky for us.
We celebrated Jason’s birthday last week with cake and a nice dinner. He loves his fish tank and continues to add to the fish community. Isabella is showing the same interest and helps Daddy feed the fish. She also knows all the names of the fish. Very impressive!!

The Fish Tank Arrives

The day after Lucas was delivered our fish tank was delivered. It’s my (early) birthday present that I picked out and had delivered before Marika even had a chance to see what she was buying me, by the time Marika and Lucas came home from the hospital the tank was partly set-up, well it was in cycling stage getting the water and filter ready for the starter fish. I decided to go with a more natural style set-up, Marika was keen for a shipwreck, and sadly we didn’t find suitable wrecks though I did concede and we have a natural style tank with a holey barrel and I’m looking for some fake rock caves. As for the fish that has been a bit of an issue, we started with six Serpae tetras as I was told they were hardy fish for a new tank, I though okay, tetras as fun happy little fish, oops my booboo. Serpae’s are feisty little buggers which can be fun to watch when they are chasing each other around the tank, however they also chase and attack the other fish we have. We also added two Otto Catfish to try and keep the snails under control; the snails were compliments of the plants we added. And the story continues, we now only have one Otto, the other was found partly eaten in the Serpae’s favourite hiding place. And the Serpae’s have also been having a go at our three Bumblebee Gobies which are now missing their tail fins, thankfully the Gobies have big mouths and now will face off against the Serpaes. I’ve come to the decision that the Serpae’s have to go for the good of this community tank. Nearly two days have passed since I typed the previous sentence and the Serpaes are gone back to the shop. I replaced them with ten Cardinal tetras, there funky fish similar to the Neon tetras I had as a kid, I also picked up another two Ottos to keep my single remaining one company. So now there are sixteen little fish in a big tank. I’ve spent some time working out what fish I should get based on their water and community compatibility, the Bumblebees don’t match my plan as they like slightly salty water, however they were with freshwater fish in the shop and they seem to be doing quite well in my freshwater tank, I’ll have to keep an eye on them and find them a new home if they start to look sickly. I want to get more fish as the tank looks quite devoid of fishes, but know that I should wait so I don’t mess-up the water quality. I’ll check the water quality again on Monday and if all is well I go fishing.

Empty Tank

Some Set-up

More Set-up

Finished (for now) with limited Fish

Bath Time - Sleeping Yellow Baby

Saturday was Lucas’s first bath, well first bath at the hands of his parents. Man I had forgotten how to bathe a newborn, had to watch the video of Isabella’s first bath as a refresher. Lucas was very active in the womb, and he still likes to wiggle, bath time was no exception, I had my hands full just trying to keep hold of him. We were just about finished with his bath and I thought to myself, mmmm the sprinkler attachment hasn’t fired. So I told Lucas to let it rip, I need to be christened at some stage, instantaneously he let rip, by the amount of flow he had been holding it in awhile. So I’ve been christened and my shirt was washed straight away. It’s good to see he listens to his father, his sister on the other hands usually chooses not to.

We haven’t been lucky with the sleeping again, he seems to like cluster feeding for the first half of the night, after that we can usually get longer sleeps from him. His yellowness started to get bad yesterday and the fear of heading back into hospital was swelling around our heads, thankfully yesterday was sunny and we were able to bathe regularly in that lovely sunshine resulting in much less yellowness today, let me say woohoo to not going back to hospital.

We are all well and would like to say sorry to the people we haven’t been able to get back to. Hopefully most people understand that much of mummy & bub’s day revolves around sleeping, eating and very little of anything else. Grandma & Isabella are keeping each other occupied and Daddy, aka me has been studying and making time to set up our new fish tank, it’s starting to look good, driftwood, plants, it’s just lacking the fish but thankfully it’s mostly cycled/matured and ready for starter fish.

P.S. I’ve uploaded some video of Mummy & Lucas to our video site.

Lucas With Eyes Open

Home Sweet Home

My little family is all together at home, Lucas has given his new bed the thumbs-up. He likes to sleep, which is a good thing, Wednesday night he slept for 7 hours, last night about 6 hours. I’m told that I started sleeping through the night very early, so maybe Lucas is taking after me, and in reality I know that this is not likely the case but you can’t blame me for being hopeful. Isabella has been a little wild and grumpy today, happy that mummy is home but not so happy that mummy has to spend time with Lucas. I guess it will take time for our little family to settle down. Back on the Lucas front he has a little jaundice, yes another yellow five fingered funny, Isabella had jaundice rather bad, resulting in an extra day in hospital, thankfully Lucas isn’t so bad but we have to watch it closely for the next three days or so. Its 9:30pm here and the house is quiet and in darkness (except for the glow from the computer monitor), Isabella has finally gone to sleep, getting her to go to sleep this past week has been a challenge, so much easier when she was trapped in the cot. Since the house is quiet and everyone else is sleeping, it is time for me to commune with the Sandman. Good Night.

 Lucas Testing Out Daddy's Comfy Chair

Coming Home Tomorrow

The good news is mother and son should be heading home tomorrow. Marika is keen to get out of hospital; I’m keen on them coming home too.

Enjoying the Sunshine – Do You Like My Hair

Meet Lucas James

He has a name, my first choice was Luke Skywalker but Marika was exceptionally fast to veto that name, one of his cousins decided he should be called Boris, however after discussing our various name options with young Lucas we all agreed he was a Lucas. And the extremely good news today is our little boy was out of NICU and back with us before lunch time today. Okay his stats are: born Tuesday 27th May 2008 at approximately 2:30pm Singapore time, weight 3.47 kg (7.7lbs), Length 55cm (21.7in), son number one, child number two, he’s a little bent and goofy looking at the moment (I can say that as I’m his father plus I’ve been told he looks like me) but of course to us he’ll always be our gorgeous boy. Isabella seems to like the idea that she has a little brother, although she’s not so keen on her mother staying in hospital. Mummy and Daddy are elated with their new arrival however nappy changes for boys are different to that of girls; we’ve already experienced the sprinkler attachment in full action (clean bedding was required for both mother and child). Enough yapping from me, I’ll upload some pictures for you viewing pleasure. I’ll try and add further updates and pictures over the next few days. 

Isabella Holding Lucas

Lucas James Sleeping

Baby Boy Bywater Born

Talk about lots of B’s. Today about 2:30 pm Singapore time we officially welcomed a baby boy into our family, weighing in at 3.47kg with a length of 55cm. He surprised us with his size; we thought he was going to be about the same size Isabella was at birth. However Isabella was a quarter kilo lighter and 5 cm shorter and she even baked for a week longer. The bad news is he has to spend his first day and night in NICU, so no cuddle and bonding time for us and thus no name yet, all because he’s a ‘Grunter’ (the doctor’s official description for his condition). For those lucky enough not to know what NICU (pronounced ‘Nickyoo’) stands for, it is ‘Neonatal Intensive Care Unit’. Needless to say I’m guessing our sleep tonight won’t be very restful.

Yummy Oxygen, Just What The Doctor Ordered

P.S. Spelling and grammar in this Blogs over the next few weeks may be poor. Hopefully the spelling and grammar skills will improve with sleep.

The Final Count Down

Life is good as we try to prepare ourselves for the arrival of baby number deux. My mother arrived from Oz a few days back in readiness for ‘the arrival’, thankfully number deux wasn’t in a hurry to get out before Isabella’s babysitter arrived, aka, mother or Grandma as Isabella knows her. We have a doctor’s visit tomorrow; hopefully then we’ll know if a ‘natural’ birth is an option. Our medical history is indicating that natural is not likely this time round but we will see. Even though we’ve already had one baby, somehow I just don’t feel prepared for the arrival of the next, mmmm how do you care for a newborn, bathing etc and oh that lack of sleep thing that accompanies newborns. We are trying to educate Isabella about the new arrival but I don’t know how much is getting through, hopefully more than we realise!

Final Subject - Subject Hell

Today is a bad day, well not really, it marks the start of my final subject for my studies. It’s a core subject that I’ve not wanted to do, mainly because it has an essay based final exam worth nearly 50% of the final mark. I’ve never done well in essay based exams; usually I’m lucky to pass. Multiple choice, short answer and essay based assignments, I say bring them on, but essay exams can just go and get #@*!. I had this nightmare essay exam during my undergrad studies that was two hours long, we had to write four essays (ten to choose from) where the lecturer wanted each roughly between 400 and 500 words in length, what a bitch to mark! I have shocking and slow hand writing and spell like that of a seven year old. During my prep work for the exam I worked out that I would only be able to physically hand write two essay in two hours. In the exam I almost finished three, sadly I couldn’t even read my own hand writing. Oh yes I did fail that subject and it was a pre req for another subject I wanted to do. Luckily for me I noticed that you only had to have taken that subject, it said nothing about passing the subject so I was able to take the subject and I received a very good grade for it too. The subject co-ordinator later changed the wording so that you had to pass the crappy pre req subject. Me, I was all smiles as I didn’t have to undertake that rather tedious subject again! A few other people failed the crappy subject and the average mark was a pass.

The Boo Is Two

Today marks our little daughter’s second birthday, yes we survived the first two years and have marched head first into the terrible twos, Do Not Pass Go, Do Not Stop, Straight into the Terrible Twos for all of us. I don’t think she understands the concept of birthdays yet, but she’s seems keen to try it again, I think it was the new toys and chocolate cake, and she gets to try it all over again tomorrow when we have some friends over to help us celebrate. Mmmm our little princess has just wandered out of her bedroom and isn’t keen on going back to bed, and I’m buggered and thinking about heading to bed myself. I’m guessing she is a little wired on today’s activities and chocolate cake, mamma is now reading her a bedtime story, hopefully sleepiness will soon return for Miss Isabella. Back in bed, hopefully she stays there for the rest of the night.

Iemma Defies Own Party To Sell Off Power

So the NSW Premier Morris Iemma has said his responsibility is to the people of NSW, and he will progress with the sell off of the state's electricity industry, continuing “down the path the government has started”. Okay what is the Government, my understanding is the (voting age) people of the state of NSW voted in the Labour Party, well enough of their members (and Labour supporting independents and other) so that they had over 50 percent of the vote. So the Government isn’t Iemma, or Costa et al, it’s the Labour party currently represented by Iemma and his ship of fools. So I’m thinking the ALP conference should be attended by those in the party, so when the party members voted on the electricity industry privatisation with a resounding get stuffed 702 votes against to 107 votes in favour. I would have thought this meant the Government was saying NO to privatisation of the electricity industry. Am I missing something here? Or is Iemma & Co missing something, maybe that their days are numbered, mutiny is knocking at the door and max the axe is waiting to strike them out. Which brings me to another question, who would be the new premier? Can we call in the state’s Governor to sack these guys?

I can see the so called industry benefits of privatisation, but the idea of privatisation, going from public to commercial interest, that is to companies that are there to make a profit doesn’t bode well for the little people, especially those in regional areas also known as no profit zones. Oh yes service 85% of the population on the costal regions, screw the 15% in the bush, it’s not like they are doing any good for the country, say if they were doing something like being primary producers (farms producing fresh fruits, vegetables and meat or even sustainable building products) or mining for those resources we just seem to be unable to live without like coal, steel and other precious minerals. Oops they are undertaking those activities in that marginal 15%. That’s okay they can all move to the cities, there’s plenty of spare space there and Australians can just start importing all those goods from other (low cost) countries. What’s a trade deficit? Getting back to my point at hand, privatisation for certain industries shouldn’t be allowed, I’m a believer that important state / country utilities & industries like power, water, roads & public transport should be government owned whether that be at state or federal level should be the only question. That leads me to another question, do we really need state governments, why not just have federal and local, cut out a chunk of the middle layer costs and in NSW case a chuck of relatively useless bureaucracy.

Oh ranting can be fun, and hopefully not too misguided.

Spam Turns 30

Today marks the 30 year anniversary of spam, not that is was called spam back then, and it wasn’t really that bad, just an email to about 400 people inviting them to a new product launch, oh how bad this monster has grown. Most people know my thoughts on spam and spammers, oh so many culprits and not enough damn bullets. And the real sad thing about spam is that there is a sucker born every minute that buys into it, oh why oh why is this so, yes there is not enough chlorine in the gene pool.

Public Servant Accessed Porn Sites

As I was saying in my last blog, I spend too much time reading the paper. Today’s interesting article comes from Japan. A public servant has been demoted and given or should I say has taken a pay cut after getting caught surfing porn sites. Which is not really that interesting until you find out that he is reported to have visited 780,000 sites during office hours in only 9 months! This got me thinking (minds out of the gutter boys), that’s a mammoth quantity in such a short time, 9 months of office hours is roughly 190 work days or 1520 office hours or 91,200 minutes. So using some simple mathematics that’s approximately 8 ½ sites per minute or a new site every 7 seconds. One would have to assume he didn’t have much spare time for work and one very strong but sore mouse finger. You’d have to give him top marks for stamina and commitment, shame about his work productivity.

Poor 'ole Westpac (and other banks)

I’m spending way too much time reading the online newspapers, so much so that I’m just getting confused. For example a few days back I thought I read an article about the poor old Westpac bank having to raise it interest rates on home loans to help pay for their bad investments choices, like they also did a few months previously. Yes like most banks they feel they needed to charge the poorer people trying to pay off their home loans with higher interest rates and charges because they made bad investment choices, mmmm does that mean us with home loans also made bad investment choices by taking out home loans in the first place. Anyhow by an article in today’s paper I assume that raising the interest rates has not only saved the poor old Westpac bank from the poor farm but paved their driveway with gold and many other precious gems by increasing their profit forecast by 10% to A$1.83 BILLION, I guess they have one hell of a great farm as their profits make some small nations GDP look like chump change. Well I’m glad the poorer home loans holders (i.e. those with a negative yearly profit forecast) have been able to help out the Banks in this their hour of need. God bless Capitalism! Don’t worry home loan holder, Westpac are also looking to shift 3000 odd jobs from Australians to cheaper overseas labour locations in India and China, thus saving a whole bunch of dosh so they’ll be able to reduce our home loans interest rates. This little cat not going to hold his breath waiting for them to drop the interest rates, this little cat thinks it’s more likely they’ll announce further increases in their profit forecast, maybe they would like to round it off to a nice even A$2 billion next time.

Good night, sweet dreams and thank you for reading my 2 cents worth, or was that A$1.83 billions worth!

ANZAC Day – Lest We Forget

We were awake but alas we weren’t up for the dawn service remembering those that gave their lives. Its good to see that so many are attending these days, I remember back in the 1980’s the only people you would see at ANZAC Day parades and services were military personal, politicians and Scouts, and a few other souls there to pay the respects.

34 weeks only a few to go!

Well here we are 34 weeks and a few more to go. Yes I am HUGE – well that’s how I feel at the moment and yes I am doing the countdown until the birth of our little baby. Isabella will be a big sister but I am not sure she really understands what that means. She knows mummy has a baby in her tummy but I don’t think she realises what that will mean. We have an idea but I don’t think Jason and I are really ready for those sleep deprived days and nights. Luckily Jason’s mum is coming to help us by looking after Bella while I’m in hospital. Isabella is excited that Grandma is coming to be her play buddy. Hopefully Grandma will have lots of energy!! My sister Andrea is then coming so Isabella will have lots of company and playmates.

There are some baby bump and ultrasound picture on the junior two site.

Baby Bonanza Has Arrived

What two blogs in one day, well this is going to be a short one; it’s to wish our friends and family congratulations on the arrival of their babies, yes that’s multiple babies, so far three boys and a girl. First to arrive was Deon in early March, then Maximus in mid March, and Liam at the end of March. Then Madison the first and only girl so far arrived in early April. There will be at least another girl by mid year, but the big question is whether our second child will be a girl to even out the odds or a boy to swing the balance of power. The next baby is due in about four weeks followed by ours a week or so later.

What Another Blog - Isabella's Big Bed

Well I just don’t know how those daily blogger do it, sure I’ve got plenty to say / type but how really can I be bothered uttering all those words, deep down, well not so deep down I’m a rather laconic chap so I guess I find it hard to sprout regular blogs, yeah sometimes I can shoot out three or four in quick succession but then my laconic (or lazy) side kicks in. Well you might be wondering what has prompted this outburst; really you might be surprised to know it was my wife asking when I was going to write another blog, I think she has been asking me every few days. So you could say it’s about damn time I pulled my finger out.

The big news in our little world is last night Isabella slept her first full night in her big bed, at her request. She has been having her afternoon kips in the big bed off and on now for over a month, she has even attempted to sleep overnight in the big bed but alas those attempts have ended in tears or misbehaving. Marika & I were both awake in bed this morning from about 5:30 waiting for our little girl to wake and come running in. She usually wakes around 6 – 6:30 and call for us to retrieve her ‘My Precious’ aka ‘her dummies’ and we can usually get another half hour / hour sleep. 6:30 came and went without any calls, 7am came and went, how strange still sleeping, 7:30 mmmm still sleeping. Marika gets up makes some noise then goes and checks on Isabella again, woohoo she is awake and ready for the day. So not only was it her first full night in the big bed it was also one of the first nights we haven’t had to get up for her (despite the fact we were laying awake in bed for two hours expecting our little girl to burst in. Hopefully she’ll do the same tonight, oh how I’ve missed uninterrupted sleep; such is the life of a parent. Next step is to wean her of those damn dummies, hopefully without all the screaming and screaming induced vomiting of our last few attempts.

Some Pictures From Our UK Trip

 Bath – ‘The Rec’
If you look at the sky in this photo you’ll see a bird and a UFO

Marika & the Tardis
Walking up to Edinburgh Castle we stumbled upon the Dr’s Tardis,

Sadly we were unable to find Dr Who

London looking out from the Royal Observatory

Greenwich (Prime Meridian of the World)

Pre-School Assimilation Is Complete

Well our little girl has integrated into the pre-school environment, by the end of her third week all the screaming and crying on arrival at pre school had been forgotten. On Friday I even had to call her back as she was running off to class so I could say good bye and give her a kiss and hug. When she first started pre-school she was the one after the hugs, now it’s me, oh how fast they grow up and discard their parents. Thankfully she is still happy to see me when I arrive to pick her up after lunch. I guess she still loves her parents, but pre-school is a much desired activity as she usually asks to go there most mornings and sometimes she even asks to go after her afternoon kip. One down side of pre-school is what she has learnt, the two stick out tricks are squealing (screaming) and poking out her tongue. The tongue poking is okay but the squealing just hurts my ears.

State of the Nation, well the State of New South Wales

Who is Barry O'Farrell, I’d never heard of him and I like to keep up-to-date with Federal and State (mostly NSW) politics, yet the question remained, who is Barry O'Farrell, well he is the leader of the NSW opposition party, yes the good ole Liberal Party, and the Deputy Leader is Jillian Skinner, at least I’ve heard of her. And for those who care Andrew Stoner is the leader of the Nationals and the only really known of the three (known to me that is!). So on to the good ole Labor party, yes the ones leading the state of New South Wales led by Dumb and Dumber, oops Morris Iemma & John Watkins. So what is the State of the Nation, oops of New South Wales, many will tell you ‘Screwed’ and numerous other adjectives I’ll not elaborate on. So to sum up the state is getting screwed over by Dumb and Dumber and various others in power, which brings me to Costa, what fun he had with Police, Transport, Infrastructure & Treasurer need I say more. Yet what is the opposition putting up as an alternative government, yes I hear you and yes there is still an opposition party, the coalition of Liberal and Nationals still exist, you’ll find them hibernating under the big blue rock just west of Bourke.

Isabella Starts Preschool – Enter the Moron

Well it’s been a big emotional past week for Isabella, yep she started preschool. She is going half day for now, well a half day is 8.30am to 12:30pm, however she is yet to spend the whole half day, mmmm whole half day, almost an oxymoron. Speaking of morons, since moving to our new apartment we see morons all the time, easy to understand this phenomenon as their church is just up the road. Yes ‘The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints’ I wonder what happened to the Earlier-Day Saints. Yes I’m a heathen (in your eyes), and you know I like to wear white business shirts and black ties when relaxing around the house, can I get the swanky black name badge. Yes, yes I know that’s not very tolerant of me, but really how many times does one have to be harassed during a busy lunch break by a moron dynamic duo out to covert heathens before snapping and pole driving them into the pavement is considered acceptable. My personal record is being stopped (well attempted to be stopped) four times in one week, this was when I had to cut across Hyde Park to get into the CBD. Talk about game (or just plan stupid) but they would just step in front of me as I powered through the park, unfortunately for them one time their timing was off and there was contact, my hundred plus kilograms at full speed versus their roughly eighty kilograms at negligible speed, I twisted a little on impact and they bounced of me and onto the ground for a short rest. About thirty other people raced past while the duo were out of action. Strangely nobody stopped to help; I guess they are like the lepers of our time. Yet again I digress with my unkind thoughts, as Kamahl would say, ‘why are people so unkind’.

Anyhow Isabella’s week has been hard, I think she must be thinking why are people so unkind, why does daddy leave me here then he just disappears. Well I do say bye and tell her I’ll be back (without the Arnold Schwarzenegger's accent) and the water works kick into high gear, by the end of the week she was starting the water works as soon as we entered the property, stopping when distracted by some of her play friends and starting up again when I say bye. She seems to be happy and having fun when I return. The teachers say she has improved quickly from the first day of crying playing with a ball on her own to fully integrating with the other kids and activities. Thankfully she is still happy to see me when I arrive to collect her. Hopefully the water works / screaming drop-off will cease soon, nobody likes to see a grown man sobbing in the corner. Hopefully this upcoming week she’ll stay the whole half day, best we did this past week was 9 to 12 on Friday, Monday on the other hand was 10 to 11:30, so we are getting better! I think the 8:30 starts aren’t likely as that requires me getting out of bed earlier.

Gong Xi Fa Cai - Gong Hei Fat Choy

Here's wishing all those celebrating the Chinese New Year a joyous and prosperous year ahead. Bring on Year of the Rat, Baby! I decided to go with both the Mandarin & Cantonese version as we live in Singapore but have Cantonese speaking friends. So Gong Xi Fa Cai Singapore and Gong Hei Fat Choy Cantonese speaker.

Hello World, We’re Still Alive!

Yes it’s been awhile since our last blog, and we have been very busy and then I became very lazy. We did move a week before Christmas, oh how busy we were. By the way, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, Patriotic Australia Day and Happy Chinese New Year (I had to get in early for at least one). We have finally settled in, well we had settling in before Christmas we just hadn’t finished stacking and packing stuff away, but today we did, the last remaining activity was stacking and ordering the bookcase, let me say woohoo it’s done. We have visitors arriving tonight for a few days so we had motivation to finish.

What else has been happening, oh yes the cricket saga. I don’t care if Harbhajan Singh is guilty or not. But as for the Indian cricket hierarchy’s un-sports-person like behaviour, please take your bat and ball and bugger off on your chartered plane and please don’t forget to stow your dodgy attitude in the overhead locker! Maybe it’s time to start watching golf or maybe even the grass growing over the unused cricket pitch.