Where to start?! As a virgin blogger, I am hesitant to write this and have no idea where to start. So I'll just start writing and maybe edit later... or maybe not! It might be interesting to see how my blogging style develops as I figure out how to do this.
As Julie Andrews says in the Sound of Music, I shall start at the very beginning, a very good place to start. By 'beginning' I mean the arrival back in Australia a few days ago. In 2004, I left to live in Washington DC for 3 years and returned to Sydney after more than 6 years and now with a husband and 3 month old baby! It's funny the turns life takes. I am hoping that this blog will be a good snapshot of my life right now, which friends and family will find amusing/interesting and that it will be a good journal for myself later on. Everyone always says how quickly your kids grow up and how much you forget about what happens - maybe this will help my memory!
So, let's get down to business. We arrived in Sydney at about 8am on Thursday, October 28th, 2010. The flight went as smoothly as a flight can when you are doing about 33 hours of travel with a 3 month old. To be honest, Mr. Baby was a champ during the trip. He didn't cry at the take-offs or landings and cried very little during the entire trip - which I am sure was a relief to everyone else in business class :) The only real drama was when he did the biggest poop of his life as we were landing in Sydney. So I was holding a ticking time bomb hoping that it didn't leak all over me before I could get into the bathroom to clean him up. It was an absolute shocker too! New outfit required and everything. A big mess. Guess he was so excited he couldn't contain himself! Sorry, bad joke...
My biggest concern about the trip was always what effect the time change would have on the little guy. He has been a great night time sleeper since he was 9 weeks old and I didn't want to have anything screw that up! The first two nights here he has slept for 13 hours all up, with two wake ups. Fingers crossed that tonight he can stay up until 7:30pm and just have his usual one feed at about 4am. Today has been quite amazing with Mr. Baby as he is currently taking his third nap of the day in his crib! Daytime naps have been a huuuuge problem for him so far - only taking catnaps and refusing to sleep in his crib during the day. So this is a monumental achievement for him! Perhaps it's the time change that is helping?! I have no idea and I guess it's a very extreme way to solve sleep problems for a baby - you won't read about this method in any of the books! And trust me, there are a gazillion books on baby sleep. Whatever it is, I don't really care, I just hope it continues and that he is now going to take naps in his crib every day.
The hubby has taken to Australia like a duck to water. He loves it here so far and is excited to be here. Two things however have elicited negative comments from him:
- the bacon is not as good as it's too meaty.
- the beer is expensive and he will miss American beer (although he does like Aussie beer too)
So he is clearly focusing on the key parts of life: beer and meat. But other than this, he can't wait to be settled in. We have to buy all new appliances since the power voltage is different here and we can't use our US appliances. This of course means we need to buy an even bigger TV according to him. I am all for the big flat screen TV. But it's not like we didn't already have a large TV - it was 42" (about 105cm)!! Apparently we need a bigger one.
Personally, I am excited about getting a new mobile phone. For the last 6 years my phone has been provided (and hence selected) by my job. I have certainly enjoyed not paying for my mobile phone, but I can't wait to finally get the phone I want. I am currently wanting an iPhone... but it seems that all of Australia wants one of these and they are sold out everywhere :( I will be patient.
So these are the initial thoughts on being here in Australia. We have made what will probably be one of the biggest moves of our life and it turns out that it boils down to sleep, bacon and mobile phones. huh. I guess it really is the little things in life!
