So, Eliza turned six months old last Sunday. She can now crawl forwards (slowly and carefully), and can eat solid food (carrots, peas, sweet potato, squash and rice), which she loves. She *hates* avocado with a passion. She likes going out and socialising, and always has a smile when she sees a new face. Her presence guarantees that little old ladies will insist her dad goes first when standing in queue at the shops. She's eternally curious about everything, she likes to babble and blow raspberries, and she gets a full nights sleep with little complaint. Got ourselves a good 'un!
Wednesday, November 29, 2006
Friday, November 24, 2006
Yummy
Not yet 6 months old, Eliza has discovered the joy of eating, and now we can't shovel in her mashed peas and carrots quickly enough!
Sunday, October 29, 2006
Number Two
It's been an eventful week. It's our second anniversary today, Eliza recently reached her five-month milestone, and we bought a house! So now we're in debt again, which means we're celebrating with a frugal meal.
Eliza has started moving around. She can roll from her back to her tummy, and occasionally vice-versa. She's trying to crawl forwards, but ends up going slowly backwards. It's funny to leave her playing on the floor and returning a few minutes later to see how far she's moved.
Anyway, we're off on a picnic today. See you all soon!
Eliza has started moving around. She can roll from her back to her tummy, and occasionally vice-versa. She's trying to crawl forwards, but ends up going slowly backwards. It's funny to leave her playing on the floor and returning a few minutes later to see how far she's moved.
Anyway, we're off on a picnic today. See you all soon!
Thursday, October 12, 2006
So Vain
Here's Eli playing with a mirror and babbling away. Sorry about the poor resolution... we somehow set the lil' digi to a crappy mode.
Wednesday, October 11, 2006
Better Again
We've been without interweb access for three weeks; the tubes got clogged and we had to churn over to a new service provider. In the interim, Eli got better, and seemed to grow a huge amount. She's now wide awake and alert during the day, apart from two brief naps. She also sleeps from 7pm to 7am, apart from a feed at 11:30pm or so, which she tends to sleep through (even though she drinks a full bottle). Dzung and I are trying not to count our chickens, but it has been going pretty well. Eli is also reaching out for things, holding things in two hands, playing with toys, chewing things (we think a couple of teeth are starting to cause her discomfort), babbling a lot, rolling over, rotating 180 degrees when on her tummy, and holding herself up with her arms. She can almost sit upright, but tends to slowly fall over and face-plant the carpet after a short time. We expect her to be sitting and crawling very soon now. Exciting times!
Monday, September 18, 2006
Sick Baby
Poor little Eliza has come down with a case of Bronchiolitis. I came down with a cold a week or so ago, and we tried our best to quarantine the germs, but unfortunately it hit Dzung late in the week, and Eliza started coughing soon after. It's nothing serious, she's not running a fever or anything like that, and she is being her usual active, smiling self, but it's still kinda sad to see her unwell. The worst bit was me waking her up this morning, she smiling back when she opened her eyes, and they giving her Giggle of Joy, which quickly turned into a wide-eyed coughing-fit, followed by a bit of a cry, driven by surprise and frustration, no doubt. Poor little chicken!
Saturday, August 26, 2006
Electric Chair
A wide-awake Eliza gets a buzz out of laying in her electric chair and talking to her old man :)
Nanny & Grandad
Well, it's been a week or so since Mum and Dad left, and little Eli-Anh misses her grandparents already! Dzung and I do too... we were starting to get used to having Eliza taken off our hands for a few hours in the morning for extra sleep-in time. See you at Crozzle, folks!
Saturday, August 19, 2006
Waking Up
Okay, we're experimenting with recording some video on our lil' digi, then uploading via YouTube. Hope this works...
Wednesday, August 16, 2006
Mummy's B'day
We didn't know that little Eliza could write on birthday cards, let alone go shopping for presents, but here's the evidence. She got mum a nice box of chocolates, which apparently make the milk taste better. Dzung and I got to try "The Boathouse", the restaurant at the end of our street, while Mum and Dad babysat little Eli-Anh. Dinner was very nice. Since then, we've done a day trip to the Blue Mountains, witnessed a crazy hail storm and spent the night without power. Piccies are on Flickr, so click through on the birthday pic for more.
Friday, August 11, 2006
Standing!
Eliza really likes standing up straight. I noticed that she stretched her legs out quite often when lying down, so I naturally wondered whether she'd be able to support her own weight. And here's the proof. She's not too well balanced, hence the helping hand, but she does stand straight and tall, and it affords her such a better view of everyone seated around the table.
Speaking of which, Mum and Dad are over from Perth, and helping us out heaps with the baby. Dzung and I got to go and see "The Boy from Oz" the other night, with Mum and Dad baby-sitting, and they look after Eliza in the morning, giving Dzung a chance to sleep in after doing the night shift. We'll miss them when they're gone!
Eliza has also started enjoying games of peek-a-boo, which is kinda cute. She's doing more and more every day. Click on the pic for some more pictures on Flickr... there's a lot I haven't blogged about!
Speaking of which, Mum and Dad are over from Perth, and helping us out heaps with the baby. Dzung and I got to go and see "The Boy from Oz" the other night, with Mum and Dad baby-sitting, and they look after Eliza in the morning, giving Dzung a chance to sleep in after doing the night shift. We'll miss them when they're gone!
Eliza has also started enjoying games of peek-a-boo, which is kinda cute. She's doing more and more every day. Click on the pic for some more pictures on Flickr... there's a lot I haven't blogged about!
Sunday, July 23, 2006
Massage Lounge
Bruce and Mel are in Sydney, visiting friends and planning trips to the snow, and to Melbourne. We caught up with them, and Simon and Yunyu, on Friday night. Dzungy made a mound of spag bol. for us all, which we washed down with copious amounts of wine. If you click on the pic, you'll see evidence of the drunken "Guitar Hero" sesh that followed. Saturday was rainy and homely, so not much to report. I did the first "big shop" in a while (up until now, Dzung and I have just grabbed ingredients on a daily basis from nearby shops, treating them as our own personal larder), but having a baby to look after has changed that. I also spent some of our "baby bonus" on...err... a DS Lite each for Mum and Dad. Thanks, Mr. Howard. Sunday the weather turned good, so we met up with the visiting Shirelings for brunch and mooching around Glebe. Ended up buying a metric pramload of books.
In other news, Eliza really likes her new reclining massage lounger!
In other news, Eliza really likes her new reclining massage lounger!
Wednesday, July 19, 2006
Learning...
Eliza is gowing up fast. She's so alert these days, at all hours of the day and night. In the piccie you can see the wide-eyed face she makes when acquiring knowledge like the learning sponge that she is. She makes this expression whenever she sees or hears something new or interesting. After a while, if you're paying attention, you might even see her trying to mimic what you're doing. Mum and Dad have been making lots of strange noises and silly faces to... err.... help Eliza learn all about silly noises and strange faces. Hmmm...
Monday, July 17, 2006
Tiny Hand
Another weekend passed. Dzung had a day out on Satdee with Mary and her daughter Layal, who was the flower girl at our wedding. They're over in Sydney for a bit of skiing, which is an annual family holiday for them. So I stayed at home on bottle and nappy duty while the girls enjoyed a long day out. Mostly haircuts and shopping, from what I can gather, which rates pretty highly with the ladies apparently.
Thursday, July 13, 2006
Eliza and Friends
There hasn't been any bloggage for a while, but I guess that's because things are just chugging along day to day without anything major to report. Well, that's not entirely true. E-A has started reaching for things, seemingly having discovered that those waggly things at the corner of her vision are under her control, and can do her bidding. One of the latest piccies shows her in action, in her little mobile laboratory. She's also started making little happy gurgly squeely sounds, which is kinda cute. Dzung has been attending the Mum's group, which is some sort of weird cult which involves everyone putting their baby in a circle and then taking pictures. Here you can see a happy, cute, well-behaved, full-head-of-haired Eliza, along with eight rather ugly and cranky babies.
Saturday, July 08, 2006
Party Time
Friday night saw us heading out of the house around 8pm to have a delicious Tapas dinner at "The Different Drummer", with plenty of beer and cocktails. The eagle-eyed among you might be able to spot Eliza's pink-hatted noggin' poking out the top of the sling strapped to Dad's chest. We met up with a bunch of friends who were out celebrating a birthday. Got home after midnight. Quite an adventure for a six-week old! The following day it was an hours drive out into the Blue Mountains to celebrate another birthday, this time of Dzung's one-year old third-cousin Nathan. And it doesn't stop there... we plan on brunching in Surry Hills late Sunday morning. Quite an active weekend by any measure!
Saturday, July 01, 2006
Couch Potato
Eli-Anh has started to smile a lot more recently, especially after a big feed. So nice to see she's well-mannered, and knows to show her appreciation! She's also been lounging about watching TV, and enjoying being strapped to her dad while he plays Guitar Hero.
Wednesday, June 28, 2006
Post-Bath Bug-Eye
Eliza has been feeding like the clappers. We've recently started giving her a bottle about once a day, to give mum a break (still with mum's milk, though - Dzung's really been expressing herself). There's some equation that the midwives use to figure out how much milk to put in the bottle, and, in Eliza's case, it came out to a meagre 40ml or so. Last night I gave her 90ml, and she still wasn't sated after draining it all. So no need to worry that she's not getting enough to eat.
This point was proven doubly today when Dzung took Eli-Anh for a weigh-in at the Clinic. Expectations were that she'd bulk up by around 100gm a week, which means that after losing 200gm the week after birth, we'd expect her to be up at the 2.8kg mark. Well, young Eli-Anh tipped the scales at over 3.2kg! Our little monkey has really been putting on a growth spurt, which hopefully explains the constant crying and feeding, and which is hopefully just a (short) phase she's going through. Yes, fellow parents, I can hear your laughter from here.
This point was proven doubly today when Dzung took Eli-Anh for a weigh-in at the Clinic. Expectations were that she'd bulk up by around 100gm a week, which means that after losing 200gm the week after birth, we'd expect her to be up at the 2.8kg mark. Well, young Eli-Anh tipped the scales at over 3.2kg! Our little monkey has really been putting on a growth spurt, which hopefully explains the constant crying and feeding, and which is hopefully just a (short) phase she's going through. Yes, fellow parents, I can hear your laughter from here.
Sunday, June 25, 2006
Unca Gus
Cousin Justin is over in Mordor on business, and dropped in to visit Eliza. We had a great night... Friend Nestor and Brother Brendan also came over, and we got some beers, some home-delivered Thai food and played "Guitar Hero" for hours on end. Click the piccie to see Dzung noodling some impressive licks (usually the other way around for her).
We also had our first experience of going out for dinner. Packed the pram and Eliza in the car, and drove in to Chinatown to have a celebratory meal of lobster sashimi, crab, more lobster, fish and other assorted seafood, with Dzung's parents and some of their Sydney friends. Again, click the link for piccies.
The in-laws have been packed off safely back to The Shire, so we have the place to ourselves this weekend. The weather is cool and fine, and we plan on going for a walk along the cafe strip. Expect more pictures soon.
We also had our first experience of going out for dinner. Packed the pram and Eliza in the car, and drove in to Chinatown to have a celebratory meal of lobster sashimi, crab, more lobster, fish and other assorted seafood, with Dzung's parents and some of their Sydney friends. Again, click the link for piccies.
The in-laws have been packed off safely back to The Shire, so we have the place to ourselves this weekend. The weather is cool and fine, and we plan on going for a walk along the cafe strip. Expect more pictures soon.
Sunday, June 18, 2006
Big Foot
Got a few more piccies up on Flickr today. In other news, young Eliza is starting to smile a bit more frequently - she seems to have figured out how to copy what we do with our faces. It's cute, and we'll try to get a photo of it on Flickr soon. Nestor and Gabby visited last night, and we had a great time. Nestor and I went and got some takeaway Thai, and we ate that for dinner, washed down with a bottle of red. After that it was a game of Buzz. Eliza slept through it all.
Friday, June 16, 2006
Three Weeks
Today Lucy (our doula) sent us a CD containing the pictures she took during the birth, so I've uploaded a few of them to Flickr. Don't worry, they're tastfully cropped to omit all the gross bits.
In other news, Dzung's folks are now staying with us, and helping (as grandparents do) by cooking food for us, sleeping soundly while we stay up all night caring for Eliza, and telling us what we should be doing differently the next morning.
Apart from that, Eliza has started to settle down more during the night, and less during the day (instead of the other way around). Last night she slept soundly from 3:30am to 7:30am, which may sound painful to all those non-parents out there, but which was a minor victory for us. I felt more rested the next day than I have for weeks.
Part of this victory has been the establishment of a routine. We haven't been so strict in terms of feed times, bath times and bed time, but we have delineated night and day by playing loud "pink noise" on the iMac during the night, and turning off the lights. Eliza has adapted to this by allowing herself to be put down in the bassinet with nary a protest squeel, and going from bug-eyed wide awakeness to sound asleep in moments. Nice. Pink noise, in case you don't know, is an easier-to-listen-to varient of white noise. It sounds just like mother's womb, I'd bet.
I'd also like to make the observation that, should human evolution continue, I believe that milk will come out of your little finger. Perfect for popping into baby's mouth while you're holding her to calm her during a screaming session. We've been loathe to do this too often, as a proferred digit is tantamount to a dummy in my books, and we've succesfully avoided using the latter to date.
Oh, and really, truly final news: the early childhood clinin lady visited on Thursday, and pronounced Eliza perfectly healthy. She's bulked up to 2.66kg, meaning that after losing 200gm over the first few days after birth, she's put on a massing 340gm, which is above what you'd expect. That's my girl!
In other news, Dzung's folks are now staying with us, and helping (as grandparents do) by cooking food for us, sleeping soundly while we stay up all night caring for Eliza, and telling us what we should be doing differently the next morning.
Apart from that, Eliza has started to settle down more during the night, and less during the day (instead of the other way around). Last night she slept soundly from 3:30am to 7:30am, which may sound painful to all those non-parents out there, but which was a minor victory for us. I felt more rested the next day than I have for weeks.
Part of this victory has been the establishment of a routine. We haven't been so strict in terms of feed times, bath times and bed time, but we have delineated night and day by playing loud "pink noise" on the iMac during the night, and turning off the lights. Eliza has adapted to this by allowing herself to be put down in the bassinet with nary a protest squeel, and going from bug-eyed wide awakeness to sound asleep in moments. Nice. Pink noise, in case you don't know, is an easier-to-listen-to varient of white noise. It sounds just like mother's womb, I'd bet.
I'd also like to make the observation that, should human evolution continue, I believe that milk will come out of your little finger. Perfect for popping into baby's mouth while you're holding her to calm her during a screaming session. We've been loathe to do this too often, as a proferred digit is tantamount to a dummy in my books, and we've succesfully avoided using the latter to date.
Oh, and really, truly final news: the early childhood clinin lady visited on Thursday, and pronounced Eliza perfectly healthy. She's bulked up to 2.66kg, meaning that after losing 200gm over the first few days after birth, she's put on a massing 340gm, which is above what you'd expect. That's my girl!
Sunday, June 04, 2006
The Proverbial Bug
Weekend has flown by... this sleep / feed / wriggle / scream / sleep cycle really occupies your time! As you can see from our piccies on Flickr, Dzung and myself get sleep when and where we can. Eliza has proven to be difficult to settle at night, no matter how much milk we put into her. We've occasionally taken her into bed with us, which tends to comfort her a lot more quickly. Everyone (midwives, lactation consultant, doula, obstetrician) says that doing this is a Good Thing (tm), but we're both a bit nervous of falling asleep with the little one in our bed, so we're trying to limit this as much as possible. It is nice, though!
You're probably wondering what doula is (the quick among you have probably already googled it). Essentially, a doula is an untrained but experienced mum who you hire to be present at your birth, and who helps both mum and dad throughout, championing their cause with the midwives and doctors, which helps to make sure you get the birth you want. We had Lucy with us during the birth on the strong recommendation of friends, and it was great to have her support and reassurance, especially given that we're over here in Mordor alone.
Today, Lucy paid us a visit, and brought along a DVD of photographs that she took during delivery. Dzung and I had been oblivious to her paparrazo-like stylings, and were amazed to see the moments that she had captured (such as us laying eyes on our daughter for the first time, and me double-handed texting our news to friends and family on two mobile phones). We hope to upload some of Lucy's fantastic photographs soon.
Today we also had a visit from Simon and Yunyu, two Perth friends who have also journeyed out of the Shire. They arrived bearing gifts; a pink elephant toy, and a great wrap (choosing blue, to help balance the vast quantities of Pink Stuff that we've now got). You can see me and Unca Bubbs posing with a slightly shocked looking little chicken in the piccie (shocked, probably, because the wrap is so soft and warm, and also because she's straight out of thge bath).
I'll be returning to work early in the week, so pictures and bloggage may drop off a bit until the weekend arrives. Keep checking for updates, though: we'll keep uploading as long as there's an audience!
You're probably wondering what doula is (the quick among you have probably already googled it). Essentially, a doula is an untrained but experienced mum who you hire to be present at your birth, and who helps both mum and dad throughout, championing their cause with the midwives and doctors, which helps to make sure you get the birth you want. We had Lucy with us during the birth on the strong recommendation of friends, and it was great to have her support and reassurance, especially given that we're over here in Mordor alone.
Today, Lucy paid us a visit, and brought along a DVD of photographs that she took during delivery. Dzung and I had been oblivious to her paparrazo-like stylings, and were amazed to see the moments that she had captured (such as us laying eyes on our daughter for the first time, and me double-handed texting our news to friends and family on two mobile phones). We hope to upload some of Lucy's fantastic photographs soon.
Today we also had a visit from Simon and Yunyu, two Perth friends who have also journeyed out of the Shire. They arrived bearing gifts; a pink elephant toy, and a great wrap (choosing blue, to help balance the vast quantities of Pink Stuff that we've now got). You can see me and Unca Bubbs posing with a slightly shocked looking little chicken in the piccie (shocked, probably, because the wrap is so soft and warm, and also because she's straight out of thge bath).
I'll be returning to work early in the week, so pictures and bloggage may drop off a bit until the weekend arrives. Keep checking for updates, though: we'll keep uploading as long as there's an audience!
Friday, June 02, 2006
One Week
More of the same today, so it's probably unrealistic to update this blog daily: I'll do so when Something Significant happens. Today was spent feeding, sleeping, bathing, sleeping, changing nappies, feeding and sleeping. At one point, they tested the fire alarms in our building, but, apart from that, it was the usual cycle (newborn babies function on a 3-hour day, so Eliza actually turns 8 weeks old today, in baby weeks). I will continue to upload photographs to Flickr. I'll put a permanent link to the page in the sidebar somewhere...
Thursday, June 01, 2006
Changing Nappies
My brother Darren writes, "How is Eliza enjoying all Dzung's rich food? Any twos yet? Resemble pate?", to which our emphatic answer is "yes". In the piccie you can see Dzung getting her first experience, tastefully cropped to obscure the action.
We've been getting a bit more sleep now that Eliza is feeding better. Today the lactation consultant called in to give us a few more tips. We also had a visit from Dzung's auntie, who brought us lots of food (literally 15 take away boxes full), which I had to re-arrange the fridge to accomodate. And we're awaiting a visit from Aladar and Deb.
Apart from that, we can feel ourselves settling into more of a routine. Feeds are going well, nappy changes are quick, bathtime is fun for all and there's a lot of sleeping all round. Oh, and we had another landmark... I vacuumed up some hard, gnarled brown object off the carpet, and later found out that Eliza's umbilical stump was missing! So now she has a cute little "outie". Hehe.
We've been getting a bit more sleep now that Eliza is feeding better. Today the lactation consultant called in to give us a few more tips. We also had a visit from Dzung's auntie, who brought us lots of food (literally 15 take away boxes full), which I had to re-arrange the fridge to accomodate. And we're awaiting a visit from Aladar and Deb.
Apart from that, we can feel ourselves settling into more of a routine. Feeds are going well, nappy changes are quick, bathtime is fun for all and there's a lot of sleeping all round. Oh, and we had another landmark... I vacuumed up some hard, gnarled brown object off the carpet, and later found out that Eliza's umbilical stump was missing! So now she has a cute little "outie". Hehe.
Wednesday, May 31, 2006
Forbidden Food
Days four and five have been extremely tiring, and we're both exhausted. Little Eliza has gotten around to being hungry pretty much all the time, which is a contrast to the first couple of days when she was just content to sleep (due to having a full tummy at birth). It's been a long couple of days for Mother and Daughter to learn how to feed properly, but, with the help of a wonderful "lactation consultant", we're slowly getting there.
Dzung's Auntie visited us in hospital, taking two trains and a bus from Cabramatta to stay with us, and chide me for not keeping Dzung rugged up. We shudder to think what she'd say if she witnessed the lengthy "skin to skin" sessions that are a prelude to feeding. Auntie also bought some wonderful food: porridge, soup, meat and vegetables, which we both devoured. Hospital food deserves its bad reputation!
In the photo you can see a very happy Dzung digging into a meal of sashimi and beef takaki (thinly sliced blue beef in a vinegar sauce), two foods that she's been dying to have these last nine months. With the brie, pate and salami that I brought to her in hospital, that leaves oysters. We'll try them in the next couple of days, I'm sure.
The other thing to notice in the photo is that we're now home. What a great relief to be in our own place, after going a bit stir-crazy after five days in the hospital. However, it's also a bit scary, because we need to tend to Eliza around the clock without midwives on hand to show us the ropes, and to take over when we're exhausted. It should be an interesting few weeks before we settle down into a rhythm, and before Dzung's parents come over to help us with some of hte chores.
Dzung's Auntie visited us in hospital, taking two trains and a bus from Cabramatta to stay with us, and chide me for not keeping Dzung rugged up. We shudder to think what she'd say if she witnessed the lengthy "skin to skin" sessions that are a prelude to feeding. Auntie also bought some wonderful food: porridge, soup, meat and vegetables, which we both devoured. Hospital food deserves its bad reputation!
In the photo you can see a very happy Dzung digging into a meal of sashimi and beef takaki (thinly sliced blue beef in a vinegar sauce), two foods that she's been dying to have these last nine months. With the brie, pate and salami that I brought to her in hospital, that leaves oysters. We'll try them in the next couple of days, I'm sure.
The other thing to notice in the photo is that we're now home. What a great relief to be in our own place, after going a bit stir-crazy after five days in the hospital. However, it's also a bit scary, because we need to tend to Eliza around the clock without midwives on hand to show us the ropes, and to take over when we're exhausted. It should be an interesting few weeks before we settle down into a rhythm, and before Dzung's parents come over to help us with some of hte chores.
Sunday, May 28, 2006
Changing Rooms
As I mentioned previously, the hospital is overflowing with newborn babies. Quite literally. Apparently they were flying expectant mums and premature bubs to Canberra, because Sydney will full. So we were lucky we came in when we did. However, we needed to spend the first day in the delivery room, and the second in a shared room, which wasn't much fun. So we were overjoyed when we were moved to a larger room of our own, including a double bed so we can all stay overnight in comfort. We're in 667, the neighbour of the beast. Funny to think that there'll be a mum and baby in room 666 on 6/6/6. They'll probably name him Damien.
We had our first visitors today. Nestor dropped by in the afternoon with his friend David, who was in Sydney in business and was on his way back to the airport. They bought us a delicious Thai dinner, which the four of us ate while Eliza Anh slept in her cot. They also bought heaps of chocolates, but Dzung reckons she's gone off the stuff, after having constant cravings during the last trimester. Seems our little girl is destined to become a chocaholic. And Brendan, my brother, arrived back from Perth, and came straight to the hospital to see his niece.
We ended the day by giving Eliza her first bath. She really enjoyed floating in the water. Click on the "thoughtful" picture for some more piccies, including those of bathtime. We've been giving her feeds often. She's not getting much of a meal yet, but there has been plenty of practice time for mum and bub to get used to the process. We'll probably stay in the hospital until we get confident with it, so it's home Tuesday at the earliest.
We had our first visitors today. Nestor dropped by in the afternoon with his friend David, who was in Sydney in business and was on his way back to the airport. They bought us a delicious Thai dinner, which the four of us ate while Eliza Anh slept in her cot. They also bought heaps of chocolates, but Dzung reckons she's gone off the stuff, after having constant cravings during the last trimester. Seems our little girl is destined to become a chocaholic. And Brendan, my brother, arrived back from Perth, and came straight to the hospital to see his niece.
We ended the day by giving Eliza her first bath. She really enjoyed floating in the water. Click on the "thoughtful" picture for some more piccies, including those of bathtime. We've been giving her feeds often. She's not getting much of a meal yet, but there has been plenty of practice time for mum and bub to get used to the process. We'll probably stay in the hospital until we get confident with it, so it's home Tuesday at the earliest.
A Rose...
We're both still on cloud nine, and fully expecting the day-three downer. I've been happily changing nappies, wrapping up bubbs nice and tight, and just holding her and staring at her face while she and mummy sleep. You've got to experience it to know how powerful it is.
The three of us would like to thank you all for your kind messages and phone calls. We've really been blown away with the response, doubly so now that we're pretty isolated over here in Mordor. It was great to hear from you all.
Some of you have been asking about names. Well, Dzung and I had a smallish list, and wanted to wait and see who our little girl wanted to be. Sophie was a contender, as was Stella (suggested by beer-drinking friends, with much potential for "A Streetcar Named Desire" moments), but we finally decided on Eliza, with second name Anh, after Dzung's mum. I've already become used to calling her Eli-Anh. We'll see how that goes!
I'm extremely tired; I hardly slept at all last night, and when I did I dreamed of those black eyes staring up at me. Tonight I've come home, as we were moved from the birthing suite to a shared room, with a promise that we'll have our own private room, with double bed, tomorrow. Unforunately dads can't stay overnight in shared rooms, so I got Dzung some takeaway dinner (much better that the hospital food), and waited to put bubbs to bed. More news and piccies tomozza!
The three of us would like to thank you all for your kind messages and phone calls. We've really been blown away with the response, doubly so now that we're pretty isolated over here in Mordor. It was great to hear from you all.
Some of you have been asking about names. Well, Dzung and I had a smallish list, and wanted to wait and see who our little girl wanted to be. Sophie was a contender, as was Stella (suggested by beer-drinking friends, with much potential for "A Streetcar Named Desire" moments), but we finally decided on Eliza, with second name Anh, after Dzung's mum. I've already become used to calling her Eli-Anh. We'll see how that goes!
I'm extremely tired; I hardly slept at all last night, and when I did I dreamed of those black eyes staring up at me. Tonight I've come home, as we were moved from the birthing suite to a shared room, with a promise that we'll have our own private room, with double bed, tomorrow. Unforunately dads can't stay overnight in shared rooms, so I got Dzung some takeaway dinner (much better that the hospital food), and waited to put bubbs to bed. More news and piccies tomozza!
Saturday, May 27, 2006
A New Arrival
Wow... that was slightly unexpected! My brother, Brendan was staying with us in Sydney, and we were still three weeks early of our due date. We had a full weekend planned: board games and drinks on Friday night, Dim Sum Saturday morning, going out Saturday night... we didn't expect an early arrival. Dzung's waters broke at 2am on Thursday night, after which neither of us could sleep. Brendan was asleep in the other room, unaware of what was going on. By the time we'd got up in the morning, he was already off to work, and back in Perth by the time the baby arrived.
We hung around the house Friday morning, trying to take it easy and make sure everything was packed. Eventually we decided to go in to hospital so the baby could be monitored, as Dzung hadn't felt it moving for a while, which panicked us a bit. Of course, nothing was wrong, and when we arrived they told us that Dzung was 4cm dilated and we weren't to go home again. Painful contractions started soon after we arrived, so our timing was pretty good.
Dzungy did such a great job, and it was only when she was almost fully dilated that she asked for an epidural, which means she was experiencing the absolute worst of the pain, and decided she didn't want to contnue that experience. Luckily it was 4pm on a Friday, so it literally took five minutes and three contractions for the pain relief to do its work.
After that, the labour slowed down, as they do. But, after a lot more work, our little baby girl arrived at 9:33pm. For those mum and dad statisticians out there, she weighed in at 2.533kg, and was 46cm long. For the midwives out there, "crickey, she's a small one".
We're all going great, we're over the moon and loving every minute of it. We're at the Prince of Wales Private Hospital for Women, which is on Barker Street in Randwick. Right now, we're staying in the birthing suite, because, believe it or not, all the rooms are full, and five of the six birthing suites are being used for new mums and bubs. Wouldn't like to be arriving to give birth today!
We hung around the house Friday morning, trying to take it easy and make sure everything was packed. Eventually we decided to go in to hospital so the baby could be monitored, as Dzung hadn't felt it moving for a while, which panicked us a bit. Of course, nothing was wrong, and when we arrived they told us that Dzung was 4cm dilated and we weren't to go home again. Painful contractions started soon after we arrived, so our timing was pretty good.
Dzungy did such a great job, and it was only when she was almost fully dilated that she asked for an epidural, which means she was experiencing the absolute worst of the pain, and decided she didn't want to contnue that experience. Luckily it was 4pm on a Friday, so it literally took five minutes and three contractions for the pain relief to do its work.
After that, the labour slowed down, as they do. But, after a lot more work, our little baby girl arrived at 9:33pm. For those mum and dad statisticians out there, she weighed in at 2.533kg, and was 46cm long. For the midwives out there, "crickey, she's a small one".
We're all going great, we're over the moon and loving every minute of it. We're at the Prince of Wales Private Hospital for Women, which is on Barker Street in Randwick. Right now, we're staying in the birthing suite, because, believe it or not, all the rooms are full, and five of the six birthing suites are being used for new mums and bubs. Wouldn't like to be arriving to give birth today!
Sunday, May 14, 2006
Brrrrrrm!
Got ourselves a hot red Mountain Buggy. Strangely, choosing a pram turned out to be more difficult than buying a new car. We did a lot of research, and ended up getting lucky at a Baby Expo, with the exhibitors willing to part for the demo model at cost. In the background you can see the new cot, and the change table / bath is to the left of that. The cot is just slightly wider than the interior doors in our apartment, meaning that to move it from the bedroom to the lounge room we need to take it outside, through the sliding doors, and then back inside, through the kitchen. Dag nabbit!
Saturday, May 13, 2006
Not long now!
We have a new car (a sports wagon, I tells ya, with room for skiis and mountain bikes and... prams). Bubbs is just over four weeks away, meaning she could pop into out lives at any moment. We're both very excited!
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