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August 2007 Breaking news (9/8/07): We have
settled on a name and would like to welcome into the world We checked out of the hospital early yesterday afternoon, stopped in Manly for a bite of lunch (so that Charlie could see how cosmopolitan and chic his parents are) and made it home with him still asleep. He is a good sleeper and so far has been a minimal howler - long may that last! Unfortunately his parents hardly slept a wink and need to turn down the sensitivity on the baby monitor, but I'm sure we'll learn. Thanks heaps to those of you who have sent us flowers, gifts and messages and to all the visitors we've had. We're very honoured. Check out Charlie's web page for more photos.
It's a boy!
That's right, at 2:13pm AEST on 4 August 2007 Flick and Dave renounced DINKY*-dom and became Mum and Dad. Labour lasted 4.5 hours (which Flick thinks is worthy of bragging rights) and minimal pain relief was involved (gas only). At birth, our son (who doesn't have a name yet) weighed a significant 3.76kgs and was 54cm long. All visible attributes appear to be present and correct. With the laptop stereo setup in the delivery suite, Dave's "first song" for the little man was certainly a little presumptuous yet seemed entirely appropriate - "For Unto Us a Child is Born" from Handel's Messiah. Massive thanks to our primo midwife Skye, Dr Anne, Annie and the rest of the team at North Shore Private. The process of pregnancy has been a transformative experience in its own right, particularly for Flick. Gaining a third of one's body weight in half a year (most of it apparently in the form of disruptive hormones) is a difficult exercise in anyone's book and brought with it urges that could not be ignored. Dave, on the other hand, appeared to be in denial right up to the end, but in his "cave" (see Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus) was gradually coming to terms with the end of one phase of his life and the beginning of a new chapter. The really wonderful thing has been having our friends and family rally around us with support and encouragement. There are a number of special people we can't thank enough, who have donated or lent us a heap of maternity and baby clothes, essential furniture, prams and so on. Since she finished work Flick has had a steady stream of calls and visitors with various people wading in to help with the preparations. Thank you everyone - it really means a lot to us and we're lucky to know you! And of course we have Vanessa and Pam to thank for the best baby shower, which was so popular that unfortunately we couldn't invite everyone we would have liked to, and in true Flick & Dave style degenerated in the evening into a full scale party complete with the infamous "pregnant boogie" (see below). Francie came over specially and stayed for a few days to help Flick prepare for the new arrival.
Of course there has been life apart from pregnancy and birth... Work and Dave's *&%# MBA have played a fairly significant role. On the latter front, we're pleased to report that while the timing could have been better, there's definitely life at the end of the tunnel with less than 3 months to go. We can't wait and will be celebrating once we cross the line!!! Rolling back to earlier in the year and the weddings have kept coming (and we love them too). First it was Marian & Steve's (Sydney, February)...
Followed by Caroline & Scott's (Wellington, March)...
and Flicka & Matt's (Hunter Valley, March).
Still to come in the next six months are:
We were back in New Zealand again at Easter for Flicky's Granny's 90th (what a milestone!) and took the opportunity to inspect the new McEwen family holiday pad in Waikanae (replacing Kuratau after over 15 fantastic years). We're happy to report that it lives up to expectations and will become a regular fixture on future trips back. The fact that it is less than an hour north of Wellington certainly helps.
Meanwhile, after an argument sometime late last year, Flick decided she would get back at David by feeding him to the sharks at Manly Ocean World (cunningly concealed as a Christmas gift voucher). Fortunately Dave managed to fend off the sharks and escaped with only a couple more grey hairs. The bit where he was looking the other way and turned back to see a four or five metre shark closing in on him at a range of about one metre was somewhat disturbing. Luckily the instructor was looking and pulled him down just in time so that the shark cruised serenely overhead, very much close enough to reach out and touch.
In May we thought it was about time to catch up with a few friends, so we bought a couple of Matt Ryan's organic birds (so big you'd think they were actually pumped up on steroids) for the great chook roast.
We also hosted a "study buddies" brunch with Dave's MBA syndicate members & families (John & Jen; Emma, Rik, Jonah & Keshie; Tracey & Matt; Christine, Rob, Jackson & Liam; and Kevin & Vikki).
Various people reckoned we should try to have a holiday before baby so in early July, just after Flick finished up at work, we rented a house for four days at Bluey's Beach in the Myall Lakes region, a few hours drive North of Sydney. This is another very picturesque part of New South Wales and we've added a couple of landscapes to the Scenic Oz page on the site. We had a most enjoyable time blobbing out. OK, so Dave in normal style didn't sit still, racked up lots of kms on his bike and went for an ocean swim in July, but for him that's relaxing.
And that's about it. Those of you who aren't really into babies might not be visiting this site so often. Not that we're going to have time to update it any more... Anyway, for the meantime we're taking things one day at a time. All the best, *Double income no kids yet
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