Just the five of us

As Juliet nears the three week mark, I find myself very behind on the old blog with no real excuses.   Nanna agreed to stay on in Sydney for an extra couple of weeks if we threw in a ticket to see "Ben Hur, the Stadium Spectacular" and has been playing the role of Mary Poppins, cook and fetcher of older child from nursery to much critical acclaim.  Juliet is quite a good little sleeper (touch wetwipe) so I have been resting when she does during the day and making up all the hours of a full night's sleep, even if they don't come all at once.  And so the blog has gone to pot.

In a "here's what you missed on the Yardley show" type round up, a brief summary of what has passed:
There was the birth - took a long time to get going, but she eventually appeared around 9 hours after they broke my waters.  We didn't manage to get her out while the midwife from Bolton was on shift and the next midwife, from Australia, was unimpressed by my uninformed questions (No 1: Can we try to get her out while it's still 10/10/10 and No 2: Will the epidural last - it looks like it's running low) and I am firmly convinced that she turned down the dosage thereafter to spite me.  It really hurt.  I'm a bit embarrassed to go back to the obstetrician for the six week check after all my whinging, (Him: "It's too late to top up the epidural."  Me: "No it isn't!".  Midwife: "Your baby will be born with the next contraction.  Look down." Me: "No, I don't want to" etc etc).  I'm sure they've heard worse from people who aren't on very powerful drugs (at one point I was chomping into the gas and air as well as the massive dose of local anaesthetics and opoids which were flowing into my spine) but I still feel like a bit of a wuss.  Hey ho.  All over now.

Anyway, then there was the hospital, where I was quick to remember to make the most of the fact that Juliet was newborn and sleepy and would probably settle nicely.  So that was a peaceful happy time (once Stu extricated me from a shared room).

Then there was the hotel - delightful in every way.  The hospital has taken over a floor of the Crowne Plaza at Coogee and one enjoys views, nice food, midwives and movies for a couple of nights. 

Juliet very much enjoyed falling asleep to the sound of the waves - the surf was really high while we were there.

I was very sad to come away and hoped for a spike in my blood pressure or somesuch so that I could stay an extra night.  This photo was taken the morning after she went on her Day 3 feeding frenzy so not quite my best side.

What else have you missed, fair readers?  Well, time at home has been very relaxing and lovely, thanks to Washerwoman Nanna.  Alice is adapting nicely to having a baby sister - Juliet doesn't encroach on her terribly at the moment except when I'm confined to a chair to feed her.  It'll be a different story when all the help has dried up, I'm sure.  In fact, Alice is really keen to share her news with anyone she meets - people in lifts, checkout ladies, friends, daycare teachers etc - so it seems that she is genuinely pleased.  We've been out for girly time the last two Saturdays, just the two of us, and hopefully we can make a little ritual of that.

The lady of the hour, Juliet herself, is quite the baby about town.  We're trying to just do one thing a day, but that one thing has been, for example, being wheeled about Circular Quay while Mummy and Daddy dine at Aria; sitting under the table at the Bronte Road Bistro over lunch; multiple excursions to Westfield and she'll be off to see the Sculpture by the Sea exhibition tomorrow.  She's doing really well with her sleeping and feeding and we have her newborn check on Monday, so it'll be interesting to see if she has regained her (hefty) birth weight yet.  I've started giving her a little bottle of formula at night as a small top-up and so she's generally just up once a night, at 3ish.  This is fairly manageable when combined with a daytime nap (for me) so I'm feeling quite well and she seems pretty happy.

More soon...

What's in a name?

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose

By any other name would smell as sweet."

Words aptly spoken by Juliet Capulet whom we hope will not be providing hints and tips in the romance department to our fair maiden.

I thought I would just satisfy any curious onlookers about the origin of the name Oonagh.  It's here: http://theadventuresofalice.blogspot.com/2008/06/tribute-to-great-auntie-oonagh.html

She's here!

Juliet's birth anouncement, as shared by her proud Dad.

Just a short note to share my delight at the arrival of Juliet Oonagh Yardley, who was born at 11.42pm on 10.10.10. Juliet weighed in at 3.9 kilos, or 8lbs 9ozs in old money.

Both Helen and Juliet are doing very well, and as you might expect, I executed my own role in proceedings with perfection and no little flair. It will come as no surprise to learn that big sister Alice is extremely excited, or as the tabloids might put it, in wonderland. The fact that one of the midwives was originally from Bolton was the perfect demi glace cherry to top it all off.

Becoming a father to first Alice and now Juliet, I'm reminded of a tale told by President Bartlet in the TV series the West Wing, of his taking a trip to Egypt with his wife and family. Bartlet describes it thus:

"We had a guide, a Bedouin man, who called me 'Abu el Banat'. And whenever we'd meet another Bedouin, he'd introduce me as Abu el Banat. And the Bedouin would laugh and laugh and offer me a cup of tea. And I'd go to pay them for the tea and they wouldn't let me. 'Abu el Banat' means 'Father of daughters'. They thought the tea was the least they could do".

I guess that's my way of saying all advice gratefully accepted!
 

 
More news and photos to follow.  All very well, just predicably knackered.

Launch ready

One week to go!

Thong Day

To the consternation of the "just off the boat" new Irish assistant at daycare, Friday was apparently Thong Day.  National Thong Day, to be precise.  We've lived here so long that we are happy to discuss and share how many pairs of thongs we have with friends, whether we've bought any new ones this summer and the scare stories about how not washing your thongs gives you a nasty rash.  Still, I have to admit to having a Sid James-esque titter when the slide show came through on Friday afternoon.

This from page 1:

"The Dolphins did their bit to raise awareness for this worthy day and have fun with thongs, celebrating their youth and freedom. They engaged in thong painting! Thongs were painted and then, SLAP! They were banged onto the page to create prints."

To be fair to Young Alice, she came home discussing how she had participated in various activities involving flip flops and seemed to understand that "thongs are going to help the sick people".

Alice "bangs her thong".

Some other thong activity, which followed on from a pretend party.  It seems that Alice was reluctant to relinquish her party hat, having gained no little degree of celebrity during that activity by "leading the group in singing 'Happy Birthday'".  She's very keen on birthdays at the moment and can rattle off the list of family events until her own.  "First it's your baby's birthday [points to my stomach], then it's my baby's birthday [points to own stomach], then it's Daddy's birthday, then it's Kiss-Mass, then it's Allie's".  Apparently we're having a Dora cake this year.  And she still remembers that she had a Makka Pakka one last year.  I'm going to use this as a test of earliest memories as she gets older.

Right.  Off to get a pedicure to show off my new thongs in their best light.  Chortle.



*Update provided for parents on Thong Day:  Friday the 1st of October is National Thong Day, an awareness day organised and for the benefit of Youngcare – an organisation striving to change the care and accommodation options for young Australians with full-time care needs. Currently 6500 young people are living in aged care due to lack of alternatives and another 700,000 being cared for at home by family and friends. Youngcare have used the thong – a symbol of youth, freedom and fun – to drive their awareness campaign. Today, donations can be made to Youngcare via the Thong Day website to assist in finding alternative living arrangements for or young people in need – www.thongday.com.au