A train journey to forget and a christmas to remember

This year we decided to have Christmas as a proper holiday for everyone, without any of the family needing to cook and more importantly clean up a big Christmas meal. Grandpa picked Coffs Harbour as it was vaguely between the various family members (on mum's side anyway).

We somewhat foolishly decided to catch the train up to Coffs, "it will be an adventure" we told ourselves, "more interesting than a plane" we assured ourselves.

This was true for the first 7.5 hours of the 9 hour trip. Then Alex had what could only be described as a meltdown. He was overtired, scared of the noisy dark train and wanted out of there - fast. Well, he's a toddler, the other passengers will be understanding You might think but - you'd be wrong.

OK, so it was about 1am when the aforementioned meltdown occurred and the other passengers were more keen to try and sleep than listen to our darling Alex scream the train down. Surprising I know. Even the guard was less than sympathetic offering sound advice such as "can't you give him something to suck to keep him quiet". "He's almost 3 years, not 3 months old - but thanks"

In the end we had to escape the evil glares of our fellow passengers by traveling in the noisy area , between the carriages which only served to terrify Alex even further.

But we survived and arrived at a lovely resort with pools, tennis courts, playgrounds and our fantastic serviced apartment filled with family and lots of presents for Alex. The horrors of the train journey were forgotten as Alex embraced the buffet breakfast - and lunch - and dinner...

Saying goodbye to Nanna B

Seeing Nanna off at the airport

 So we're on our own again.

Last weekend we dropped the lovely Nanna B off at the airport so she could finally return home after more than 3 months looking after Alex, and looking after mum and dad as well to be honest.

I had been dreading this week a bit. How were we going to manage? Could we really give Alex breakfast, drop him at the Nannyshare/Daycare, get to our respective works, actually do our jobs, pick him up, feed him and get him tucked up in bed before midnight? Well, so far so good, it might be the honeymoon period but we've managed to survive the week, after lots of planning, preparation of at least two dinners on the weekend, some car swapping, a doctors visit, a little working from home and a take away dinner tonight (well, no one's perfect).

We all miss Nanna but Alex seems to be doing well with the Nanny, Beena which is a real relief he's also enjoying daycare more and more every day.

Alex meets three chilly sisters

Alex poses with the three sisters in Katoomba

This weekend Alex, Dad, Nanna B and I had a lovely relaxing long weekend in the Blue Mountains. Alex got to wear his new lovingly Nanna-knitted hat, cosy jacket and toasty moccasins as we visited Katoomba, Wentworth Falls and a few lovely eating establishments along the way.

We stayed in a lovely old cottage and Alex adapted well to his new environment. The cottage was based around a cosy lounge room with doors going to the kitchen, and both bedrooms. Alex was amused by his, and our, ability to exit from one door and then arrive in the same room by an entirely different door. This from a little man who will basically be programming his own iPhone by the time he's two.

The only slight disaster of the trip was mum and dad forgetting his travel cot. So we unintentionally introduced bubba to sleeping in a big kids bed (thankfully one that was very low to the ground). Results were mixed, he didn't exactly fall out of bed, instead he would sit up in the middle of the bed, look around confused by his new found freedom and lack of bars and then cry.

I'm sure there is a nice parable here about why the caged bird sings but I can't think of it just yet. Instead here are some photos from the weekend.

A lil' bit country...

Alex in his suitable 'country' attire

This weekend Alex and family and a couple of friends left the big smoke behind and headed way out into the wilds of the Australian countryside. OK... slight exaggeration. We drove about 2 hours away and stayed a night in a nice country hotel in Bowral. Where we wondered around the shops, ate yummy food and generally lazed about before packing up the raft of baby related paraphernalia and heading home. But was nice to get away, if only for a night and show Alex and Nanna B that there is more to Australia than the Sydney they've seen so far.

little cat burglar

Kangaroo Valley - Mean nanna won't
let me crawl out onto the street

But I'm over it now

 

The Littlest Hobaby

Dear Baby Alex,
I have something to tell you, you see, we're moving again. Please don't be sad. I know you might feel that your babyhood is a bit like an episode of 'The Littlest Hobo'. You arrive in a new place, bright-eyed, tail wagging. You make friends with the locals, you solve some crimes, everyone in the village falls for your furry charm and just when people are thinking you're here to stay you're gone again.

I know it doesn't seem fair to leave the lovely Nanna B and beautiful New Zealand but there's this thing called 'money' and these things called 'jobs' which enable you do pay this thing called 'rent' and eventually get one of these things called 'mortgages'.

Seems ridiculous to you I'm sure. Can't we just stay here and play all day and eat iced lollies and mush banana into the carpet? you ask. Well, your Dada and I would love to do that but alas the aforementioned money, jobs, rent and mortgages are calling and eventually holidays have to end.

I think you'll like Sydney... really.  

Love,

Mama xx

P.S
In case you don't remember The Littlest Hobo, this is sure to jog your memory:

There's a voice that keeps on calling me
Down the road, that's where I'll always be.
Every stop I make, I make a new friend,
Can't stay for long, just turn around and I'm gone again

Maybe tomorrow, I'll want to settle down,
Until tomorrow, I'll just keep moving on.

Lovely visitors

Here are a few photos from our recent (ish) visitors. Theo, Rachel and the gorgeous Emily came to stay for just over a week and it was just fantastic to have them. The bubs seemed to get on well, although I think Em kind of tolerated Alex while Alex got very excited, sometimes too excited when he saw Em (see photo above where he decided to show his enthusiasm by whacking her on the head and Theo had to gently restrain him). But generally they are babies with very similar temperaments - which helps I guess. 

So we explored all that Mount Maunganui had to offer, walking around and up the mountain, visiting the beach, the hot pools and had a picnic on the harbour. We also went to Lake Taupo and enjoyed boat trips of the slow ferry variety and the fast jet boat type and developed an unhealthy obsession with honey ice cream.

We also proved that you can have a wonderful joint family holiday with two babies in tow. Hopefully this will be the first of many family trips together.

Rach & Theo embracing their 'inner bee' in Taupo

Em giving Alex crawling lessons
(he started a few days later)

Picnic at Pilot Bay - Mount Maunganui

Baby Swap

Highchairs I have known

Help my baby is a carnivore!

So I have been doing my best to introduce baby Alexander to a wide range of foods now he's started on solids. As we're doing this baby led weaning business he usually gets something off my plate, which inevitably means vegetables or fish, and perhaps some bread or the odd noodle. We also taken some backup baby food with us to Bali which included the odd chicken, pea and pumpkin mush.

At the wedding on Sunday there was an amazing buffet spread so I thought it was a good opportunity to introduce Alex to some new foods. He's not been hugely interested in any particular food so I brought a small amount of beef, chicken and a few other bits. Well... when I waved the beef near him he almost bit my finger off. He then proceeded to suck the life out of it for a good 10 minutes. His enthusiasm for the dead cow was only surpassed by vigour with which he munched down the chicken.

Hmm... beef and chicken... OK. How exactly do I cook those? Any recipes where I don't actually have to touch raw meat are welcome below.

Alexander's not getting married

Well not yet anyway, but he has been to his first wedding. His uncle Adam married Christina on Sunday, the main reason for us all being in Bali. The wedding was beautiful in a magical setting and maybe unsurprisingly Alex was a little angel, not making a peep throughout the ceremony and falling asleep, on cue, during the speeches (well, no one's that perfect).

Alex has taken a real shine to his uncle, whom he's only just met, and of course the feeling is mutual. He's also had the pleasure meeting a whole raft of Butler clan, a virtual flock of aunts, uncles, cousins and friends. We've also had reunions with lovely Aunty Sian and Nanna B. Combine that with the hotel staff and baby Alex might just explode with affection.

Dear Baby Alexander

There's something I need to tell you. I know you've only been in this world for 6 months and are getting comfortable in our little London flat, but soon it's all going to change again. You might have noticed a bit more mess around the place of late? lots of big brown boxes in front of your push chair, packing tape by your high chair, that sort of thing. Perhaps you've noticed that mum's been a little more frazzled than usual? Well... the thing is... we've decided to move to the other side of the world... Australia to be specific, with stops in Bali and New Zealand before we get there.

I really hope you'll like it there, the weather is warmer so that means more trips to the park, more trees to stare up at, more beaches to visit. Do you remember the beach in Florida? Well Australia is a bit like Florida, only not so...um... American.

I'm afraid you'll have to say goodbye to your wonderful little baby friends, Poppy, Tilly, Sarah, Nicholas and Dilys and their lovely mummy's. It brings a tear to my eye just thinking about it. I'm sure we will stay in touch and have a couple of skype reunions.

We will need to say goodbye, for now, to the baby whisperer Amy and lots of other lovely friends in the UK but I'm sure they will come to visit Australia in time. Mum and Dad will be working on them all!

Hopefully we can find a replacement for the swimming lessons and baby play classes you enjoy so much. And some replacement cafes and restaurants (ok, perhaps that's more for mum).

The good news is you will be able to spend more time with Amma and Nanna B and you'll meet uncle Adam, grandpa Beron and mean uncle hOb as well as lots of other lovely new people who will no doubt love you to bits and lavish you with affection... possibly while mum and dad nip off to aforementioned beach or cafe.

It's going to take a little while to get there, remember that flight to Miami? It's going to be a bit like that but about 3 times as long. Luckily we can use your new Australian passport where you look less like a baby criminal than you do in your British.

You're such a resilient, adaptable little man that I'm sure you will handle all the change with ease. I can't necessarily say the same for your parents.

Weekend break with the girls

Young master Butler spent last weekend away in the Cotswolds with three young ladies - OK one of the ladies was his mum and the other two were his mum's friends' Sandra and Amy so not quite a playboy weekend.

He got a good dose of English countryside with thatched cottages, rainy walks, the odd dose of sunshine and an English pub with an open fire - and yes it's August so 'technically speaking' summer.

What now?

Now that Amma has gone home, Alex and I are just the tiniest bit at a loss for things to do. Initially I was nervous about venturing off to far flung places with a 3/4 month old bubby but now that it's all over and mum's gone back to Australia... well... I'm in need of diversion, entertainment, variety perhaps... our little West London flat just doesn't seem, I don't know, 'big' enough any more.

So I'm going to make a pledge to venture out with Alex more often, trying new things and making the most summer in the UK.

Oh dear, I've published the idea now so I'm going to prove it and actually document my adventures...

Beach bubba

Here are some pictures from Alex's first trip to the beach , in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. By all accounts he's a beach babe, considering the smiles, leg kicking and all round giggling during our visit. We even took a mini dip in the ocean and Alex felt the waves splashing over his little toes. The water temperature was around 30 degrees c, so he's going to get a rude shock if he thinks all beaches are that temperature.

The only small problem with a visit to the beach seems to be the sun, so for now at least it's full length swim suit, sun hat and BIG umbrella all the way.

The family way

So, the main reason we plucked our 3 month old from the comfort of London town and transported him over the Atlantic to Florida was to visit his great grandma Joy. Mum had already travelled about 24 hours from Australia to visit, so what's another 9 hours or so.

Well it was really worth it as Gran loved her little blue eyed, fair haired, very white great grandson (sorry to go on about it, but when is this boy going to get just a tiny bit of colour so he looks a little bit like my son?). And it didn't take long for Alex to smile and giggle at his great granny.


I must admit though that Alex's favourite family member was definitely my 7 year old cousin Zoe... it might have been the two missing front teeth, the big shining smile or the fantastic array of noises but no matter what Zoe did Alex would break into uncontrollable giggles. It seemed to happen whether Zoe was trying to make him laugh or not. While in Florida if Alex started to get even a little grumpy Zoe would appear with a hand puppet, some baby noises, or a lovely Icelandic lullaby and make everything better. Needless to say, now we are back in London and missing all the family in Florida very much - hopefully we will get to visit again soon.

Here are a few more pictures from Florida, including a trip to South Beach, Miami and dinner out with the family.


























































p.s. Zoe's mum is Icelandic (hence the lullaby) and that's also the reason mum has finally settled on the name Alex will call her - Amma. Amma is Icelandic for Grandma, and though we're not technically from that part of the world we all like the sound of it. So Amma it is... until mum changes her mind again.

A well travelled bébé

Having conquered Paris the next big travelling adventure was a mere 9 hour transatlantic flight to Florida... hmm.

True to form this well travelled bébé handled the experience with ease, admittedly he didn't exactly 'sleep the whole flight' over there, in fact he probably slept for about 45 minutes out of the 9 hour journey but he also didn't cry, just kind of chilled out looking around and snacking. In fact at the end of the flight various people sitting nearby actually came over to say what a perfect, well behaved baby he was.

The video below was filmed in the car on the way back from the Airport in Florida. I can't tell if Alex is ecstatic or just delirious from lack of sleep but funny none the less.



He was even better on the flight home, starting out by charming the stewardesses and neighbouring passengers with big smiles before falling asleep just before takeoff and not waking up until we landed! I almost feel like going on more flights because he seems to like them so much...

OK... it's been a while

OK, I'm a very bad bloggy type person... been spending too much time doing things and not enough time writing about what we're doing. So now there should be a relative flurry of new updates from Paris and Florida and other random happenings of the past few weeks.

We'll start with a few final Parisian photos featuring the bébé (his current nickname) as well as mum and grandma - hereafter to be known as Amma (I'll explain why in another post).














Dad was with us in Paris too, I think he must have been behind the camera the whole time.

Paris me fait sourire

International travel with a 3 month old... part one. A long weekend in Paris. How's this going to go then? A 2 1/2 hour train trip followed by a long wait for a taxi at Gard du Nord in close to 30 degree heat and then navigating the narrow streets winding of Paris looking for somewhere to eat, feed or change... only to do it all again in reverse two days later.

Destined for disaster non?

Well... non! It seems our Alex is a natural jet setter, he barely made a peep on the Eurostar both ways, smiled and giggled all through the taxi lines and generally won admirers everywhere he went.

Lots of photos taken and mini adventures had so will have a few Parisian blog entries in the next few days but for now, here is a video which sums up Alex's mood in the city of lurve!