In The Botanical Garden, the BATS sleep while we PLAY!

Today we had big plans to go on a walk with our neighbors and new found American friends. Postponed from yesterday as they had to get stuff straight with their American and Australian taxes. I also was sorting out the babysitter for Seth's work Christmas Party. No holiday, PC party here, folks. It is a Christmas Party. It is at Luna Park ( there are rides, like an amusement park) and...get this it is 1920's themed, costume optional. Ummm..I did look up costume shops a week or so ago, but not knowing if I would really do this sitter thing, prevented me from ordering.  So wear your flapper dress on a roller coaster, Xmas Xtravaganza! So, since its summer, I hope a little cotton black summer dress I have will do, costume or "smart casual" on invite.

. View of Sydney Opera House from the Royal Botonical Garden

Here is a link to Luna Park:  http://www.lunaparksydney.com

So, back to the walk. We stop at Starbucks. She insists on paying so I will get it next time. I have been using the convenient Coffee Room and 7-11 which bookend our building. Prefer the Coffee Room, they are so nice and the gentleman there always opens the door to our lobby for me. We take a walk through the Botanical Garden. It is beautiful and our neighbor friend points out the bats...yes, the big-assed bats that fly in our park at night, sleep by day in a tree in the Garden. We plan to video them and post it, as they seem to be right outside of our 15th floor window. I would be scared to have my window open. Yes, we can open our 15th floor window. This is Australia.  But bats like me. I had them, little cute ones, in my classroom at All Saints Catholic School!  Don't want one to enter here! Then, we let the kids get out of "prams" and play a bit. Huck is enamored with our neighbor girl (17months). He just sits and watches her when together and this is the longest he stays still anymore when not confined to stroller or high chair...Huck might have his first crush. He finds Muffin's apple on the picnic blanket and gnaws on it. Basically, the kids eat their snacks and play a bit then we head back for the two little ones to nap. It is so nice to have an adult to talk to! We have to pick up the dry cleaning first (just a couple weeks here to go, dare I find a delivery for that,too? I just might!) as I am not sure we will have a chance to get out again, Finn has to nap, a grocery delivery is coming and a babysitter later to meet and greet the children and us before tomorrow night. BTW, did I mention that the grocer also delivers our wine, beer, diapers and wipers? I could go all agoraphobic here if I wanted to....not that I want to, really, I do not.

Babysitter Service: It is much like the River City Sitters Service in Richmond that I did some babysitting for a handful of times. They get a finder/arranger fee each time you use them and then you pay your sitter in cash, day of service. The price is similar, if I remember correctly, maybe not. Check into some other time. It is expensive and we thought RCS was,too. But certainly worth having CPR certified, background checked sitters.Hopefully, we feel comfortable with her. otherwise, we are cancelling. Anyway, no expectations for Viv to be asleeo unless she falls asleep watching a movie on the couch. Finn, God Bless him, will sleep, though maybe not as easily as he would for me. I guess, I will have to pump and we will see how that all goes.First times....

Baby boy seems to be coming out of his cold. Muffin seems to have escaped it and I am wiped out, but living like I am not sick. My mom and Cathy and The Man's parents got to hear my voice...I am on day 2.5 of antib's. Last night I fell asleep with Muffin, likely before Muffin, and stayed asleep, until I heard the little Huckleberry boy hit his head (my morning alarm clock at 6 something). I yearn for a nap but a little too nervous to do so with Muffin awake...though she would watch tv or play on "her green ipad:" for long enough for me to squeeze a little shut eye in. if could just relax.

The Man seems okay with new job, some of you  have been asking about that. It is a whole new thing and he is basically starting the job from scratch, coming up with strategy and plan to save the company money with contractors and vendors. He has always been good at leaving work at work, except when he never got to leave work in those dreadful MW, big firm days. Plus, hard to do anything else, but feed the kids, clean up a bit and get them ready for bed. Until that happens we are barely able to talk (you parents know what I mean). Not sure about him, but that is it for me. I am done. I keep thinking one evening I will sneak out and go walk, get nails done, window shop, really shop. But I am too pooped to pop. I will, one day, when I am well again.

I finally finished a book I got months ago, Peony in Love by Lisa See. I think I repeat read a bunch of it as I had so many starts and stops...(btw, readers out there, this was not as good as Snow Flower and the Secret Fan. .I am anxious to get a new book soon or do one on the ipad, as I am getting sucked into the blogosphere reading other peoples stuff...A magazine here is like 8 or 9 dollars. I might have to subscribe to People online. I miss my smut and it is summer time here.  My favorite time of year to read it!

Tips to know for when you come to Australia:

Rounding-there are no pennies, so they round your change at a restaurant or something.
Speaking of restaurants and purchasing: Tax is added into price of items.
Tipping is not expected...I guess they factor that in to the price of the food, too.

Signing off my dear readers....whomever you are and however you find out I have added a new message!!
TTFN!

Where Did the Weekend Go?!

We got a rental car, part of The Man's package for moving,  a 6 week rental. It's a Ford Wagon. It is big. So, we had to go drop a grand on Aussie approved car seats. Honestly, wish we could use ours. Part of it is the familiar, part of it is that they lack the center click thing we have. So, here we go, driving on the opposite side of the road in the opposite side of the car.

Saturday-we head out to Wollongong and are planning to drive this scenic route, but it is mostly shut down due to the flooding from all the damn rain last week. But, once we get to scenic drives, WOW! The sky is so blue here it seems fake and the ocean is a beautiful blue, too. I could never have driven this path hanging over the ocean. Locals call this area "the gong". It didn't seem very crowded. We went to a playground, walked the boardwalk, watched some surfers. We did not step foot on the beach! Ahh. I just hadn't planned for this and we knew we would be going out to eat. So, we have a beer at a brewery along the beach, stride back to our car to find this seafood restaurant Da Man read about. He has been anxious to try mudbugs, etc. He loved the food. Muffin  loved the calamari. I thought it was ok. Would love to try something else there sometime. Nicole Kidman has been there before! The picture they show looks like it is from the '80's...like Days of Thunder days. Wasn't that her?

Sunday, we did went by the rental house and to the grocery store. It was small and difficult to be in with two kids and a lost list. So, we will continue to have the groceries delivered. Poor me, I know. I love it! I took Muffin for a walk in Hyde Park across the street. It is always loaded with the ibis breed of bird. But we also saw several  Kookaburra's. Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree, merry merry king of the bush is he. Laugh kookaburra, laugh kookaburra, how gay your life must be!

* a little bummed that we missed the Santa Fest in my favorite place, Darling Harbour, but we had no idea it was going to clear up and get so nice. We just needed some space to breathe from city life.

Monday comes and though I feel like doing nothing, I take us out on the town. I end up at this mall that you can walk through outdoors. Seems every time we go by it, there are live performers, so we listen to a guy  singing and playing guitar for a while then hit David Jones department store to get the skinny on Ole Santy Claus. We enjoy the marionnette caroling window decorations on our way in. Well, there is an ENTIRE floor of kids clothes, and toys...shoes??not sure where they are...and the Santa Cave. Creepy sort of. Kids were not dressed for Santa photos but we went to say HellO. Well, clearly, this was a Santa helper as he truly was a skinny youthful Claus. The little girl  rushed ahead to go see him, but once there got very shy. Not sure what she was thinking? Why is he so skinny and why does he talk Australian? Why does he look like one of my older boy cousins wearing Santa's suit?

The toys there are great. Muffin leaves screaming for a toy. I feel a bit guilty since she has so few toys here. But her bday is coming, Xmas is coming and she was being bratty. Not asking nicely. Demanding. Screaming and crying. We did get a Christmas book and I suspect when we go back Wed. or Thurs. in their picture finery, we may have to get a toys or two. Just have to be sure it isn't something Santa already got as he whispered a few things to me. He and the elves are mostly finished for Huck and have a bit to do for Muffin. Also, he's not finished with the "Stocking Fillers".

Some things you might want to know in case you come to Australia:

Cantelope= Rock melon
Pide= Pita
Capsicums=Peppers
How are you going? = How are you? though it seems like a mix between "How are  you and where are you going?"

You can be HOME anywhere

I mentioned in an earlier post that I used to get homesick while on vacation with my family. I can honestly say, though there is no place like home, I am not homesick for my house in Richmond. Maybe The Pink House never stood a chance to get my complete affection since Australia was looming over our heads, since though it is a beautiful home, we did not choose the configurations and fixtures and granite (hee hee, had to throw that in since it would be way too impractical to change it, but it is the thing I least like in the house!). Maybe, I was just busy with a newborn and a toddler and life and it just wasn't so important at the time. All of these and the big THAT that became a reality. The possibility of moving to Oz.

I looked at pictures of the house online the other day and while I say I don't miss The Pink House, I do miss, dry a tear, the possibilities that seemed to come with The Pink House. We were in a nice neighborhood with some nice neighbors, in a good school district, near everything and still not too far from our families in MD. This was the house that my big family could all come to and STAY the night! This is the house where we would make our memories, where Muff and Huck would play and get their first dog. This is the house we would make our own. Though, while we were in the house, we didn't do one thing to make it ours except put our stuff in it. The list of things we wanted to do...to make it ours never got written so much as spoken about in random snippets of convo that adults have in the 'tween time of taking care of kids.. I have thought I might make that my project here...to list those things, gather ideas, etc...but then I might grow more attached and the worst part of this whole move to me, is I don't know where we go from here. The Pink House sits unrented. The family who were interested must have folded. I don't know. I can say, I was a little jealous of them to come live in our Pink House and live my PINK, rosy life. Poor Pink House, it has a lousy success rate at keeping happy families so far. At least we left it as a whole unit. Hopeful that we will return to it and some of those possibiliTTTT's become REALITTTT's!

One thing I believe is that is doesn't matter where you are so much, it's who you are with. If I had  my ruby slippers, I'd love for us all to be together. But this isn't forever...and before you know it, we'll be bumping elbows around a table together again. Lots of things, celebrations to look forward to for sure.

You all have each other. I miss you more! XO.

Thanksgiving Day is Coming

Gobble, Gobble, Gobble ,Gobble

Think we'll get a turkey sandwich at Subway!

Thanksgiving Day is coming

Gobble, Gobble,Gobble ,Gobble

Rain , Please Go Away!

Thanksgiving Day is Coming

Gobble, Gobble ,Gobble ,Gobble

We hope to go to a  Christmas Concert with Dora in the park today!

Will miss you all and the gobble fest. Enjoy the holiday everyone. It's already Thursday here folks.

Enjoy your mini-break, my college niece and nephews, Erin, Drew & Rob.

Santa In Australia

Ya'd think Old Saint Nick would be wearing his "swimmers", but so far we have only seen him in his famous red suit here in Australia. Though we have only seen the big plastic blow up Santas, so far! A shopping area nearby is all set up for Santa pics (Santa wasn't there). We need to get a photo of it. It is like a log cabin and has Canadian flags on either side, very rustic. I never thought of the North Pole as Canada., but no worries, wherever it is, seems the USPS has always managed to get our letters delivered to the fellow! Vivian has drawn him a couple pictures and told me she wants paper and pencils.

Friday, we went to Darling Harbour. Yes,again.  We, being the kids and I. We have lunch at "Pancakes on the Rocks". But Muffin didn't eat a bite of pancake since there was ice cream on top. I have not attempted to make my child's favorite here yet, though I ordered pancake mix and it comes in a little jug that you add water to and then shake, then pour to make your pancakes. Might attempt it tomorrow. I ate some decadent pancake thing with bananas, walnuts, and choc. I know I should have had the salad. Weird thing in Australia. Sometimes you go someplace to eat and they tell you how long you have at the table. No problem, generally, but they are not easy to get a check from and so there time frame can't work!

Anyway, we go back to WildLife Sydney. The baby koala is not on its mama today, though close to her. It is just adorable. The big old croc is out of the water sunbathing, stretched and yawned, Oh my!

Santa has sprung up everywhere since our last trip to the harbour. He is hanging from a building and on other buildings. He looks HOT! Though it is warm, its mostly not humid, and just beautiful. It is weird to be so close to Christmas with warm weather, but I guess that is how it is in the a's--Australi-a, Californi-a, Florid-a. We have not discussed Christmas plans,besides going to a Christmas concert on Turkey day, at least it won't be your Thurs. here.We are also going back to the Harbour next Saturday for their Santa Fest. Dress as Santa get free admission into the museums and march in the Santa parades.There will be fireworks and caroling and it's sort of late, but I think Muffin  will like it. Huckleberry the Quiet Giant, might not. Though, he has adjusted well to the rhythm of a big city. He seems to like strolling about and waves his arms as we go. When they aren't holding hands and looking A-DOR-A-BLE!!!

So Friday night we go to little pizza joint around the corner. The Man gets the Vonage phone set up on Saturday, we each talk to our family a little and look forward to calling friends,too. The Vonage phone works better than the phone in our apt. Really.  We head out to the Harbour again and Chinatown. We actually pretty much go by a bunch of Chinese restaurants and head to the Chinese Garden which neighbors the Harbour. We've had a late start though and they are ready to close. So we go to a restaurant called something like, Meat and Wine. We have good wine, the meat is okay. Muffin devours it...and her mama feels good to see that as as mama is glad to see her kid eat something nourishing! Huck flirts with beautiful teenaged girl sitting near us!

Sunday, we go to this mall type thing that has the Chinese Market in it at the bottom and restaurants and a food court. We eat from the Food Court (Viv naps) and then...I. who has excruciating neck pain, not sure the cause, carrying Huck in the Bjorn (oops, yes G &R it is abroad but it will make it back your way) Friday night, the too stuffed pillows here, get a MALL MASSAGE. Yup, right there in the middle of the mall. I think I will try anything. It did improve my range of motion, but I am still hurting a lot. The Man has not been given our health info. yet and if this doesn't resolve itself in a couple days, I am going to have to see a Dr. A muscle relaxer would help. I wonder if I can take that and nurse Huck?Universal health care should be interesting. I am told, by Jennifer our relocation lady, that all the pediatricians are specialists. So I am still unclear on who I go to for a regular old check up or ear infection check. Have made inquiry to a U.K. mum who has a blog. And hoperfully,  I can ask our next door neighbor!

It is slow moving Monday. Getting tidied up and vacuumed (H-berry is scooting everywhere now and really likes cords and the desk chair on wheels). Big News: Our application has been accepted for the house in Greenwich. A few little things to organise: Our boat furniture won't be here till a month after we are in the place. So, I have some ideas....maybe we will get an IKEA sleeper sofa that we can use until our beds come and since we only brought our love seat we can use whilst here and sell before we return. We could get a crib mattress for Muffin there and this can be a pull out for any kids who come visit  (thinking of little Drew, and Janice,too ha ha ha you know what I am talking about:). We need a table anyway and chairs so we just need to get them. We can rent a crib for Finn or figure something else out. Christmas is going to be weird no matter what. No Hall's on Christmas Eve, no family Christmas' and an empty house. Yeah, I am ordering some toys before today is over. No car, kids always with me...gotta get on it and make sure Santa knows our next address. I've been meaning to send him a message, but we are going to go see him this week, I think, so we might have to take him a letter with our change of address.

Sidenote to all of this: I know this may sound busy, busy, fun, fun, fun and to be honest, right now it is more like vacay. We are in the city taking advantage of it. But there are quiet moments. Once upon a time, this was a girl who never wanted to leave Calvert County for living, who got homesick while on vacation with her family and somehow though so exciting..."this is not the life I ordered" as my old coozie used to say. I couldn't have planned this. I'm not sure if I made the best decision for ME, but for US and my husbands CAREER and for an opportunity that you just don't get everyday, I couldn't say no. It will be interesting and I don't think it will harm my kids though H-berry will have some catching up to do with his cousins when we return and Muffin will miss them terribly ( "I love all my cousins, Mama").  Besides not seeing you all, much of my "little life" as I like to call it, is consumed with childcare, which is same stuff, different place...I will be lucky to make friends. I know, I am not good at it naturally! I know,  I will try to make more of an effort...and hopefully Muffin gets into preschool and that will help. Advice? Please comment!

Love to all. Missing you already for Turkey Day!

All By Myself

Monday Da Man  goes to the office and we have the day to ourselves. When you start at 5:30 it is a looonnnngggg day. I don't know how my dad and sister do it. It was not a great day overall. I felt like a loser parent as Muffin  wants her own way constantly and feared someone might call 0000 or whatever they call here in Aus. It's not 911. She has this thing that she screams, "Don't get me"!" repeatedly  when we are disagreeing...and I am trying to get her to cooperate even if I am in one room and she is in another. Yes, sometimes I am holding her, but often we are not touching so I am not sure the context...or what she means. From an outsiders hearing and perspective, I can see where they may call the police.  If the police would come and give me a break, I might welcome them. We are all exhausted and I am torn between picking the battles and letting her win constantly. I recognize she is only nearly three and we have made a huge leap across oceans...but she was behaving this way stateside so I do not think it has much to do with this, but because we feel bad for her big change we have been suckers. Sometimes I think her "Don't get  me" means don't leave me. As when she is in meltdown mode sometimes she wants comfort or at least all of my attention which tends to not happen, since her loudness often wakes up sweet baby brother, Finn. This is one of those days that I would like to erase. Thankful for a new day tomorrow.

My big  mission was to get vitamins for the Muffin today and we found a Chemist on the other side of the block. Not gummies like she has at home. They remind me more of the Flintstone type vitamins I had when I was a kid, you know kinds sweet tart like....with that powdery coating? She loves them.

Then we pick up some lunch, because my grocery delivery window was only available in the evening...and though Muffin can eat pb and crackers and cream cheese and crackers daily.   I love them, too, but I seek a bit more variety. We take the lunch back to our apartment and eat it!

Finn is napping 2 to 3 times a day now. So, if we follow this schedule we certainly don't have much time, but all works out because it is miserably hot and humid today. I get the apartment "Hoovered" and the laundry hung to dry. Seems the dryer does not want to dry on a normal consistent basis. So, I wash, hang and then stick them in the dryer to "fluff".

 I meant to tell you all about how Hyde Park turns into Gotham City by night. These huge birds fly over and about. I presumed they were big ass bats, and after The Man did some research, confirmed this. He has yet to see them because he hasn't peeked out...he crashes and stays crashed early. I crash early and get up, check babies even if one or the other of us is in a bed with a kid. It is like musical beds here.

Back to this crazy day...The MAN flies home for a quick stop by (get out of the gutter, folks) and then he is off to a work dinner. We wait for H-berry to wake up. the food courts are so busy and I just don't feel up to it so we try McDonald's for the first time. Muffn has eaten a grilled cheese "triangle" before we go and basically only ate some fries. OMG the cheese is real McDonald's cheese, burger does not taste funny. Macca's as the natives say is better than Hard Rock!

Feeling pretty rotten this night after Viv and I had tantrums. Then I decide to try to find this expats blog I found a while back and stumble on a Australian mums blog.  Think this may be a better or more interesting read and find it by clicking on site about winning Sydney bloggers. Did not need to read that one when already in the dumps,  but I was trying to stay awake for the grocery delivery.  Somehow that never happened. The Man had a work dinner and another one planned for him Tuesday. Real life settles in though we are a world away from so much of our lives...

Day 2

Call Woolies, which I have since found out is also a "variety store" and they say they tried to ring up to me last night at 730. I was here. Where else would I be with two babies at almost bed time? How could I miss hearing it in this tiny apartment? Don't know. Reschedule delivery of groceries. Nothing really great to talk about for this day. Get our coffee and muffins from 7-11. Take kids out to Hyde Park, where hot guy helps lift stroller up the few steps. Huckleberry plays on a blanket. Muffin and I play "soccer". Then we go to the cafe under our building for lunch. A BLT is much more a HLT here. I miss bacon already. They have to have it. This was ham. Then we go back to the apt  .Later, after groceries are delivered and H-berry's nap, we head out to Darling Harbor.  Even though I knew what to do, I went the wrong way and had a strenuous mountain climb walk pushing 70lbs. in Darlinghurst. So, we end up back in Hyde Park. Muffin  is asleep. Girl likes to nap when she is strapped in! Otherwise fights it.  Play with H-berry and people watch. Not people watch us. We watch the people! (The fashion here is crazy and I suddenly have no worries about  my limited mom wardrobe.) Muff stays asleep in stroller, Huck naps. I make spaghetti for Muff for dinner. She only  eats a few bites. Much less dramatic day. Much better. Feel like a better mama today. Rest in peace!

Meanwhile, The Man is having a much more exciting day, teambuilding offsite from the office...flying on the trapeze. Not kidding. If it were me, I'd be ticked. Oh, hell, no! So, he gets home late. We are all asleep. We house hunt on Wednesday with the relocation specialist Jennifer.

House Hunting

Beaches are not far away, but the best beach living places are out of reach for us, and the ones that are reachable kind of remind us of some of the older homes like we had in the Fan or in downtown Annap. when TM (The Man hereafter) lived there. Except it is so hilly.   And we don't want an old dirty rental for our top dollar.We have sent Jennifer some properties we found interesting, but end up going to the first house again as our last house.   More on that in a bit. Let me just say, that we are paying our mortgage at home, even if it rents. The interested family we thought were sold on it, plan to return to see it this week, after having their lawyer look at the lease.  So, even if it rents, we still will have to make up the difference, plus whatever we pay here for rent. Might be poorer here than there even with the salary increase. These homes made be pine for our "pink house". While we knew we would make some sacrifices, it just bewildered us. A few had bedrooms on multiple levels and were not practical for us. One that I really liked online...had a door out of the house from each bedroom. Just too much possible escapism or takism for me. That one looked like a traditional US brick rambler on the outside could be off Brickhouse Rd. in Dunkirk. You have to go out of the house to do the laundry. NOT!  It is in a beautiful neighborhood. Houses in the millions.  We simply can't afford to raise our pricepoint and we are just shocked that this is what is is!

So, house number one, I love it immediately. It is cozy. TM not so sure at first, until we see the 6 or 7 others. The strange part is the bedrooms are in front, but when you see the garden in the back you understand why it is set up this way. It's cottage-y. Skinny porch around the front and side, veranda with awning, brick patio, gated pool and "spa" and a cabana house with a full bath in the back.There you go, we have a guest house (bedroom number four is out the door!)! It is set up this way by the owners. Beautiful flowers, and "bush" around it. Yes, I said bush. I think that equals woods or forest.. It is on the market for sale for offers 1.7 million and above. Please, don't think this is an uppity home. Seriously, it is a one storey, nice home. It is a 3 bedroom of modest proportions. It has dated appliances, no aircon and a shower/ tub with no doors or curtain. It is beside the Greenwich Public School grades 2-6 and a neighborhood park beside that and "bush walks" nearby! It is close to North Sydney where Seth will work, and a steep climb to the bus stop for him each day... and close enough to things for me to do...but I will be driving on the other side of the road in a car we don't yet have! A preschool is not far off and I will have to apply soon.

It does have a wine fridge under the house, they may store it, and some storage. Since we are supposed to live outdoors, this one was most perfect. Oh and really cool bar in the house near the kitchen. They take their table from the kitchen outdoors for the summer so their eat in kitchen area which is pretty large is empty. There is also a dining room and one living room area inside. I think the dining room will likely be the play room, and we will be off to IKEA to furnish the rest. Funny, I thought we would go modern, but now we have this bungalow with all wood floors (timbers they call them here, Timber!). Truthfully, the carpeting was so gross in all of the rentals that had it, I prefer to have it all wood. Maybe we can reuse the rugs we get here in the states. We needed them there,too!

So, our indecision did not last long. We are in negotiations. The people seemed lovely and offered us tea on our second visit. What's two years, right? We have seen the rush for a good rental. It is crazy. They do open houses on Wed. some Fridays and Sat. They are open for 15 minutes. Then the agent leaves to open another house for 15 minutes...and if it is occupied, the people stay in 'um! At least at two of the ones we went to. The others were unoccupied or both working parents. Jennifer asked the agent to hold off other viewings for us to get our papers in, etc. I am surprised they do this, since a deal is not sealed until it is. But that is nice that she is doing so.

Backing up a bit. I get a massive migraine last night and can't discuss this stuff any further. For some reason, I get these headaches and then I get panic attacks. Maybe because I feel so bad I want to relieve it with a bullet to my head? (no worries, folks, we are not weaponed, don't even have a water gun). Or maybe because I worry it could be something other than a migraine? I don't know, but thank God TM took over and tired lil Huck took all his naps and night night sleep into one, poor thing. Then I am smelling that strong odor of perfume I have smelled in here before.  It is making my nausea from the headache almost inevitable to end in a vomit! I have smelled the smell before and had decided it must be the perfume of the person in the apt next door. I discover it is like one of those plug ins and pull it out. Thank God. I hate when a strong smell completely permeates a room and that includes when someone does it with their perfume/cologne. Let me rattle on about this one. Seems a good day for a rant. I think perfume is for yourself and others close to you to smell if you let 'um close enough, not the world and the whole room so that all clothing of others, etc smells like you. It is suffocating. It's like invasion of personal space. So if you are an over-perfumer out there in the world of cyberspace, tone it down. Really. Save some for later. I am conservative with perfume because I figure if I am lucky enough to be clean, I am happy. And I have a baby stuffing his head all into me and I don't want to stuff him all up with perfume.And I just don't want people to smell me before they see me, even if it is a seemingly good eau de parfum!

We had to decide whether we are going to decide by noon today but we get contacted before then and don't want to lose out on this...so we say we will sign a one year lease with option for a second year. We are hopeful that the promise of cool breezes will save us and fans and the pool. But I already told the relo lady, I don't leave the house opened at night with my babies... The owners  want to go abroad a bit. They are British. I have no idea. If I could sell my house for 1.7 (obviously they were not successful) I would move out of it,too. And go abroad for a bit. Maybe not two years. WTH was I thinking?!!

So it looks like we have a house in Greenwich. Keep you posted. Move in, if all gets ironed out Dec.18th weekend, our shipped stuff comes mid-January! Oh my. I feel better today, much. But I still might throw up.

Bonus today:  It is rainy and we are hanging at home and the dryer worked for at least one load so far.

Double bonus: Just met my apt neighbor. Ex-pats here for 2 years from Cali. Has a 17 month old. Plan on getting together sometime soon. They plan to stay here in the city. Been here for almost a year. Maybe I have a friend besides our hired relo. consultant who is so sweet-she did invite us to her apt today for a playdate with her grandchildren. It's just mucky out and Huck is exhausted...and I'd have to haul them out, hire a taxi with carseats, call on her to pick us up, or get on public transport which is not so appealing as the one with the lift is not the one directly across the street from us.

Oh well, wonder what's for dinner? I am NOT cooking. Somehow set off the smoke alarm making brekkie today. Luckily, no fire brigade came. So I still have money left of my 7 to 900 for take away:0)

Out and About Some Mo'

Day 4 Saturday is For Play!

So we decide to take the train thing to the ferry at Circular Quay to go to Watson's Bay. A place called Doyle's is famous for their fish and chips. It's a nice day and a nice ride. The Man read about a tea garden. The ferry ride is beautiful. We ride by Bob Barker's shark ship which is on public display , the Sydney Opera House, and interesting homes along the way. One that stands out was also glass facing the harbor, including the garage which was on the top level. So, there is a huge park or garden as you come off the dock. Then a little ways down is a little tea house/coffee house attached to a mini-library  which is closed. The area is fenced in and there are milk crates with toys for children to play in the garden. Nice concept. Muffin and a 5 yo Aussie boy, who was adorable but tormenting interact a bit. Adorable little Aussie girl running around with no shirt and only her skirt. So much more relaxed here than the US. The Muffin has said nothing about how people sound.  Maybe it is her experience with Angelo and his family in Richmond, former Pres. of  The Man's company. Then we go get the fish and chips. They were fine. You have to pay extra for vinegar and "tomato sauce"/ketchup.  We ferry it back to our apartment building, but first stop at a new to us, grocery store called Woolworths! Yes, same name as he old five and dime, but better! They call it Woolie's here. Oh my.  So much better and bigger (3 levels) than the one we've been hitting and not much farther away from our apt..

We have dinner with a woman from the Richmond office, here for work. That was fun until Muffin hit her tantrum time. She insists on flying home and is wearing her new red cape all through the town. So funny.

Sunday- Slow Starting though Early Rising

We don't even get out of the house until after lunch. I made a grilled cheese (grilled cheese at shops here are not quite the same as our old staple) for Muffin and it is the best she has eaten since arriving on these soils! As soon as she is strapped into the stroller she is asleep. Not kidding. Not even out our apt. door. Huck won't nap in the stroller no matter how tired he is, Muffin won't nap in a bed no matter how tired she is! She keeps missing the fun of Darling Harbour! It is packed. Maybe because public transportation has special Family Day rates on Sundays. Kids are all playing in the fountains. It is so cute. We walk around a bit and the n head into this Australian, American Gallery/Musuem. Of course, we did it not as thoroughly as we tend to do without children. We are getting close to the end and a group of Japanese tourists want to take pictures and videos of our darlings in their stroller. Maybe they thought we were a happy AUS family. One gestures to stand behind the stroller and take our picture. Ok. Done. I am trying to take pics of them taking pics because it is so funny at the time. Then...I get to the front of the stroller and laugh out loud and share with The Man just where "Darling Muffi's"hands are placed. Think along the lines of Darling Nikki by Prince. Yup. A dozen Japanese people with pics of our precious ones.

We tempt fate and decide to try to get up in the Eye tower again, but lil Huck is tired. So we get a drink and sit a bit while I nurse him and he naps. (Nursing mama's credo, "When in doubt, pull your boobies out!")Then we just decide to eat dinner at their lovely food court. It was a little Italian stand and the food was deliciousness, so was the wine and Muffin ate again! Also,Muffin nebbed completely on the diners beside us. She comes from a long line of nebbers:) The Asian trio beside us were doing some serious shopping and seemed like college-aged max! Two Marc Jacobs handbags from the female shopper. One for her mother for Xmas ($1200 American price, God knows what it cost here)and one for herself. I love that kind of shopping, but holy trust fund, that is to a whole new level. 3 grand on two bags.

Again, the whole house seems to shut down early. I stay up a little later, though tired, filling up my online shopping cart for the groceries I will get delivered on Monday.


Occasional Care
There are about 80 or 90 locations where you can drop your children off for one to 8 hours. This is what Jennifer, the realtor told us about and showed us one in her village, Crow's Nest. I liked the concept, but was skeptical about leaving my kids like that.  But only 15 children are allowed at once and there is a 4 to 1 teacher ratio. It seems nice. Just have to prove your immunized. Something to consider doing so nails and hair and Christmas shopping can be done. Muffin wanted to stay and play. We may try to take her on our next realtor appt.

But whoopsie, just relocated the brochure. It is $100 registration fee, plus your hourly fee. Not really unfair, but don't know if the reg. fee is only for one center or all and I don't know whereabouts we might be resting  our heads.


The Educational Toy Shop in Crow's Nest
Right in the same area as the Occasional Care Centre we toured is this shop. Seth comes out and says they have this big throw pillow thing that says it is a magnified atom or something. Then sees the tag, "The Clap". It is gonnorhea. Hilarious! I thought this would be a funny gift to give somebody! Certainly not a young child. Here is your toy pillow from Santa, honey, this one is called The Clap. Apparently they have a whole line of VD pillows. Goodness!

Toy Libraries
I read about Toy Libraries on another blog and Jennifer, realtor mentioned them as well. Neat concept. Just like books, except, I think you bring one of your own and take another and I assume you never can predict getting yours back! So more like a Toy Swap. Neat idea, huh?

People here just seem generally receptive to kids and I have never seen so many people in a big city with prams.

Outings-this one,too, thought it had posted??

Day 1- Darling Harbour
 
We trek out to Darling Harbour where The Man's first pick for our temporary housing was located. That place was booked. We need lunch and Muffin has fallen asleep in the stroller. We go to an Indian restaurant that is quite peaceful and overlooks the harbor. But the two, almost three year old wakes up and we decide we better bail and head to the Hard Rock Cafe. She gets excited about it as we spell out the words Hard Rock Cafe and I tell her we will hear music. She was fabulous, Huck was,too, except the vomiting of the baby food.mentioned already. The food was awful. Cheese just has a weird taste.  Then we went to Wild Life Sydney (it's like a zoo for people with short attention spans according to the Man. Yup, I thought it was perfect!)  and the Aquarium. They were great. I actually got tears when I saw the koala as I have always wanted to see a koala. My childhood lovey was a koala. In fact, Koa Koa is on a ship on the way back to his native land!  Bonus, one koala was very close to the glass and had a joey on it! We also saw a huge croc, kookaburras, kangaroos and all kinds of wildlife. Something newly learned: there are penguins in Australia, not just Penguins fans! 

Check it all out on www.darlingharbour.com This is the harbour that the cruise ships come into!

 We plan to go back soon so the kids can play in the park, but not sure what the Aussies were thinking putting in metal slides...ouchhhhieee! I will have to remember to put some leggings in her bag or something!


Outing-Day #2 Right here in our own 'hood

So, getting up by 4 every day makes for some seriously tired people! We walked Hyde Park, full of those cool ibis birds, we have seen in Muffin's Australian ABC's book. We view St. Mary's Cathedral and go to the Australian Museum nearby. We start in a room full of see and touch Australian "stuffed animals". Yup, that would be taxidermied(is that a word?) koalas and kangaroos. Not my idea of petting a koala. We did not see the entire thing, because we got lucky and got there in time for Story Time. It was about a 45 minute session starting with a story about a wombat, followed by a painting station, play dough station, and a make a wombat station. There was room for free playing,too. Viv had fun and we got to take in Aussie parenting a bit. Our take, they are more laid back and kids are dressed very casually. I know I like my kids to look cute...but in Richmond sometimes it is crazy...the kids dressed in their smocking, monogrammed clothing just for play activities. I haven't seen anything like that  here yet. Public and private school aged children wear uniforms and look adorable. Saw the cutest teen, looking a little like a Buckley boy for those who know 'um, decked out with khaki shorts and knee socks, dress shoes. Looked like maybe he was a Gryffindor, Harry Potter fans, but way cuter than any kid in those movies!

This museum reminded me of the Children's Museum in Richmond except that section designed for the little ones to be active was smaller than the CM itself since that whole museum is for interaction. It was led by two teachers. I loved that. Though it was a bit rainy this day, we decide to move forward to the Sydney Tower Eye. We pass the David Jones department store where all the windows are dressed with scenes for Christmas related to a Christmas carol that is being played. A little strange to be so warm so near Christmas. I have to go back and check out that store another time. We planned on having lunch at the Eye and discover it has very upscale shopping area inside, though it is a Westfield Shopping Centre with stores like Prada, Ferragamo, Gucci, etc. The food court is nothing like other malls we are familiar with and they use real dishes and cutlery! Muffin falls asleep.  I feed Huckleberry some of his new Rafferty's Baby food and we walk and walk . The Man ends up getting Thai noodle soup, I get some kind of chicken burrito though we have been told Mexican food stinks here. His soup was okay and my burrito was delish! Then we hike on back home. Huck needs a nap and we are all tired. I later go out to the drugstore for a few things, but they are not like our stores and most of what I wanted they did not carry. So I head to the grocery and get some things and a frozen pizza for dinner. Living it up here! The Man had to figure out how to use the stove. I know they are English speaking but none of the appliances are familiar brands with ease of use! I think I have to go to the "Chemist" to get some things...another day!

Outing, Day 3

We meet our realtor, relocation specialist, Jennifer, to scope out areas for where we might rent a home for our stay here. She shows us some beach areas and other communities. We stop for tea near her neighborhood called "Crow's Nest". There I am educated on "occasional care". More on that nifty idear later.She points out a toy store that she likes to get educational toys for her grandchildren. Since I was feeding the baby, Muffin and the Man went in to check it out. He only had one thing to tell me about. Tell you that later,too. We drive some more and then pick up sandwiches for lunch. We take Muffin to a park and eat our lunch there. Lots of green space here in Aus. Each little neighborhood has a park and we are looking for something like that close to a train station and with some shops to walk to, hopefully. We look at some of the expensive popular places to live. Besides the budget, just not looking for being in such a busy area, even though it is close to the beach. I don't know how I would navigate it with 2 kids. We start getting a bit further out from the city and see nice properties...doing drive bys. One says it has two bathrooms, but when you look down the list of bulleted items the last one says, one loo is outdoors. Laughed out loud. Really? That would be handy if it was a pool house, maybe? The realtor Jennifer is very nice and we think she will get us to where we need to be...not sure she is quite used to having two so informed clients. The one property we went in, we had seen online already.
She could not believe how well our kids did, from 9-3:30. We did stop for coffee and lunch which helped.  Somehow in all the mix of getting two kids out of car, into stroller etc.my wallet is lost. It is the first day I brought it and here I lose it! I have called to see if she will check her car and so far no one has used our accounts. Good Lord,only me. Keep in mind, I was pulling things in and out of the bag to entertain the kids...I sure hope it is in her car. She was traveling this weekend,so....hopefully I get good news tomorrow. Yes. She has it!)

That evening The Man  goes to pick up dinner at local chain "Pie Face". It was good.

All in bed asleep at or before 8!

Here in Australia

Arrival at  Sydney Airport

So we wait for all others to depart the plane and then we do. We get Muffin and Huckleberry in the stroller and toss misc. bags into the stroller bag to make our trek to TCOB. First stop passport patrol. Woman sees us and though the lines aren't bad, allows us through a wider entrance for our stroller and we zip on through.  Then, it is time to gather the other eight bags. Luggage scored, we have two carts(trolleys) full of stuff and a double stroller with kids inside to push. We attempt this move where we push then take turns falling back and getting the thing left behind moved up. Some darling man sees our debacle and takes sympathy upon us. He gets us fast forwarded through customs, too.  Lines weren't bad, but it still saved us some time and effort. We find our driver and get into our Mercedes bus with disgusting hot fuzzy slipcovers on every seat. There is some crazy infant car seat for Huckleberry and it is forward facing...not nearly as sturdy looking as our seats at home and a BOOSTER for the Muff.  Hope the little Miss doesn't expect that again...I have to check into what the requirements are here in Aus., but I'd rather use ours..though not legal here. Off we go to the deluxe apartment on the park-side!

Our Apartment

So we get into our apartment on this very busy street and get settled. Ha Ha. It's hotter than hell and they advise not to leave on the air when you leave the apartment for an outing. Seriously? I appreciate their environmental concerns, but I want to keep my kids alive and Seth is a wayyyy hot dude...The kitchen is fine and the bathrooms are quite nice.  The rest is not as nice as a generically decorated hotel. 

Settled means everyone's bags are in their rooms, some stuff is put away and I, of course, have started laundry! Just had to get our germ infested traveling clothes washed. Can't even go there. BLAHHH! Muffin is excited about the welcome present/basket from the corporate housing people. Here is some of what they gave us: Coffee and sugar packets,(but the coffee maker looks kinds of like a plastic measuring cup and we have not attempted to use it) hot chocolate, 2 bags of rice and 2 yogurt like containers of fruit,cookies and chocolate... Wish it were all cookies and choc. Also provided is a small container of milk and two oj's, a couple packets of laundry detergent and dishwasher tabs and some cleaning thingamabobs. Hopefully the scrubber stays out of  radar so she doesn't get any ideas about cleaning the "loo" here like she did with the bottle brush back home recently.

The property management guy starts telling us about false fire alarms and the fees that you are charged. I do believe he said 700 dollars, oh The Man thinks he said 900 false alarm fee. Well, looks like I won't be cooking much. We'll spend that 7 to 9 hun on dining and take out:)

Luckily, The Muffin has not complained about the milk. But I will. I love milk. So far, I hate their milk. I drink organic mostly at home, but this just has an earthy taste I don't care for! However, when in our lattes, no dif! The eggs make up for this--they are delicious and they do not refrigerate them at the grocer or 7-11 which is next to us.

Cribs

Wow, we are snobs and safety snobs. So we stayed at a Holiday Inn Express when our house was emptied on our last night in Richmond. It was right beside The Man's office and he had to knock some stuff out Friday morning before we left town. The crib was interesting and I dubbed it an orphanage crib. Huck was getting his legs stuck in it and screaming! So we weaved towels through the bars to create a bumper. Then we got here. This crib is a step up but similarly not bumpered and he hasn't gotten stuck so much. I run as soon as he fusses in case he is stuck. The bars seem a bit wider and he seems to get  it and get himself out of it. They provided a beautiful sheet set still pack, looks like its linen, in new packaging.  I did pack some crib sheets. No where near as posh...but our crib trumps this one! Muffin and Our Huckleberry are sharing a room. I was surprised she didn't mind at all. She has a double bed buffered with spare pillows, but she was so tired she barely even moved. I was so tired, I fell asleep while reading out loud to her last night! Thanks, Anna, for the new read Fancy Nancy and the Late, Late, Late Night! Luckily, it wasn't!

Oh and the baby, who has always put himself to sleep and likes his own space, now wants to snuggle longer. I love to snuggle him, but takes so much more time for napping and night night, and most of you would know what a blessing he has been since Muffin is  a title winning sleep fighter. He also fusses more now that he got used to being so cozy in the airplane. Thanks, United Airlines, for messing up our sleep routine. As one of the gents at the airport said "United gonna help you".

Potties and TP

The toilets have a two in one flusher. I thought The Man said one is a hot flush. Since I thought that, I figured a hot one is for poopers  and a cold one for wee wee. But I misunderstood him. One is a half flash for wee wee and a whole flush for poopers. Clearly they don't know that I am a tp madwoman and every flush needs to be a whole flush! So, the tp is not bad. Sorry, peeps, I know some of you really do want to know about that. Haven't seen any familiar tp brands in the grocery we have been going to, but plan to do an online grocery shop Monday so I can get stuff delivered! It is not easy to push a "pram" and carry bunches of groceries blocks and blocks!

Baby Food

The only tears I have cried so far here have been about my baby eating. I really wanted to hold on to what we had left from traveling, but The Man wanted to pitch it before customs. Of course, this was the only thing they assumed we had, and would allow. He was trying to save time on that end. I was trying to keep us from having to run to the store promptly and feed him familiar food for one more day! I had already gone shopping online to get info. on baby food and saw that some of it seemed a bit weird...figs, etc. Ok. The Man  goes to get a few things at the grocery. Good daddy gets the organic Heinz  baby food in a glass  jar. Some weird varieties and no real veggies. I am only thinking, "you are supposed to introduce new foods one at a time and this is all new....".  Also, too much watching of Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmerman and Anthony Bourdain No Reservations. Just because he likes new and exotic foods...The selection is limited in all fairness to The Man.

First feeding, Little Boy gobbles up half of the jar of  creamy oats with fig and sultanas. WTF is a sultana? So, next thing you know, he projectile vomits the whole mess. We argue over the cause of this vomiting from our baby who has never thrown up. Is it the contents of the food (me, who was worried about this), the speed of his eating (this from the speed eater himself, Seth) or could he really be sick? All signs say he isn't sick. Maybe he really can't tolerate figs and sultanas. I am silently wishing I went to the store and just got the plainest of plain baby food. So, we go out for the day and when we stop for lunch, I try some other jar of baby food. Apples and oats.  Two or three bites in--spits it all up. I am in tears. My baby is hungry and I look at the label. The food is for 6 months plus. He meets that criteria. But when I saw before my eyes, "whole milk" in the ingredients...I couldn't believe it. We don't give babes whole milk for a WHOLE year in the U.S. Wow, whole milk is in every jar Seth brought home. Who'd have thunk it? Back to Cole's we go. I get some more food in these cool squeezable pouches. They are organic and have what's listed on it and the words "and nothing else!" Yes. My baby can eat for now until we are together enough for me to start preparing some foods, which it seems I am  going to have to do to give him something other than carrot, sweet potato and pumpkin as vegetables. Is pumpkin a vegetable?  Mama is happy, I can lay off the figs and sultanas*! So far, so good. Huck is gobbling it up, but we lack grains. I haven't found any rice cereal or oat or any sort of similar or familiar thing to add to the food. It's all in that other jarred food that poor Huck can't tolerate. We will figure it out soon. But we may have another feeding Huck issue. Huck may not be nursing much longer, because the two tooth wonder has been biting me. I think he may have done it repeatedly at first, because of my reaction. But later in the day he bit me and when I reacted he cried! Believe me I wanted to cry, too. Boo, hoo! My boo boos!

*Sultanas are white seedless grapes. Thanks wikipedia.

Backtracking, Let the Adventure Begin!

Okay folks, I mean, mates. I did lose a day in the sky right? We are safe and sound in Sydney, Australia in our 2 BR, 2BA apartment overlooking Hyde Park. Think "The Man" (husband)compared it to Central Park in NY. Will check that out tomorrow and let you know. It is green and lush but looks no where near the size of the CP. Oh yeah, and every time I peek out someone is lying in the grass necking...I've read PDA is no BDD here (yeah, i just made that up, Big Damn Deal!). I am thinking maybe it is just the green space in the city effect he must have been trying to convey. Anything he could say to help make the transition to "moving on up" to the 15th floor above mentioned apartment, with a balcony, that a small animal or crawling baby(not yet) might be able to slip out of. Have I ever mentioned to you, I am not a big fan of heights? 

We've come along way from our "pink house"  as "The Muffin" (dear daughter)likes to call our lived in less than a year, suburb house outside of RVA. There is also a pool and a gym here at our apartment building that I have seen in the photos before coming, but not yet in person. Maybe tomorrow.

The crazy busyness of this move kind of put a band-aid (slick if I remember from reading up on Oz) on feeling a whole lot of sadness or excitement about this big move. I was just living each moment, and as anyone knows with small children and a home to care for, many of the moments were full of normal day to day living things. When the moving guys came to take down husbands BATV (big ass tv, not looking as big ass as it did in our "little house"- v.b.in the Fan as in the "pink house", Muffin exclaimed. "I neeeeeed my tveeeeeee" "Don't take my tveeeee". Poor angel. Has a serious addiction to Dora and The Wonder Pets.  Perhaps I would be more worried about things if not moving to an English-speaking country. 
Leaving the USA
So we caravan with our parents and my sister Cathy to Dulles with wayyyy to much stuff. I admit it! But the stuff was making me feel better, and the stuff we did not store will not arrive for sometime by ship. So yes, I had a bag of toys for each kid to stow and a backpack to tow on board! It was a bit much and cumbersome. We get there and go to check our baggage in. It was a disaster. Eight bags under, seven up! They direct The Man to a counter and the couple before him kept coming back to his agent to reweigh their stuff...they were "shifting stuff", I'll say though my sisters and I have another way to phrase that. That finally gets handled and we only have to pay $200 some for Huckleberry's (dear baby boy) second bag because as a ticketed, no seated  passenger he was allowed one bag. Thank God diaper bags don't count and  the nice agent did not weigh any other bags. The Adventure Gods were on our side from the start. Tearful goodbyes are shared. Muffin told her grandfather Bo, who she decided to call Bob for the day "I like your blue eyes. I will call you." On to security. Another wait and it just took us forever to get our stuff back on us and they ran the stroller twice! Muffin decides after walking through the detector that she wants to walk. The Man, dh, decides he is having a choosing a battle  moment and allows this to prevent meltdown...so off we go slowly through elevators, etc to a tram (big thrill for Muffin) to the terminal...and they are boarding. The Man just butts us in. Hockey skills came in handy...it was like a skate, skate, glide (shout out to the Cougars!)to get to this point, once there, he got defensive...We board and I overhear the one check in person say to the other, "Were they first class?" Umm yeah, not.
 Flight #1

Thank God we got in and did not lose our bulkhead seats. So, no bassinet as  we expected. But the additional foot room was nice. Since I pretty much had to hold Huckleberry the entire time, it worked out. Later learned we may have gotten a bassinett to place on floor. Since some people like to cut thru that area, not such a good idea and after seeing it on the next flight...yeah, no. All goes well. The plane was so hot though and we were juggling stuff and babies just to get it and looked and felt like we had already made the whole trek to Oz. Kids were like Frequent Flyers on their maiden flight! Muffin almost falls asleep...Arrive at LA Airport. So grateful that the next flight is doors away from where we got off our first flight. Rest room, diaper changes. BTW, though the plan was to change both kids before flight one, one got done, then we had the mad race to our terminal and Muffin did not. So, first and only leaker: Muffin. Immediately changed, but brought full outfits to change...She was already a little Punky Brewster dressed and we added to that with a smaller pink striped legging to go with polka dot sweater, pink striped Koala shirt, frilly socks ala Fancy Nancy, and light up sparkle sneakers! Muffin enjoyed watching her little t.v with her new pink headphones. Huckleberry was as easygoing as ever. Did he nap? Hmmm...neither of us can remember...

Layover in LA
Muffin dances in waiting area, puts on a show. At least we were amused. She was tired but always ready to boogie! Also, looked pretty cute in her mix matched outfit. We get big Diet Cokes, probably less expensive than in Aus. even with airport prices! Yum.

Flight #2
The Man checked us in as soon as he could. We were told we had the bulkhead seats and to request the bassinet as soon as we boarded. We were really hopeful so that we could all sleep! Huck does not like to sleep on yah. The boy likes his space. We don't know what happened. We are one row behind bulkhead seats. We try to change this. No luck on this one, but nice lady sharing our row moves to an empty seat to give us more room. Flight attendant (a.k.a. pilot girl, thanks to Muffin) brings us this floor bassinet. Basically, this sucker is not much different than a duffle bag with slight padding at the bottom. It's just yuck! But Huck is no wee lad. So we try it, you can't even really bend down to get him in and out because the space is just too tight. I hate it, he hates it. His only fussing on the plane was about sleepiness. He eventually adjusted to sleeping on me, I adjusted to barely sleeping and then figured out a way to let him lay across the extra seat whilst I held onto him. He slept well like that. Muffin played on the "magical" Ipad for a bit after boarding then slept well for a long time. Then, she pretty much played with it for the duration of the flight. So, aside from a bit of coloring and reading...her backpack toys were not so needed. Could have combined the kids stuff. The little Macks did really well and received compliments from other passengers and a couple of the "pilot girls". Muffin's fit at the end was bad, didn't want to wear her seatbelt, etc. and kicking the back of the seat of the dude who was in our seats. Oh well, justice for all!

Still to come: Arrival at Sydney Airport, The Crib, Potties, Baby Food, Outing