Passport hassles

March has arrived and it's now just a few weeks until our holiday begins, yah! Since we are going overseas, Noah needs his own passport and today we finally lodged the application. Been a bit of a hassle to get all the paperwork ready...
Noah's birth certificate that we had ordered got lost in the mail and never got tracked down so a new one had to be issued. When we were down in Bunbury we took passport photos of bub. This turned out to be a a tricky one as he has no neck control yet and must be held, however our hands cannot show on the photo. The lady at the Post Office made three attempts before we got a good shot. Back in Perth we brought the paperwork to Shawn's parents to sign the form as witnesses, stupid of us not to read the instructions properly becuase relatives can't sign the form. Instead we had David to sign the form and the photos and finally all the paperwork was ready. So we though...
Went to lodge the application at the Post Office today and guess what? The Post Office staff rejected the photos of Noah and claimed they weren't correctly taken. Don't they have the same rules in Bunbury as in Perth for the measurements of passport photos?!? So new photos had to be taken but this specific Post Office didn't take passport photos of children (of course) so we had to go to a mall to get it done at a photo shop. When we got there, Noah was half asleep in Shawn's arms and we had to wake him up, clap hands, sing songs and try to keep his attention while the woman tried to get a good shot. Noah found the the camera and entertainment quite amusing and fired off a big smile to us and she managed to capture it! So he will have a passport picture where he actually smiles (not all of us have that great pictures and hide our passport away from people to avoid embarressment haha)!
When taken the pic we had to go to David and Moa's house to have Dave to sign the new photos, then head to the Post Office and finally; we lodged the application!!
After all this trouble, we don't dare to wait the 2 weeks it's said to take before getting the passport (you never know what can happen...) so we decided to pay extra to get it quicker. A total of whopping $175! But hey, it's all worth it and Noah will be able to begin his globetrotter lifestyle at a age of 3 months :-).

By the way, indicated on the passport next to the photo of Noah, 7 weeks old, is his height: 58 cm. The funny thing is, it's valid for 5 years...

Life without...

Been two weeks since last post. I know there is no excuse good enough for you guys overseas who are eager to hear the latest about what's going on Down Under. But I DO have a good excuse! I have been introduced to how life's like without breastmilk...
To make a long story short; my stitches from the labour got infected and 10 days ago I had to go to the ER to get it checked out. (Not my favourite experience with Noah- sitting on hard plastic chairs for 5 hours with him in the triage which also doesn't allow children! Wait a minute, isn't it a women's hosptial?! )
Got prescribed two types of antibiotics which turned my and Noah's tummy upside down. The poor little one, who just got his colick under control, cried for hours. I therefore decided to put him on formula for the time being, until I finished the antibiotics. To ensure a continuing milk supply I had to pump it out several times per day. So to sum up the last two weeks I have pretty much cleaned bottles, sterilised bottles, mixed formula, fed Noah, pumped milk, cleaned bottles, sterilised bottles, mixed formula....yeah you get the point!
Yep, I have experienced the life 'without' breastmilk which ain't easy! Can't imagine to not have any milk and be forced to put bub on the bottle- it creates sooo much extra work! I'm amazed that the body can create this special blend of entree, main and dessert. Moreso, it's sterile, never runs out, available 24/7 and perfectly heated. What a great chef the body is hey??

Well, enough about breastmilk (what a terrible boring subject for all those who aren't parents- guess it puts you off, sorry guys!). By the way, feeling much better now and finished the medicine today, hooray!

This week Shawn was playing in Bunbury (2, 5 hours drive south of Perth) so I decided to come along for a few days. Noah and I stayed with Emma & Steve who just moved down south in December- was lovely to catch up. Emma, Noah and I went on excursion in to 'town' for lunch, walked along the beach and great BBQing with the boys at night. Of course, we also popped around the ground to watch some cricket ;-).

Today we had the day off together. Sunday arvo with the family, how wonderful! We spent the morning doing housework and later in the afternoon we headed down to Kings Park to relax with friends. Ended up visiting Chinatown for supper, yummy.

Below: Photos of Noah & Shawn, Moa, Dave & Ava, Shabhaz & Aaron.

Finally

We don't want to count our chickens too early, but after 7 visits at the chiropractor's clinic Noah's colic appears to have improved. On Saturday he was eating and sleeping through out the whole day without any crying. Yesterday he did cry and stayed awake for a few hours but it wasn't at all what we have experinced the previous weeks where he has been upset for up to 7-8 hours. I pray for that this is the 'breakthrough' that chiropractor was talking about, and that from here on it will only get better.

Today is a big day for Shawn- he has enrolled in "Beginners Swedish 101" and his first class is tonight! It runs for 10 weeks and wraps up when we are going on holiday to Sweden in April.

Quality time

Getting our heads straight

Yesterday Noah turned 4 weeks old. We can't believe that he is already a month old and that he has grown so much during these weeks. It's hard to understand that he will never be one or two weeks old again- still trying to grasp that we are actually parents. In my head it's sounding something similar to this "Ok, I get it, we are actually going to be parents. Bring the baby on then! Ehhh, what did you say, is he already here...and what, is he a month old?!?"
We visited our friend Nasim at the hosptial this week as she gave birth to her son Alex on Tuesday. Looking at Alex in the cot and how tiny he was, I realised that Noah is a 'big boy' already- he would probably not fit in the cot that the hospital supplies in the room hahaha!!

Another weird thing is to see your baby grow and know that he grows only because he drinks breastmilk. Something from the body that is so nutrious that it can make a human grow and multiply its cells sooo quickly- isn't that totally amazing how the Nature works? My hat goes off to Mother Earth!

Noah, 4 weeks old

If you're out of sweets...

...you can always munch on these...

Party time!

Our friend Jo-Ann celebrated her 30'th birthday at a beautiful spot along the river yesterday, and we had the pleasure to join the festivities. Noah behaved very well all evening and charmed the elderly crowd ;-). Below are some photos from last night.

Love

Our dear friend David recently wrote on his blog about his first year as a father: "You now understand your friends with children in a way only parents can understand".

Before Noah arrived I always found it interesting when parents show photos of their children- picture after picture, all almost identical to my eye but the parents seem to spot the diffrence in each photo. Here is the funny thing; I have noticed that we take lots and lots of pictures of Noah and we enjoy EVERY single one as he may do a different gesture or smile than to the other photos! Now I get it, to the parents each photo is very special!

Also, I have found myself staring at Noah when he is asleep, especially when he snuggles with Shawn. When I see them cuddling together my heart just swells over with love.