Andrew's First Christmas

As I think I've mentioned, we went to Tassie for Christmas this year and we had such a wonderful time.

Andrew and I left on Decmeber 15 and he slept all the way on the plane. I had deliberately not fed him for a few hours before boarding so I could feed him on the way up so his ears didn't hurt. However, he decided he'd like his breakfast (or I should say, second breakfast) just as we were taxiing down the runway. I figured he'd still be eating by the time we were taking off so that was fine. Unfortuntely we had to wait on the runway for quite some time before taking off and he'd had enough before that. I managed to force my boob back in his mouth as we zoomed into the sky but it really didn't worry him and he fell asleep. On the way down into Hobart I tried to get him to suck his dummy but again, he wasn't fussed and slept all the way down without the dummy.

The first week I spent at my parents place out at Campania and it was lovely. So relaxing. Daniel's Mum rang me that night and asked if she and Gran could come and visit the following day - Friday. I thought this was quite restrained of her - I half expected to see her at the airport! So they came out for afternoon tea and had a cuddle. Then both Daniel's parents came out to see Andrew on Sunday too.

We also went to Andrew's first carols at Richmond with his Pa (my Dad) up on stage singing with the Richmond Village Singers. It was lovely! Andrew slept for some of it but mostly just sat in his pram or on my lap quite happy.

Daniel arrived on Wednesday and had missed us heaps already. On the Thursday we went over to his Mum and Dad's and stayed there until Christmas Day. On Christmas Eve we all went to Mass at St Therese's where Daniel's Dad played trumpet for all the carols. Actually, Daniel, Laura and Glyn all went back home after the half-hour of carols and I stayed with Andrew and his Mum. It was really lovely. I forgot how much I liked going to church, especially at Christmas.
On Christmas Day we opened all our prezzies and had a lovely breakfast with all Daniel's family there. Andrew got heaps of great stuff and so did we! Then we headed off to my parents for lunch visiting a few friends on the way. We called in on Sarah's family and friends and everybody gave Andrew a cuddle, then called in to Pam and Ray's where I quickly fed Andrew and we headed off again. Our friends Matt and Kirsten were also in Hobart staying with Matt's parents so we called in there to wish them Merry Christmas then drove out to Campania again. It had been all go since we woke up so I was glad to get back out home to relax for the rest of the day. We had a late lunch - mmmm, roast chicken and roast vegies, the benefits of spending Christmas in a cooler climate - then I went and had a nap. My brother Neil and his wife Annette arrived later in the afternoon and so it was time to open still more prezzies! I love Christmas! We all got some more great stuff (this blog would go forever if I started telling you all the things we got - check out the 'photos' link for some pics of Xmas) and had a light tea before veging out in front of the telly. It was so great just being all together. It is the first time my family have been all together at Christmas since 1996! Neil and Annette were living in Adelaide and now live in Alice Springs, so it was quite an achievement.

To try and catch up with as many people as we could we had a BBQ at my parents on the 27th. It was really amazing how many people made the effort and came out for it. I was really touched. It was also a bit of a Close Shave (Daniel's old barbershop quartet) reunion, with 7 members past and present putting on a show after lunch. It was great watching their faces as they tried to remember words they hadn't sung for years and years, but they all did remarkably well and everyone enjoyed it.

The next day Daniel and I had our first afternoon out by ourselves since Andrew was born. I had expressed some milk and we left him with my Mum and Dad so we could go to see the latest Harry Potter film. We also caught up with Matt and Kirsten for a coffee afterwards before heading home. Andrew was fine but my boobs weren't used to not being drained for that long so I leaked quite a lot and they were a bit sore.

Daniel's parents did the same thing for us on Friday but I fed him just before I left so it wasn't so bad. We went down to the Taste of Tas and had some yummy food and then as we were heading back we got a text from Daniel's Mum saying not to come home yet because Andrew was still asleep. He'd fallen asleep just before we left and I think she was looking forward to some time with him by herself. So we went down to a nearby shopping centre and picked up a few things and didn't get home until just after 3pm. We'd left at about 11am so figured Andrew would definitely be awake by now but he wasn't! He woke up about half-hour after we got home so Daniel and I went for a nap and let her feed him anyway.

On New Years Eve we had Andrew Baptised. It was a lovely simple ceremony and we had asked my brother and Daniel's sister to be the Godparents. All our closest family were there and a few close friends and it was really great. We all went back up to Daniel's parents place for afternoon tea and then out to dinner at my favourite Chinese restaurant, the Har Wee Yee. Matt and Kirsten and Neil and Annette then came back to Daniel's parents palce where we played Lord of the Rings trivial pursuit. We finished the game just before midnight and watched the fireworks on TV and could see a few of the ones going off in town too. Matt and Kirsten stayed the night and Neil and Annette went back to her parents place.

New Years Day was pretty quiet and we packed up all our stuff ready to head back over to my parents that night. We went over and had a really lovely dinner with our friends Greg and Mel that night so they got to meet Andrew too.

Daniel flew out the next morning at the crack of dawn but luckily Dad drove him to the airport and Mum and I stayed to look after Andrew. I think I spoke to Daniel at least 4 times that day!

We didn't do too much over the next week and a half. I caught up with a few more friends and family and went to stay with Daniel's parents for another couple of nights.

We flew home on the 11th and Daniel picked us up from the airport. You'd think we'd been appart for 10 years not 10 days! But we were both very glad to see him too. Unfortunately we got hit with 18kgs of excess luggage - too many prezzies! Cost us $90 - bloody JetStar :-(