Zara Brett High Chair

Zara Brett is now in her High Chair

Zara_Brett_Waking

Zara Brett Waking Up

Zara's First Wedding

Here is Zara at her first wedding two weeks ago. Zara has now started growing out of some of her clothes and is changing pretty quickly. There is now a lot more 'Awake Time' which is great, a lot more smiling going on also which is even better. Zara still loves her sleep and her food. She is regularly sleeping 7 hours at night which is great for both mum & Dad.

Zara has changed

OK so its only been 2 months but Zara has changed already. Sleeping patterns have changed, eating has changed, awareness has changed and the size of the nappies we have to use has changed. Zara has already out-grown some of the clothes we had for her.

One thing has remained stable though, she is still absolutely gorgeous.

The 2 faces of Zara Brett

These are the 2 faces of Zara Brett. She does a lot of frowning our little girl. Now this does not necessarily mean she is unhappy. This I know because she often frowns when she is on the breast. Given that there is no happier or relaxing place for a new born to be, then I figure that she must just be a 'frowner', just like her old man. Let's say she is a thinker instead, already thinking about what she will be studying at University, Medicine or Law?

The second face is a newer one but one that suits her a lot more. Yes she has started smiling and sometimes at the oddest times. Myself and Bec are not quite sure whether she means to smile or its just some kind of involuntary facial movement but frankly who cares. She looks happy and we feel amazing.

Stay tuned for more faces of the amazing Zara Brett

Zara loves her food

Zara is now 3 weeks old and in the photos above you can see how much she loves her food. Here she has just had a feed and is relaxing before we put her to bed. Apart from the odd unsettled night Zara has been sleeping really well overall.

Thanks to all for presents, clothes, cards etc... thet are still arriving and are all appreciated.

Sleeping Fine

After the introduction of a radio into Zara's room her sleeping has become much better. Previously she was waking and getting upset because it was so quiet, now she wakes and hears the voices on talk back radio and thinks there are people in the room and goes back to sleep. I only hope she is absorbing all the information from the radio.

Zara has already had two trips to church and one big shopping trip, she loves getting out.

Zara is 2 weeks old today

Zara is 2 weeks old today. Sleep is at a minimum but things have been great this past 2 weeks. Myself and Bec still trying to get to grips with the fact that we now have a daughter to look after but it is the best thing that's happened to us for sure. Zara is feeding fine and growing and changing already. Almost everyone says she looks like Bec but that will change also as time goes by. Here's to the first two weeks that have been fantastic.

Thanks for everybody's best wishes.

Zara Brett

Zara Brett was born this evening at 1720.

Both Zara & Bec are doing great after a full day of labour and I feel on top of the world.

God Bless.

Last Post (Pre-birth)

This is our last post before our baby is born. Here we are on Sunday evening before we head out for dinner for Ash's 'Hot Date'. Bec's due date is actually tomorrow but the Doc and everybody else is convinced she will not be giving birth tomorrow. The baby is still really high and is showing no signs of wanting to emerge from where he/she is.
The next time you see us here we will have a baby with us, a very healthy one please God.

Nursery

Bec is due a week on Monday (21st May) and we finally have the baby room ready. The spare room has been converted and with the help of Bec's interior designing we now have a beautiful nursery ready for Sean/Zara. Everything is ready for the arrival now, its just up to baby as when they want to arrive. Today is mothers day so off to spend some time with Bec's granny. Doc has already said baby will go over the due date so maybe time for one more post before baby actually arrives.
Bec is now 39 weeks.

San Francisco 3 (Yachting on the Bay)

Here we are in San Francisco bay on Mike's yacht. He offered to take us out on the boat and of course we accepted, one of the best ways to see any city is from the water if it is there. Nicole (Bec's friend from Sydney) and Vicky (Nicole's friend who she is traveling with) joined us and we had a fantastic day sailing around the Bay, under the Golden Gate Bridge and then across to Angel Island where we pulled the sails down and had some lunch and wine. Many thanks to Mike for taking us out on his boat, we all had a cracking day and the weather was great, even managed a bit of sunburn to boot.

San Francisco 2 (The Gallaghers)

The Gallagher's are my cousins on my Dad's side. They live in SFO and I called up Jim and told him I was coming out and wanted to meet him. Three of my Dad's first cousins are in the photo above including Jim (top far left), Mike (bottom second left) and Mary (bottom far right). Also in the picture is Mike's son Eamonn (top second right), Eamonn's wife and his daughter on Mike's knee. This was taken at Jim's place after we had a fantastic feed and many bottles of wine. Top people and great to catch up with family so far from Australia, England & Eire. Seems we have much in common which is great to know seeing as they are family. Most notable similarities are the sense of humour and fondness for a drink, the drinking gene is definatley in this side of the family. Thanks to all the Gallaghers for their hospitality, it was awesome.

San Francisco 1 (Golden Gate Bridge)

San Francisco Saturday morning. Got up real early and drove across the Golden Gate Bridge. Yes it really is that impressive. I carried on North for 30 minutes and went into Muir Woods to see 1,000 year old Redwood trees. Came back to the city for lunch and shopping (Zara) and hung around in Union Square for the afternoon having a few beers and watching the city life. Very relaxed and cool place her in SFO but it is huge. Off for a big night with the Gallagher's tonight. See next post for more details.

Salt Lake City

From Vancouver I traveled to Salt Lake City in Utah for two days. Surrounded by beautiful mountains on all sides this is the only photo I took in the city. Here I am at the airport on my way out to San Francisco for the weekend.

MUCH MORE INTERESTING PHOTOS TO COME FROM SFO

Ds in Vancouver

I'll be sending the next couple of posts from North America as im here for the next couple of weeks for work. So sorry no pictures of Bec and her growing belly for the next 2 weeks, just scenery and commentary from my travels. In Vancover BC at present so the photo above is from my hotel room. Looks pretty gloomy but its actually a top city. Had a busy day in the office but managed to breakout for a couple of beers and a feed tonight. I am off to Salt Lake City tomorrow so watch out for the next post from Mormon country.

Week 35

Here we are in week 35 before we go to another wedding. I am off to Canada and the US on Monday so Bec is fending for herself for two weeks. Our Doc has already told us that Sean / Zara will not be arriving early so hopefully no rushed trip home from San Francisco. This has been Bec's first week off work but she certainly has been busy preparing the nursery.

Easter in Sydney (post lunch)

After lunch pictures above on same Easter lunch. I was asleep by this point on the couch as the kids got stuck into more presents. Left to right in bottom photo above is Mia, Kian, Aidan & Mikhaila all getting very excited about an egg that was almost as large as them. In the top photo Aidan is with the Easter bunny that arrived with one of his eggs. No pictures of me this Easter im afraid, wasn't in good shape after the day at the races so more to come next week.

Easter in Sydney

Sorry no photos of me at the races in Randwick yerterday but it wasn't really a family affair anyway, lots of eating and drinking. Here we are today on Easter Sunday at Natasha's parents place just bfore lunch. in the first photo is Aidan & Mikhaila are getting stuck into one of the presents they received. In the second photo Aidan is bonding with Sean/Zara who he now knows is in Bec's tummy and will be arriving soon. Had a cracking lunch with all the usual trimmings of lunch at this house. Lobster, smoked salmon, oysters all washed down with some great wine. Here Bec is 34 weeks.

Clothes for Sean/Zara

Clothes and toys have started pouring in now from various people. We had a beautiful hand knitted blanket from Mary Barry in Waterford, plenty of stuff from friends and family here in Sydney and a knitting kit from Cheryl in Manchester that when complete will be transformed into a little cardigan for Sean/Zara. Of course because the latter relies on B actually doing the knitting herself we will either have it only in time for the 6th child or it will be finished with only one arm.
Anyway thanks to everyone who sent sent stuff, I now have to put up more shelves to accommodate it all so a special thanks for that. The two pictures above represent my contribution to baby clothes. I found a top website to buy baby clothes which can be located here http://www.cafepress.com/buy/st+patricks+day/ B was not too impressed when I told her what 'Feck' means but I thought it was pretty funny and the bib is very cute. I'll probably have to limit Sean/Zara to wearing the 'Feck' one in the house only but it was still worth the purchase.

B is for BIG

B definitely means big these days. As you can see Bec is very big now with only 2 months to go. She is now having trouble tying shoelaces, putting any kind of footwear on and anything that involves any kind of bending over. She is very happy though and all is very well so far. Lots of moving around now from Sean/Zara including some really big movement where you can actually make out ankles, elbows or hands etc... Very weird but very exciting.

Paddy's Day Parade

Apologies in the delay of posts recently, we have been very busy here. Here I am the week before Paddy's Day with Ash at the parade in Hyde park in Sydney. Ash had her operation this week (new boobs) and she is very happy with them indeed. It was a beautiful day and almost too hot to stay around all day. Had a couple of Guinness's and a feed and then went home. Bec was out at a friends birthday so could not make it but we are all getting ready for a big day next week on the 17th.

31 weeks now. From left to right in this picture are Claud, Vita, Romina, Nat & Bec just about to leave for Romina's 30th birthday drinks in Balmain. I know in the last post Bec was also out with these girls and this would give the impression that she does this a lot. Well you'd be right, dinner, drinks, there's no stopping Bec just because she's pregnant. Still lots of kicking, still lots of movement and still growing of course.

Here Bec is out for dinner with her firends (L to R = Romina, Vita, Claud & Nat). Some place in Rozelle, not sure of the name, but I heard all about it and B told me the food was amazing. Here B is 30 weeks. Lots of kicking going on now and last night whilst we were both watching TV I could have sworn I saw an elbow sticking out of B's stomach. Man that must be uncomfortable.

Wedding reception Melbourne

After cooling off in our hotel we headed to Middle Brighton Baths for the reception. An intimate dinner for around 70 people in a beautiful setting. This place is a restaurant normally I think but tonight it was transformed for Sam's wedding party. The food was fantastic and the wine was very pleasing also. Bit of dancing later on with some salsa moves (not from me) and some Iranian dancing also.

Finished at the reception around midnight and then headed back to st Kilda to our hotel. Monday we did some shopping in the city (well Bec did, I just followed) and also paid a visit to Crown casino. Bec was hassling me as she had never been so I took her and showed her around. After an hour I got sick of watching Chinese people throwing away their money, it was Monday morning after all, so we got back in the car and headed to the airport. Back to Sydney and back to reality. In all the Melbourne photos bec is 29 weeks.

Sam & Bahareh

Sam made a great entrance with her mum Bahareh and she looked fantastic as you can see. What a beautiful ceremony with readings from Tom's mother, here from England, and a very moving Farsi chant from Bahareh. Afer the ceremony we had a couple of hours to kill and we went back to the hotel in St. Kilda. It was so hot we needed to get somewhere that has AC to relax and cool down before the night festivities started.

Sam & Tom get married (Melbourne)

February 17th 2007 we heaed to Melbourne to attend the wedding of Sam & Tom. What a beautiful day (but too hot at 40 degrees) it was with the ceremony in the stunning Rippon Lea Estate followed by a cracking reception at Middle Brighton Baths.
Here we are waiting for the ceremony to start. Bec was dying with the heat but some wise guy had brought an esky full of cold water to keep us going.

Another 1st Birthday

Here is Bec with Lola at Philip's first birthday party. I go to more 1st birthday parties these days than I do 21st's and these days its all about fairy bread, rice crispy cakes and building sand castles than it is about beer and smokes. We always have a great time though and with our own baby on the way I guess I am getting used to it. Here Bec is 26 weeks and trying to stay in the shade as it was a very hot weekend.

1st Birthday Party

Here is Bec with Mia on her 1st birthday. Bec is 25 weeks here.

Party in the Harbour

Here we are at a friend's birthday party in a beautiful apartment overlooking Sydney harbour. Lots of fantastic sashimi and white wine but unfortunately Bec could have neither, much to her disspaointment. Here Bec is 24 weeks. This week we also had a meet with our obstetrician and everything is going well so far. Due date is still May 21st and everything seems to be going very well apart from Bec having trouble sleeping at night.

Bec's 30th birthday party

Here Bec is with Mikhaila at her 30th birthday party. D was not invited as it was girls only. The theme of the party was Yum Cha and was catered by 'Yum Cha at your place' who come round and prepare yum cha for your guests. Everybody had a great time and there was plenty of food left over for when D got home. Here Bec is 22 weeks.

Sean Jnr has his first drink

Here is Sean Jnr having his first drink at a recent wedding we were at. B was not very impressed but D insisted. It's Chivas Regal scotch on the rocks. He didn't seem to like it too much so D finished it. This was taken in the second week of January 2007. Here Sean Jnr is 21 weeks old.

B turns 30

B turned 30 this week. Here we are cutting a cake on 9th January 2007. Next week B is having a party here at home but it's just girls so here we took one together on the actual day of her birthday. Here B is still 22 weeks.

2nd Wedding Anniversary

Here is Bec on the weekend of our 2nd wedding anniversary. Her cousin got married and this photo was taken before we left to go. The bump is getting bigger now and Bec is 22 weeks here.

Christmas Day 2006

Christmas Day 2006. Bec is really starting to show now and as you can see is glowing. Here Bec is 20 weeks, half way through and its getting very real now.

Ash, B, D & Mum

This photo was taken when Mum was here in October 2006. Here we are at home with Ash also having dinner and relaxing.