Cheers!

Oops. So I guess I missed posting in November. And most of December, really. Where does the time go? Well, nonetheless, here's a cute picture now, taken a few days ago during a rare weekend breakfast together en famille. Chris and I have both been working or traveling alot of weekend days, so it's rare that we're all up at the same time for breakfast. Maya has become a big fan of forks. It seems now that she can stab her food, instead of struggling to scoop it up and balance it on the end of a spoon, her enthusiasm for eating has returned. It still makes me a little nervous as the sharp, metal prongs head toward her tonsils (she hasn't quite grasped that she doesn't have to shove the entire fork in her mouth), but so far, no dramas.

Forgetting the sage advice of friends Nate & Vicki, who told us, "Never do anything once with kids that you don't want to do 100 times," we made the mistake of teaching her to tap glasses and say, "Cheers!" Now we say "Cheers!" at least 50 times throughout our meals, which makes actually consuming any fluids a difficult task at times. Just wait til she gets a hold of the brewskis! Happy Holidays everyone. Cheers!

Lady Ladybug

We tried to order a Halloween costume for Maya from the U.S., but unfortunately it didn't arrive here in time for the 31st, so I had to buy her a fairy ladybug costume from one of the local shops at the last minute. Alas, Miss Maya got sick and never made it to the party and trick-or-treating, hosted by the Consul General and his family. She would have been mistaken for a spewing volcano instead of a dainty ladybug, so it's all for the best that we didn't go. At least she got to help hand out some candy (or lollies, as they say here) to the trick-or-treaters in our neighborhood.  How unfair is that, though, a stomach flu BEFORE she got to eat any candy. We'll have to save her some lollies for when she's feeling better. And maybe she'll be a ladybug next year for Halloween :)

Beach ready!

We went to the beach on Sunday to celebrate our friends' son's 6th birthday. All the essentials were there for an American Birthday Party: Pizza Hut pizzas, cupcakes, and a jack-o-lantern pinata that withstood a severe thrashing from some 6 year olds high on sugar. Maya didn't participate in the pinata hitting, but she found some fun of her own, and thoroughly enjoyed the chocolate cupcakes. The beach was gorgeous that day, with lots of wind, sunshine and surfer dudes. Summer is coming any day now!

Kayaking on Lake Narrabeen

     
Yesterday we drove up to the Northern Beaches of Sydney and went kayaking with some friends on Lake Narrabeen. We weren't exactly sure how it would go with Maya on board - I pictured her trying to crawl out and us flipping the boat in an attempt to get her - but she was a natural! She sat between us, wearing her super puffy life vest, and cruised around the lake for an hour with nary a peep! The poor girl looked like a drowned rat (well, actually, we all did) by the end, what, between the water dripping off the paddles with each stroke, or the waves crashing over the bow of the boat as we paddled headlong into the wind to return home. But she took it all in stride, and even had a brief snooze in the middle. I guess with two crew parents we shouldn't be suprised!

Pigtails!

Can you believe it's October already? Summer is just around the corner here, although we're still having lots of rain in between sunny days. Maya continues to go to daycare, and seems to be adjusting, as she no longer cries when Chris drops her off and picks her up. Whew. Hopefully the long-term psychological damage will be minimal :).

Anyway, thought I'd include this cute picture from yesterday's return home from daycare. Maya's hair is getting crazy long and curly, so it's often in her eyes, stuck to her face by the snot coming out of her nose, or caked with ketchup or whatever she happens to be eating that day. We manage by just sweeping her hair out her eyes and washing out the food everynight, but her carers at daycare take a different approach: pigtails. Obviously, they have more nimble fingers than we do, or they know how to hypnotize babies, because they manage to twist those impossibly small rubberbands around her ultra-fine hair. We can never get Maya to keep her head still long enough for us to get our clumsy fingers to create pigtails, and usually end up pulling out a few hairs and making her cry, so we stopped trying long ago.

Needless to say, the effect is quite cute, and perhaps is another reason why daycare isn't so bad afterall....

Checking in

Howdy all. It's been a while since we've posted any pictures, so I thought I'd put up this cute one of Maya with her purple hippo pillow. Just because.

We've had a whirlwind past month---since Oma and Opa Bergmann left Sydney in mid-August, Gabby started back to work part-time (working in the ER of Sydney Children's Hospital) and Maya started daycare part-time as well. It's been an interesting transition, but we seem to be muddling through. Maya cries each time she's dropped off and picked up (by Chris, thankfully) at daycare, but they assure us that she's happy during the day. On the days that she stays home with mama, she's now super clingy and cries everytime we go to a park, friend's house or public place, probably because she associates groups of kids playing with toys with being left at daycare. Like with all of our parenting challenges, we just take a deep breath and think, "This, too, shall pass."

At least it better.....

It's my birthday!

Little Maya turned 1 year today!!!  She celebrated with her parents and Oma & Opa here at home, complete with super sweet cake and lots of singing.  Thanks to all the dear family and friends from afar who sent birthday wishes and gifts to help us celebrate what has been an incredible year.  We are lucky to have you all along with us on this journey into parenthood.  Bring on year 2!

Countdown...

Little Maya got a view of Canberra from atop the Parliament building when we were down there last week. We got a view of her and the Australian flag from below by lying in the grass (yes, the "Capitol" building has grass growing on the roof (Becky and all of my sustainable urban living friends will be cheering!) and taking several attempts to get her at a good angle, and the flag in a viewable state. Mission accomplished. Thanks to Karin & Marge for the great fuzzy jacket that she's wearing in this picture. It's been perfect for all the cool weather as of late, and she looks quite adorable in the pink (I must say...).

As for now, the little gal is sound asleep upstairs, unaware that she's about to turn ONE tomorrow. Where does the time go????

Oma & Opa in OZ

Maya was happy to expand her in-house fan club by 2 with the arrival of Oma Marianne and Opa Ernie on Thursday. They weathered the multiple legs of their flights from Pennsylvania-->Washington, DC -->San Franscisco -->Sydney, and a temporary loss of their baggage (it was delivered the following day) admirably, and seem to have made the 14 hour time zone transition with ease. Now we're off to explore some of the Sydney sights, and Maya is loving having a new, doting audience to whom she can show off her latest tricks: stair climbing, stair descending, stair tumbling down (oops!), babbling sounds, new food discoveries, and knee walking (which we can only hope is a precursor to regular walking, since it looks awfully painful to us! Here's a picture of the happy reunion in front of our bright green front door.

Tidbinbilla. Pouches everywhere.

Chris was sent down to Canberra last week and this week for some business down at the Embassy, so Maya and I drove down to spend the weekend with him and check out the ACT (Australian Capital Territory), located about 285 km south of Sydney.  While I can't say that the 3.5 hour drive in Friday rush hour traffic with a screaming baby in the backseat is my idea of a relaxing weekend get-away, once we pulled into the driveway of Chris' temporary home, all was better.  We spent a chilly Saturday afternoon at Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve, where we hiked for 3 hours up to Camel's Back ridge with a view over the Canberra countryside, and fed Maya her requisite hiking food (baby food in a pouch).  While we didn't see much more than some beautiful views and our breath during the hike, once we returned to the comfort of our warm car, we drove around the reserve and saw tons of kangaroos eating grass and jumping around.  We stopped to let Maya have a look, and she immediately pointed to the grey furry creatures, in case we hadn't seen them for ourselves.  Thanks, kiddo.  We proceeded to let her down on the ground to crawl around, but she seemed more interested in picking up the kangaroo poo (which looks, disturbingly, identical to Lola's dog food) and putting it in her mouth, than looking at the 'roos.  The 'roos seemed relieved when we picked her back up again, but hopped off to greener grasses anyway.

Happy 4th of July!!

We traveled up to the Blue Mountains outside of Sydney for the 4th of July, as Chris was invited by the Blue Mountain/Flagstaff, AZ Sister City committee to speak at a flag-raising ceremony. So, early Sunday morning, we bundled up little Maya, picked up some fellow Consulate friends en route, and did the 2 hour drive up to Katoomba, in the heart of the Blue Mountains. The ceremony took place at Echo Point, a stunning lookout over the Jamison Valley and the famous "3 Sisters" rock formation. It was a gorgeous winter day---a bit crisp initially, but the sun was shining brightly to warm things up. Together with a small group of local citizens, the Mayor, a US Air Force officer, a community choir, and some confused looking Japanese tourists, we celebrated a less-than-traditional 4th of July. Songs were sung, speeches were made, tea and donuts were served, and Old Glory was raised as we sang an off-key Star Spangled Banner and lip synched the words to Australia's anthem, "Advance Australia Fair". It was a lovely morning, followed by some bush walking on the local hiking trails with our friends. Happy Birthday, America!

First Father's Day!

After reading Marcel's blog, I realized I'm slacking and didn't post any pictures from our Father's Day weekend either. Oops! While we weren't nearly so brave as to go camping with our little one, it appears that our Father's Day mornings started off the same way (twin think) with pancakes. I'll admit, however, that my pancakes were of the just-add-water-and-shake variety :). Still tasty, but perhaps not the fluffiest we've ever had. We'll have to wait until Uncle Marcel makes us a batch! Anyway, in truth, our rainy Dad's Day Sunday was spent doing taxes (don't worry - we get an automatic extention for living overseas!), and nothing all that festive, but we did enjoy some Saturday sunshine with a hike in Ku-Rung-Gai National Park, north of Sydney. Chris, aka SuperDada, was his usual strong self and carried Maya in the baby pack, while Mom was left to hike unencumbered. Wait a minute....wasn't this Father's Day????? Hehehehehehe.....

Homes Away from Home

When Chris, Maya and I traveled up to Brisbane in April for a business trip, we learned the hard way that infants + adults in one tiny hotel room don't mix. Despite the fact that she's a very good sleeper at home, we took for granted that Maya is accustomed to complete darkness and quiet, and we are accustomed to a sturdy door between her room and the rest of the house! Screaming is much louder, and much harder to ignore, when the source is a mere few feet from you. The only place to hide from Maya and her screaming was in the bathroom, which was all just a little too ridiculous. Ultimately, we ended up going to bed when Maya did, at a very respectable (read, pathetic) 7:30pm. So much for vacation.

Anyway, lest history repeat itself, we wisened up for our more recent trip down South, and rented accomodations with multiple bedrooms. In Melbourne, we found a great apartment right downtown (first pic), in the Barossa Valley we stayed in a charming vintage bungalow (2nd), and in Adelaide we had a classic rowhouse (3rd). All were extremely comfortable, beautifully and uniquely decorated, well located in the cities and regions we visited, included baby high chairs and port-a-cots, and most importantly, had sturdy doors to keep the little munchkin in heavenly slumber. Ahhhhh......

Barossa Valley

After a couple of days in Melbourne, we boarded a one hour flight to Adelaide, and then drove one hour northeast of the city into the famous Barossa Valley wine district. Although it was a bit cold, it was a gorgeous time of year to be in the wine country, with all of the vines and trees showing their firey fall colors, and relatively empty cellar doors. We did alot of wine tasting, explored the local villages, and did some great touring of the surrounding hills and valleys.  It almost felt as if we were in circa 1960's Napa or Sonoma, until we saw the kangaroos hopping around the vineyards! 

High Chairs around OZ

During our week long gastronomical tour of Victoria and South Australia, Maya had the opportunity to test many high chairs and foods. Whether is was home cooking (peas! grapes! toast!) in the high chairs provided by the rental companies (we stayed in apartments, cottages and houses), cafes or restaurants, she was an avid food adventurer. She charmed the waitstaff by smiling and eating pastries, bread, German sausage and soft pretzels while her parents and grandparents guzzled German beer and tasted multiple wines throughout the Barossa Valley wine district outside of Adelaide. Yum!! 

Funky Melbourne

I've been catching some Flack (ahem, Stephanie) about not writing about our recent trip to Victoria and South Australia, so I'll begin today with a post about our sojourn in Melbourne (pronounced Mel-bun by the locals) last week. As you can see from the photo, Grandma Debbie and Grandpa Jack have been visiting from the US for 3 weeks, so we decided to use the opportunity of their visit to do some exploring of this great continent country. Melbourne is an easy (and cheap!) one hour plane ride from Sydney, so we stopped there first and spent 2 nights in a great apartment right in downtown. The architecture is amazing, with lots of colonial buildings juxtaposed between newer highrise buildings, and the town itself has a much "funkier" feel than Sydney. Everyone says that Sydney is where all the glamorous people live, and Melbourne is more down-to-earth. Roughly, New York:Sydney as SanFran:Melbourne.

The red and yellow building in the top two photos is the train station, located along the Yarra River, and nearby to many of the museums, parks and the Rod Laver tennis stadium, where the Australian Open (tennis) is played every year.

We did a ton of walking around the city, and used the free city tram to do a loop around the city center en route to the famous Queen Victoria Market, where we were enthralled by the produce stands, and bought enough cheese to last us the entire trip.  (We were a bit overzealous it appears).

One of our favorite aspects of the city were the alleyways packed full of tiny cafes and restaurants.  Despite grey winter skies and chilly wind, the alfresco dining scene was still in full force in these alleys, as the effect of each individual restaurant's outdoor heaters combined with the tight spaces made it quite toasty and comfortable.  You could stroll through and read the chalkboard specials, all the while trying to keep from drooling on ourselves (Maya did anyway). There was an alley dedicated to Italian dining, a Chinatown section, and enough espresso being served to give Seattle a run for their money.