Old McDonald had a farm E-I-E-I-O...

Last Saturday we went to Frank's farm. It's about half an hour drive from Goulburn (roughly three hour drive from Sydney), in the middle of nowhere, far from highways and civilization, tucked away amongst the bushland, hills, valleys and creeks. To get there we drove up the dirt road covered with big rocks and boulders, full of huge holes and cracks - I'm not even certain whether I should call it "a road", it was more like a track. Thankfully our big 4X4 Discovery made it with little effort.

Farm itself is not fully functional of course because nobody lives there. But when it comes to farm animals, there are 24 goats on the farm. Frank says they are low maintenance animals and take care of themselves pretty much. Frank only goes there on the weekends to give hay and pellet food to the animals and to make sure there is enough water for them but other than that... they are quite happy being home alone. Well, except when the fox comes around... they don't like foxes. Couple of goats have already been taken by the fox but that's just the way it goes. Apparently the neighbours put out some fox poison around the place to protect their animals, we were a bit scared that Sophie might find it but we kept her in close range at all times and besides, she's not interested in finding food when there are plenty of sticks around to play fetch with :-D

There are also lot of other wildlife around - rabbits, kangaroos, wombats and possums. Oh, and don't forget spiders and snakes! There are lot of
snakes in the bush. That is quite scary actually. We saw a baby Brown Snake in amongst the fire wood that Stefania and I just had gathered and it could have ended real bad but luckily nobody was bitten and the snake was "taken care of" if you know what I mean. Brown Snake is one of Australia's more deadly creatures. They have venom which can cause death to humans relatively quickly if left untreated. And it's a long way to the hospital... I also saw a web of a Funnel-web spider while gathering fire wood. They like to burrow in moist, cool, sheltered habitats - under rocks, in and under rotting logs, crevices, rot and borer holes in rough-barked trees. But in saying that, I have come across one in my office at work not long ago so you don't have to go to deep bush to find a spider in Australia, they are EVERYWHERE!

One of the main things to do at the farm is riding motorbikes. Frank has quite a few of them there and kids - Luca, Stefania and sometimes Anthony and Matthew as well - just love riding them across the countryside, up the hills and down the valleys, dodging rocks and trees. They have had few minor accidents, small falls and bumps but no real damage has been done and they get better at it every week. I was very impressed how skilled and confident they are! Jacob is still too little but one day, I'm sure he will join his older cousins in the Wild Farmer's Motorbike Gang ;-)

On one of the pics you see Sophie sitting on my lap which is very very unusual - she doesn't normally like to be picked up at all but on that day she climbed up because she got scared of loud noise of fire crackers that Luca and Frank let off. It was quite funny actually, I have never seen her so keen to get on my lap - poor thing.

It is an old Australian tradition to let off firecrackers and fireworks on Queen's birthday long weekend. It's illegal now because of too many accidents and injuries that resulted in wrong and careless handling of fireworks. Shame.

Now I'd like to describe the farmhouse or should I say farm shed?! It is no mansion let me tell you! There is no water in the house so little tanks of water with a pump and a heater have been set up in the kitchen for washing and cooking. There is no shower. To flush the toilet, you need to turn on a tap to fill the water tank beforehand and it's filled with rainwater I believe. A generator is used for electricity but at night the generator is turned off so only battery operated torches are used for light. And it gets dark at night!!! It gets really really dark!!! I thought that my eyes would adjust and at least you would see the shapes in the room but no - you see absolutely nothing, it's as if you are blind. At home we get streetlights glowing through the windows... electrical alarm clock's display... little red or green power button lights on other electrical equipment casting a small glow in the room and it makes such a difference. Out there it's only stars and the moon on a clear night :-)

It's also very quiet. When the generator was turned off, there was not a sound - no ambulance/police sirens in the distance, no traffic, no planes, not TV, no radio... just big thick quiet. It would be a bit different in summer though with crickets and cicadas at night.

We had a lovely lunch prepared on the wood fire by Carmela and Maria. I don't know why but food always tastes better when you eat outdoors. It was sooo tasty! There were stake, sausages, bacon, chicken and also fresh corn cooked on the fire - mmmm yummm :-P One of the best meals I've had for a while I must admit. Beats the restaurant any day if you ask me.

I also tried riding a quad bike. It was so much fun!!! :-) Stefania thought I was too slow but I always say - one little baby step at the time! I need few more lessons and bit more practice.

At night we went to nearby little town to watch the local fireworks. The whole town had gathered at the Town Hall, they had huge bonfire and raffle and food stalls... It was lovely. It actually reminded me of Estonian mid-summer-night celebrations in my home village, except it was a bit too cold. I also saw gum-boot throwing competition for the first time in my life. It's not as exiting as you would think, but it's definitely something you don't see every day heh-heh :-)

Kids loved roasting marshmallows on the fire - that's another great Aussie tradition. You put the marshmallow on the long stick and hold it above the fire so it would start melting a bit but not too close to the fire, otherwise it will burn and turn black. It has to be soft and warm inside when you eat it. Nice!

Overall we had a great time! I loved it. Jacob loved it. Phil loved it. And Sophie loved it too. But it was also quite tiring. On the way back to Sydney, Sophie had a good long deep sleep in the car while Jacob was watching a movie and I also snoozed on the backseat.

We would definitely like to visit the farm again some day.

Thank you Frank and Maria for a lovely weekend in the country!

Jacob's sleepstudy

You have probably heard me often complaining about Jacob's sleeping problem. For a while now, I have been suspecting adenoids to be the reason. His breathing doesn't sound quite normal when he sleeps - children should not snore like that! Often he wakes up in the middle of the night which is exhausting for him and also for me.
I'm even more worried about his speech delay. He does talk, but not at the level he should be at his age. I believe there is a link between sleep apnoea and learning difficulties. That's why I decided to investigate further. Our GP referred him to a pediatrician who specializes in children's sleep study - Dr Jim Papadopoulos - to determine if Jacob has sleep apnoea and if so, how severe.
I made an appointment in February and first available time in private hospital was mid April. In public hospital though, first availability was in September. So I decided to go private, which meant that we would be roughly $500 out of pocket. As time passed, Jacob started to sleep better. For couple of months he slept really well - didn't wake up in the middle of the night and didn't snore either. I started to think that I was over-reacting and worrying too much. But at the same time I didn't want to cancel just yet, just in case, so I decided to re-scheduled my appointment to June, thinking that it would be waste of time and money to do the study while there's no problem. Well, I was right - he did get worse again.
So now finally it's done! Study was done at the St George Private Hospital here in Kogarah - the same hospital where Jacob was born (it brought back some memories).
Jacob was very brave little soldier. He didn't complain at all. We had talked about what was going to happen in the hospital, at home, when we played doctors and patients. At one point at the hospital, he said to me: "I don't want to be a patient any more, I'm Jacob now. I want to go home now!" but after reassurance from me, he was OK to stay.
He was hooked up to the machine with thousand wires which made him look like a little robot. When something got disconnected at night due to moving around in the bed, the nurse quietly came into the room and connected it up again without waking him. The hospital staff was pretty good. I didn't sleep much though... the fold-up bed I was sleeping on, was squeaky and uncomfortable but I'm not complaining, it's not like I get a good night sleep every night at home anyway.
At the follow-up consultation, we found out from the results of the sleep study that Jacob does have sleep apnoea - mild to moderate - which means, it's not as bad as choking in his sleep for example but it will have long term consequences like learning difficulties and sometimes behavioral problems. Dr Papadopoulos referred Jacob to a surgeon for adenoids/tonsils operation. I have an appointment on 18th July. The surgeon will probably have a look at his tonsils and maybe adenoids as well (apparently they use some sort of tiny camera on the tube to feed it up the nose. Sounds scary!) and then decide whether to operate or not. I have spoken to many parents who's kids have had this operation and they all say it's not a big deal any more these days... Jim said his daughter Emily was in and out of the operating theatre in 6 minutes! And it took her only few days to recover. The risk of infection is not nearly as high as it use to be years ago.
So wish us luck and fingers crossed! I will keep you posted with developments.

sev skydiving

Gosh I have fallen into a new hobby. It's taking all my time (and my money...). I'm going every week-end, every public holiday and haven't had a day at home since I have started. I have now 18 jumps and I don't think I will stop anytime soon. It is quite amazing to be in the air at 4000 meters (I think it's about 12 000 feet but you'd better check), trying to do loops and other figures. Anyway for those who haven't seen the photos or video, here they are...

Imax & Wildlife World

Jacob is obsessed with dinosaurs at the moment. They say all little boys go through dinosaur-period in life. He just looooves them! Jurassic Park is one of his favourite movies. Scary!

Last weekend we took him to Imax 3D Cinema to see a dinosaur movie. You should have seen how exited he was! At first he got a bit frightened and climbed up on my lap but then after a little while, he was reaching out trying to touch images with his hand. It was sooo funny! It's amazing how real it looks.
IMAX is the largest and most exciting film format in the world. With crystal clear images, ten times larger than traditional cinema format, the IMAX draws you in with pictures so real you want to touch them, so powerful you can feel them.The IMAX experience takes an image rich in clarity and definition, throws it onto the world's biggest screen and wraps the viewer in digital surround sound. Truly breathtaking experience.

After watching dinosaur movie, we headed to Wildlife World in Darling Harbour. That's another cool place to take your kids. http://www.sydneywildlifeworld.com.au/?sydney=/home
It's like a little wild oasis in the middle of high risers and noisy traffic of the city. They have reptiles, beautiful birds, cuddly koalas, wallabies, colourful butterflies and other creepy crawlies. They have the biggest cockroaches in the world and If you're keen enough, they even let you touch it. I was keen enough! :-)
Jacob loved touching the snake. No fear at all! Next Crocodile Hunter in the making.Just as we were leaving Wildlife World, big dark storm clouds started to roll over. We made it across the bridge just in time before thunder storm. Had lunch in the noodle bar and topped it all off with a lovely ice-cream. Action and excitement packed day!!! :)

We are nesting...

Renovation. Part 2

Jacob's room. We didn't paint Jacob's room but it has a new floor, new carpet, new bed and new wardrobe.










Dining room. The exercising machine is there only temporarily, we need to find it a more suitable, permanent spot in the house.










Living room. I would like to point out the shelves in the fireplace below the TV. I've had this idea for a long long time and now finally it's done! :-) I'm so proud! Although those orange sofas are really comfortable, I'd like to buy a nice leather corner lounge at some point in the future and move old ones somewhere else. I doubt Phil will agree to throw them out, so I need to find them a new place in the house.










Renovation. Part 1
Yes, it is the time in our lives when we feel the urge to improve the current living conditions in preparation for the new member of the family. No, I'm not pregnant. Not yet! :-D But we have decided not to put it off for too much longer. So next year maybe... ;-)

And for that reason, theme of these past few months has been "home renovation"! Mostly DIY style.

We started with living room and hallway. We wanted to paint before ripping off the carpet and polishing the floor-boards, that way we don't have to worry about paint drops on the floor. We had few massive cracks in the wall which needed patching up before painting could commence. We also had to sand back the glossy old paint on wood - window frame, doors, picture rail and skirting boards. It was painfully slow process but in the end it was all worth it. It looks beautiful. I must admit we didn't even think about colour theme until last minute but in the end I'm happy with what we decided.
Floors came out really nice too. First we had to move all the furniture out of living room, hallway and office. When these floors were done, we had to then move all the furniture out of bedrooms and into the office and living room. Oh, and don't forget the dining room. It was awful! You don't realise how much stuff you have until you start emptying all the drawers and cupboards. Crikey! Half of it is old junk and needs to be thrown out. I'm still working my way through it all.

We moved in with Carmela for few weeks while our floors were being fixed and here are some pics of our days at Rockdale.

Here is Jacob eating chocolate cake with his cousin Anthony.
And here's Harry Potter or Jacob - as you might know him - wearing Nonna's spectacles.

And Boris The Cat.
Sitting on the porch, eating ice-cream and watching storm clouds roll over.

But now we are back at home. Half of our belongings are still in boxes and all three of us are sleeping in Jacob's room at the moment because main bedroom still needs a fresh coat of paint. I have been putting it off for too long. I still don't know what to do with that ugly old built-in wardrobe... It costs a fortune to replace. We were thinking of taking old doors off and replacing them with sliding doors, adding some more shelving at the same time... We'll see... I need to get a quote for that. I might have to put up with it for few more years.

Oh yeah, speaking of old wardrobes... remember the one we had in Jacob's room? We sold it on e-buy. That is the first item we have ever sold on Internet and we even made profit from it. I could not believe it! I just wanted to get rid of it and was hoping that if we sell it for a dollar, someone might come and collect it. We had already dissembled it and all... and it doesn't have instructions. Guess how much? you wont believe it. We got $130 for it! E-buy is fantastic!!! It's like having cyber garage sale. We could be millionaires if we could sell all the junk from Rockdale!?!? Can you imagine? He-heh-heeee :-D

More pics later.

(to be continued)

weekend in Cambridge

In February I went to see Anna in Cambridge, ex Manly flatmate!
We had wonderful weather. I mean it was freezing cold but we were lucky to have a beautiful blue sky and sun! We wandered around the university and even did some punting on the water... at least we choose a cute student to drive the boat for us ;-)





And in the morning Anna kindly cooked a nice english brekky



On sunday we went to Richmond to see my friend Caroline

Jacobs first attempt at photography

Last weekend I was playing with Jacob in the backyard. I took some photos of him, Sophie and big planes flying over our house


Jacob wanted to have a go with the photo camera. So I let him. Not bad for a 3-year old's first attempt, ha?!? I actually quite like this one of me and Sophie :-)