Lightning Guns

The Mighty Tasman

2011-11-03T01:51:00.008+13:00

On Wednesday, after leaving Hanmer Springs, we made the 5 hour drive to the Tasman Bay. We went directly to our friends, Mark and Janja's house. There was much we wanted to do in the 4 days we allowed ourselves to stay in Nelson. Firstly, we wanted to catch up with Mark and Janja and see their new baby Felix and give Elinor playtime with Felix's older brother Lucio. We caught up; Mark and Janja live in a lovely comfortable renovated settlers' cottage in a very hip corner of Nelson. Mark is a quite clever and involves himself with curious projects that I'm never quite sure of but he pulls them off very capably. He recently modified an old unused ringer washing machine into a pizza oven. I was skeptical when I first heard about this idea but when I saw it, and watched it cook, I was impressed. And hungry.

Janja is a thoroughly over-educated homemaker and mother who was very happy to see Elinor and Sara again. The two of them are sympatico and their time together was wonderful to observe. Through their stalwart dedication to family diet, we actually ate pizza in Mark's beautiful pizza cooker, instead of just standing and gaping at the unorthodox oven.

Felix is a beautiful baby with a shock of orange hair and his big brother is wonderful. Lucio is 4-years-old and plays very nicely with other kids. A rare gem and a fantastic respite for Elinor who had been suffering from living in our Invercargill home. The last week of living on Venus Street, with a house that was quickly emptying, and spending a few nights with our friends Sarah and Phil in Otatara, was a lot of disruption in Elinor's routine. We were glad for Lucio and glad to be with friends for a few nights, instead of another hostel accommodation.

On the weekend in Nelson we went to visit our landlords when we lived in Mapua. The Waddell Smiths became our friends during my six month secondment to an electrical contractor in Motueka. Now, however, we had something new to share. In May I bought a $50 ukulele with a dolphin bridge.

I played it everyday until I knew 10 chords and 3 strumming patterns. I fell in love, not necessarily with the ukulele, but with learning something new. I felt the same when I was learning new concepts and successfully applying them in my electrical apprenticeship. I feel similarly now studying a new language-- although I also feel fear and anxiety because I regularly have to perform Hebrew in public to meet the most basic of needs. Before we left Invercargill, I invested in a ukulele that sounded nicer and looked cooler than my light blue Makala ukulele.

Ukuleles

The Smith Waddells had a number of ukuleles and even belonged to a ukulele group. Their repertoire, however did not include the many gems that my Invercargill uke group like to bring along to bash through. We spent five hours playing through 'Wagon Wheel,' 'Teach Your Children,' 'Jolene,' 'House of New Orleans,' 'Jamaican Farewell;' we swapped music and had far too much baking. Roger and Adele cook infrequently but their daughter Briar is learning to bake. Adele, however, was the chief cook and we had a beautiful pumpkin soup with a gorgeous loaf of bread. We sang songs and drank champagne until I was hoarse and the floor was covered with tunes and ukulele's as we swapped music and tried everyone's ukuleles.

By the end of the weekend we were exhausted from our 'respite' and we had time for a last dinner with Mark and Janja, Lucio and Felix and our friends Gerry and Nadia and their boy Kingston. A very sad goodbye to our friends in the Tasman district and me looking in the rear view mirror reluctantly delivering my family to the ferry crossing and our last week in New Zealand.

***

First Bath in the Homeland

Before leaving for Israel, we were accepted into an absorption program through the Jewish Agency called 'First Home in the Homeland.' When we landed in Israel we learned that there were a few options available for us; three kibbutzim that housed families making Aliyah. We visited a gorgeous kibbutz situated right on the Kinneret. A beautiful view, but at a cost. We would be living in a very small space, with less than a kitchenette for cooking and one bedroom. The Ulpan was in a neighboring town, there was no dining hall and no work on the kibbutz. The people we met there we very friendly and encouraging but as we had options, we decided we'd better learn what they were before we moved into our first home. The next two kibbutzim were neighboring kibbutzim and really the biggest selling point was one had a similar living space to the Kinneret kibbutz and the other had a caravan.

We opted for the caravan. It has three rooms, a middle size room with shared kitchen/living/dining and two bedrooms. It was also moldy, had a cracked bathtub, filthy top to bottom, needed painted and smelled funky. After visiting Kibbutz Revivim and deciding on making the caravan our first home, we waiting while the kibbutz maintenance painted the walls, sealed the bathtub, treated for mold and fixed leaks.

Meanwhile our 'first home' was a Coleman 4-person tent in Sara's mother's backyard.

First Home in the Homeland

How I am like a Gorilla. With commentary.

2011-08-09T18:26:00.011+12:00

2 weeks prior to immigrating. Balancing.

The last week of July we left Dunedin. After a tearful goodbye with my parents we piled into our wagon and made our way as far as Timaru for a night's sleep before Tuesday's big adventure. I moved our luggage into the backpackers, and I sat and played ukulele until Sara reminded me that other people in the world may not like to hear me singing "Teach Your Children." For dinner we ordered a pizza and watched Eli explore our first of many- Many- one night accomodations.

Our pizza (Domino's, not that it matters, as all American pizza outlets in New Zealand are similarly void of everything that makes America great) was undersized and greasy as usual, the leftovers sat at the table at the foot of the bed while Sara and I read books to Elinor until she fell asleep. We stayed up and watched something on the laptop and them tucked in for the night. The next morning, we were out of the campground and Timaru by 9 am. We had a schedule to drive the length of the South Island in 4 days and we wanted to fill our time with hot springs, animal parks and a last weekend with some of our friends we had made when we lived in New Zealand.

Around midday we stopped at Willowbank Nature Reserve in Christchurch. New Zealand has zoos, but really they do the nature reserve thing more often and it's a real feature from town to town. Willowbank is probably New Zealand's best nature reserve. The walk through aviary was large and had keas. Apart from tramping around Fiordland and the parking lot of a ski resort, I had never seen keas outside a bird enclosure.

It was a little intimidating and I kept wanting to stand between the curious clever birds and Eli-- who chose that moment to eat her lunch leftovers thus driving the ornery parrots crazy.

They had an enclosure for kiwis as well. I'd never seen a live kiwi. Before we made it into the enclosure, a Japanese tour group accosted us. Three of the Japonourists approached Elinor, taking pictures and saying things like, "Herroo Kid! You a veri coot keed. Herro" They were cute. We stood there and tolerated them, the Japanese are very polite about their idiosyncrasies and didn't hold us up for long. When we made it into the darkened enclosure where they kept the little fluffy national icons, the tour group was occupied with their close encounter with the nearly blind whisker-beaked flightless bucket of thighs that we had time to give Eli her own unique 3-year-old meets captive wildlife experience. It was special.

After a few hours at Willowbank, we were back on the road in our Holden Commodore family wagon, that rode so low I had to detour around any street with a speed bump, on our way to Hanmer springs.

Hanmer Springs

Our room at the backpackers was a 2 minute walk to the Hanmer's "thermal park" (which is New Zealand for hot springs). It's a water park/thermal spas/restaurant/massage parlor. Kinda a warm aquatic masseur kiosk in a way that only New Zealand can do.

Eli swam and swam and rode on my back in the warm mineral water. And then I took her over to the play equipment and accidentally (well I did it on purpose but I wasn't expecting what happend) blasted my toddler with a tepid torrent of water park canon fun that was not in the least bit fun for Elinor. She erupted into tears and feeling extra thankful that Sara wasn't standing beside me whenI turned the over-sized novelty faucet on full bore on my little girl, I picked her up and asked her if she like to try the water slide. The one with a pool of water at the bottom. I put her on my lap and with a practised "Wheeee" we slid down and I remembered a physics lesson about water displacement and how it was relative to the dimensions of whatever was placed into the water. The amount of water displaced at the bottom of the slide was about that the same dimensionsof my daughtersif she was a gorilla 4 times her own age.

A 12-year-old gorilla

Which means I created a 12-year-old-gorilla size wave that took Elinor from apprehensive mistrust to vehement desire for mommy. NOW.

But not before we tried out the Hanmer Springs' man-made Raging Rapids attraction.

She was fine. Really she was. She may have hated me to the core of her understanding of her fledgling emotional development but hey, kids have a poor memory as long as they get distracted quickly enough. Or if Mommy takes them.

Dinner that night was at a Thai restaurant where Elinor threw a thoroughly disturbing tantrum, ate less rice than a Buddhist Priest near Nirvana, and Sara and I both left way overfed, painfully overfed in fact, and more than ready to tuck into bed.

***

Starting our lives over was never the intent when we decided to move to Israel. As much as our odyssey to the airport and ports beyond Aotearoa seemed like the finish --even in memory it feels like an interlude between two separate experiences-- we kept on with our family life. We sold our home and finished jobs, said goodbye a lot and also 'nice to have met you' which felt kinda weird. But as a persons existence is only measurable as the sum of their experiences, I can't say one life ended or that another began. The string of experiences is contiguous and each day, here as it was in NZ, is different.

Sara is working for the kibbutz in the Dining Hall. We've settled into a caravan on a Kibbutz in the Negev. My language class picks up on Sunday. One thing keeps on following the next. Never has any of this living stopped and started.

The Kibbutz is a wonderful place for us. Apart from the gate, and the fence and the moat, there is a dining hall, a cinema, onsite medical and dental, a laundry service, a 'zoo,' library, market, and childcare. Recently Elinor had her first full day at the Gan (kindergarten) on the kibbutz. Slowly, Elinor is acclimating to an 8 hour day, 5 days a week, 6 hours on Friday. Poor thing. Sara and I are, naively and unwittingly at times, putting her through trauma I expected her to go through in another year or more. She's been amazing.

Elinor eatimg a Sponge Bob ice cream at Kibbutz Revivim

Aliyah.

2011-08-03T17:28:00.003+12:00

In the days and weeks to follow, this blog will be updated.

You see, I know people. Not a lot of people. Enough though. Enough for a web log to need updating. Enough for me to correspond my last 3 months in a few picture studded essays.

I recently immigrated to Israel. Recently. This morning. By 12:30 a.m. I had an Israeli National Identity card. My identity is as an Israeli 'Oleh Chadash' or new immigrant.

Previous to arrival at Ben Gurion airport, my family and I were hurtling through the air at a 300 million kilometres an hour, approaching the speed of light and an experience similar to the boat seen in Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory. Well, not quite. Retrospect isn't 20/20 for me, retrospection is like a good fiction. Like a Philip K. Dick book, but not the crappy ones were you'd think you were reading the erotic memoirs of an astronaut on mescalin. I thrive on bullshit retrospection.

We came from Invercargill-- our home in New Zealand-- with 123 kg of luggage in a Holden Commodore wagon. Through Dunedin, my parents current hometown, through Nelson, Wellington, to Auckland via Taupo and Raglan.

Our last weeks in Invercargill, we experienced daily tears and hugs goodbye, farewell dinners and parting gifts. We spent 3 weeks travelling. Three weeks of bittersweet goodbyes and too many pleasure-to-have-met-you's. 21 days of meeting and departing over and over. And now. Now is all I have to truly access these memories-- the now of relief and regret, the now of remember and remittances. Last minutes and spontaneous fun.

I hope to hear from many of you, via whatever media you wish to send. Though I'd prefer electronic and am very open to skype, though check the time zone first.

Speak to you soon, audience of family and friends.

Sun, Beach and Smelters

2011-02-21T11:38:00.004+13:00

So today is warm and rainy, a predictable epilogue to the nearly 5 days of sunshine we had in a row that is affectionately referred to as the Southland Summer.

I've been unemployed for 3 1/2 months-- preferring to think I was self-employed while renovating the house and getting it ready for sale-- and now I'm starting a job at the smelter as a maintenance electrician. I'm happy for the extra positive cash flow but I'm a bit nervous about shift work after a long break from working.

We made use of the good sunny weather yesterday and drove out to Omaui beach. I've put in some pictures to illustrate the frivolity that was enjoyed. The sand, where the tide doesn't reach, is very fine and promptly after Sara applied sunscreen and insect repellent to Elinor she had belly flopped into the sand and came up looking like she was dusted with cinnamon and sugar.

The water was still too chilly to swim in but Eli enjoyed splashing around in the soft lapping waves. That only lasted until a sandbar 30m offshore disappeared underwater, then there was nothing keeping the lapping waves from becoming greedily licking lips of the growing tide. Eli was starting to get tired and we decided to come home after a couple hours of play and a bite to eat.

Eli got out another animal costume from the Toy Library over the weekend. This fortnight we'll have to live with a little crocodile. Her bed is crocodile themed as well, now.

The home sell process has been relatively stress free, no serious offers or interested parties, but it's been nice to see the house look like a show home. We still want to paint a few place and put some more gravel down in the back garden, but we trying to think of ways to market our home where gardeners and sustainability seekers would see it. I was thinking of putting up flyers on supermarket skips to appeal to freegans, or putting subtle little brochures in the seed packet displays at gardening stores.

We got a new camera, FujiPix something. It's decent, and our old one had a scratch on the lens and was taking blurry photos, so we needed something functional. The clarity's nice and there's a bunch of settings that allow me to be the r-tard on holiday that wants to take a million night photos because my camera has that setting. Love being 'That Guy."

I received a letter today saying the I'm approved for New Zealand Citizenship. The ceremony will take place sometime in the next 2-3 months. We're waiting to hear about our Aliyah process, we're not sure when/if things will happen on that front.

Hoping everyone's well and looked after.

For Sale

2011-01-15T18:41:00.003+13:00

Our house is for sale!

Please check out the listing and tell us what you think or if we should change anything in the listing.

You can leave a comment on the blog or send us an email.

It's sad putting the house on the market, but there's plenty left to do around home so no time to sulk.

We're waiting on the floor preperation guy (affectionately referred to as Gimli) and we want to do some garden work and touch up painting here and there.

Grammie and Grandpa were here for 3 days and Grandpa was a big help. Together we cleared out most of the rubbish in the carport and back yard, and filled a 6m skip to the brim.

Eli loved have Grammie around and it meant Sara and I could focus on sorting out garage sale items and make definitive decisions on what can be packed and stored until we sort out a moving strategy.

Oh! I'm an electrician now! I passed my test. It was in the midst of so much activity that I forget what a milestone it is. I will start looking for work as a registered electrician in a few more weeks. Time, hopefully, to get the house to a point where no further touches need to be made.

Christmas Days

2010-12-28T08:56:00.004+13:00

I can't rememeber the last time I was so lazy. Some days, I was so lethargic I felt ill.

However, the family got out and about and we've enjoyed the beach, the museum (with its butterfly exhibit), the botanic gardens, the ice-skating rink, a nature walk and Sara, Pete, Molly and me even made it to see the Harry Potter movie--without Elinor!

And we've had some wonderful days together at home. We've watched a whole series of Jonathan Creek, a few Jeeves and Wooster and QI's and watched a heap a movies and played with Elinor tons and heaps.

Christmas was a day long affair.

Notable gifts:

Eli's new 'Elli-gator' and (to my chagrin) Dora the Explorer books.

Sara's been wearing her 'half shawl' and her and Molly have had their noses stuck in a new cookbook each.

Peter is predictable been howling and playing with all his presents equally and with equal enthusiasm but was very excited to learn he's going to the Armageddon Expo in Christchurch with me in April. Here's a video of his reaction (as soon as I could start the camera) to his present from his brother James.

I've been reading bits of 'How to drive a tank' and regularly hurting my finger while trying to open beer bottles with my new bottle opener ring.

We've also been eating. And eating.

I'm happy to say that christmas was a success and I'm looking forward to the new year's resolution of a diet and finding a job.

Hope everyone's holiday was totally rad.

Special Holiday Double Posting: Cutest Dinosaur

2010-12-21T08:27:00.003+13:00

While I was browsing for a video of renovations, I found some pictures and videos of Elinor with a dinosaur costume we had out from the toy library.

Elinor at Grandpa and Grammie's House

2010-12-21T07:55:00.003+13:00

We arrived in Dunedin yesterday afternoon. As we were coming over the hill to Grammie's house Elinor started smiling really big, laughing and saying "Houses... Houses... gammis house...."

My younger sister is visiting from Ottawa. She, my parents and younger brother, came down last week for a couple nights stay in Invercargill. Elinor had never met my sister, Molly. After they left for a trip to the middle of New Zealand, Eli kept sayin either 'gampa home' 'ma-wee

home' or 'gammi home'.

We've had another full week of renovating, we've painted the living room and gib'd and stopped the new dining. When our holiday in Dunedin is over and we return to our house, we'll paint the kitchen and dining and then I think it might be time to put the house up for sale.

Meanwhile, Elinor is loving being back at Grammie and Grandpa's house. Not least because of the many fun and interesting hazards that keep her parents from relaxing and enjoying being away from work.

Tradesmen

2010-12-02T08:05:00.002+13:00

We've had the plumbers through, the joiner's been in to scope out the kitchen bench, the glazer had a squiz at the windows, my sparky friend coming by to sign compliance forms. We still have to call the gibstopper and the floor guy, affectionately refered to as Gimli.

We've been busy little bees since we've arrived back from our time in Nelson.

Partly because I've discovered my dream job, but also because we know we have to sell the house and move to Israel in less than 6 months.

There is only one word in my personal lexicon that serves as an apt exclamation when I think of all the things I have left to organize.

Yikes.

Elinor has been loving it here; she has her own room full of all her toys and both her parent are home all dy to entertain her. The weather has also 'fined up' and we've been outside heaps. She's had a swim in her play pool, well bathed really. It's not warm enough

for her to be in cold water, se we fill her pool with warm water and put it in the shade of the plum tree.

Sara has planted out some of the garden. It's a real pity our garden. We put so much effort into it last year but this year we feel it's a bit late to start another annual vege patch like last years. We won't be in the house to enjoy it.

Still, we'll have lettuce and tomatoes. The gooseberry patch has been weeded and I've tidied up the bath house and laid sandstone tiles.

I'm making elderflower champers and our gooseberry haul means I can make another batch of gooseberry wine. The last batch was a real winner. We won't be in New Zealand when it's ready to drink but hopefully it cellars well and we'll have a nice

few bottles in a couple years.

Maybe it'd be the perfect bottle to occasion a family reunion with all the Love's in Dunedin.

Unemployed.

2010-11-29T18:30:00.004+13:00

I have finished all my units and taken all the exams towards becoming a registered electrician in New Zealand. While I wait

for my exam results-- and before I pay the registration fee and apply for a practising license-- I am unemployed.

I'm loving it.

I get to play with my daughter.

I can relax in the garden.

I can finish renovations.

I can research how to start a WISP-R.

I can sleep late.

I can install a new dishwasher.

I could play video games all day, if I had any.

I can apply for citizenship and a New Zealand passport.
Simultaneously, I can apply for an Aliyah visa to Israel.

I can research how to sell my house privately.

(These are all things I'm doing, including fantasizing about all the video game playing I could be 'accomplishing')

I've definitely got a lot of work, even if I'm on the dole.

Elinor's Second Birth-Week

2010-07-14T15:32:00.005+12:00

Right. First, thanks to the many many congratulations and salutations from all over the world wishing our little girl a happy second birthday. I think she enjoyed it.

It was, after all, the greatest birthday. Ever.

Elinor is now 2, and before I launch into regaling the week long birthday celebrations let me first say how astonished and bewildered I am that it's been two years since we were living in hospital watching our little girl grow in a box. Our time in the neonatal ward was not our choice and at time felt like the least natural place to be with our new born girl but two years on, she's perfectly healthy and all we have is gratitude for the amazing care and attention we all received at both Dunedin and Invercargill hospitals.

Before Eli's birthday she got a skype call from Israel and a happy birtday from all her cousins there, which was really nice.

The week since the 7th has gone so quickly. We had a first second birtday celebration on Eli's birthday with a birthday present that Sara crochet'd for her: a little puppy.

If you don't know or haven't guessed, Elinor likes puppies more than the universe likes big.

But it's a close tie; puppies, kitties, sheep and cucumbers all seem to occupy a shared status of most favorite thing in existence.

We spent the rest of the Tuesday evening sharing birthday cake with out neighbors and Elinor got to borrow some (more) of their toys by the end of the evening.

We were all hanging out for Thursday when Grandma, Grandpa and uncle Peter arrived. I took the rest of my annual leave and we spent 7 days together having the greatest holiday. Ever.

Thursday was a decompress day where we sat and listened as Karen and Darrell deflated their angst and frustration as the 'only people who give a damn and make things really unique." I'm

sure if you visit Dad's Blog you will eventually see the pictures and read the rant about the amazing gift bags Karen organized from the entire city of Dunedin (except for Speights Brewery, who we're now consciously boycotting).

Thursday was also the longest Karen, Darrell and Peter could wait to give Eli her presents, "The Wonkey Donkey,"(with sing-along CD) "Where is the Green Sheep" (complete with small plush green sheep) and some nice new clothes. Peter gave Eli a plushing monster that she always likes playing with when she visits Uncle Peter's cave of solitude.

Friday was a day to show off Mapua. We drove into the village and had lunch at The Tap, with Peter excited as a Hawaiian shopping for canned meat at the possibility of ordering a burger.

After lunch we walked down to the end of Mapua, a 10 minute walk that leads to some galleries and souvenir shops that cater to the financially affluent. There is also an amazing aquarium that we completely failed to visit. Friday evening and we had shabbot dinner and then sat down to

watch some Poirot. Like total old people.

We do love Poirot, though.

Saturday was the Party Day. First was a trip into Nelson to Nature Land. This was our first visit

and a much anticipated event. Nature Land seemed to me to be a strange place. It was as if the this little farm of sheep and chickens and pigs and goats, bunnies a birds, and some amphibians decided in a last ditch effort to be anything but an atypical (but not completely irregular) Kiwi homestead they'd but fucking monkeys. And some meerkats. It's a effing farm with monkeys and meerkats. And they sold 'Animal Food' at the gate for dollar a bag. The 'Animal Food' was just Rice Krispies (or to use the local nomenclature 'Rice Bubbles'). To Eli, it was effing paradise.

Later on Saturday we received Eli's presents from her Aunt Libby and Uncle Pat and cousins Gabe and Norah. She got a sweet little book about Emily's Balloon. Also, a treat for a Sara and me, grown-up books. I got a cook book for cooking on a car engine (which I'm really interested in trying out now.) and Sara has a child rearing book that stresses the importance on not stressing.

That evening had a party with our friends from Nelson and our neighbors and we all had a delicious barbecue dinner and fantastic pear and ginger birthday cake. So isn't that nice. Eli got kitty book from our neighbors a fishing game from our friends Mark and Yanja and their son Lucio. She also got a book 'The Hip Hop Frog' from our friends Gerry and Nadia.

Really, Eli scored big time.

After all the guests left on Saturday, Eli was still in party mode. She danced and jumped and laughed until nearly 10 and when she woke up on Sunday she wanted to pick up where she left off.

Sunday was really special because Grandma and Grandpa babysat Eli while Sara and I went to a movie. Second night out in 2 years. We saw a movie at this small independent cinema and really inspired me it to start my own. Watch this space, I guess.

This is a HUGE post. Man, I'm kinda sick of typing. Holy hell, I've been writing for over an hour. Jeez I can't be bothered even proofreading. That's enough for now. The other days we kinda slacked off anyway so not much to write about. Except to mention that now we're all worried about a massive methane bubble causing a world wide extinction event in 6 months.

Oh and we went on a massive awesome cruise into the Able Tasman National park. But you don't wanna read about that. It'll just make you jealous. I threw in some pictures anway.

Well, hope you northern hemishpererarians are enjoying summer, and the rest of you in New Zealand; the secret is to rub the sticks together.

Little girl

2010-06-14T07:04:00.000+12:00

Updating can be hard to do

2010-06-07T12:22:00.003+12:00

Hey Everybody,

For those of you not in 'the know,' or 'New Zealand' or 'regular contact,' I have taken a 5 month secondment out of Invercargill and to Mapua. Mapua is a village between Nelson and Motueka. We're actually not in the village but up Seaton Valley.

I was having difficulty finding an electrical firm with enough work for an apprentice. I am close to finishing my electrical apprenticeship and just need experience in the domestic electrical wing of the industry.

So, in April I found work outside Invercargill and in early May we all moved up to live at Corru Gate. We've been up here for about 3 weeks and we're really

enjoying the change. There's been snow on the mountains and a even though the mornings are chilly, the days are fine and warm up quickly.

Elinor has been walking since mid April. She's also started getting VERY angry when she's not getting what she wants.

She's turning 2 in a months time and my parents are coming up for a visit. I can't wait. Since we've arrived I've been working pretty much full time and only get to explore on the weekends. I can wait to have a stretch of time to have a look around and maybe go eat out a few different places. Maybe even watch a movie.

Our landlords at Corru Gate are really nice people and Sara and I've been working with them to get their vege garden up to snuff, their internet usage increased and install managed wi-fi and get a section fenced off for chickens.

My experience so far with domestic electrical work has been very physical. There's not a lot of margin for discussion or planning, the work is briefly discussed and improvised from moment to moment until the day is finished. I've always liked knowing exactly what works needs to been done, start to finish and step by step, and so far I've often felt like I'm lost as for what to do next. I'm sure it will pass but for now my working days are long and frustrated. And while I'm trying to think ahead to the next logical step I find I've stopped concentrating on the immediate task and have made some real bone-head mistakes.

It's wonderful having a little girl to come home to, who makes me laugh and forget my day. I'm very much looking forward to getting comfortable with my new work and being able to carry on with my trade without consternation.

Sara and Elinor are thriving, there's a local aquarium that Eli is very much enjoying, and she's been to a couple of coffee groups that have been fun. Sara's found the Toy Library and Elinor is in heaven with a new car to play with, a kitchen set and a baby doll. What we need now, for the little girl's birthday, are some little friends to come and play.

We've caught up with our friends up here, Mark and Janja and their son, Lucio. We've had a couple nice afternoons hanging out. Gerry and Nadia met up with us when we went into Nelson a couple of weeks ago. It was nice to seem them after their wedding, they seem very happy and are loving their lives together.

Well, I can think of anything more so I'll sign off and hope everyone's doing allright.

Raw Talent

2010-05-02T17:49:00.000+12:00

End of Shift and Start of Year

2010-02-02T17:18:00.003+13:00

Excuse the randomness of the photos, I was cleaning out my camera when I thought I'd make a blog post. So the photos don't really correlate with any of the subject matter in this post.

Well my time as a shift worker is over. It was a nice couple of months and afforded me the opportunity to take holidays which largely suited the statutory holidays everyone else had off.

This is going to be a big year for Sara, Eli and myself as I hope I can bring my training as an electrician to a close. As well, I am researching the possibility of making aliyah in 2011 or 2012, but I'm organizing everything now.

For those who don't know and won't wikipedia, aliyah is the right of return for all Jews according to laws passed when Israel declared it's independence. We're very excited about the possibility and it feels both very far and very near. It's dependent however on a few things but it's going to happen in 2011/2012 or at the very worst 2013 after the world wide apocalypse. Flights will hopefully be cheaper after the apocalypse.

In the near future, however we are looking forward to seeing our friends Gerry and Nadia get married in Nelson and to see our friends Mark Janja and their young son Lucio.

My brother James has planned to visit us, as well as Ami Mitchell, around April we hope. Which is when our gooseberry wine will have matured (crossing fingers, toes, eyes. Damn do I hope this wine tastes at least drinkable and not some gutter swill plonk that ends up being drunk by the s-bend under my sink.)

Then we have the long dark cold wet winter to live through and when we come out the other side we should know more clearly our collective destiny.

It is stinking hot in Invercargill and feels wonderful to be able to say that. It's been stinking hot for almost 5 days. Drought weather.

Long may it last.

Elinor Eating, Gardening, Bathing and at the Beach

2009-11-24T16:51:00.006+13:00

Shift work

2009-11-16T10:19:00.002+13:00

I'll be working a rostered shift 'til the end of of January. I work 2 12-hour days from 8am to 8pm then 2 12-hour nights from 8pm to 8am. Then I get 4 days off.

Plus I receive a shift allowance per hour worked. It's a pretty sweet gig, I actually get to see more of Sara and Elinor and I only have to wake up early twice in an 8 day cycle.

And it means I'm home sometimes in the middle of the week, which is fantastic for doing stuff around town; Invercargill has an old fashioned approach to opening hours on the weekend.

Elinor has been walking recently. No, not normal walking. She's a knee-wok.

Hope everyone is having a nice season whatever it is and wherever you are.

Spring

2009-11-12T08:56:00.002+13:00

Even though it's still chilly at times, windy (really windy) and sometimes rainy (very rainy), spring is definitely here and our garden is looking the part.

I missed out on taking pictures while the apples/plums/rhododendron/azaleas/magnolia while they were all blooming but there is still a display on and our veggie patch looks like a proper spring patch.

Updating can be hard to do

2009-11-04T11:52:00.002+13:00

Teeth! We have teeth!

Also, we've had requests for pictures documenting our renovations. I've got those pictures up now.

Hungry Hippo

2009-10-17T07:13:00.003+13:00

First, I'd like to rant about my laptop. It's cool, fast and up to spec, but the touch pad is so sensitive that I inadvertently touch it and move the cursor away from the txt box or somewhere else in the txt box and start typing into the middle of something else. I have a touchpad disable button but it also disables the keyboard. It's obnoxious, and keeping me from reaching spiritual nirvana at the least.

Elinor's great, she's got her top teeth well and truly popped out. She looks like a hungry hungry hippo. Which is hilarious.

She also likes games; peak a boo, hide and seek, treasure hunt, fill-a-box-then-dump-a-box. She's got a few words she uses for some things. Ba for "bath", ba for "abba", ba for "turn on my they might be giants podcasts for kids" and ma which i think is a corruption of ba. She's walking, with assistance from the couches, but no assistance from us. If we try and hold her standing up she arches her back and cries. Weirdo.

We've been investing our spare time into our garden.

We've made up 8 different planting beds for vege, removed a tree and large overgrown ivy, got some great compost bins, still more seedlings coming, I think we've planted lettuce in every spare square of dirt plus the hydroponics setup and today I'm clearing out the chicken run. Still need to tidy up a lot of stuff, the bath house looks incredible sad, I'd like to modify the outdoor bath so it ran on gas instead of a wood fire. But I can't take on too many new projects. The bathroom renos are only 95% done, I haven't even started on the kitchen reno/demo.

The weather is kinda improving, I guess. If we looked at the weather in terms of a critical care patient in hospital, good weather being fit and healthy and poor weather being an excellent host for a variety of maggot species, I would say the recovery period looked promising but we have to consider the possibility of him becoming a vegetable until November or middle of next week.

I have been learning more about car maintenance. I don't think that people like me stop learning about car maintenance. No matter how much I learn about industrial motors, engines, cooling systems etcetera, I always look at my car engine as this bizarre collection of metal and rubber that somehow goes vroom vroom and quite happily lays a patch on the tar until I'm in the middle of nowhere rapidly travelling towards somewhere and the thermostat shoots up while the radiator reservoir starts spitting in my face.

The cow doll huggy-thing is a hit, I was trying to show Elinor how cow mind control works. She was unimpressed.

I'd like to say a big KUDOS and congratulations to my big sister Libby. She's defending her masters thesis in November and has accomplished her higher education while living with her two young children and her older, less mature husband, renovating their house and property and knitting a silver lining into not a few woolen clouds. And all this while holding down a full time job as 'Protector of the Plains,' and single-handedly making Wichita water a cleaner clearer place to pee. Or be, if you're a fish. If you are a fish, you're probably some kind of missing link mutation. You should know, science has been looking for you and creationists want you dead.

I'm proud of my sister and not a little impressed.

1 1/4 Year Old

2009-09-22T08:02:00.003+12:00

'Princess Elinor' got a package yesterday from her auntie Ami and uncle Jamie, hereafter referred to as aunclet jAMIe.

They sent Eli presents for her 1.25 year birthday, which I thought was original. So to say thanks I whipped up a slideshow of that 1.25 years (give or take a week, can't find the camera and I'm scared of the space under the couch).

Reflections or Refracted Evenescent Waves

2009-09-21T21:48:00.006+12:00

I've been criticized as a "wolf-crier" humorist. A pathological liar of mundane, banal and completely unnecessary things. I try to convince Sara that she's hiding an affair from me and that every time she laughs at my accusations she's driving another nail into her smooth lacquered coffin of deceit. I tell her that her lover is a Brazillian midget who's immigrated to rural Southland New Zealand, to a town called Winton. He's a grocer at the New World there. His name is Sao Paolo (pronounce 'Sow Powlo') and he has a cousin named Argentina. His family has a thing for naming their children place names.

I just came from the laudry room--this is unremarkable-- and I was washing the poop out the liner of Eli's diaper. While not unremarkable-- I could remark on the poop-- it is terribly ordinary. But so utterly fantawesomistic. That I'm a daddy, not that I have to wash shit out of diapers... I know that kinda blows.

These blog entries have been terribly useful to keep masses of family abreast of the current situations. Especially when that situation was the early delivery of our first child, Elinor, at 26 weeks. In all honesty, it was scary for about 5 minutes. At a time... in succession... First: at every dip of the monitors... Then: at hearing that her bilirubin was low (okay, it was scary to hear her *whatever* was low, the first time they said 'bilirubin,' I said 'Who?') and then: less and less. But paradoxically more and more. We're no longer scared that she'll break if we touch her or that her feeding tube (or worse, intravenous nutrient supplement) will need re-installing , but we worry about her falling down stairs and normal worrying stuff.

I spent a good half hour with Eli just waving my head side to side with my tongue out going 'blahyayayayayah,' then she does this thing where if I pretend to sneeze, sometimes she'll pretend to sneeze right after. I'd love to show you. It's lost in transference to text but everytime I put the camera on, it's like I turned the cute button off. And you all have seen how cute she is on camera. If I caught her unawares... shit, your eyes would melt out of your eye sockets from exposure to over-cuteness.

So I live this existence right now that I secretly (but not for long) fear is making me hard. I'm not experiencing anything very unsightly or living a terrible life but I look at the attitudes and platitudes and altitudes and latitudes of others I know and think, "Damn, this cold town with nothing to do. This heavy industrial job at a metal smelter. This work all day, got to get the lawns mowed, get the bills paid, trash out on Thursdays. What's the lasting effect going to be on me?"

I'm going to name you three things I never would have thought would be useful, really practically repeatably useful:

1. Robot Claw

Function: pull the trigger to pull closed a ratchety claw, reminiscent of the claw on the Lost in Space robot

Modified function: pushes pishy pooey diapers into the diaper soak solution, and pulls them back out again for depositing in the washing machine.

2. Black Plastic Storage Container

Function: is black, so pretty cool as containers go. Can store stuff.

Modified function: self contained hydroponics unit, currently growing me some awesome lettuces.

3. Spice

Function: adds flavor to bland meals

Modified function: bends space for super speedy travel. Eco friendly.

Shana Tovah v'Metuka

2009-09-20T07:37:00.004+12:00

Happy 5770 Everybody!!

It's definately been a sweet year for us (and those black-eyed peas worked their magic; we're now as broke as last year but we're not any worse off. Thankfully.)

Elinor is standing, not totally solo standing, but she's trying it out. And we've got her second tooch coming in, which is exciting and makes for many sleepless nights.

We've bee doing up our garden, the veggie patch never really meets our expectations. It's been in a shadow throughout summer for as long as we've lived here so last weekend we destroy the source of the offending shadow: and ivy hedge about 7 meters long and 4 meters high. It ended up costing us at the tip; our total weight dumped by the end of the weekend was over a metric ton. Then I had to go back to work on Monday. I was not pleased at all.

It's a funny place the old smelter. I go... I work... I speak to people in the narrow subject matter of what work is to be done and how to do it. I eat lunch... I wait for the bus... I go home.

But anyway, the garden. We've cleaned out the glass house (what glass is left. wouldn't really call it a glass house, in as much as you wouldn't call a strainer a bowl with giant hole in middle.) and we're seeding a bunch of stuff now, my hydroponic lettuces are growing nicely, the tomato plant in the topsy-turvy planter is still alive (I'm eager to see what this topsy-turvy plant does, because right now it's an upside down plant trying desperately to grow right side up.)

Lawns have had theirr first cut, that took a good 2 hours. Now I'm enslaved to sacrificing an hour a week to keeping it cut so I have a beautiful green velvet space that produces nothing for me. *sigh*

However, I'm excited about getting the compost working better this year and getting my urine harvesting going again. It's been to cold to piss outside. Until NOW!!!

Sorry for not putting up a picture or video. We've been slacking on taking pictures.

But Shana Tovah everybody, may you spend your year being the head of an animal and not the tail.

Hair Pin, Yogart, Peek-a-boo

2009-09-11T19:45:00.003+12:00

2009-09-04T14:29:00.004+12:00

Sorry for the lack of posting.

We've been baby proofing the house and getting used to being home and helping a friend clean out his rental apartments and organizing a garage sale. We know how much you've been wanting to see our little crazy creation.

Here she is!

Elinor's 1st Birthday Slideshow

2009-07-12T20:11:00.001+12:00

Elinor's 1st Birthday

2009-07-12T15:51:00.003+12:00

Many apologies for the delay in posting what has to be the most important anniversary I have so far. Israel is a wonderful place to visit but a terrible place to be riotously ill. Also, Israel is a bad place for my laptop to work. I've no end of meltdowns, crashes, freezes along with my own vomiting, diarrhea and flu aches.

But the weather has been lovely.

Here's a sampling of pics from the birthday. I'll synch a birthday slideshow to picasa online in a couple of days that will include movies and pictures of the Israel family.

Near Enough

2009-05-24T13:05:00.004+12:00

Elinor is learning all the time. I have been trying to teach her the sign for 'da da' by signing everytime she looks at me and saying 'da da.' She's kinda getting it. She sorta waves at me, like the queen does during a parade, a wrist swivel wave that I think approximates 'da da.' When she makes the sign, I sign it back to her and say 'da da.' It always gets a big grin from her.

She is almost crawling. Well she is technically crawling-- not quite commando style, more like.... actually I'll let the video tell the story.

Mother May I

2009-05-16T21:25:00.004+12:00

First and foremost (way foremost. Like outta-the-gate-and-3-laps-round-the-track-before-the-gun's-fired foremost), Sara got two amazing books from her sisters-in-law(in effect. I'll make an honest woman of her someday. It'll be hard to do but with my tutelage, she'll see the benefits of marrying me. Someday. In the future. Not "Star Wars" future but maybe "2001:A Space Odyssey" future. So, when we have astronauts travelling to Jupiter) and both books have quickly made it to the top of "Sara's Most Favorite Books since Judy Blume."

First book "The Creative Family" is chock-full of fun and interesting ways of entertaining our little ones in the near future. There's tons of things to do to make life with little ones tons of fun. Coolest amongst the many so far found: screen printing kids' t-shirts and using ragged hand-me-downs to craft new baby clothes. Perfect for the crafty family like us. Oh, there was a page in there that had a picture of a boy putting on make up. I tore that out.

Second book, celebrity wife Jessica Seinfeld has a cook book called "Deceptively Delicious" and it is awesome. Just today I tried out the "Green Eggs" recipe, and we're eagerly awaiting the many future occasions where deceptive culinary cunning will be the preferred 'fifth spice.'

Sara wishes that I extend her most sincere and heartfelt thank yous to my sisters. I, however, would like to congratulate you two on the grand upstaging of Elinor's Mother's Day present of violent diarrhea. I cooked her breakfast and went with her to do the shopping so obviously your gifts were on par with my own.

Sara and I are buzzing about our trip to Israel this year. We'll be in Israel from the 28th of June til the 1st of August. It couldn't come sooner and I am having a hard time rationalizing the need to return to the darkest coldest part of the world (or second after Antarctica) for the month of August.

Babo

2009-04-29T16:01:00.010+12:00

Elinor was having a quiet mid morning sun dappled roly-poly on her playtime cloth. Everything was calm. Everything was normal. All was as it should be. Had Elinor's little neck been a little longer, or had she rolled counterclockwise instead of clockwise, she may have noticed the rare daylight shadow of a sneakster on the mid morning prowl for trouble. But then, she didn't notice. Which is what Babo needed... for pouncing.

Babo is a sneaky guy. He's always where you don't want him to be. Messing with your stuff. He's a cookie and toy thief from way back. Being all black, he's usually up to his tricks at night, tying shoe laces in tight knots or swapping the toothrushes with hair brushes. Don't let his size fool you, he's a shadow boxing heavyweight and can through down with with the densest of plush toys. His eyes give him an advantage at night, too. You see, those saucer yellow eyes have infrasneek vision. They can see the chance to be a scoundrel that would otherwise be invisible to the ordinary plushie.

In summary, Babo is not to be trusted.

Babo used to be happy enough ducking out at night and turning off the heated towel rail and changing the dryer setting from natural fibers to synthetics. But yesterday.... Babo turned bolshy...

Elinor's no prize fighting baby, but's she's still got some moves from her early training days in the womb. She's no champion; not yet. But nobody can call her moves sloppy. She's into a bit of crime fighting, in between naps and if her diaper's not too pishy. She's always looking out for baby-sized crime: shop clerks handing out the wrong change, cartons of eggs sold without being checked for cracked eggs, pedestrians crossing the street without checking both ways. She's got a story or two about pedestrians, you better believe.

When Elinor did finally notice that shadow boxing prankster most people would have thought it was too late. Most people would have thought Babo would be the clear winner and Elinor would have to give up her lucky pink cupcake overalls and go the rest of the mid morning without them. But Elinor's not most people. She's a baby.

Elinor's main attack arsenal is her club fists and dagger sharp gums, which she used for great effect on target. The pressure of Elinor's gums, and her deftness for saliva saturation left Babo with two sopping wet sticky and aching ear nubs. She also got in a few well aimed kicks and managed to subdue Babo. Which, of course, was lucky for Eli. She was a cotton bud away from a nasty felt burn which is usually how Babo gets traction for his double-fisted-polyfiberfill blitz. Not a lot a babies come away from that manoeuvre without a suspicious skin rash and whole lotta hurt pride. But today, Babo's bolshy brutality met up with baby fists full of justice thanks to corageous little Eli "Shark Gums."

Kwurkul

2009-04-23T14:02:00.002+12:00

Our shop at http://www.felt.co.nz/ has changed name (actually, I changed it. It didn't happen accidentally or all by itself.)

We're now called Kwurkul, cause Sara can't spell and Quirkle doesn't mean anything anyway so why should I try to spell a made up words using old world linguistic conventions. I'm too rad.

So you can now find our shop by typing Kwurkul into the search bar on www.felt.co.nz.

So you can now buy our stuff using the money you earn from the jobs you all have.

Beginning of Winter

2009-04-21T22:35:00.004+12:00

P icking up from where I left off in the last post, we're all being sold snake-oil and I'm building a bunker in the back yard to prepare for the day the superstitious zealots of the world either commit nuclear genocide or simultaneously commit suicide (I'm hoping for the latter). I've been reading "How mumbo-jumbo conquered the world." It is a good book to read at the large multi-national conglomerate heavy industrial negativity swamp where I work. And for those of you who have asked, work is good.

Not too much developing on the Elinor front. She's super cute, as always. She laughs at the stupidest things ever. Inherited from her mother, no doubt. I'm constantly amazed at what Sara laughs at; my jokes, my impersonations, my hebrew, my singing, my physique. Me really. I guess that makes me, by ancestral association, the stupidest thing ever.

But really, Elinor laughs at weird shit. We'll be doing our normal schtick and let's say Sara says 'Ridiculous'... all of a sudden Elinor giggles a little. Then again, 'ridiculous'... and another giggle
Ridiculous... giggle giggle... Ridiculous... giggle giggle giggle...

Et cetera.

Sara's made another creature for sale at www.felt.co.nz, this time a Panda. He's super cute, but a bit a recluse. He's always hiding behind vegetation and munching on shoots. Some day soon I'll get my rear into gear and actually get some upcycled shit listed. But my time is seldom my own anymore.

Sara Eli and myself drove up to Dunedin over the Passover break (or easter break, depending at your hegemony) and had a awesome 5-day weekending of wine, food, kosher le pesach fun, megaman 9, electronics tutorials and a episode of Poirot each night.

I got a couple of awesome birthday presents, I'd like to say thank you to James and Ami for the book on conversion. From the research I've done (read: one google search while I was meant to be looking up parts for an overflow sensor) electric car conversions aren't terribly technically challenging so hopefully I'm up to the task. Sara won't let me use the wagon though and we're pretty skint so I hope to get to it just as soon as my Uncle Scrooge McDuck dies and I inherit a sum that will take care of my expenses into the forseeable future. And thanks mom and dad for the dosh and the sweater, perfect timing for the first frost.

We had our first frost this morning and already we're sick of the winter. We're counting down the days 'til Israel. All we need are tickets... and passports... and the end of June... and we're there.... ::groan::

Of Birthdays and stuff and stuff

2009-04-11T08:26:00.003+12:00

It's my birthday today and that means I will be more abrasive and annoying today; from announcing my 'Birthday morning coffee' to my first birthday BM and blowing on everything. It's what I do.

It's also pesach, therefore I will not be eating normal birthday cake but a sort of mousse. This is alright by me.

Elinor even gave her daddy a birthday kiss. Well, I put her mouth on my cheek and she half licked, half drooled what I was positive was a birthday saliva deposit.

I watch a doco recently, a 2007 flick called 'The Trap: What happened to our dreams of freedom' by Adam Curtis. I really enjoyed it. The doco explained that using various theories such as 'Game Theory' as pioneered by 1960's mathemeticians including John Nash, and Isaiah Berlin's notion's of Positive and Negative Liberty, the politicians of that era engineered the economic boon of the 90's and early 00's by giving the markets the power to run themselves and the people the freedom to do whatever their self interests desired with a control element of numerical rationalization of an individuals productivity. What this led to was smaller government (in America) larger class division (and less class mobility) and the ability of the markets to grow corrupt without the authority of the government to stop them.

It's made me look at how the over rationalization of work (think of 'Key Performance Indicators') has turned the working class into robot-like workers. Also, there's been a shift in how people look at leaders of industry. But then, what was before? What would be better? These doco's always get me all riled up but then a month later, I'm back to oppressed servility.

Oh well, it's interesting to think about how the present situations arose; looking at all the different aspects of life we've adopted because of things like 'negative liberty,' and how 'game theory' has allowed government and every business ever to make our working lives a giant bar graph of 'performance values.'

Whoa, I might just rein this in and stick with funny stories about Elinor's poos.

Happy Birthday John! Thanks buddy, Happy Birthday to you too. Thanks. No, Thank you. Okay, thanks.

Felt

2009-04-02T18:25:00.007+13:00

Okay, we've just listed our second thing we've ever made to sell commercially (I once sold an antenna I made on trademe), so QUICK!! Snatch it up before someone else does!

Octopus

Jolly Jumping

2009-03-31T17:10:00.003+13:00

I see dad has posted a video of Elinor in her Jolly Jumpe r (or Johnny Jumper, or Johnny Jumpup or Jolly Jumpup). Here' s another. I think you'll find I've one-upped him. Although, I haven't made it look like you're reading a comic.

So, life on Venus has had it's ups and downs. I've been at a block course for 2 weeks doing electrical stuff, which means I've been in town, slept in and had an hour for lunch each day. Oh, and most days I finish early. Sara and I went to a book sale and I picked up a couple cookbooks; one on eggs and the other 101 pasta dishes. The egg recipe book is pretty basic; I showed Sara one for baked eggs in sour cream and she said "quiche, i make it all the time." That's the problem with marrying a good cook, you can't hope to squeeze in any surprises. Having said that, we found a recipe in the pasta book that was very surprising; the sauce was a chunky tomato based, but with chickpeas added at the last minute, half the pasta (tagliatelle, which can you believe was NOT in the Invercagill supermarkets?) was boiled and the other half (also at the last minute) was fried. Very yummy especially second day.

Good friends of ours, Gerry and Nadia, left this last Sunday. They were good friends and we'd known them both for several years. Why, if it wasn't for us, they'd have been nobodies. Nothings! They wouldn't be anything in this town if it wasn't for us showing them how to grab life by the ears and smack the fuck out of them. We will miss them greatly. They also left us homebrew beer and a couple chests of drawers. Thank you, you two. And if you're reading this, Guidance.

Sara and I are going to try and con some helpless New Zealanders out of their hard earned coin. We're soon to start listing items on www.felt.co.nz under the shop name QUIRKLE. It's going to be stuff I've upcycled and stuff Sara's crocheted. So baby toys and crap. Yes, so watch that space.

Our renovations are going painfully slow. We've got tiles ready to install but when we look at tiling, we find something else that needs bought or prepared first. The back garden maintenance has been downgraded to essential maintenace only and I just keep up with the wood chopping as Sara is going through a bit to keep the house cosy (albeit much less since we put in the damp barrier under the house).

Other than our birthdays which are blowing by without much notice (thankfully, although if you don't already know, mine's the 11 of April and I've just worn out my favorite pair of cash dollar gifts. If you were thinking of getting me something) not much else is going on. Apart from the smooshulberry bush. Who continues, unabated, to provide laughter anxiety relief comfort frustration and oodles of honeypots overflowing with love and joy.

Raspberry

2009-03-10T18:34:00.004+13:00

We've had a very social weekend which was a welcome change, but the nice weather seems to have finished for the time being. Last week we were getting temperatures of 22 and above (which may sound tame but remember the Sun is closer to the Earth in the New Zealand Summer and quite a bit more intense.) and has made for some wonderful outdoor time with Elinor.

Elinor met up with a friend of hers from the neonatal ward. Blake was born 6 weeks prem and we got to know the Frisby family over that time. They left hospital a week after us (October) and this is the first we seen them since. Blake impressed us with his massive hands and showed his prowess at grabbing, chewing and jolly jumping. Eli's more of a noise maker but she recently learned that she can dance in the jolly jumper. I'll post a video of that spectacle soon.

We're saying goodbye to some wonderful friends of ours, Gerry and Nadia. They're recently engaged and moving to Nelson and Sara and I will be sorry to see them go. We've known them for a few years now and gotten used to the idea of them sticking around Invercargill. It's made us question our own decision to live in Invercargill as long as we have and we're thinking about warmer climes after I've finished my electrical apprenticeship.

We had a wonderful surprise last week: a belated christmas present!!

My sisters-- Molly and Libby-- are keen knitters (as is my future sister-in-law Ami( James, you're over 30. pull your finger out. I'm waiting to hear the amazing proposal story(you can just stay engaged forever, look at Sara and I, we'll never get married))) and they've knitted 12 squares with all these different knitty pictures and then quilted the whole thing together for Elinor. It's so amazing and special and unique and so effing touching that it belongs on someone else's blog. ::tear:: Thank you Molly and Libby so so much. We'll try not to get shit on it.

We have some exciting news, for the month of July, Sara Eli and I will be in Israel. I can't tell you how happy we are to be travelling back to Israel. Not only is it our first family visit but an escape from the cold. It will also be Elinor's first birthday!!! Can you fucking believe that shit!!! Elinor will be one year old in 4 months. Holy effing effballs.

Here are some pictures and a movie to fill in what I can't describe.

Roll on the comments.

Helpless

2009-03-06T19:40:00.002+13:00

She'd never make it if the world was overrun with dinosaurs.

Especially a Daddysaurus Rex. (Part of me dies a little to say that. Another part congratulates me on being clever. And another part of me farts and giggles.)

Little Bird

2009-02-24T22:38:00.001+13:00

Weebles wobble

2009-02-22T11:39:00.006+13:00

Sitting and rolling are a la mode in the life of our little MPIT (Magistrate Princess-magnate in training or muppet). She likes to be propped up and take in the surrounding social scene but rolling over usually ends before it has begun. She'll lay on her tummy and squeal and grimace and cry and always very nearly roll over and then we'll give in and just pull her over. Then of course she'll tell us off for not rolling her over sooner.

Oh, she just rolled over all by herself. Clever little sprite.

She keeps growing out of all the beautiful clothes everyone has sent her (cough cough) and her outfits seem to be getting cuter and cuter.

Sara is enjoying being a stay-at-home mom, but I think she'd like more social interaction. We missed out on our coffee groups either because we were in hospital or for some reason or another we couldn't make it. We've bumped into a few of the moms from neonatal ward here and there and Sara went to a 'coffee group' with a few of them 2 months ago. We've managed a trip up to see my parents as well they've made it down to Invercargill a few times, but with school starting it'll be more of an effort to see them more often than every couple of months. So Sara is really just hanging out with Elinor all day everyday and we wish she saw more faces than just our own.

My job at the smelter is fine. I'm still at a fetch and carry level but last week I was left to do work unsupervised which I appreciated. There are still plenty of elements of the job I haven't been exposed to yet and it is frustrating for me to have to take things slow. I also hate having to stand around and remind my coworkers "I've never done this," or "I need this explained to me."

However, Elinor and Sara are always wonderful to come home to and I've started a few projects which I find interesting and challenging, the bathroom renovations continue and the grass always need cutting. I've run irrigation in the garden and been reading about hydroponics systems. We've put into settling tanks next years gooseberry wine, to be bottled in April. I've been making lamp shades out of porcelein cups, and upside down planters out of plastic bottles, Sara's been crocheting and sewing and all the while, Eli grows.

The Story So Far

2009-01-08T22:37:00.003+13:00

Right, so ignore that last post.

I'm sure it looks amusing reading how I spent ages to supposedly put words on a picture. This, however, is the fruit of my labor. Again, I apologize for how unpolished it is. I don't like how it just cuts off at the end.

Because of Pat

2009-01-08T17:27:00.000+13:00

I spent far too long and it's still a bit rough, but I have to hand it to Picasa 3. It was easy and if I wanted to, it could have been a lot more polished.

And Pat, I'm totally nerf bruised.

Chag Sameach and Back to the Grind

2009-01-06T21:39:00.003+13:00

We forgot the camera far too often. Distracted by the unpredictable projectile vomiting of our sweetest little bean and the constant awareness of what needed to be done either
a) in the bathroom remodeling
b) shopping to keep the house and garden going for summer
c) general cleaning and housekeeping
d) getting ready for trips away from home.

We managed a few away nights, once in a wonderful crib in Colac Bay that Sara and I (and many others) liked so much we're thinking about buying it. It was very above average. Apart from sleeping 8 people, it had a fire pit, pizza oven, smoker, spa and sauna. There were other comfort aspects like the gas cooking and water heating and the new water pump, plenty of choice for heating on cold nights, private section and of course a 5 minute walk to the beach.

Elinor has had much snuggles and cuddles from new people and we really enjoyed seeing a lot a people we hadn't seen since about this time last year. All in all it's been a great holiday off.

I hope people keep up with this blog as it will be an amazing year for us full of new experiences. I'm starting a new apprenticeship (for those of you who don't know I just finished three years of on job tutelage earning the title Telecommunications Technician) as an Electrician at the Aluminum Smelter. And Sara will carry on with her new job as Mom, part time artisan crocheter and part time tofu maker. Of course, Elinor will be doing many new things and we'll hopefully post the first roll, crawl, step, sign language, interpretive dance and tribal warrior haka.

Here's to 2009. Right here. ::Gives a thumbs up::

Elinoria: The weekend

2008-12-01T10:53:00.007+13:00

M.P.M. Elinor this weekend discussed with her PR team which photos and movies were to be released and what to say about them. She was adamant not to have a biographer make up some fictional hearsay about her and instead opted to have her commentary taped then transcribed.

"Ahem... Is this on... I'll just bet you the royal transcriber-- y'know the slow one, tallish, facial hair, no milk, yes him-- will put all this warm up crap in my PR Release. I really should fire him.... What? Oh, I'm recording... Ahem, Hello everyone and everyone Hello, I'm sure you've all been dying to hear from me and to learn of my exploits... er, adventures. Well, let me assure you, you're lives will be more complete after you've seen the glorious photos and scenes of intrigue and amazement I'm about to share with you.

"What's the first photo? Oh ,this one. The photographer gifted this to me in a series of photos she calls "Dreaming of Busy Bees." I'd be surprised if you haven't already seen it, actually, I expect it to make the rounds at all the major centers of modern art. I do capture the essence of beauty particularly well.

"Now, the second one... where is it. That one? Did I sign off on that? Really? (Was I milk drunk?) Oh well, this a rather candid shot of me with the royal transcriber, royal biographer, part-time royal documentarian, and my daddy. It's what my subjects jovially refer to as my poo face. NEXT PHOTO!!!

"This photo I most definitely signed off to show you as it clearly depicts my wrath. This is what Daddy got for daring to call me "cupcake". Granted I was wearing my cupcake overall's but I don't go around calling him Double Frosted Chocolate Gateau. Sometime's he teases me so much, I just want to garrote him. OOOOhhh!! (Ok Elinor, count to ten... this is what he wants... don't lose it... you need this PR...)

"Obviously, the life of MPM is very exhausting work and I must nap every other hour. If I don't, I unleash Colic upon my disobedient subjects. Ha ha!! And what happens if my beautiful princess bed is too far away, (Will you look at me, aren't I perfect? I look so peaceful and beautifl asleep) Then I will fall asleep on top of the nearest royal subject. Ha ha!!!

"I have reviewed the film archives and chosen a few tasteful movies for you to enjoy.

"The first is a video... let's see... a video of... ah... oh... uh hmmmm. My feet.

"Next is a special request, you know who you are *WINK*

"And finally, a recording of one of my mornings when I was asked to run Elinoria. It's quite educational.

"Thank you all for visiting, blah blah blah, I'm sure he'll edit all this and make it sound Princess-y. Now, it's food time again. Where's my milk bag? MOMMY!!"

Southland Spring

2008-11-20T13:58:00.002+13:00

As mid-November moves shyly into late November and the forecast once again calls for unseasonal cold fronts and more rain, life at 46 Venus street carries on. The little family on Venus is happy to have each other and new and tiny Elinor is a never ending source of love and happiness. And cheese smelling vomit. Which is why Elinor's father decided against buying rennet and making cheese out of the 3-4 pints of expressed breast milk which still resides in his freezer. He reasoned thus: If Elinor power chucks and it smells a little cheesy, that is what the milk in the freezer would taste like as cheese. Therefore, while an interesting experiment in sustainability, frugality and cheesemaking Elinor's father thought he might just fork out the $10 for a package of colby.

Elinor's mother recently took her to meet some babies that, last her parents had seen, where all gathered together in mummy tummies at an antenatal course. Elinor arrived as a little, tiny premature bundle immediately after the course ended. A serendipity that Elinor's daddy was thankful for as he wouldn't've had a clue what was happening but now had a new lexicon of verbosity to use with the medical staff. Words like 'liquor' and 'nipple stimulation.' Elinor, while being the oldest of all the babies present at Jagz cafe this particular Wednesday afternoon, was also the tiniest (and best dressed). It was a good chance for Elinor to weigh up the value and estimable work productivity of her peers and wether or not to allow them to remain in the kingdom of Elinoria after she had ascended as Magnate Princess Magistrate Supreme. She decided to have some milk and think on which baby might share some of the responsibility of ruling Elinoria but fell asleep after she decided: no one.

Elinoria presently consists of 46 Venus Street and all the plush toys and animal-like rattles contained under it's vaulted ceilings. Among the furtherest reaches in her domain is the region known as 'Renovatia' sometimes called "Shipootz". Once a slum where nothing but dirty laundry hung out, since Elinor's coronation as Magnate Princess-in-training, the region now seems to be doing an about turn and new fixtures can be found. She has passed a decree that her subjects should investigate the possiblity of 'painting' and 'installing the shower.'

She has little time to concern her self with these civil matters however, the life of a Magnate Princess-in-training is very time consuming. Just today she spent 20 minutes staring at high contrast pictures before needing to retire for some R & R then Father insisted she bathe in her private bath. She doesn't see the point.

She's had so much fame lately, she's been in movies almost everyday, and the paparazzi!! She'll speak with her PR lady today about what movies and pictures are appropriate. Perhaps she will allow something to trickle into the public domain.

Until later, Elinor waves at all her faithfull readers and drools a little on herself.

To Elinoria!!

Thrills and Spills

2008-11-03T22:45:00.005+13:00

So I'm aware that the intervals between these posts are growing longer. I 'm sure many faithful readers of this illuminated web log. I am here to update those many many readers (hi mom) on the life and times of Sara, myself and our button of oogle boogle cuteness, Elinor.

But first PICTURES!

First big newsflash about Elinor: her burps are cute but may contain explosives.

Second big newsflash: bed time is another place she can bellow. For something that tiny... to be

that good at making big noises...

Third ...I'm not sure why I call these newsflashes since everyone reading either has a baby, had a baby or watched "Look Who's Talking" (okay, that movie really only teaches you one thing: Scientology believes Jon Travolta and Kirstie Alley travelled in time to conceive and give birth to Bruce Willis) ...finding the culprit of a fart is getting trickier. Eli farts as good or better than me. Sometimes almost as good as Sara.

Oops... gonna have to cut this post a bit shorter than I'd hoped. Sara's going crazy with our little 'blessing' right now.

2008-10-18T11:24:00.004+13:00

Today is Saturday, it's been 2 weeks since we came home with Elinor. I've had all that time off work as well which is a huge benefit. To me.

Her first night was a bit rough for us. Eli's 'crib' is our bed and so every little spasm, moan, groan, whelp, and bed shaking flatulence kept us up. We slept in spurts of 30 minutes. For a total of about 90 minutes. We were very tired the next day.

Luckily for all three of us my parents and Eli's uncle Pete were still here to fetch me coffees. Those three did amazing work while they were here; painting, clearing, mowing, landscaping, more painting, clearing, throwing away pens, buying plastic containers and installing new plumbing taps. It has been the best gift (so far, keep em coming if you want to stay in the running for best gift ever); a comfortable, tidy and clean space to kick start little Nori rolls' transition to our home.

The weeks have been very useful, mostly just for us to have family time for the first time. We've been out of the house a couple of times now with Eli. She likes to have naps in her buggy and we like to get a bit of exercise; I for one am still as heavy as I was when Eli was gestational.

We went out yesterday, apparently for some retail therapy. We bought the Neptune Baby Gymnasium, a classic new baby purchase with an under the sea theme. I'm grooming Eli to become the next free diving world champion because I know from experience that she's got HUGE lungs. She throws epic tanties. Pull your hair out, question your ethical boundaries tanties. It's so weird how she plays these games with me. One minute I'm desperately trying to get her to stop crying (which is very similar to my maneuvers to getting most out of a bottle of Ranch dressing) the next minute she does something cute. (Honestly, doesn't take much to make cute).

We 'experimenting' with reusable nappies. I say experimenting because on one of our mad shopping dashes we accidently bought 103 disposable nappies for newborns-- the day after we'd received a 7 weeks supply of reusable nappies. We were under pressure. You know when the price tags all around you are white and then you spot a price tag that's RED!

RED for Bargain!!

Eli's doing a pretty good job of pooping all over our savings so it's just as well. Because I had also bought a special fancy diaper rubbish bin complete with 2000 refills. ::Groan::

Hope everyone is well and we hope to 'make contact' with many of you soon.

We're home!!

2008-10-05T07:35:00.003+13:00

Picture Pages Picture Pages

2008-10-01T22:42:00.006+13:00

Remember that? In between little episodes of Fat Albert, with Bill Cosby? And magic pen?

Man, American media can sure produce some real crap. But at least they dare. Look at Manimal.

By the way, what's America like right now?

Oh, and the end of hospital stay is nigh; Sara has moved into the Neonatal Ward. Yipee!!

(Another) Change of Tone

2008-09-26T23:14:00.001+12:00

Elinor is fine. She's a healthy baby and making regular weight gain.

She's a really good baby.

Her entire life, almost 1/4 a year on Monday, she's had her parents right beside her. Except at night. Every night for 3 months we've had to leave her behind at the hospital. She's made huge steps in that time to guarantee her continued good health-- reaching 2.5kg, no more anemia, only one silent breathing apnea monitor-- and before each one of these milestones and still every day, we're at her cot side, holding her, rocking her to sleep in the neonatal ward, taking pictures of her bath time, her tea time. We have both been hitting low points in this experience (I had a hard time picking that word). Eli has been alternating tube fed/breast fed with a slow progression favoring breast feeding.

And I stress the word slow, and I stress other words: difficult, frustrating, exhausting. We are supporting each other, but we're very stubborn too. Supporting each other can seem a near impossible struggle when neither party wants to see the 'bright side.' I tell myself that it's important that we feel low sometimes, that feeling low proves we're human and that we love our Elinor. Then I tell myself that I'm talking to myself again. I've had moments where I nearly snapped at the nurses, and I'm not the one actually breast feeding Elinor. I got nothing on Sara. She's still expressing, sometimes before breast feeding since her milk supply is too high for Elinor otherwise, twice through the night and 4 times through the day mirroring Eli's feed times. She is tired.

Before Elinor, if I had to wake Sara for anything I risked bruising or a very grumpy sleepy telling off. Now, I don't wake her anymore. I make her set an alarm.

We are closer to coming home as a family, but I feel very poignantly for the first time (or perhaps not the first but the strongest) that the closer we get to bringing her home in her carseat-- tucking her into her basket bed, bathing her at home-- the finite distance seems to strentch beyond what I previously could comprehend . Suddenly the length of the time we have to spend in hospital seems unforgivably long; another week an unreasonable request. The months-on-end hospital stay seemed possible at the beginning but now it feels so challenging. Each night we leave later.

We look forward to her homecoming.

Personally, I can't wait.

Can I ask that if you've been reading this blog from time to time, please take a sec to become a 'follower.' Sara would love it. I'd love it. And then we can tell Elinor about all the people that are reading her story (and my ranting).
And sorry there are no pictures.

Tomorrow is another day. ::big breath::

Throwing a Tanty

2008-09-23T07:58:00.000+12:00

Elinor's normally a squeaker. Although sometimes she makes a noise that reminds me of the little boy Toshio from The Grudge.

I sometimes imagine what she'll be like when she's old enough to throw a proper tantrum and then I remember how, when I was a small boy, I was oft made the victim of my younger sister Molly's tantrums.

Sometimes Molly didn't want to be told what to do. Sometimes Molly would get angry. When she did get angry, she was dangerous. She would start by stamping feet, screaming and pulling hair (my hair. I can remember the anger induced violence of her toddler years with post traumatic clarity) then she would crumble and sob before lying prone and commencing the classic fist beating foot pounding --and uniquely molly-- rug biting fury.

Please let Elinor be a calm girl.

I don't think many of you have met all of Elinor's cot pals. There's good ole ducky Lela, and Mr. V.H. Caterpillar. but the two new kids are, (at Eli's head) P.B. (stands for Pink Bear)-- courtesy of Gary and Carol Love (thanks, and the clothes and socks are awesome) and yes he's as soft as he looks, and then the strange grey, pink and green thing is Sara's personal crafty gift to Elinor; a very cool Opatamus indeed, Hiphopapotamus. (Which could be shortend in time to Hippy, hippo, hiphop or I thought she'd suit Francis.)

The regular baths continue, thus cuteness captured digitally continues. Her regular bath time is also a good time to experiment with new hairstyles for the up and coming prem baby (in three weeks she'll be considered a term baby).

Many (maybe 4) people have been asking when Elinor will come home. The conditions of her discharge are: regular feeding exclusively from Sara, regular weight gain and medically fit without any breathing apnea, anemia or infections. Then we're HOME!! Any day now!! Or maybe another week!! Could still be a month away!!

We'll still have to return weekly for blood exams (which Elinor crams for the night before, silly girl, but still manages to pass them most the time averaging a B+) but we're just waiting on her to learn how this whole breastfeeding game is played. She's behaving like the friend you used to play Monopoly with who wanted to be the iron. THE IRON. Well we're waiting on her to change her mind and pick the race car, and learn that you can't win by owning the orange properties and Park Place, so sell me the last yellow so I can start building houses. Oh and you just landed on my Utility! No one suspects the shoe!!

This post is dedicated to Molly and her (future) dwarf-sized children. So sorry our exhausting life has somehow caused your day to be slightly askew.

The light at the end of the tunnel

2008-09-15T07:04:00.000+12:00

Elinor is doing really well. She's been latching on to Sara for feeding, and having more and more time 'at the breast.' This past weekend she breast fed for almost half her total feeds (her remaining feeds continue to be through gastro tube). On Saturday she had one feed where she fed at the breast for so long that she didn't get 'topped up' through the tube! AWESOME!

As soon as she's feeding exclusively from Sara and is putting on weight each day, we can go home!!!

As super exciting as that is, we know that anything could happen and we may be in the hospital for more days, weeks, months than we had hoped.
This Sunday spring had really sprung. Flowers were blooming, big trees were budding, tiny leaves on everything and hot. It was hot. About 21 degrees as long as you weren't in the shade. Sara was allowed OUTSIDE with Elinor for a walk in a baby carrier (it's the hospital's carrier, I don't think I'd buy one like it. It had very awkward arm straps.). Elinor has left the building... briefly.

Eli had another bath, a great opportunity for taking pictures. We decided we'd use the towels and wraps given to us when Elinor was born (we've had all this stuff setting around for months, I figured we might as well us it instead of hospital towels and facecloths.)

She has a hearing test this morning that Sara can't make because of a dentist appointment she made in August, so I'm taking a few hours off this morning to fill in. Which is awesome because I get to wheel Elinor around the hospital AND don't have to go to work first thing.

Caption for this last photo: Elinor politely refuses anymore pictures to be taken by the persistent paparazzi.

Man Logic

2008-09-11T22:36:00.000+12:00

Tonight, as Sara and I got in the wagon to come home, I farted.

When the offending odour had finished offending I commented, "Kinda smells like a Elinor when's she's dirty." Referring the way my daughter goes a bit ripe when she hasn't bathed in two days.

"Well, you're eating the same food I'm eating, which is the same food Elinor is eating."

"Quid Pro Quo, my farts are my babies."

Father's Day Weekend

2008-09-08T22:52:00.000+12:00

I was going to try and write a sincere, stirring and heartmelting story about my first Father's Day.
But it's already been done.

Here's what I got up to across the weekend.

Elinor made me a card, with her footprints glued on it and the message: Happy First Fathers day Aba Ba-ahavah Elinor!!"

Sara 'treated' me to a morning lie in (I played 2 hours of WoW. Lame I know, but as I was killing murlocs with my level 22 hunter, Abdul, I felt like I had earned the right to collect sunfish and murloc fins on a beautiful Sunday morning), breakfast at the Cheeky Llama, the cafe in the middle of Queens Park.

Then I slept all day with Elinor.

At night, Sara and I went and had a nice dinner at Sopranos (They serve boring gourmet pizzas. If you'd eaten there, you'd understand how that's possible. The starters where exciting to read and boring to eat. They make a pizza with baby corn, roasted capsicum, honey roasted kumara, and pesto sauce, which was really just kinda, y'know, your run of the mill gourmet pizza. We did however, enjoy our meal and our time together.) and we had a beer each. Luxury. We even had time to watch one hour of a movie. What bliss.

Happy Father's Day to my Dad, and Happy Birthday to my sis Molly.

I won't be updating as often. This is why.

2008-08-31T23:32:00.000+12:00

2008-08-31T09:21:00.000+12:00

We've been busy.

2008-08-30T22:48:00.000+12:00

The title really says it all.

Eli had a little trouble last week with an infection that knocked all her progress back a few steps. She's spent the week on assisted breathing, and had an line in her arm for antibiotics. She's good now but we were pretty worried.

She was able to have her eye exam in Invercargill-- which was good-- and she'll need a follow up in 2-3 weeks time, also in Invercargill.

She's gained enough weight to be taken off HMF, and is getting 49 mL every 3 hours. She's a real muffin top now. And she's had another bath.

We've been sharing the neonatal room with some really nice folks. One couple Bethan and Jane Muir, are dairy farming types and there wee boy Ben is almost ready to go home. Jane, nee Arnett (sp?) competing in the 400m at the Commonwealth games.
The other couple is Chris and Lyn Frisby. So far they've offered us goose (Canadian, a real pest down here), wild venison, duck, goat, lamb, a trip hunting, some roast dinnes and we're negotiating a possible movie trade as he's been downloading for a while as well.
Eli's been on the breast a couple of times. Nothing to show for it but she's a real keen sucker! When she's feeding regularly and off the monitors and closer to her due date, we may be getting her home. Let's hope that we only have 4 more weeks of hospital life.
If your still reading after seeing all the cute photos, we've also been renovating our bathroom, buying all the appliances (bath, shower, taps) arranging tradesmen (plumbing, carpentry, floor prep), demolishing the rooms in question and I've started rewiring and new wiring. I take a day a week to work on my apprenticeship and hopefully will be finished at the end of the month. I'm really fed up with the new zealand trades training system and can't wait to be out of it.

Hope everyone is doing well. Elinor doesn't speak yet but she raises both arms up in clenched fists, turns her head to the side then turns purple, poops then exhales. I think that means 'hi.' So she's says 'hi' to everyone (individually).

2008-08-30T22:46:00.000+12:00

Wink

2008-08-22T07:35:00.000+12:00

She'll grow into it

2008-08-21T17:39:00.000+12:00

So Eli is growing all the time. But today we learned that with all her impressive strides towards maturity, she is still quite small.

She swims in cotton onesies. (I have to say, I think that is a beautifully composed sentence. It flows so well but with a nice contrast of consonance to assonance. He he he. Assonance)

Elinor's doctor, Dr. Sotutu aka Dr. What-Husband? is trying to stand up for our request to keep Elinor in Invercargill for her eye test but it looks like a losing battle. His calls aren't being answered and the time has come to find the format to lodge a complaint. I love complaints when I can be passionate about them. I love telling people why what they've done is wrong and I try to push the envelope of how wrong, often escalating from inconsiderate through unethical to crime against humanity. Even if I didn't have a real chip on my shoulder about the compartmentalization of health care administration. (Mind you, I used to be mildly obsfucated by the health care system, but now that I know no one's actually trying to organize, manage or take responsibility for this backwards way of doing things 'the way they've always been done' I'm just fucking angry)

Gosh, isn't she cute.

I can't wait to see her in all the different outfits we've been sent. Thanks everyone for all the contributions and gifts, whether for Elinor or for Mom and Dad (Dad really loves presents. Like, loves a lot. Loves heaps.)

Bath nap

2008-08-21T07:46:00.000+12:00

2 Kg and in a Cot

2008-08-20T22:20:00.000+12:00

If you can't gather from reading the title of this post, I've lost 2 kg and bought a cottage in North Umbria. More of a chalet really. Which is nice cause since I lost that weight I look great in a 2 piece.

Actually, the title is all about Elinor. She has officially reached 2 Kilos!! Which means... She's Graduated!!! To a cot!!

It was all very formal. We had to order her a gown and pay for her certificate. She managed a few high scores in Oxygen DeSats and Blood Tests. We're very proud. I think I may buy her a car to reward her huge accomplishment.

Maybe an Xbox, she really deserves it.

She's gaining weight a little too quickly in her hands. You can tell by the pictures her right hand is growing much faster than the rest of her body.

Elinor also had her first bath today!! She really stank yesterday. Sara said her foot stink was heriditary, which I thought was very mean; Sara's feet smell way worse than Eli's. (the bath picture isn't loading for some reason. oh well, another day. She slept through the whole thing anyway)

So, we're still waiting on her final eye examination, and struggling with to get a doctor to travel down from Dunedin hospital instead of having to make a round trip to Dunedin in one day. The hospital in Dunedin has been shut down after an outbreak of the NoroVirus and Sara and I can't see the logic of putting our daughter in an ambulance for a 6 hour round trip for a 20 min eye test when a doctor could drive down and therefore not risk exposing my premature daughter to a potentially life threatening virus.

Apart from that, no dramas to speak of, except to note that this year's Olympics seems very similar to Athens. Some swimmer impresses international media, some sprinter with a nickname like thunderstick or jazzshoes wins the 100m, and all we see in New Zealand is rowing, windsurfing and speed walking.

On Finances

2008-08-20T22:13:00.000+12:00

(Scene: John reclining in a lay-z-boy cuddling Elinor while Sara is expressing breastmilk. Sound of breast pump in the background.)
Me: So, now that you're not working--
Sara: What do you call this?
Me: What, sitting around all day cuddling with Elinor?
Sara: No. Sharemilking. I'm working a dairy farm.
Me: (laughing) Oh yeah? What are your overheads?
Sara: (pauses for a beat) Shirts. T-shirts.

Just Juice

2008-08-17T18:44:00.000+12:00

Sitting down to a light Mexican-esque dinner, I poured my self a glass of juice.
"Ooooh," Sara scowled, "Are you sure that's still good?
"Yeah." I replied and poured a tumbler glass full. Consistency was a bit thicker than I remembered.
"How long's it been in there?"
"Since before you left, so over a month. It's okay, this stuff doesn't go off,"
I reassured her. She needs reassuring anytime I pick something out of the fridge to eat.

The burritos were very tasty, and made me pretty thirsty. I cleared half the glass of juice.

Then I got up and poured out the rest of the glass.

Then the rest of the bottle from the fridge.

"What's the matter?" asked Sara.
"It's gone off." I replied.
"What tipped you off?"asked Sara, I might say a bit too triumphantly.
"Tastes off. Syrupy. Off."

The Wife

2008-08-16T23:21:00.001+12:00

I always used to sneer and get a little short with men who'd complain at volume (hopefully you can imagine the tone of voice I'm imagining) that "the wife thinks I shouldn't complain about carnies," or "the wife thought it would be a good idea to invest in ferret breeding," or perhaps worse, "the missus is after me to remove the encyclopedia porntanica from my garage." The emphasis for disgust is on the referall to your partner with a definate article as if she was a thing instead of a person.

Until tonight when the wife suggested that I didn't need a blackberry. Or a macbook air. She was a little lenient on the possibility of a Asus EEE ("Who buys a regular laptop when those are so cheap and you can just put an external hard drive for more storage?" Bless her she's smart.) until I talked myself out of it because it's small, linux based (which is cool but probably not something I'll be able to waste time on in the near future) and doesn't play DVDs.

Also, my wife says that I should be telling you about our daughter instead of bleating on about nothing in particular. In response I explained about leading in with joke. Then she called me a joke.

Elinor had a good week in Invercargill. Sara and I had a harder time slipping into a routine and schedule that would benefit the both of us, allowing us to see our daughter as much as possible while still allowing for meal breaks at home.

She's getting bigger and getting the HMF Buddha face. (HMF is Human Milk Fortifier, it gets put into Sara's breast milk to help Eli gain weight, it also has extra stuff for brain development and bone density.) During the week we'd change her nappy before having skin to skin cuddles so that she'd be awake. Boy that was a good call. She's super awake and looks around, nuzzles anything, sticks her toungue out, has those spastic baby facial expressions that go from mild humor to suspicion to confused surprise before finishing in a held breath and a healthy sounding fart. The pictures are from our last weekend in Dunedin NICU.

If anything, she's been having regular small dips in her oxygen saturation, which isn't a huge worry. And she may need to travel back to Dunedin for an eye exam. Apart from that, we're all very happy to be back in Invercargill.

And Kofi's back home too. He's a nice fluffy change at the end of the day but sometimes he seems needier than Eli.
Sara and I will try and be on Skype more regularly. We have been on this week, but late. Anyone want to suggest a regular time? I'm trying to keep up with 6:30 my time but no one's been on.

Back to Invercargill

2008-08-10T21:55:00.000+12:00

Elinor is due to return to Invercargill tomorrow. I got home around 8 this evening and began my homemaking project which was really just Man Cleaning except I wiped up an old coffee stain and cleaned the stove top and sprayed toilet bowl cleaner in the toilet bowl.

And I made a collage. I hope it makes up for the general dustiness.
I apologize for the poor quality of the pictures. This is the sorta quality you can expect from now on, since in Invercargill I don't have my dad's camera. I don't have a very good camera. (subliminal messages are written in italics for such people as thought paying for my car repairs was a good use of their money)

Thanks everyone for your continued support and humor. (Man, when I write it like that it sounds like you've been sending in money to keep public television going. But really, you've all touched me. Some of you rather roughly and others of you very gently, seeing as it was my first time.)

PS. (can you do a post script on a blog?) Sara and I should be home earlier/more often so I'd like to reinstate the general Skype time zone. We'll try to be on around 6:30 but it may not happen till 7:30 or 8:30. So everyone go work on their internet time calculators to figure out when you need to wake up. We enjoy seeing your face(s) so, if you haven't, buy a webcam.

Man Cleaning

2008-08-06T19:36:00.000+12:00

Today, after a brisk run (I've gotten so bored I've sunk to self improvement) and while running a bath, I engaged in Man Cleaning.

Man Cleaning (and I never intended to have a sequel to Man Shopping) is based on the holy trilogy of cleaning techniques preserved in men who have lived through bachelorhood, living either alone or with other men.

To be clear, at that stage of any man's life, the goal of most men is to be with a woman. For three reasons: they are cleaner than us, they often cook or help us to justify take outs, and they are an integral part of making babies (they do most of the making). So most men never wish to remain in the stage of life when Man Cleaning is chief maid and housekeeper.

So, the trilogy. Laundry, Dishes and Vacuuming. If we have done these three things we expect two things.
1. The house is to be considered by all to have been cleaned.
2. Praise for the cleaning.

Now, I've done the occasional toilet bowl scrub or windex the mirrors and windows, perhaps mop a floor, but that is NOT Man Cleaning. That is a project and can only be under taken when the effect of doing the project is similar to say, painting the house or maybe making the bed. I.E. you will invite people round to see the difference.

Today I raced around and pushed all the laundry (the laundry's been an issue. It's been piling up. Or rather, it was piling up 9 days ago. I sleep under a lot of it. It has been chilly.) into the washroom and started a load. Set up a sink of hot soapy water for the dishes to soak ( a long soak. Then I may top up the hot water after a few hours. I may have to do the dishes tomorrow.) and got the vacuum out (I'm lying, the vacuum is still in a hard to reach corner of the washroom. I'll get to it, though. Don't worry.) I'm all ready for Man Cleaning time. After this blolg post. And checking my email, and I have some other blogs I like to check. I should really do some Man Shopping. And I don't have time to cook with all this cleaning so it'll be another curry night. If I'm going Man Shopping I should put some new music on my iPod.

C'est la vie d'homme!

Elinor?

2008-08-03T21:35:00.001+12:00

Elinor decided it was too bright in the NICU and needed her sunnies on. She has being very active and mom was being very affectionate.

With a blanket to keep her warm, she took in her surroundings.

She had a wee suck on her pacifier. The feeding tube didn't seem much in her way.

More kisses from Mom.

The whole gag was so funny to Sara I thought she was gonna squirt milk.

Well, she did, eventually.

Wrinkles to Rolls

2008-08-03T21:12:00.000+12:00

Elinor is beefing up quite nicely. She's been weighed in the last week and is up to 1.2kg (or 2.1 lbs.) Her face is filling out, her skin is filling in and and she's starting saying her first words. Okay, she's still only squeaking and hiccuping and crying for any length of time exhausts her. But she's growing.

She's growing.... Cuter.

Mom got her first cuddle, Dad will too soon. The shoes in the background are Peter's. It was his first time seeing Elinor in NICU and while he thought she might brake if he touched her, he really liked getting to see her in person.

Grandpa's Hands, Elinor and Grandma's Hands. (We're trying to come up with good pet names instead of Grandma and Grandpa, but neither of them liked it when I suggested Meema and Darrell)

I mentioned Shameless Self Promotion in my last post. Here's a great example. Libby sent a care package of the entire end of line stock from Baby Clothes Universe. There are a lot of clothes (thanks Libs, oh and thanks Alan and Kathy, those are very cute onesies indeed) all very cute and pink or green and with cute little puffy sleeves or ruffled bums or with cute baby messages on them like "Photo with baby 50c."

Or this one. Enlarge for revealment of mystery.

Caterpillar vs. Lela

2008-08-03T20:37:00.000+12:00

Our friends Amy and Matt gave us a book, "TheVery Hungry Caterpillar," with a plush hungry caterpillar. The book is an epic story of a caterpillar on it's way to maturity and the number 10. It eats. And it eats. It eats lots of junk at one point (which brought back painful memories of what life is like in Invercargill without Sara).

Here's the very hungry caterpillar next to Elinor. He looks hungry. (He's not bothered at all by Elinor's diaper, clearly brimming with doodie. Oddly, neither is Dad.)

Ducky Lela was not impressed by the caterpillars early attempts at shameless self advancement within the complicated hierarchy that is Elinor's incubator plushies. (Well, not that complicated. There's Ducky Lela and the Caterpillar. There's a system of advancement, points based I think. I never really understood it. It was Lela's idea.)

Not impressed at all-- quite unimpressed actually-- Lela got quite aggressive, portraying a few of the in-your-face qualities of her namesake, Auntie Lela.

She tried to put the smack down on the caterpillar.

Lucky for Lela and the Caterpillar, Dad was there to cool the argument between the two rivals. And to tell Lela off for sitting on Elinor.

They worked our their differences and shared a cuddle, and perhaps a nibble in Caterpillars case. It was a Happy Ending.

Even though Happy doesn't need an ending.

Change of Tone

2008-07-28T19:08:00.000+12:00

The Monday after a weekending with Sara and Eli is always cold, wet, depressing and expecting a low pressure system sweeping north westerly by Thursday.

I don't want too much pity. I try to get along. I try to get a few things done. Here and there.
Today I went shopping.

Man shopping is a strange ceremony, not often celebrated. It involves walking at a comfortable cadence through the supermarket, hopefully framing the next thing you think you need and where it's located in the store. We never tarry long in one section and in fact I never slow, sometimes I'll momentarily stop, but never will I slowly approach a shelf while simultaneously finding my product of choice and/or the nearest available product of choice (think soda or diet soda) and/or the cheapest equivalent and/or something that isn't want I need but I might try it this week. That approach is a hallmark of Woman shopping.

Man shopping involves only replacing the things that ran out yesterday and must either include a light bulb, a power board or an extension cord. Man shopping cannot contain vegetables but may include mushrooms, or fruits but limited to oranges, apples or bananas. Man cannot linger long in the produce section. We don't like it. It's cold.

Often Man shopping contains peanut butter, coffee and/or mayonnaise. Often, in a moment of perceived awareness, Man Shopping may contain an item on the regular shopping list of the house. Whatever the item is, there was enough of it already and the fact that Man shopping produced one or more will just lead to the item in question going off.

Here's my Monday Shopping:
Box of granola bars
pita bread
coffee
mayonnaise
sliced pickles
4-way powerboard
2 light bulbs
ravioli (one of those singles pasta meals)
agnolotti (another singles pasta meal)
2 energy drinks (now I only JUST started getting into these, i hate drinks with names like, V or Jive Juice or Red Bull, or Demon or Wowza Cola. Fizz usually makes me spit. I don't really like energy drinks either, but it's a means to an end. The end being, I have a laser beam focus of attention after I drink one.)
hummus
sundried tomato dip
bananas

I almost bought a packet of three tennis balls off the dog toy shelf thinking, "Juggling may be a good way to occupy my time."

Such is Man Shopping.

Update

2008-07-26T22:02:00.000+12:00

It's been a busy week and perhaps I may have had time to update this blog, but it never happened. Here are new pics.

In my first email to as many people as I could remember, I asked to extend our news to any possible gaps in our correspondence. Can I ask that people spread the word to any people or family members you can think of or remember.

Isn't that last photo awesome. I'd like it if people would leave comments but write captions for the photos (or pick a photo) I've posted. Thanks.

Smiles

2008-07-20T08:48:00.000+12:00

I know we've been smiling a lot since Elinor was born and yesterday I got a nice shot of Eli grinning. (Okay, it may just be a baby face reflex, but as it happened while Sara was singing, I think she was either smiling or cracking up)

My weekend in Dunedin is nearly over and I realize just how long difficult and tiring this episode in Eli's life will be. I'm sure when it's over it will feel very far away, but of course while in the moment it seems to last an eternity.

Sarah and Phil gave me a ride up to Dunedin and brought presents for Eli, mommy and daddy. Eli got a short memoir from Sarah about the day she was born, Sara got some nice soaps (good thing too since the NICU soap is giving her a rash. She looks like an amateur bee keeper) and I got an inflatable hippopotamus, of course. We also read Eli her first book yesterday (thanks Chiltons for the solid read), 'How much I love you' about two hares (a daddy hare and baby boy hare) who love each other very much. In the story they're called Little Nutbrown Hare and Big Nutbrown Hare, to which Sara quipped 'If they're nutbrown, what color are they?' Damn she's funny.
See, even Eli thinks so.

On Tour

2008-07-15T22:54:00.000+12:00

I apologize for the delay in posting. I've been working this week and haven't really had the energy to post on this blog.

I thought I'd start back with a 'virtual tour' of NICU, to give you a better idea what things look like when I refer to them. As well, I'd like everyone to rest easy in the knowledge that I have not touched, experimented, wiggle cables or pushed buttons on any of these machines. They are, therefore, working perfectly.

You can exhale.

First off; Eli's diet. Everything Eli needs to fuel her growth is provided by this (bag of fluids not included in picutre). I t regulates her nutrition drip at about 8mL an hour, or it did last time I was there. That's not to say she doesn't need milk from her mother, but if she gets any bug or anything and they don't

This is Eli's main monitor. From a few probes on her body we get readings of her Heartrate (top), respiratory rate (middle) and Oxygen saturation (bottom) The monitor alarms when the heartrate drops below 170. Respiratory alarms at below 60 (I think) and SpO2 alarms at less than 85 percent.
This is Eli's CPAP machine. It's there to keep the air sacks in her lungs from colapsing and provides a light pressure to keep things partly inflated. (I think it gives her gas too. I reckon she can't help but swallow a bit of air from time to time.)
This is her incubator. The temperature is kept around 36 C and the humiditiy is at about 80%. On top, there is a bottle of instant hand sanitizer that we use EVERY time we put our hands into her incubator. She has two little doors on each side and both sides fold down as well. Inside can get pretty crowded with probes, air tubes, baby bedding and little finger puppet ducks named Lela.This a rubbish bin. It's where Eli's dirty diapers go. A gremlin lives in the bottom.

This is Eli's Nona, Simcha. She looks after Sara, gives Eli cuddles and keeps my seat warm while I'm in Invercargill. She's a intregal part of NICU. If your NICU doesn't have a Nona, then you should send a letter to an HMO, the WHO, The Who, a sympathetic family member who might be a Nona in hiding, the Canadian Embassy (they always write such polite replies) or to your mom.
This is a picture of my brother, Peter, dressed up as Doctor Who. Don't call him about regarding Nona's.

ps. no idea why the top of this post was underlined, or that other bit made into a hyperlink. just in case you thought I did it intentionally to be artistic. Or maybe you thought I didn't notice. I don't know what your thinking. What are you thinking?

Good luck and furry duck

2008-07-12T17:16:00.000+12:00

We learned a bit more about preemies today. Eli was good. Her color was up, she's still passing moderate to large amounts of Marconium, she's a good baby and everyone at NICU says she's a really good baby. We learned that her cute wiggly movements, her arm and leg stretching, her back arching and even her yawning can be a sign of distress. So we started to hold in her arms and legs to calm her down. Wow, it really works. She had started crying and sara held her firm but gentle and she calmed right down.

Also, we added a few decorations to her incu-cot. Simcha brought a beautiful chamsa and found a little chachki with her name in Hebrew.

Sara and I have been wearing around some of the cloths from NICU and then leaving them in her incu-cot with her when we leave but we thought it wasn't enough. We wanted her to have a little watcher from Mommy and Daddy.

The NICU staff nurse whose been on for the weekend gave me a mirror while Sara was having cuddles. Never give a Love male a mirror, we're like magpies.

I took the opportunity to take some family photos. The 'Happy Family,' the 'Fun' and the 'Serious' family photos. Usually a family pet plays a role in these photos so Eli's ducky, who we're calling Lela, made a cameo in the photos.

Bright Eyes

2008-07-11T18:23:00.001+12:00

Eli had different activity today. She was a little unsettled during cuddle time. She had a few more cries than we're used to and we saw her weight has dropped 60 grams (which is totally normal, she's supposed to lose a bit of weight. After a few weeks she'll start gaining). She's really still a pregnancy in many ways. We think of her as being 27 weeks old (instead of 4 days old), her development is bench-marked against babies in utero. At three months old she won't be like a three month old baby, she'll be more like a newborn.

Lucky, really, for me. I can witness her third trimester development, so to speak. However, with the stark difference of a delivered premie and a 6 month old fetus, a lot of that comparison goes out the window.

She's been jaundiced a bit, which is very common in newborn babies, but it's hard for Eli because, with all the other blood tests she's had, the routine jaundice blood test has left her heel a bit pin cushion-y. All her tests are coming back negative. But she's had the odd increase in asparate (spit up) so she's on again off again with Sara's milk. Sara has been keeping up a regular newborn milking routine. She expresses every 3 hours during the day, 4 hours at night. It's pretty tiring and I try to get up for her light night expressing, we play movies of Eli crying, look at pictures and I shit my pants to help her milk production.

Simcha landed today. Sara is very happy to have her momma here now. I don't know. I think she may be a pod person. If she tries to make tofu, then I'll know she's the definite article.

I have to return to Invercargill on Sunday, so either the frequency, the tone, or the subject matter of these posts may change. I'm back every weekend for the rest of Elinor's time in NICU, until she's allowed to travel to Invercargill where Kew hopital's neonatal unit will look after her until she's ready to come home.

A few people (one person acutually: Lela) has asked where any well wishes may be stamp, wrapped, parcelled and posted. Sara is staying with my folks @ 7 Seaview Terrace, St. Clair, Dunedin, NZ. If anyone wanted to send me a little "sorry you're on your own, 200kms away from your new bubs" I'll be at 46 Venus Street, Georgetown, Invercargill, NZ.

There were postal codes introduced 2 years ago, but they don't matter and we'll get the goods regardless.

Shabbot Shalom everyone!!

I had hoped to post more videos but blogspot is being a total communist.

Skype

2008-07-10T18:42:00.000+12:00

Please anyone feel free to Skype us, we're home from hospital and on Skype around 6:30pm New Zealand time. That's GMT +12 hours, in Israel it's +3 and change am to pm, or vice versa, in America it kinda sucks because it's about 11:30 pm on the west coast and 2:30 am on the east coast. But we'll be on, our Skype name is JohnIxtla.

Eli Today

2008-07-10T17:54:00.000+12:00

Sara had a long long cuddle toime today. She didn't have her CPAP on again so it as very quiet. I've started to (while I'm there) completely her care; changing her nappy, taking her temp, putting some cream on a little rash she's got.
So, her poo. I think every father, whether they publish their thoughts or not, receive an 'impression' from the first poo from the first diaper change.

OMG. What a poo. Marconium all the way. Whoa, Eli.

What a little shitter.

Later I changed a diaper that was all wees. Even had to weigh it: 10.4 grams of wees.
What a little pisser.

Also she got a bit jaundiced, as most every prem baby does, and has been put under some bright lights. She looks like she's tanning.

Home from NICU

2008-07-09T20:37:00.000+12:00

Lela, if we want to single you out then you'll get singled out.

Sara came home from hospital today. It's hard being whole kilometers away from Eli. Real hard.

We've been watching videos back to back, and getting Sara comfortable. My parents have done an amazing job preparing a room for Sara's homecoming and a space for Simcha when she arrives on Friday. Elinor is still doing very good. She's strong, drinking more milk (a whole ml and hour!) and Sara's producing 10 times what she could manage on monday. We've got a pretty sweet setup for Sara to express and everything's ready for refrigeration and daily delivery to NICU. She spent a whole hour today off her CPAPP, which helps keep her lungs slightly inflated, meaning that she is able to breath all on her lonesome for an hour at a time (she can cope with more, but she's only 2-and-a-bit days old so she's not being pushed).

I'd like to say a very special "thank you" to a few unseen supporters who've made me tear with gratitude. Sarah and Phil McCarthy who have updated so many of our friends via texts, looked after our cat Kofi, washed the dishes we left in Invercargill, fed our chook and kept up our spirits by being the genuine and hilarious friends that they are. Not to mention, I think Phil has a thing for me.

And Michelle Chilton, without whose help we would have very likely had a gay daughter. Thanks Mitch, I'm glad we didn't take any of your suggestions. (But really, thanks. Genuinely and with no punch line at your expense. This once.)

Pictures. Videos. Awesomeness.

2008-07-09T18:02:00.001+12:00

Dad (aka Me) had his first cuddle. And then some!! She slept, hiccuped, (probably did wees) opened her eyes, scrunched and fiddled and wiggled.

First day today we saw her without her CPAPP air tube in her nose (with matching beanie)

I've added some pictures of Sara with her first cuddle (thanks dad for scanning those polaroids). I'll add videos as often as I can but one area of commerce New Zealand isn't on par with at least the Phillipine's is telecommunications. We don't have fast upload speeds so our 3 minute videos take hours to upload. So this means one a day if I can stand it.
Hope this gives everyone a smile. You can't imagine how long I've been grinning. (Imagine 5 hours, but even longer.)

Family and Friends

2008-07-09T09:41:00.000+12:00

Thank you all so much. You all have been great with your well wishing and concern.

Libby and Molly - can't wait to see what knitwear our little Eli will be sporting.

James - Dad read me your email. Don't worry, we'll sort out our wagon but it is really wonderful to know you want to help in such selfless way.

Pat - Had to BUY a Terry Pratchett book the other day. What's up with care packages of reliable Pratchett?

Lela - Doda Lela, it's sooo good to hear from you and we hope you can come visit our little Elinor.

Steve and Rosa - we love you guys and love hearing from you. Rosa, thanks for calling Sara yesterday, she loved speaking with you. It was a bit distressing, though, to find my wife crying outside NICU. :)

Please everyone keep making comments on this blog or email me with your wonderful words of concern and congratulations. I never really knew exactly how much it could mean for so many people I love to send us the sweet messages we've been reading. It's a real comfort to regularly see 4 or 5 comments on this blog.

Today's my cuddle day so I want to get down to the hospital after I do some more dicking around with this wagon of ours.

Kangaroo Cuddles

2008-07-08T21:14:00.001+12:00

I thought it was just a southern hemisphere thing, but kangaroo cuddles with premature babies is a popular method of safely holding the little love swaddles. (Since Elinor was born I have, unconciously, added to my lexicon 'wiggle bug' 'squiggledy' 'frumpty dumpty' and 'woogie bear' (oh, and 'swaddles' (all right I already used these words. At work too. In front of men.))) Today, then, Sara was able to cuddle Elinor.

OMG

What a difference. First, Sara got to listen and feel Elinor's heartbeat and vice versa. Second, we got to smell her (weird i know but i was in there like a scratch-and-sniff sticker collector who broke into a swiss bank to steal a rare tutti frutti sticker accidently made to smell like cheesecake). Third, Elinor was on Sara's skin and got a wiff of the factory that, since snuggle time, has increased production output three fold. All these things are crucial to both Sara's recovery and development into maternal milk factory and Elinor's bonding and continuing growth and development. Eli's had her first blood test and we'll know whether or not she has Maple Syrup Urine disorder (among other things). Seriously Canada, WTF?

Will try and upload movie and cuddle photos tomorrow.

NICU

2008-07-08T09:15:00.000+12:00

Dunedin's NICU is very very good. At Invercargill, Kew Hospital can accomodate pre-terms as early as 32 weeks. Dunedin's NICU takes care of babies as early as 23 weeks. (Eli is 26 weeks)

Sara and I only cried for a very short time when we heard we were likely to deliver a preterm baby. We've talked to heaps of midwives, registrars, consultants, pediatricians, (I should say heaps of health professionals then try to itemize how many of each. You get the idea, we've talked to a lot of people about Elinor) and we've been ready for the difficulty and challenges (not ready actually, prepared? No, perhaps "braced") But it really is a moment by moment game, and for now Sara makes it up to the doctors meeting in the morning (I'm sans wagon for another day, at least) and we can both go up to NICU anytime day or night. The most frustrating part of NICU is that Elinor is in a incubator. I feel so distant from her, and that really hurts. As well, to avoid overstimulation and creating greater risk of infections, etc, we've only touch her twice in the first 24 hours of her life.

I remind myself (and re remind) that she's in NICU so that we can take her home someday and if NICU wasn't there the news and emotions around this occasion would be very somber.

It's like this: whenever I'm away from NICU, I start feeling awful about it. When I'm in NICU looking at Eli, it's almost clinical. I feel I can't touch her yet, hold her yet, so I just watch her monitors and watch her chest. Slowly I melt and laugh at her squirmy little legs and hands, coo at her yawns and pathetic cries, and point out that she definately has Sara's lips, and freakishly sized feet. Then it seems, that watching her is too much to do any more and I want to leave.

Ah well. Moment by moment and the first 24hours are down. Good. I'll give you another update soon. Hopefully we're getting cuddle time today.

Elinor Ora Love

2008-07-07T21:04:00.000+12:00

Sara waited long enough. Both steroids injections had time to have the optimum benefit for little Eli's lungs and she made it through her 'anti-contraction' medication (she wasn't allowed anymore for the rest of her pregnancy, so it was really a 'when' not 'if' situation) and she crossed her legs and stayed calm and quiet until she started to have contractions at about 10 pm. I got a call about 11 and raced to hospital and stayed with Sara as she had more and more contractions stronger and stronger faster and faster until she needed to push. After one push her waters broke and after another Elinor was born.

Sara was in active labor for less than an hour. Elinor was born at 1am, had a breathing tube inserted and secured, was rolled by Sara for a 'Hello Mom' and I went with Elinor into the neo natal ICU. (From now on known as NICU) I went back to Sara and told her Eli was fine. Mom and Dad came up to the birthing suite and we spoke with Sara's mom in Israel (she's arriving in Dunedin on Friday) then Mom, Dad, Sara and I went up to see Elinor.

It's a scary stressful time but her first 24 hours, her most critical, are almost over. Eli will be in NICU for about 3 months. We're taking everything moment by moment.

I apologize for the lack of humor or anecdotes. Those will come. For now I want everyone to be calm and rest easy. I am and so is Sara.

July 4

2008-07-06T09:26:00.000+12:00

On the 2 of July at 4 am Sara and I went to Kew Hospital in Invercargill because Sara felt abdominal cramps and was bleeding a little. At Kew they monitored our baby for 2 days, Sara's cramps finished and we looked to be heading home on Friday morning.
Sara then had a fresh round of bleeding and the cramps changed to contractions. She also started to dilate. Kew Hospital can handle pre term babies at 32 weeks gestation. Sara is at 26 weeks.
There was then some urgency to stop any further contractions and transport Sara to the hospital in Dunedin. The neo natal unit at Dunedin Hospital can care for babies as early as 23 weeks.
The two hospitals managed to arrange helicopter transport for Sara, meaning her time out of hospital would only be about 40 minutes.
My time out of hospital, away from Sara and any knowledge of what was happening, was about three hours. After quickly packing a bag for both Sand and myself then finding a gas station open at 2 am, I got on the road to Dunny. After about an hour and a half my wagon overheated.
I let it cool down and made it another 30 minutes along the highway before it overheated again. I let it cool down and decided to chance any damage I might cause to my wagon and just fuck the radiator. It was a stressful 3 hours.
When I arrived in Dunedin, the thermostat bouncing from normal to hot and back, Sara was sleeping with monitor on her belly. The staff at the hospital rolled a bed in for me and I got 3 hours of much needed sleep. Mom and Dad had left for Auckland and I'd been calling Dad's cell (it was obviously off) since about 10 pm the night before. I managed to reach them in the morning and let them know what had happend. They made the decision to come back and they have been a huge help, to me at least running a few of the errands the Sara needed done, but I didn't want to do because the wagon was acting up.
Sara was moved later on Friday to an antenatal room where she's been there for a couple a of days. I drive to the hospital at about 8 or 9 in the morning with the thermostat in my wagon leaping up and down and read books, sleep, run errands for Sara until about 8 or 9 when I drive to the parents house with the thermo leaping up and down.

25 Days

2008-06-26T19:05:00.000+12:00

So I have a lot to fill in. First and foremost, shuddup already with the whiney "you don't post enough" "when are you gonna update" "your farts linger too long." Enough. I have 25 days to fill you in on so quit your squawkin.

So I think Sara's pregnant. I've been reading this book, "Your Pregnancy Week by Week," because I was concerned about her localized weight gain (first I thought it was just a goiter) and she keeps matching the 'symptoms.' She's getting bigger and feeling more movement and generally taking up more of the bed. (Also, when she does deliver the little blessing into our lives, we'll be hosting both our mothers which is one reason why we're renovating which is one reason why I haven't posted in 25 days.) We went to Antenatal classes last week, and guess what? Someone is letting the retards breed. I can't effing believe how 'diverse' this group of preggers is. Mostly retarded. Some way too young. One something asian-y and a real big couple that laugh at the mention of the colon. Which is weird considering we talked about hemmoroids and said vagina and pelvic engagement like a billion times.

I should finish my apprenticeship in August and start earning a grown-up's wage. Not a professional grown-up mind you, but more than I'm earning now (which is like 3 Sickels and Knut per hour, do you know how low savings interest rates are for fictional money? Effing low.)

3. (I've just decided this is a list) I've really got a thing for parenthesis. I really like using them. (A lot.)

D. I see no reason why a list needs to follow a logical ordering system. Refer to 3F(c).

9B.12.e.(2) We're (still) at the beginning of renovations. Hopefully, our plans have been submitting by our Architect friend Brent (who's decided to swap a trade for some of the cost of the drawings by letting me have a look at his broken audio receiver. Sucker. I broke it worse 5 minutes after he gave it to me. If your reading this Brent, I'm lying and your receiver has a really tricky fault. Very hard to pin down.)

2A. I've been reading Bill Bryson's 'Made in America' which is a wonderful sedative but a terrible laxative. We recently scored some awesome books off a Rotary Club book sale, many of which will make excellent presents for the Christian holiday of Chistemars (Pat, I'm talking about you here). Almanacs of DIY projects from the 50s, 60s and today, which I bought so I didn't have to actually do ANYTHING myself but I'll be damned if I don't have the know how now. Sara found some good gardening books and a couple pieces of fiction that she's enjoying (which is good cause she's had the flu and plenty of time to read).

And lastly but maybe firstly, it's been cold, windy, snowy, rainy, sleety, hail-y, cloudy, sunny and at times during the night a bit moony. So we're huddled round the halogen heater waiting for banana bread to be ready, and I'm hoping this post will keep the hounds at bay for a little while longer.

Jugga jugga. peow peow.

John.

2008-06-12T17:20:00.000+12:00

Between the period of Passover to Shavuot is the Omer. During the Omer, a Jew is not meant to trim hisbeard or cut his hair. His focus is meant to be trained on the importance of the harvest. This falls through when you live in the southern hemisphere and there is no harvesting between April to June. But I decided I wouldn't trim my beard and then on Shavuot I'd cut my hair short and shave my beard. (Picture is after the hair cut)

It was fun, but it's cold here and my face now suffers from chills.

Sara doesn't really like it either, says she feels like she's molesting me. She does molest me, I tell her, but just not very often. Somehow, a beard gives me the proper framing. Like a picture with a frame. I'm like a picture without a frame now, propped up on an easel... frameless. Sans frame.

So now I resemble my mother, and thus wear more hats and use hair growth tonic.

But the upshot is I don't look like a terrorist, which puts me in the perfect position to be one.

::Peow::

Correction

2008-06-11T17:34:00.000+12:00

Blogger.com is obviously not running on Pacific time which really ucks with my shi.

So what happened on wednesday was posted on tuesday. Bullsh.

I might take this moment to field a few comments from my first post.

1. Pat. I'm not a jerk cause i'm not playing online axis and allies with you. You gave up your WoW account; but really I'm a jerk cause I'm gonna miss out on a wicked Magic Tournament this December.

2. James, stop giggling. People will notice you. And put down that sandwich, Ami's cooking your dinner.

3. Phil. Cool, you've commented that I'm not Frank. From what I understand about Frank is that he suffered a aneurysm at a young age and can only speak in concise direct sentences. I met him once, he can't keep his head up on his own and told me he secretly wanted to try pot but his care takers wouldn't let him. Nice guy.

Thanks and I'll put news about Sara on this someday.

Meantime, ::peow peow:: Gotcha!

What happens on a Wednesday

2008-06-11T16:57:00.000+12:00

Sara's pregnant. She's tired most days. After work we'll do the dishes, recount our day to one another, then start on dinner. Tuesdays and Thursdays we eat then do homework then watch a movie or read a book. Monday is Pregnant Day, where we talk about baby stuff or remind ourselves what we forgot to do on the weekend then watch a movie. And Friday doesn't count for shit cause it's a weekend and we're either going to Dunedin or sitting around the house watching movies.

Wednesday night is movie night.

Okay, we watch a movie almost every night. Wednesday night is Film Society night.

Tonight we're going to see some Italian movie where the son of a fired woman gets revenge but learns a lesson about family when he falls in love with the daughter of the man who fired his mother. They sell ice cream cones at our theater. I can't wait.

Oh and I plan on making cottage cheese tonight for lasagne tomorrow. It's gonna be so effing good.

Title and Purpose

2008-06-10T21:30:00.000+12:00

This is Lightning Guns, a blog. I will write what I think about life, my neighbor Ross, kit set sheds, my job, something shiny I saw, my daughter and sometimes I'll write nonsense. Most times I'll write nonsense.

I will mispel words and tape typos. I am not a perfect person, and cannot profread.
(This is a lie, I am meticulous about how I appear in text format and over proofread.) I will lie. I will share too personal truths, such as the time I had a doctor examination to prove I was circumcised.

Far too personal.

Sometimes I'll rabbit on (or ferret on) about something stupid or geeky. I have certain opinions that I will express that you may share and some I'll ask for back after a week or two. This is a web log, or blog.

I have created this personal page of cached prose to capture the time I spend on the internet with nothing better to do, and to capture the rare moments in life it is so essential to share. And to capture the Loch Ness Monster, because I like dinosaurs.

Not too personal.