The Arrival of Milla Mary

Back after a paternal break, we are proud to announce to the blogosphere (the facebookiverse is already aware...) the arrival of our darling daughter, Milla Mary McKelvie. Born on 22nd June at a healthy 7lbs 8oz by cesarean delivery. She has turned our worlds upside doon and we couldn't be happier. A recent picture of the little one in a wistful moment:



Many have asked us the inspiration of the name, Milla. Well I can reveal that it is of American Indian name meaning 'the little one who smells of milk'. The accuracy of our foresight is quite astonishing as everything in the hoose now smells lactic. My shoulder will now be constantly furnished with either the bairn or her signature dribble :)

We've been coping with the lack of sleep and constant requirement to do things pretty well, thanks to our friends and family. My folks have been over from Aberdeen for a couple of weeks and it has been great for them to spend some time with Milla and it gives us a break too. Its fantastic for me to see them too of course. Jo's family have been helping too with her mum Mary staying for a couple of weeks around the birth being a godsend to us with all her knowledge and hard work.

Thanks to everyone reading who sent us cards and gifts, we have been overwhelmed by your generosity. We feel very lucky to have so many friends and family supporting us.

So the birth was a bit of a whirlwind as we found out a few days after Milla was due that the little rascal was lying in breech position, so a cesarean was planned for the next day and our emotional journey began. I was excited throughout and only just before surgery did i begin to get nervous and a tiny bit scared, but the staff in the surgery at the Mercy Hospital for Women in Heidelberg were fantastic in making us feel at ease and helping us to enjoy the experience. Jo was an absolute star throughout, taking everything in her stride and gracefully stepping into motherhood with customary aplomb. I am a lucky guy to have two such beautiful girls in my life. Although I have since discovered that Jo has some way to go if she is to become a wardrobe adviser to infants. Many a day i unwrap the little duchess only to discover she is wearing purple socks beneath her green outfit. I mean I'm no Alexander McQueen but...

So it was Mummy's birthday a couple of weeks ago and to mark the occasion, last night my folks looked after Milla whilst Jo and I went out for some tucker. It was an opportunity to catch up on our 'us' time which was great, and whilst we missed Milla the evening also gave Jo the chance to have her first sample of alcohol in almost a year - and I could tell by the way she was looking at me that the light beer made her a wee bit giddy.

This was Jo just before she took her coat off... :) Happy birthday darling!

Well a test lies ahead for me this week as I return to work. On a bed of nae sleep I shall attempt to do what millions of fathers have done before me and pretend to be just as sharp and hardworking as ever whilst sitting at my desk with fake open eyes and an invisible muzzle to silence my snores. But seriously, I guess it's more of a challenge for Jo being left to her own devices without my stellar work in nursing a cute yet impatient baby to sleep. Thankfully we still have great support from our families, with Mary helping out and one of our favourite residents of Bendigo (I would say the favourite but I couldnt choose between her and the newly Bendigo situated Jan!) Lisa coming down tomorrow promising to cook us all a feast! Cannae wait.

Right well i think i hear a belly rumbling in the distance, so one of my darling girls must need fed. I'll bid you farewell for now and hope that it is not so long next time between blogs. But then i always say that and quite frankly I ain't making any promises.

Love you all

From Al, from Jo and from the magnificent little Duchess who smells faintly of milk

x

Its the 10th March!

I couldn't think of a title so that will have to do.

As Jo mentioned in the last blog, we are expecting a wee bairn in a few months. Its great news indeed, we are very excited about having a family and I reckon Jo's going to be a fantastic mother if the way she's been looking after me this week is anything to go by (I've been struck down by a virus). People who know us will be aware that we are quite cautious and reserved people (certain exceptions exist of course, I did once lip sync to Phil Collins' You Can't Hurry Love in front of hundreds of strangers in a vest, and Jo did once ride down Collins St on the back of a motorbike in a bikini...*) and we want to remain fairly humble about it all until the safe arrival of McKelvie Jnr, so Jo didn't want me to post a picture of her bump (even though I'd like to show her off and think that she shines like a beaming siren in her expectant state), so here's a compromise darling in the form of an illegible tiny pic:

We're in the name picking and nesting phase, it's all great experience and we're enjoying the ride (mostly :) although it can be tricky when you don't agree on everything. We're just glad everything has gone to plan and I'm touching wood as i type. Wood as in the material wood...

So in other news, we celebrated our first wedding anniversary on Sunday which gave us an opportunity to reflect on a fantastic first year being Mr & Mrs McKelvie. From the topsy turvy wedding day that seen us and our guests witness the worst hailstorm in Melbourne for over 50years and me being trapped in the city yet which ended as the wonderful celebration we'd hoped, to the great honeymoon we had in the shadow of a tropical cyclone but which is full of great memories, to getting used to wearing a ring for the first time in my life and feeling a wee tinge of pride every time I seen Mrs J McKelvie on letters and cards that tickled me under the chin. Still feelin' lucky!

I've been ill this week, worst I've felt in years. But thankfully today I'm beginning to feel better and should be feeling right as rain after the weekend recovering. I've lost a couple of kilos but I'm sure my fearsome appetite will return soon. Jo has been a great to me throughout, like a modern day Florence Nightingale but better looking and pregnant. With the couple of kilos i've lost and the week-old stubble I look a bit like Tom Green:

Ah well, maybe not. So Melbourne's weather has been a bit mental this summer, the wettest on record. I'm sure you'll all have seen the floods over in Queensland and perhaps those that affected Victoria too. It's been said many times, but this really is a country of extremes. It's a resilient country though, and its people are that in bucketloads. We're into Autumn now, so temps are dipping a bit. But one other thing that Autumn brings is the start of the AFL season, greatly anticipated and this season in particular we've started a SuperCoach league at the work. It looks a bit like hard work but my team 'Frontal Pressure' have big aims...

One other thing which has made a return to our screens this week, which Jo and I are very excited about is Prisoner Cell Block H - I only found out today that it was just called 'Prisoner' here - only in the UK was the Cell Block H added due to a legal challenge. I also found out there are a total of 692 episodes. Interesting eh. Ahem. Anyhoo, this is one thing that Jo and I found we had in common from very early in our relationship, we both loved watching the show when we were younger. So needless to say we're delighted its back on tv. TV gold. Just yesterday Bea Smith got released and spent two days living it up on the money she'd saved whilst serving ten years inside, then looked up her husband who'd shacked up with some other floosy and promptly shot him dead with a pistol that can only be described as a toy gun. So now she's back where she belongs and challenging Frankie Doyle for the top dog spot. Sparks will fly.

Speaking of sparks, the media over here have gone daft over Wills and Kate. I wish them well, but the hoo-haa that follows their every move is clearly ridiculous. Did i mention I'm following Charlie Sheen?

Right, well I better get some more rest. Its been nice talking to you's.

Jo's eating some Ice Magic. Choice.

Al x

*I made the bikini motorbike thing up, for a laugh. I might pay for it shortly but I'm still laughing.

4 months since our last blog....thats a bit neglectful!

ok, so we had Christmas in Swan Hill and we both came back with sunburn despite wearing sun block! In fact, I can still see a faint line from that sunburn on my upper chest. New Years was spent in Daylsford, a little town about an hour out of Melbourne. Al had a sample of some water from a deep spring there and thankfully didn't lose the plot. Since then, we have been back to work and have watched January and February absolutely zoom by.

Our most important development has been "the bump" which is growing and growing happily :) So far all has been fantastic (and knock on wood it continues). 3 of our weekends in April are already booked up with workshops and classes which we are looking forward to (well that's what Al says anyway :p). Still a few months to go yet and we absolutely can not wait!

Well have to sign off now, Al is sick and Im being ordered, I mean, asked to get him a cup of tea. More posts to come soon!

x

The race that stops the nation

A big congratulations to Al who managed to back the winner of this years Melbourne Cup, with Americain taking out the big race.

Unfortunately my horses didn't gain a place :( Oh well, Al's money is my money etc etc... I think that's the way it goes when I don't win :)

Lisbon - Overseas trip part 3

From Madrid we travelled to Lisbon, Portugal where we would stay for 6 days. The point of the trip was really for a work conference, but we made sure plenty of sight seeing was included.

The weather was perfect, being in the mid to high 20s degrees. The first thing I can say about Lisbon was that everywhere I turned there was a photo opportunity. The coloured and tiled buildings were stunning. I wondered whether tiled buildings in Melbourne would have lasted the test of time (i.e. not being vandalised) like they had in Lisbon. The majority of people in Lisbon were tanned and thin. Al even started to get attracted to the grannies which was quite concerning. Initially I was confused about the weight of the portugese there, given the sweet food which included a lot of pastry. It wasnt long until I realised why they were thin however....there are many hills! Every pathway was coble stoned which helped set the scene of this old town.

Of course I have to mention the famous Portugese custard tarts. All of the raving and positive reviews are 100% accurate. I think the selling point to these tarts is the crisp pastry contrasting against the soft, mooshy custard. We managed to locate the famous Bakery in Belem which sells a range of baked goods along with Super Bock portugese beer. I mean....can you beat a bakery that not only sells the most beautiful tarts but really nice beer to wash it down with. Whilst in Balem we went to visit the Tor de Belem which is a military, castle like tower used back in the day to look out for incoming ships. It was one of the very few structures to survive the earthquake that hit Lisbon in 1755 in which the city collapsed. We also saw the Jeronimo which is an extremely old monastery. We tried to visit the Sao Jorge castle but got lost along the way among the little laneways. We did manage to stumble across a little outside cafe lookout which sold beer so we decided to stop there for a while and simply admire the castle from afar.

On the last night of our stay we managed to get into an old style Lisbon restaurant who had three Fado singers on that night. This was definitely a highlight for us. The food was fantastic, the singing was touching and emotive and the company (new friends we met over there) really enjoyable. Whilst walking along the cafe/restaurant district, known as, Alto Barrio, it was unique to see the tables out on the street located under laundry hung out by those living above the restaurants. Nothing like eating some paella with some jeans drying over your head :p

Our trip to Lisbon really was memorable and Im so glad I got the opportunity to go (thanks to work :) ). I would highly recommend a visit to this fantastic city!

Madrid - Overseas trip Part 2

Following our stay in Kuala Lumpur we ventured to Madrid. This was an extremely short, overnight stop though on route to Lisbon, however we still appreciated our glimpse of this city.

Walking around Madrid, we noted that there were many many little laneways which one could so easily get lost among. Even photographic memory map reading Allan managed to lose his bearings. My expectation of Madrid was that it would be somewhat commercialised with big name brand stores everywhere, but really, it mainly comprised of cafes and bars and a strong sense of socialising. From simply walking around, there is so much going on, one highlight being a puppet show on the street which drew a crowd of about 50 people.





Even into the late hours there were so many people out on the streets mixing, eating and enjoying themselves. I can completely understand why the spanish have siestas during the day between 1-3pm now. Oddly enough, there also appeared to be a lot of people with dogs in Madrid....



Al, who loves sampling different meats was so excited about the many Jamon cafes (or should I say "museums"). To top this off, the typical breakfast comprises churros and chocolate (or coffee). How do the spanish keep their figures...oh yeah, getting lost in the laneways and having to walk further to their destination.





Even though our visit was extremely short, we will remember Madrid fondly. The city has so much to offer, a lot of which we didnt have the time to see and experience but hopefully we will manage a return trip one day.

Kuala Lumpur 2010 (Overseas trip 2010 Part 1)

First stop of our recent overseas trip was Kuala Lumpur. We stayed here with our friends Claire and Kenny for two days (one night). This was the first time that I have walked off a plane to be greeted by a driver who was holding a card up with our name (...it was our name right Claire? :p).

Our first trip to Malaysia was great and really quite informative. Apart from visiting our friends, the highlight would have to have been seeing the Petronas towers which looked stunning, especially at night. However, to see these towers at night was not an easy task. The best viewing point is from a highrise bar across from the towers. This wasnt any ol'bar, this was a bar with a large swimming pool in the middle of it! To get to the viewing point we had to walk about 10 metres along an approx 70cm walkway with one side pool and the other side edging....can I also mention the "high heel factor" please!! Interestingly the story is that people dont seem to fall in this large pool. I have never focused so hard whilst walking in my life!! In any case, the view of the towers was absolutely worth it, they were stunning.

The weather is quite warm in "KL" and also quite rainy at times. Al and I thought we would take advantage of the pool at the end of the street from Claires house. Shortly after arriving we got caught in a sudden down pour (not like us hey) and were stranded there for about 10mins in the undercover toilet area. During this time, Al thought he would make use of the facilites but quickly changed his mind...wonder why :p




Our stay in KL was very short, but in this short time we had a great time and hope we can make it back again some day to see our friends again and experience some more of the Malaysian culture.

Next stop...Madrid and Lisbon...