Babies are born!!!

Posted on January 4, 2012 | 20 comments

If you remember a while ago I wrote a post (I see babies everywhere) that two of my good friends were pregnant. I am happy to announce that both of them gave birth to beautiful babies.

SK had her baby girl before Christmas. The baby was quite big, 4.9 kg. She looked so adorable in her hospital gown. She looked like she was already a few months old but she was only five days old when I went to meet SK. I am in so much in love with her already. She has lots of hair, small eyes and long fingers and toes. While we were in the hospital she didn’t cry at all. She just looked at us and made funny noises moving her arms and legs. I can’t wait to see her in her little pink dress I bought for her. Girls are so easy to buy for as there are millions of choices. They named her SS and here are some beautiful photos of her.

 

Little SS

When I was talking to SK about the birth I was a bit scared to hear what she had to go through.

As the baby was overdue, they induced her to start the labour. They gave her a drip which she said was painful. As she started to have pain, little SS’s heart rate became really high so they decided to do caesarean. It was a last-minute decision but very good one as the baby was big and natural birth was near impossible. Anyway after the birth SK was still in pain. It was a major surgery and it will take her a few weeks to recover. I am so glad she has her parents, brother and sister-in-law there along with her husband who look after her and little SS.

RD had a baby boy last week and they named him AD. He looks so cute and weighs 4.28 kg. RD was also overdue so they had to induce her as well. She spent 2 days in hospital before she had the baby.  She was complaining how she had to be in labour for 7 hours before they decided to have a caesarean.  Lucky for her, her husband and her mum were there every minute to look after her. Here are some beautiful photos of adorable AD.

Little AD

Both moms are super happy and now back home with their buds. They both said they would not have it any other way. Guess the joy of motherhood is beyond comparison.

For me I have two more babies in my life who will call me aunty.  It is such a joy to be around kids and looking at them made me love them more.

 I am sure there will be more posts around these babies in the future.

20 Comments

Posted in Friends

Tagged , , , , , , , , , ,

Welcoming 2012

Posted on January 1, 2012 | 6 comments

I am finally back in Sydney after our nice break. We had an early morning flight leaving Vanuatu so I was sleepy the whole flight. When we landed in Sydney airport, I felt good that I was in Sydney just in time to celebrate New Year.

2011 was one of the best years for me as it was the first New Year celebration that AS was by my side to start the year together. I wanted to do something special for AS so I had bought a cruise ticket to watch the fireworks in front of Harbour Bridge and Opera house. They say Sydney’s fireworks are one of the best in the world so I wanted to be sure that we got the best seats in the house.

After Skyping with our family and having lunch, we headed to the city. As soon as we were in the train I could see that it was going to be a very crowded few hours. We got off at Circular Quay to catch our boat. There were thousands of people every where. I had not seen that many people at one place for a long time. We went to our pick up area and saw that there was a long queue to board the boat. We joined the queue and we were escorted on to our boat.

Once we were in the boat, I saw that they had a live band playing beautiful songs. There were around a 100+ people but there was enough room for us to walk around and pick the best seats. We decided to stay on the outside top deck. After everyone was aboard, our boat moved towards the open water and stopped in between Harbour Bridge and Opera House.

AS was armed with his DSLR camera so when the countdown began for New Year 2011, the camera was clicking as fast as it could. I think we had almost 1000 photos for that night alone and most of them were of the fireworks. It was a beautiful display of colourful fireworks. The atmosphere was so alive that I was sorry the celebration ended after just 25 minutes. There were so many boats in the water that I was glad I was among them  and so close to see the amazing show.

This year, it was a different story. As it was the last day of 2011 and I had so many things I needed to do but I was too tired (read lazy) after our holiday to do them so my New Year 2012 resolution will be to tie up all the loose ends this month. Also I will try to eat healthy and work out regularly along with AS. I also want to be a better human being and try to be less selfish with my needs 🙂

Last evening, we met up with a few friends and my brother and headed to Brighton Le Sands to watch the fireworks because the city is always too crowded for the New Year’s fireworks. Of course there were many people in Brighton Le Sands as well but we managed to get to the front of the beach and watch the amazing fireworks from there. Even though the fireworks may not have been as spectacular as the one in the city, it was still breath-taking and the crowd too was just awesome. The best part was we could walk back home after the celebrations.

This year too AS was armed with his camera and he got beautiful shots of the display and obviously some beautiful shots of me as well with the fireworks in the background 😀 .

The theme of 2012 was “Time to Dream”, capturing the imagination and giving hope.

Happy New Year from Sydney, everyone. May the beginning of the New Year be the beginning of great things to come the whole year through and may the New Year be filled with wonderful adventures and many successes!!!

6 Comments

Posted in Australia

Tagged , , , , ,

Happy Birthday AS!

Posted on December 30, 2011 | 9 comments

It was AS’s birthday on December 28. As we were on holiday, I didn’t know what to do for his birthday. Before we left for the  holiday, I had contacted the resort we were staying in Vanuatu and asked them if they could bake a cake for me. I was happy when they emailed me back confirming that they could. I tried my best to make it a secret until his birthday. It was really hard to get away from him to talk to the staff there. I also hid his card and gifts in my suitcase. I am so glad he didn’t find them until his birthday.

On the morning of the 28th, I couldn’t sleep as there were thousands of things in my mind. I woke up at 5 am and started planning for his surprise birthday. As we had booked to go for Abseiling at 9am, I needed to execute my plan before 9 am. So I went to talk to the staff to plan everything while AS was still in bed.

As normal, we went to the resort’s restaurant for breakfast. He ordered a big breakfast and I ordered a continental breakfast with fruits. I had instructed the staff to get the cake before we had our breakfast. We were seated by the pool and there were a few  other tables with holiday makers having their breakfast.

I was facing the walk way and AS has his back to it. So when the waiter came with the cake, he didn’t see it at first. I started singing the “Happy Birthday” song and AS thought it was someone else’s birthday so he started singing as well before he turned around and saw the cake and realised that the cake was for him. In the mean time everyone else at the other tables started singing Happy Birthday for him.

I really liked the surprised look on his face after seeing the cake. It was his favourite flavour, double chocolate mud cake. I couldn’t get one any smaller but I was really glad to see it turn out so good. It was just perfect. Then he made a wish and cut the cake. One of the guests was really nice and offered to take some photos of the both of us.

Then it was time to open his gifts. I got him a card, an android tablet and a UFC trainer game for his XBOX. I knew he wanted them so I am glad that he liked them all. He had this big grin on his face that made me really happy.

Then we had our breakfast and went for Abseiling (I will write about this later when I am back in Sydney). It was one of the most fun things we did in Vanuatu.

We came back to the resort to change and were off to the Melanesian dinner (local Vanuatu style dinner with cultural dance show). We really enjoyed the food and dance.

It was a perfect celebration for AS. I was really happy that he enjoyed his day so much.

9 Comments

Posted in General, Personal

Tagged , , , , , ,

Start of our tropical holiday

Posted on December 25, 2011 | 4 comments

Right now I am on the plane writing  this post. I think there is wi-fi in our resort so I can publish it.

We took a taxi to the airport, no traffic due to the holiday. The airport was really busy as everyone else seemed to have the same idea as we did.

We waited a while for check in as the counters had not opened yet. Once it opened ,we got our boarding pass and headed towards departures. This might be one of the few times I fly that I didn’t have to worry about the luggage allowance. Between us we had only 20kgs. All other times it is a very different story, especially coming back to Sydney. I am one of those people who shops until they drop wherever possible so my suitcases are always full and mostly I hit the baggage allowance easily. I even take up space in AS’s suitcases. 😀

Anyway everyone is wishing us a Merry Christmas. Everyone seems to be in good spirits for the holiday. Happy, cheerful and smiling.

image

After a quick check-in, immigration and security check we went to have our breakfast. We had pancakes, toasted english muffins, hash browns and coffee. I just love holidays as I don’t need to stress about eating junk foods as my diet is also on a holiday :-).

image

Getting on the plane I was very excited to be going on this holiday as I’ve always wanted to go to Vanuatu.It was nice and warm in Sydney so hoping for great weather in Vanuatu as well.

Unfortunately AS and I got aisle seats so we are not sitting together but on either side of the aisle. The flight is full so we can’t change our seats but the plane is not big so we can still talk.

I was browsing through inflight magazine. They mention lots of activities. Looks like our one week will be too short there. Anyway we gonna enjoy as much as possible. I guess if I had longer holiday then I will be going somewhere further anyway. They just served us meals,the choice was ham or turkey with veggies, salad and Christmas pudding. I am not the big fan of on board meals so it was normal I guess. I think everywhere there is Christmas influence including our meal.

There is a french couple next to me right now who are sleeping.Something about French ascent that I really love. I think it sound sexy 🙂

I am so looking forward to go to France next year. I am sure I will fall in love with the country as soon as I land there. I have heard so much about the city of love that I am already in love with France right now.

AS is busy playing angry bird in his new tablet. He seems chilled with his beer and dessert. He just smiled at me(that is one of the think I loved about him.). It feel so blessed to have a husband who wants to travel with me. I think that was one of the criteria on my list for my future husband when I was single.

There is a small boy infront of AS seat who is looking at me for last few minutes. He seems to be around 4 years old .I think either he wants my phone or he loves my new bling bling cover for my phone .He is travelling with his parents and 3 siblings. They seem to be all under 5. Sometimes I wonder how they manage to have so many small children in short time. I am not even ready to have one right now. It always scare me to even think about it. To travel with so many small kids must be hard but then for every parents looking at their little ones must be the best thing in the world.

There are few people around me wondering what I am typing for last half and hour. I thought I will write something when I had some time as I am sure I will be super busy in having fun for next few days 😀

Still half an hour before we land. Pilot just announced that there is turbulence on the way and have our seat belt fasten. I am not very scared but I always wished to have a flight without all those jerks and sudden moments. My worst one has been on the flight to Christchurch, New Zealand. The flight dropped so suddenly for few seconds that I thought I was going to die. Anyway hope this one is not that bad.

Also pilot announced that due to heavy traffic in Port Villa airport, our flight will be 10 minute delayed. I guess I will be seeing lots of holiday makers in Vanuatu then.

Just gonna sit back and relax now.

4 Comments

Posted in Travel, Vanuatu

Tagged

Vanuatu here we come

Posted on December 23, 2011 | 10 comments

One of the main reasons I love Christmas time is that we get time off from work. Normally I take my annul leave and go for a long holiday some where. For the last 6 years, I made sure that I was not in Sydney, if not in Australia at this time of the year. 

This year both me and AS have ten days off so we decided it was time to have one more stamp on our passports. After looking for reasonable deals for months, finally we found a deal within our budget so we will be going to Vanuatu during our year end break. 

Vanuatu is an island country in the Pacific which is three and a half hours flight from Sydney. It has 83 islands so we expect to have a great tropical holiday. They seem to have lots of activates like Abseiling, Parasailing, Semi Submarine, Cruises and much more. It also has the world’s most active and accessible volcano, Mt Yasur, and the world’s largest shore wreck dive the President Coolidge located just off the shore of Espirito Santo. 

So flights and hotels have been booked. Visa has been arranged and bags are packed. I got our snorkelling gears, swimmers, towels, summer dress and the all important sun screen lotion. I am really excited as I have wanted to go there for years. Finally, we are going. Hopefully the weather will be sunny and nice and not too hot. 

I have been looking at Trip Advisors for activities. There seems so many good things so I can’t wait to dive in the water and start having fun. One of the things I want to do is the Ocean Walker, if things work out according to plan. I have already done something similar in the Great Barrier Reef in Cairns and it is one of the easiest ways to be up close and personal with marine life. Ohoo! thinking about all the fun we are going to have is making me giddy already. Can’t wait to get on that plane  🙂

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!!!

10 Comments

Posted in Travel, Vanuatu

Tagged , , , , , , ,