This boy sure gets around

Here's Declan at the Acropolis. He's wearing three hats because it was darn windy and cold up there, spectacular too, of course. We are having a quiet Christmas, now that we are back from Greece, lots of eating and watching all the Christmas TV specials I predict. Marko is cooking us lunch and we will also be spending New Year with him and Anneke in Amsterdam.
Have a great Christmas everyone! love Phil, Rich and Declan.

Declan at 9 months making leaps and bounds

Hi all, its quite hard to get a pic of Declan that includes his brand new teeth without making him look a bit weird. For this pic we had to wrestle him down to the ground and apply the electrodes. Hence the goofy expression. But you can see those teeth!

He has four teeth now - two on top and two on bottom, but no sign of others yet so maybe we will get a bit of sleep (not that he's been that bad really).

We've also posted a new gallery of pics from the last month or so including Marg's visit to London and Paul and Robyn who were living here but have now returned to Queensland for keeps. Good luck with the thermal shock guys.

And best of all, we've posted some video of Declan crawling! Hope the video file is not too huge. If its too much of a pain to download let us know and we'll chop it down.

Yes the young man is progressing in leaps and bounds. At this very moment as I type he has crawled across the room and is busy consuming a copy of Crime and Punishment that he stole from our bookshelf. Does this augur badly for his future crawling-enabled misdemeanors? Only time will tell.

His progress to date includes: crawling, feeding himself finger food, waving back in response to a hello, calling me 'Daddy' when he sees me across the room, standing up very confidently when he can hold onto something for balance, and stepping around if you keep him upright. It's amazing how quickly he is learning new things.

We've just booked some tickets to visit Petr and her family in Athens before Christmas, and will be going to Amsterdam for New Year with Anneke, then to Paris in early January for Phil's traditional birthday visit and hopefully a visit to Mil. It's all go I tells you.

Back from Berlin

Here's a multifacted view of Declan and his many moods. Its hard to tell, but he is in the middle of saying 'dadadada' and 'babababa' and various hmmmpfing noises which produce these expressions on his face. For those of you who are very keen, you can click the image to see a larger version (?!!!).

Look at his great posture!

We're back in London now after a quick trip to Berlin where we met up with Nicola, Emile, Miki, Josh, Stephen and Mark. We liked Berlin a lot.

We've had Philippa's uncle and aunt Bill and Robyn visit us today, and tomorrow we're planning an afternoon pub lunch in Hampstead with what looks like becoming a very large contingent of relatives, mates and blow ins.

Big congratulations to Tess on finishing school and turning 18! We are all wishing you good luck with your exams.

Check out the new Berlin photos here

Hi everyone! Declan is so big now he can even sit up by himself. Except that when he falls over he's stuck on his back like a turtle. Though he can roll around like crazy. He can also say 'dadadada', which doesn't necessarily mean that I am his favourite (thinks Philippa). The cut on his nose is from a self-inflicted gouging episode when he was testing the sharpness of his finger nails and the solidity of his nose. He's nearly 7 months old now. Next stop is teething and crawling...

Declan and Richard dressed to impress and ready to go out. Dec can stand and hold up his own weight, but he still needs us to keep him balanced.

Declan on his rug. Note his mild chubbiness of thigh! One day he'll get past the 5th percentile of weight for his age.

Declan loves carrot and sweet potato so much that he has to share the taste with everyone, including his bib, the cushion, the sofa, his parents, the curtains, his stuffed toys...

Me and Declan at the Womad festival, near Reading

Declan training hard for the cute olympics.

Pa Terry and Declan discuss matters pertaining to the Secret Brotherhood of Gingas

pub lunch in London with the Foxworthy clan, including some Edinburgh blow-ins. From L to R: Fran, Catriona, me, Tali, Colette, Stephen, Declan, Kyna, Etive, Ken, Nick. Missing in action were John, Anya, Esme and Philippa. For you Aussie Foxworthys, Catriona is Hilary and Elspeth's daughter, and the girls are her and John's kids.

Me and Declan at peanut reserve in St Kilda on a beatutiful sunny winter day. Was really great to visit St Kilda again.

Brunch at Rathdowne St with the Sawyers on our last day in Melbourne. Melbourne cafes still make the world's best brekkies.

Phil loves this one - she barely had time to take the photo before having to save Declan from a mauling. She says it reminds her of Gladiator. Go Russ!

This is Declan relaxing at home on the play mat with his friend Rufus who lives around the corner from us. Rufus' mum is called Melanie.

Hats off!

Hats off to Grandy Marg! Or hat's on as the case may be. This scene of mayhem is caused by Trish's collection of Noggin hats.

We'll post a collection of pics from our trip to Australia soon. Promise!

passport photos for Declan. We're coming to Australia on June 15 and need to get him passported up pronto.

Declan's first six weeks

Hi all,

Time never flys faster than when there's a newborn kid around to use as a benchmark.

We've been trying to find the time to assemble a bunch of pics of the young man for his international fanclub, and today have finally succeeded! You can see the pics with Philippa's captions here

And while I'm at it, here's a pic of Philippa and Declan being classic mother and child figures.



Awwww... Aren't they both beautiful?

 

Look at how long Declan's arms and legs are! This is only his second ever bath and he seems to think that warm water is pretty darn good.

While we're blogging, here's the view from our living room balcony. It's been snowing like crazy here for the past few weeks. Here's to spring huh?

Hi everyone, time for some more pics of young Declan. This one is of him being Yoda, and communing with the forces of the wind. It may look like a simple burp to you, but it is actually a shamanistic ritual known only to wind-masters such as he.

Hi everyone - Phil here. We have great plans for Declan and have already got him meeting world leaders. He and Nelson got on famously. It is hard to get a sense of scale but rest assured the boy is very small, in this picture he is wearing a 0-3 months jumper. He was 6' 11" (3kg) when he was born which may have helped me get him out so quick. Lots of love to all of you and thanks for your kind wishes. I'm going to have a sleep now - let's hope he doesn't wake up.

Hi there everyone, here's your first little taster pic of Declan. He was born at 3.06 on 1 March and is a beautiful healthy little boy. As you can see he's a devastatingly handsome young man. Philippa is fine, and was called 'speedy gonzales' by one of the midwives after managing to whip him out in record time. He's a bit of a little whelp at 6 pound 11 ounces (why do they insist on imperial weights for babys?) but his feet seem massive for his frame so we figure he might grow to be quite a tall chap. So far he's been mostly sleeping, but he seems to be more of a watcher than a shouter. We're thoroughly delighted and kind of gobsmacked. We are so chuffed you've got no idea. No doubt you poor suffering Ginklozo subscribers will now be bombarded with heaps of pics of the youngster, so consider yourselves warned! Love to all.

Tower Bridge and the Gherkin from outside the Design Museum at Butlers Wharf. Looks amazing doesn't it? There's just enough light in the evenings now to remind us that winter doesn't quite last forever.

11 days to go and not much room left for him now! Check out Tower Bridge and 'the Gherkin' in the background. Love to all

Five passport family

It seems that the Home Office mustn't have spotted Philippa bunny-earing Her Maj, because despite her antics, they've now gone and given her a British passport. No more waiting in the queues with all the riff-raff at British immigration for her.

Young Larry will be a British citizen, born in Britain, to two British parents. And yes Dad, I know it is all terribly wrong but I'm afraid he will also be an actual Englishman!

But of course he will be a little Aussie battler too, so by the time we get him all passported up, we'll be a 7 passport family.

And while on the subject of Larry, just a quick progress report: we're now going to ante-natal classes which are a tad scary, especially the bit where they get a baby-sized toy doll and squeeze it through a model pelvis.

Philippa continues to grow ever more bumpy and has luckily not been afflicted with backache and puffiness. She also missed out on morning sickness so I guess she has been very lucky overall.

Madness and panic is setting in as we try and get prepared for Larry's arrival. We're moving house next week to a bigger place, and we will need all the room because we're already mounting up vast amounts of baby-related equipment from various generous people. Phil's work colleague Sue gave us a baby basket, car seat, bouncinette, and sundry bits and pieces, Mel has sent a mountain of baby clothes, Marg Sawyer has donated a play mat thingy, and Mark O has bought us a Baby Bjorn. You'd never believe that a critter so small could use so much gear.

He's officially due on 3 March, so we're battening down the hatches and trying to get ready for him to arrive anytime after about 20 Feb. It's all a bit mental really.

Here's a nice calming pic from Hampstead Heath last weekend. Its been freezing this week, but nice and bright which is some compensation.

French landscape

Just had to blog this pic too. It is on the road between Carces and Aix en Provence. I can't remember what the name of the mountain is, but it looks quite surreal doesn't it. In real life it seems to kind of float beside the road in a spooky manner. I guess it looks a bit floaty spooky in this pic too.

Quick Christmas / New Year

Just a quick post of some pics for Christmas in Carces and New Year in Paris.



This is Carces at night. Very purdy innit? Marg Sawyer lived here for over 3 months, so got to know every surrounding village and winery.



The house had a tiny shower, and there was some concern if Philippa and Larry could manage to fit inside the cubicle. As you can see, there was not much room to spare.



Here is her bump in all its glory circa Christmas day 2004 - at 30 weeks. Philippa (and Larry) are continuing to get bumpier every day.



Marg and Philippa at Mill's apartment in Paris where we stayed for a few nights over New Year. Red hats are de rigeur in Paris. This is NY eve, just before we left to go to the restaurant where we ate and drank our way to midnight. Actually we didn't get home till 4.00 am.



The obligatory bunny ears pic. Happy new year to all. Love from Richard and Philippa.