Ian's still in Italy and Luke is getting bigger

It is now several months past Ian's initial expected arrival date in Queensland.......and we are still not sure exactly when we will see him arrive on these sunny shores. However, he has been over a couple of times - Once to catch up with Luke, and the rest of the family over Easter and a couple of weeks later when his father became ill. Dad has since recovered and Ian is back in Italy with the never ending project.


Baby Luke in the meantime has continued to grow and is looking cuter every day (I am no longer allowed to call him pretty as Anthony has infomed me that boys are NOT pretty). However, I still think he is pretty.

According to his parents as he is growing he is becoming a lot more fun, with lots of smiles and gurgles. The family is on a "round the country trip" at the moment as their house renovations have commenced. This means that they will come up visit Nana this month allowing me lots more opportunities for cuddles and photos etc. Things are certainly easier than the "old days" with the ability to rent car seats and other baby bits without having to go out and buy everything from scratch - Isn't the internet wonderful.

Ian in the meantime has been doing a bit of travel around Italy over the last few weeks. Knowing that his time there is coming to an end triggers the desire to go and see all those places we had planned to go. A downside of the expat lifestyle is that the intention to "do" the tourist thing often gets overridden by the need to meet work requirements. Projects tend to be very demanding with 12 plus hours per day including weekend work - which limits the time available to actually get out and see the country you are in. Usually this means that just before we are demobilized it is a mad panic to try and see the primary things on our "to do" list. That said, I think we have more or less decided that once we retire we will need to go back and see all the places we had on our lists and have missed.

Welcome to baby Luke

The big news of 2009 is the entrance of Luke Thomas - our first grandchild. Born on the 27th March 2009, I was able to get to Sydney to visit him on his first weekend. Nothing like being a Nana




Dark haired like his Dad - even if it may not last. And blue eyed like his Mum - also likely to change. It will be interesting to see who he ends up looking like. Votes are that he looks like Pa Berkie (Ian ) at the moment - but I think that has to do with the hairline more than anything else and that too will change.



Anthony is as proud as punch and is getting lots of exercise walking Luke around the block when he has a bit of wind. Luke has taken a liking to his sling which seems to help settle him when his tummy is playing up.


Fresh air is good for babies and he certainly seemed to get a bit of that during his walks in the first couple of weeks.

Jenny is doing a fantastic job with him and has now pretty well sorted him out so that the issues of the first couple of weeks seem to be behind them - mind you Luke does seem to have a mind of his own - which does not always agree with his Mum and Dad's desire for sleep.

He makes the most wonderful faces. Lost of frowns as he listens to the voices around him and lots of forehead wrinkles as he tries to work out what is going out around him. I'm not biased - but a very focused and intelligent little guy if you ask me!

Hopefully, being in the same country (if not the same state) will allow Ian and myself to see quite a bit of him over the coming year as next year may see us offshore again.

Anyhow - call back soon to see some updates on the photos.

Brisbane

I've been in Brisbane for about two months now. Ian is still in Italy trying to get the concrete shoebox completed. He was able to get out to Oz for a couple of weeks over Easter which provided us with the opportunity to catch up with the newest member of our family - little Luke Thomas. More of that in the next blog (as it is definitely an important enough event to warrant a full blog on its own).



Brisbane has never been my favorite Australian city - I expect thats because everytime we get transferred here something happens which takes Ian away and I am left here on my own. That said, we have a nice apartment. A bit on the small side but fantastic views.
It seems that every day the weather provides a different look and some have been quite brilliant. The sunrises are particularly impressive.....and yes I do get up early enough to catch them - regularly. The place is about 5 minutes slow walk to the office and in the middle of the CBD - lots of handy cafes, restaurants and nice river walks. Just need to get Ian over here so they can be fully enjoyed.

As mentioned earlier we spent Easter down in Sydney. Ian had his (getting older) birthday whilst we were there and Jenny (with Anthony's moral support) had organized a motorbike ride around the Harbour on a Harley. Anthony went along to keep him company and my job was photographer.
My two biker guys got dressed up in leathers, helmets and spent some time looking tough for the camera and then literally roared off over the horizon. They turned up one hour later looking as though they had a great time - until they had to get off the bikes and walked around to get back to the car. The bikes are great for the image but a bit tough on the suspension - leaving them feeling a bit precious in the rear end.

So, as much as they enjoyed the experience I don't think either of them are thinking of going out and buying a motorbike. (Ian did mention that it was just an age thing). The evening was spent at Anth's place with the entire family including Jenny's Mum Katie - a great day for Ian especially with the new addition to the family.

The following weekend Ian and I decided to do some local tourist(ing) and visited the hills inland from the Sunshine Coast called The Blackall Range. Stunning views and a lovely drive. We had lunch at a beautiful little cafe called the Poet Corner (or something similar) which overlooked rainforest and was surrounded by nice little craft style shops. Well worth the trip and now on our "take visitors to see" list. So if you do make it up this way whilst we are around this will be one of the day trips. Ian went back to Venezzia last weekend. hopefully he will get here for a little longer in about another 2 months

Back in Oz

Well its been a while since I updated this Blog. As many of you know ian and I only intended to be in Italy for approx 6 months. Unfortunately, plans do not always work out and the Project in Italy has extended well beyond expectations. This has resulted in Ian being retained on the Italian Project whilst I have started on the next leg of our Project travels. This time in Brisbane Australia - thats right we are back in Oz.

I arrived about 2 weeks ago and have organized short term housing (still have not got the TV working properly and am just about ready to give up on telstra in trying to organize a phone line (think I might stick to the mobile - a lot less trouble and many times less frustrating. Picked out and purchased a car and have just about found my way around the local area.

The apartment has a terrific view - though it is not very large - still there is only me for the time being so it will be fine. Work has started and is going well and Ian's project back in Italy seems to finally be moving in the right direction.