Ithaca bound

Moving house is always difficult. Managing an overseas move while caring for Oliver, with all his special needs, seemed next to impossible. As much as we hated the idea, Shami and I decided that it made sense for me and Oliver to return to Ithaca ahead of him. I'd get a head start on settling in, paper work, medical care, and getting services for Oliver up and running. Shami would stay behind to tie up loose ends in Australia, not the least of which was emptying our place of two and a half years of stuff. He could manage much more easily without appliances or furniture (or an overnight feeding pump!) by himself than we could with Oliver.

But there was just no way I could travel alone with Ollie... the three of us barely survived our last trip to the US. This plan only became a real possibility because our good friend Fernando came to our rescue. Fernando had been observing at the Parkes telescope, and he was returning to New York City at roughly the same time. He offered to rearrange his travel plans in order to escort me and Oliver from Rozelle to Ithaca, door to door. It was a tremendous undertaking, and we are forever grateful to him. Chivalry is not dead!

It felt like a whirlwind, saying goodbye to people and places, and packing and planning. But before we knew it was time for us to leave. The task ahead was not made any easier by starting out on a 40 hour trip with only 2 hours of sleep. But we were off nonetheless.

The taxi was packed and waiting. Our friend and neighbor Abi and her son Felix saw us off.
Saying goodbye to Shami was very hard.

Shami spent as much time with Oliver as he could, and worried that Oliver would forget who he was.

Our United Airlines 747 taxis away from the gate. (Shami says: And in the foreground, the new Airbus A380 in Qantas colors.)

On the long flight from Sydney to LA we got lucky with bulkhead seats and a bassinet. Oliver barely fit, but I made a little nest for him, and to my relief he was actually able to sleep off and on for a portion of the flight, giving our arms a bit of a rest. And finally, we made it to California!

Our flight out of LA wasn't until evening, so we booked into a hotel room to regroup, clean up, wash feeding tubes, and rest as best as we could.

Fernando, Bag Rambo! Don't mess with him, he'll carry all your bags whether you like it or not!
Oliver enjoyed spreading out and watching his favorite Wiggles DVD.

We had two more flights to go. From LA to Philadelphia, and then on to Ithaca. It was not easy... and I won't even go into the problems we encountered with the airlines losing our luggage in LA. I kept reminding myself that every minute that passed brought us one minute closer to Ithaca. And finally we arrived!

Ithaca was very COLD. When we stepped off the plane onto the tarmac the temperature was 7°F (-14°C), and the wind whipped icy snow in our faces. But it felt so good to be home, I didn't mind.

It was wonderful to have my family greet us at the airport.

Ollie on the drive home, looking out at the snow and wondering what happened to the sun and the Iron Cove Bridge.

Ollie and Mum in front of our new house, "The Garage Mahal."
And finally, Ollie asleep in his new crib. What a long trip...

Our Ithaca visit

Our trip to Ithaca worked out to be much harder than we had ever imagined. Oliver fell sick with a high fever, and none of us got a moment's rest for the entire 28 hour journey. We breathed an exhausted sigh of relief when we finally landed in Ithaca.

Left: Weary travelers -- how good it felt to be met at the Ithaca Airport by my parents, and my sister Caitlin, who was behind the camera.
Right: Oliver was quite sick and feverish for the first several days in Ithaca, but his cousins still enjoyed getting to know him. Meghan and Oliver with Shannon, Mariah and Kieran.

When he was feeling better, Oliver had quite a nice time playing with his grandparents.

Left: Oliver enjoyed attention from his cousin Devon.
Right: Ian and Wei, my brother and sister-in-law, came down from Canada with Molly and Eamonn. Here are Eamonn and Molly making a rocket ship with Mariah.


A family photo. Unfortunately Shami was in Boston at a meeting. We'll photoshop him in at a later date! You can also see Oliver's newest cousin, Eliza, being camera shy and hiding inside her mom's belly. Eliza Madigan Kennedy was born on July 1, 2008, nearly two weeks overdue.

Left: Shami, Oliver Jeanine, Sean and Eliza
Right: Caitlin, Shannon, baby Eliza, Kieran, Meghan, Oliver, Barbara.


Suddenly Oliver doesn't look so small any more!



My good friend Alex came to visit from Boston. It was good to see her.

We thought that the trip back couldn't be much worse than the trip to Ithaca, but we were very, very wrong. Not only did Oliver have another high fever, but he picked up a gastro bug as well. We got lucky and were upgraded to Business class thanks to the Pope (long story), but Oliver cried and thrashed the whole way. We actually had concerned flight attendants asking us if we needed to divert to Honolulu or Nadi. We made it to Sydney, but spent our first night back at the Emergency room...

Sigh... we missed our family in Ithaca. But we did learn that pure exhaustion is a sure-fire cure for jet lag!

A trip to Ithaca

Oliver is over nine months old, but he still hasn't met his grandparents in Ithaca. His American (and Canadian) cousins and aunts and uncles are all very eager to meet him as well, so we're leaving today on a three week trip to Ithaca. We're extremely worried about the long trip (28 hours door to door), the tight connections, dealing with tube feeding and vomiting and pressure in the ears, changes of clothing and paperwork and a million other things. Oliver "volunteered" to travel in checked baggage with his passport and his blankie, but then we decided that it probably wasn't such a good idea...



We've been too busy to post much of anything recently, but here's a picture that Meghan took that we particularly like...

Memories of a year ago

One year ago today, we were standing in the Syracuse, NY airport with all our luggage, waiting to fly to Sydney for the very first time.

Ah, memories!

Three parties in two days!

On the night of May 27th, Kieran exclaimed that he thought it was pretty cool that we got to have three parties in two days - and indeed it was! What made it all the nicer was that Shami, my brother Ian and his kids, and my friend Alex, were all in town for the festivities.

It all started on May 26th. Sean's birthday is the day before mine, and Jeanine had us all over for a lovely dinner, and of course birthday cake!

The next day, I expected to have a relaxed and low key birthday. Caitlin, Jamie and their kids had a big pot-luck luncheon to attend at their Quaker Meeting, and would be gone for most of the morning and afternoon. So I thought it might be nice to have a laid back brunch with my parents at the Kendal dining hall, where they live. So I suggested this, and the plan was on. Little did I know what I just set ourselves up for!

I walked in to my parent's place, with Shami and Alex right behind me, ready to go to brunch. All of a sudden there was all this commotion and yelling, and there were all these people. Caitlin was there, and I wondered "Why is Caitiln not at her event?" And then it all came together. They were yelling "Surprise!" and believe me I was SURPRISED! They threw us a surprise baby shower. I was caught utterly off guard, as was Shami. Even my cousin Annette and her two girls Elizabeth and Cecilia were there. They had all put together a lovely brunch... and I got to eat those tasty quiches Caitlin had so painstakenly prepared for the non-existent pot luck. I was so touched that everyone had done this for us. I have never been so surprised or felt so special.

There was food, family and much merriment. And gifts, of course!

Below left: Elizabeth and Cecilia drew a picture of a "baby shower" on a card for us! Right: Opening gifts with the kids.

My mom added all sorts of small touches, including little necklaces, small party favors, and a basket of handmade fabric fortune cookies, into which she stuffed little bits of advice for the baby. Everyone picked one, and we took turns reading them out loud.

Some examples:
"Put everything in your mouth. The rotten stuff is the tastiest and will get a big reaction from mom and dad."

"If you feel the need to spit up, wait until your mother has a clean shirt on."

"Parents sleep too much. You must correct this by waking them as often as you can."

Ian reading the note from his "fortune cookie".

I read the very last one, which, as luck would have it, turned out to be the sweetest of them all:
"You are the center of the universe: the sun, the moon and the stars all shine on you, and you can reach out to everything"

Above: Shami reading his fortune, and Papa looking at photo albums with Shannon and Molly.

Sisters through thick and thin... it is my turn to be thick! Caitlin is always a wonderful support for me.

As if this was not enough, there was another celebration in the evening for my birthday. We all gathered for a meal together.

There were so many people, that we all couldn't fit around one table!

Dinner was, of course, followed by birthday cake. There were two this year! My favorite, angel food cake with strawberries and cream, as well as a chocolate one for the chocoholics in the group. As a result I got to make two birthday wishes this year!


More gifts followed, including this beautiful hand quilted table runner my mother made for me. It now brightens up our living room here in Sydney.

It was an exhausting but wonderful day. One that I will remember for a long time! Thank you to everyone who made it so special for me.

More pictures from Ithaca

As promised, here are some more pictures from Ithaca.

Although she has four kids and unending activities, Cailtin still finds the time and energy to work on her flower and vegetable gardens. One morning I helped her mulch a small patch in front of their shed.

The kids keep busy with all sorts of activities. Kieran plays the Sax in his school's band. Here he is, practicing before school. Notice his outfit... Caitlin bought it for him from Fab India, in Delhi, back in February. Shannon is also posing in her Indian outfit, a gift from their new Indian neighbors.

Left, Kieran and Shannon. Right, Kieran marching with his school band during the annual Ithaca Festival Parade (front and center, in the blue shirt and red croc shoes).

I was lucky enough to be in Ithaca for Shannon's dance school's annual performance extravaganza. It was quite an amazing show. Here she is (in front) dancing her Jazz number. She also danced ballet and tap!

Devon and Kieran were once again in their school's annual musical play. Unfortunately I was not able to stay long enough to see the performance, but I heard that they both did great.

More pictures of the kids:

Girls in chairs: cousins Mariah and Molly.

Left: Mariah heads out for a stroll; Right: Petting a horse with her grandmother.

There were some cool nights, but also some scorching hot days. One hot day included a trip to the local pool, where Devon and Kieran had fun with their orca whale.

Left: Up a tree; Right: Basket case?

Below: Shannon, Kieran and Eamonn having fun on the slide.

I'll post about the baby shower soon!