North Face 100...

With the onset of thirty five-ness I've been getting itchy feet to get up and do something this year, call it "just a little before mid life crisis" or avoiding a little middle aged spread, to challenge myself. I've come up with the North Face 100 which is a 100km foot race through the Blue Mountains. This years event has just taken place with three hundred and thirty runners completing the course which is considered the most testing in Australia. Here's a video of last years event...



I intend to follow a specific training schedule from December onwards, but slowly build up from now. I'll do it to raise some cash for the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at the John Hunter Hospital. The run isn't until 15th May 2010 but with that sort of distance I'll need to be prepared. I'll let you know how it's going...

Happy Birthday Dad...

The last in the series of three very busy weekends was my Birthday. The day before we spent with Ross and Sara and enjoyed an evening together as it was her birthday on the 17th too. On the Sunday we went down to the Harbour and had some brunch in the sunshine. Matt, Sharron and the boys came along as well as neighbours Amy, Mitch and Brendan and Lyndsey from school.


... Fun in the fountain!


.... Cheers!




I was spoilt with gifts and best wishes, thanks to everyone who popped things in the post. So that's 35 now ... there is one saving grace I've moved up an age category in both athletics and football... no more trying to keep up with twenty somethings for me!

Happy Mothers Day...

For some reason and to add great confusion Mothers Day in Australia is on a different day than that in the UK! Just as well Alfie being an Aussie didn't forget and managed to get Mummy a nice gold necklace, some other gifts and a card. He put me in charge of the catering... I said leave it with me!



Everything was in place, food, portable stove, new gas ready for pancakes on the beach. As Mothers Day dawned it dawned on me it wasn't beach cooking weather. Still we soldiered on making the best of some typical UK weather by cooking out in the open!



Mum had a good day, made even more special for the decision to postpone my football match in the afternoon!

Two years on...

A couple of weeks ago we returned to the John Hunter hospital for a two year check up. When Alfie was born he was lucky enough to be invited to take part in an ICE trial. The trial was to research the effects of cooling the body of trauma victims. Often adults who suffer trauma are cooled to limit the pressure and swelling on the brain which can occur up to three days after the event. Alfie spent three days in his chilled crib.

The hospital are now following up with babies that were offered cooling on those that were not. Alfie spent a good two or three hours. He was physically checked as well as tests to check his development in many different areas. He seemed to quite enjoy the puzzles to solve and the games he had to play. He also had to look at books pointing to specific objects and do some role play with cups, spoons and blankets etc. Beth and I were willing him to correctly answer the questions. We really wanted to help him out particularly when the words used in the questions were not those we use at home. He doesn't know what pants are but understands trousers (... we speak Queen's English here you know!)

He seemed to come through with flying colours. We were actually very surprised with some of things he could do when not asked by either of his parents!!! While we do not have the detailed results we were relieved to hear the words "normal," which when you consider his start in life is nothing short of amazing.

An update...

It seems that everytime I get around to posting on here that I start with an apology for not updating much. The Ivey household continues to be a very busy one with both Beth and I out working full time and Alfie continuing to enjoy family day care (... just as well!) Our days now start around 5:50am with the car running, loaded and ready to go by 6:50am. We try to let Alfie sleep as long as we can and so sometimes he is whisked from his bed in dressing gown and slippers!



Beth has been working with me at school all this term and has been given a contract for the remaining six weeks. The money is certainly useful and we are hoping that this block of work will allow us to build the extra room on the house. It's been quite strange to be working at the same school again, not that we actually see each other for anything other than the drive up and back!

On other school related news the school has announced that it will be making four of the ten teachers currently working on contracts permanent. Applications, presentations and interviews will follow before July. Getting a permanent job here in Australia would be a huge coup and could make our break our life down under. All I can say is, with hand on heart, that I've given everything in my eighteen months there. I hope that I will be rewarded for that... keep your fingers crossed and watch this space!

Birthday Party ...

It would seem that every time we invite people around to our place we get some typical English weather, and Alfie's birthday was no exception. Luckily for us we had already decided to celebrate his birthday at a local indoor soft play centre.

The adults and kids all seemed to have a great time. Adults enjoying some relaxation time, coffee and food, while the kids were happily playing. The adults even managed to get on some of the equipment, only to supervise the children you understand!!!! The big kids and Liam and Joel also managed to get kitted up for the climbing wall.

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With hindsight it was a great venue, as it meant we could do all the things we wanted to do, and not have to worry about the food and/or the clearing up. Beth made a great job on the fairy cakes... the kids did a great job polishing them off!

Happy Birthday Alfie ...

Alfie had quite a second birthday with a continuous stream of gifts arriving on the doorstep. There was a definate wheels theme with most gifts encouraging Alfie's love of anything with wheels, more than that the Disney Pixar film Cars has become something of a favourite, with now daily showings, and so there were many "Kerchow"s from Alfie during the day as he unwrapped his gifts.

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We would like to thank everyone near and far for their gifts. He is certainly a very lucky and much loved little boy!

More Wiggles...

Thought I better have a catch up on the blog. As I mentioned earlier we've been very busy. A couple of weeks ago Alfie had a second taste of the Wiggles, this time in our home town. This venue had no seating and so with everyone sitting on the floor (and Daddy at work!) there was plenty of space to dance and Wiggle. This time Ben and Elliott came along...


... to the left ... to the right!



... robotics!



... put your hands up!



... Alfie reacts to the suggestion that its not a real octopus!

Alfie month by month...

We've been really busy with both Beth and I out working full time. We woke up on Wednesday morning and thought we had been burgled... then we realised that the room looked just like it did when we went to bed on Tuesday night!

I'll upload a slide show of Alfie birthday pictures soon... until then here's an update of the Alfie month by month album.