Earning his keep...

Couch Potato...

Check out Alfie on his sofa. He likes nothing more than kicking back at the end of a long day, with remote in hand...



... sofa goes in the wash so....

Leaf it alone...

With Autumn almost gone and Winter rapidly approaching we have spent a lot of time raking up the leaves in the garden. The compost heap is full and the fire pit is piled high!





We have enlisted Alfie to assist in the leaf collection... with limited success. We even bought him his own wheel barrow and rake! He has an interesting approach. Standing in the piles and then swishing them around with a stick. Something that ... judging from the laughs ... he clearly enjoys!

Zzzzzzz..... Zzzzzz.........

Things have been pretty tiring here of late hence no updates. Alfie has been really struggling over the weekend and through this week with with a bit of a cold coupled with some teeth coming through. His chest gets fairly congested at nights and finds it hard to breath. On Sunday night he didn't settle until 2am, not ideal preparation for mum and dad to spend a day in school! He followed up on Monday night by waking up at 2am. ... we discovered that the Lake can be quite picturesque at 4:30am!

The good news however is that he seems to have got through the worst of it and so we are returning to something like a normal sleep pattern! We'll update soon...

Family Times...

Heres a video of some family time...



... featuring Alfie getting a little frustrated with a puzzle piece he can't quite get into where it fits!

My Blog Roll...

You might have noticed a change to the blog with the removal of the bit that was called These are a few of my favourite things this has been replaced by My Blog Roll which will now give you snippets of important information like the latest updates on the featured sites. I'll add more content to the blog roll as I go... there are lots of great blogs out there!

... Also the Alfie month by month pictures now run as a slideshow!



All thanks to to good people at Blogger who host all this stuff for free!

Happy Birthday....

Okay so its not the Queens Birthday until the 17th June but here in Australia what better excuse for a public holiday? Seems strange that the UK doesn't have a public holiday for the same reason, still we're not complaining.



Will be interesting to see what happens when Australia ditches the monarchy ... another referendum is on the agenda. Still in the meantime she has her use, not sure what else she positively contributes to the everyday life of the everyday person but still!

Speers Point Superpark...

Between the showers it was off to Speers Point and the new Superpark. There are free BBQs (not the weather for it today!), sand pits and heaps of play equipment to investigate. Alfie seemed to enjoy it as there were loads of other children there to watch and copy! We all had a great time before we had to dash for the car to get out of the rain...

On the outside looking in....

When inside he spends most of his time looking out, when out he spends his time looking in!



... check the hand prints on the glass!

3.... 2 ...... 1......

GO!



Alfie loves counting down from three and is joining in with the GO with gusto!

Chin ups...

Most adults can barely manage a handful... however Alfie managed to bang out over twenty on the handle bars of a very dusty exercise bike!



... no teeth were lost in the making of this video. He wasn't as close as it appears on the video!

Alfie Month by Month Album ...

Check out Alfie's month by month album at:

Click Here ...

A day in the life...

After all that talk about how busy we are, its important to recognise that there is never a dull moment for Alfie either. His days are always busy too, there is just so much to do...

... Theres the taking the baby for a walk... (I'm not sure about the whole pram thing!)



... and the painting to be done!




... but always time for a well earned rest!

An update...

Its been a little while between posts. Things have been pretty busy here with me being at school doing Hamilton work in the evenings, Beth getting work as well as doing the full time job around the home... and then there are the weekends! Last weekend I had two games of football, we managed to win one and draw the other. In the first I followed up my ball in the face with a crack to the ribs, this has been painful ever since and after struggling through a game for the Hillsborough Hornets I decided enough was enough and went to hospital.



It would seem that I've dislodged come cartilage between the ribs and this has made a small puncture my right lung. It's pretty painful and the painkillers make me feel drowsy (hardly noticed any difference!!!), but there is little else that can be done other than plenty of rest. So it's a rare day off work today (Beth had to talk me into it!) ... and no football for me for a while.

The Hillsborough Hornets...

The Hornets chalked up their fourth consecutive win last Thursday against a competitive second placed outfit. The plucky Hornets seem to have come up with a winning formula, buzzing around the court before their opponents feel the sting at the other end. It was another consistent performance built on sterling defensive work by Mitchell and Beth. Amy-Jane again controlled things from the centre, while Sally was as clinical as ever. If the big fella up front can get back onside as soon as possible after scoring rather than celebrating each goal then the future looks bright!

Me Burfdee...

Yup yesterday was my birthday and I'm only a year off playing veterans football! It was something of a busy day as weekends seem to be at the moment. It was up early to open some lovely presents from Beth and Alfie before getting off to my first football appointment, a 10am kick off with my school team. They lost 7-2 this week, coming down to Earth with a bit of a bump after last weeks rare win. The parents of the children bought a cake and the children sang happy birthday with more enthusiasm than they had mustered for the game!

It was then back home to get ready for my game in the afternoon. It was my first game of the season and we managed a scrappy 2-1 win away from home. I also managed to get a ball blasted into my face from 3 yards.... Happy Birthday! ... which resulted in a bleeding snozzer and mouth as well as some time sitting forlornly on the bench. I had a banging headache for the rest of the day and talked rubbish! (Putting it down to concussion!)Interestingly Alfie also managed to "get on" while Mitchell should have been watching him!

After that is was back home to get things ready for the cup final, Matt Sharron and the boys came around, before Mitchell and Amy arrived with a cake.



... Is this an omen Bristol City 2 Hull City 1!!!!

Ross came around later and we watched the game (12 midnight start!) although there were some very heavy eyelids (closed!) at various times before, during and after!

A great day my all accounts.. thanks for all the cards, emails and other gubbins!

Alfie Top Drawer...

Sometimes you just want to sit down and watch a little bit of TV, but all the space on the sofa is taken. I guess you just need to sit further away? - NO! There is always an answer to every problem, usually Alfie finds it. Check this video out for a solution to the TV seating issue...



Alfie is at the drawer opening stage. We find drawers open but with nothing missing so no damage done you might think! Well the reason for opening the drawer in Alfie's eyes is to either sit in it or put something inside. I had a look in my hat drawer this morning (very cold at the mo!) and found a long lost dummy!

Football Training Session #2...

Here are some pictures of Alfie's latest training session...

... Warm up... Look at the balance.... and face of concentration!


... Alfie gets on the pitch!


... Drinking fluids. Very important!


... Alfie lifts the Milk Cup (A little joke there for you football fans!!)



... This is what Alfie will look like in the Paninni Football Sticker album!



... Alfie reacts to the fact that some people actually believe that Bristol City are good enough to beat Hull for a place in the Premiership next weekend!

Clean bill of health...

It's almost a year to the day since Alfie emerged from the Hospital, after a longer than planned stay, into the Australian sunshine. Over recent weeks we have attempted in our own way to mark this most amazing event in our lives.



Since that day we have made a number of follow up visits to the Hospital so that they can monitor closely the effects that the oxygen starvation, lasting some eight minutes, had on his body. We started with monthly visits which became three and then six monthly as he thrived. While we have always been positive about the outcome there has always been the nagging worry that on one of these visits we would be given bad news. After such a traumatic entry into the world the diagnosis of "something" seemed inevitable.

Well today Alfie was back at the John Hunter and given a clean bill of health, we are raising a glass to him tonight... what a fighter, raise a glass for him too! :0)

PS .. while the cork is out raise one for the staff of the John Hunter Hospital without whom .... well it doesn't bear thinking about!

"I will play football" ... repeat the mantra!

One of the obvious dangers of living in Australia other than the poisonous ones are the risks associated with your child wanting to play inferior sports that require you to handle irregular shaped balls. I'm thinking that if I coach Alfie early enough to can reduce the risk.

So fresh from my Under 9 teams first victory in three years, in only my second game as manager, it was time to get Alfie kitted up and kicking. The boy has talent and could be the answer to England's left sided midfield problems in about seventeen years.



... I have forwarded a copy of this video to Plymouth Argyle's Youth Development Coach.

These pictures could be worth a fortune in years to come...

... Alfie and coach (AKA Daddy)


... ALWAYS cover the near post!


... "Who me ref?"