Rainy Days and Early Morning Pyjama Parties

The last week was decidedly rainy here in Henndorf - no July weather in any case! Anybody who has dealt with children before, knows that after a day or two at home with very little to no possibility to run, jump and fall, these little ones get very frustrated and start to drive their parents mad. With Hanna's "Tagesmutter" (daymum) and friends on holiday or sick, we were pretty much on our own to entertain ourselves. In a way that was good, as I started to do a very close research on what was happening for children in and around Salzburg. And that is how I found out about "The English Centre". The Centre offers a whole lot of activities for adults and children - also during summer holidays. The best thing about it is that everything is in English. I was looking for a similar possibility since weeks, as I want Hanna to be exposed to other people - and especially children - talking English. I believe that children learn best from their young fellows. So we have been there twice last week. We went to see the puppet show on Tuesday and to the Saturday Morning Stories. Hanna enjoyed it immensely and I think from now on we will be regular visitors to The English Centre.

This picture was taken at about 6 o'clock in the morning - Hanna's preferred waking up time - and therefore my time (and often Marc's) to start the day. First thing we do so early in the morning is have milk (Hanna) and a cup of tea on the couch and a good morning cuddle!

Have a good and hopefully not too early start into the next week!
Christine

P.S.: The weather is improving ...

Photos Photos

We updated our online photo album.

Here you can see the photos from our trip to London at the beginning of this month.
Here you can see pictures from Andrea and Bernhard's wedding on the 12th of July.

Have a great day!
Christine

London

From the 2nd to the 10th of July we spent in Sutton / London with Richard's sister. We haven't been there for 2 years, so it was really nice to get the vibe of a big city again. It was mainly a family visit, so we spent most of our time with Claire and Michelle, Gavin and George. Besides,the weather didn't allow much more anyway. We didn't even took part in a time trail, because we didn't feel like getting soaked. That's how times change :-) ... Instead we went to the South African store and spent 30 Pounds on South African sweets and snacks ... Another highlight was the visit to the zoo and amusement park. Although we spent a huge amount for the entrance fee we had a really great time and enjoyed ourselves immensely. Hanna was fascinated by the gorillas and loved the "flying elephants"!
We came back last Thursday after a very short night - leaving Claire and Gavin's house at 3 o'clock in the morning to catch our plane at 6. Needless to say that we were all quite exhausted that day. It didn't take long to get us back into our daily routine.

We had a wonderful time and it was great to see everybody!
Thanks to the London crowd!
Have a great day!
Christine

Braai ...

... and for the non South Africans ... barbeque :-).

Wanted to post a couple of photos from a braai we enjoyed last weekend!

I hope you had a great weekend!

Cheers!

Christine

Summer, Sun and Salsa

Lots of things happened in the last couple of weeks, however we still managed to recover from all the stress around Marc's operation. Originally I had planned to go on a one week holiday with my mum, the children and a friend of mine as well as her son Simon and her mum on Saturday after Marc's operation. With all the excitement and uncertainty the few days beforehand we didn't know whether we could leave to Lignano, Italy, or not. After Marc had another check in the hospital on Saturday morning, we decided to go. The doctor agreed as long as we would come back for another check one week later. Therefore we had to cut the holiday one day short. My friend Verena and her son Simon were very pleased that we could join them. Lignano is a very popular tourist destination for Austrians. The reason is because it is situated on the sea and in very short driving distance from Austria (4 1/2 hours from Salzburg). The main language spoken in restaurants, shops and coffee bars is German - quite sad in a way. None the less we had a really nice time on the beach and in the sea. Hanna was busy playing and fighting :-) with her friend Simon and I was busy with treating Marc's cut the way the doctors ordered. This made the holiday a bit less relaxing as I had wanted it to be! However it was still a great week!

Another highlight in May was a two hours Salsa workshop or lets rather say a Salsa "Crash Course": This dancing workshop was a birthday present from one of my friends. She had everything organized: a babysitter for the time of the workshop and even a 'replacement' for Richard just in case he wasn't keen on doing the course with me. Richard decided he wanted to join me. We had a really nice time although things could have gone a bit slower for us. We managed to follow everything quite well for the first hour but after that we struggled a bit to say the very least :-). I guess we need a refresher course soon - we will see whether I can Richard to do one with me!

Well, that's that for the moment!
Have a great week!
Christine

Whew - all back at home....

Just a short post to let you all know that Marc and Mum are back home after being released from hospital this morning with flying colours :) We have to go back for a control on Saturday, but it's better having him back home than having him in the hospital.

Hopefully Christine will be able to go on holiday like she planned next week with some friends, leaving Dad and Aisha at home to sulk around.

Thats for the well wishes and SMS's, hope you are all well,
From us.

Bad news, good news in one..

Yes, sorry to say today I must start this entry with some bad news. As some of you might know poor little Marc had to go into hospital this morning for an operation on an Anal Fistula, which is essentially a boil close to his anus, caused by a blocked tube between his intestine and his skin. Yesterday it was fine, we didn't see anything, but after a hard night, in the morning the boil broke through to the skin and we were concerned.

I was able to drain it myself, but Christine still wanted to take Marc to the hospital to get it checked out. Thank goodness. They were able to diagnose the problem straight away and Marc was booked for an op at 12 noon. In the end the op. only started at 14h00, but then after 45 minutes the good news. Everything ok. The boil was properly opened and drained (it extended almost 1,5 cm into the body cavity), everything was cleaned and he was returned to the room still asleep at 14h45.

He (and of course Christine) have to stay in the hospital for the next few days, so that they can keep an eye on it and ensure that it stays clean (the boil). He was awake after 2 hours but had not eaten before I had to leave to get Hanna from Omi and Opi. He was obviously in some discomfort, but fell asleep again just as I was leaving. I'll give you some more news tomorrow when I know it.

22:44 - quick update from Christine. Marc is doing fine and eating properly again :)

A new Picasso?

Hanna just loves painting - the messier, the better! Therefore I like to hide her most favourite finger paints. However she sometimes finds them anyway and then I have no chance and Hanna, sorry the new Picasso, enters the stage. The result you can see on this photo!

The last couple of weeks were quite busy. We were getting ready for visitors. Michael, Richard's brother, and Claire and Gavin, Richard's sister and her husband, visited us around the 1st of May. We had a really nice time - especially Hanna felt very spoilt being the centre of attention. There was always somebody around to play with and opening all these presents - even if they belonged to somebody else - was pretty exciting for her. Hanna and Marc provided enough action - so we didn't have to worry too much about a interesting program for our visitors :-) !

Check out our photographs of the last couple of weeks on our webalbum!

Wishing you a great weekend - for us it is a long one :-)!
Christine

Marc is back home!

Morning all,

Here is a very quick update for all of you who have sent emails and SMS's about how it's going....

Fine thank you!

Both Mom and Marc are back home and are doing exceptionally well. Marc is eating and sleeping (and of course, the other thing that comes with eating) all the time, but is really well and picking up kilos, and is back to 3.21 kg this morning. He is chalk and cheese to Hanna so far (touch wood, pray to god, beg that this doesn't change) and we are really very happy.

Christine is going really well and she has recovered from the operation very quickly this time round. We have all settled into the new routine back home and all that needs to happen now is that Hanna needs to start sleeping through - then we will be like... well... really happy.

We hope that you are all well and thank you all for the wonderful presents, cards, flowers and well wishes. Love from the family gathercole,
Richard.

P.S: there are more photo's online if you want to look :)

Some more news....

Geez, some more news...is that even possible? After months of nothing then twice in the same week.... *grin*

Yes, Yes, I will try to be a better blogger, and am just fitting in one or two short stories to keep you all posted.

Firstly Marc and Christine are both doing very well. Marc lost the usual 200 - 400 grams but is fighting back strong - he is eating strongly but mostly he just sleeps. Christine is doing really well, and is out and about every day for her little walks. They will be coming home on Tuesday (if you wanted to know) and will remain there for another week or so before we can start moving about with any sort of freedom again.

Secondly, Hanna is moving on. Now that she has a little brother some things have had to change. First thing to go was the baby bed. She now has a normal bed (no bars) and is also big enough to reach all the door handles, so as a result - yup you got it - cold feet Hanna comes to join me at 6 am in the mornings - man I look forward to that *grin*. And she just can't sit still for longer than about....well...3/10ths of a second - so my mornings have just got longer (he says with a long face).

Thirdly, we (the royal we, as in Hanna) are moving towards potty usage on a regular occurance - regular means everytime I remember to put her on it - and then she (aaaaarrrrrggggg) pushes and "lo and behold" I need to clean the potty out again. We are actually quite glad about this as those throw away nappies really aren't cheap, so we save where we can.

Fourthly, I'm unfit and need to do something about it, but that story can be told on my other blog! No seriously I'm going fine, feeling quite tired, but looking forward to having the family under one roof from Tuesday onwards.

Hope you are all well,

Keep Well All,
Richard.

P.S: More photo's on the web album :) I'm sure you know where it is by now......

Marc Richard Gathercole is here!

So it finally took this big event force me to actually write something on our blog again. But news it is, and exciting news at that. Yes - Marc has arrived after 39 weeks (1 week early) of hanging around in Christine's tummy.

He was born on the 8th of April 2008 at 09h29 after an 5 min operation (compared to Hanna's 24 hours) it seemed quite short. He is well as is Christine (after her operation) and is already quite the big lad (again compared to Hanna). Marc was born 50 cm long and 3160 g, which was quite a surprize, as the doctors had measured only 2700 g less than 1 week ago. We are glad though that he is so big, and the differences to Hanna are massive and evident from the word go.

He is already drinking hard, and is trying to look around all the time. His vocals work well, as do all the other parts. He has blue eyes at the moment, and very definitely Christines facial features. Black hair all over is also a feature that he shares with Hanna.

Christine had the operation on the advice of the doctors, and everything has gone very well. She is recovering well but still has quite a bit of pain (which is normal). She has been able to get up and move around, and was even able to have a shower on her own yesterday. I have been visiting at regular intervals and will be going to the hospital with Hanna again this afternoon.

Looking after Hanna and Aisha without Christine is quite a strain, but it's OK - I didn't expect to get any work done this week anyway *grin* but at least I have been able to sleep quite well. Exactly at this time Hanna has decided to move from her sleeping bag to a proper bed cover and so I've been checking her regularly during the night to ensure she is properly covered. All very exciting - but it would be better if she decide to use the potty properly first :)

Anyway, this is the news, we are all well and really happy to see that Marc has arrived safe and sound. Thank you for the many emails and SMS's that we received and the great support. I'm sorry that some of you didn't get the SMS's I sent - next time I will just send text and not MMS (with picture). I'll write more information on the weekend!

God Bless, love from all of us,
Richard, Christine, Hanna, Marc and Aisha.

PS: More photo's to be found on our online Web Album. Comments most welcome!

Easter

Happy Easter everyone!

So what have we been up to in the last couple of months. Actually it was quite a busy and hectic time. Things seem to be calming down now, but not for long ... our baby is due in only 3 1/2 weeks and I am desperately trying to work off my To-Do-List. Maybe it will be best if you check out our online photo album to see what happened in our lives. You will find pictures from our trip to Cape Town over Christmas and New Year, Hanna's Birthday Party and a couple more. Hope you will enjoy them!

At the moment we (Hanna and I) are more or less bound to stay at home most of the time, as Hanna has got Chicken Pocks. The worst stage is over and now we are just waiting for the Pocks to heal.

You will hear from us again sooner or later!
Have a great day!
Christine

Operation Update!

Well, I had my second Jaw / Tooth operation last week, and unfortunately it did not go as well as the first one. The "anti pain" injections started to wear off after an hour, and so the last 20 minutes I could feel almost everything. And then the stitching.....aaararrrrgggggg!

Anyway, he had to give me another injection before I went home so at least the pain went away again and then lots of pain killers (3 a day for a week) have kept it mostly away. Unfortunately it appears that the infection has spread back into the left side of the jaw again, and so it's a good chance that I'll need a third operation pretty soon. Additionally, after the first operation I was pain free in a little less than 2 days, but after this one, 1 week later, the pain is still very present - this is not good! Another hospital visit on Friday.

And to top it all, I've picked up a cold (it's going around at the moment) so I'm feeling quite miserable at the moment. Anyway, I should be able to run by the weekend, albeit very slowly, and I'm chomping at the bit to get started again.....

Thanks to all you who phoned, sent good wishes or SMS's - it was really kind of you!
Later guys,
Richard.

An attempt to stay fit

Last week Friday was a public holiday in Austria and as orienteerers like to use every opportunity to race we did so. The Salzburg Sprint Championships were held in Hallein, south of Salzburg. Every competitor had to race twice. In the morning I was still contemplating about running, as my belly is getting decidedly bigger and also because I actually haven't done any exercise since 5 weeks - except for pushing the pram and carrying Hanna, shopping bags and a dog into the 2nd floor ;-). I decided to run, however wanted to run slow and not overdo anything. A couple of weeks ago I read an interview with Paula Radcliff in which she claims, that every pregnant woman can run but should make sure that she is not running over 80% of her maximum speed. So I was wobbling along wondering how fast 80% of my maximum speed is. And I must admit I enjoyed my wobble :-)! Only my running tights felt a bit tight around my belly! The next speed wobble will take place in Venice on the 11th of November, where we will spend a weekend trying to catch the last warm sun rays of the year!

Here a photo of how Richard is trying to stay fit:
Have a good day!
Christine

Photos

For those who are interested, Richard put a few up to date photographs on our online photo album. You can find it here!

Have a good day!
Christine

Baby Talk

Baby Talk the 1st: Baby Talk is quite a big subject in our family at the moment. Hanna has got her talking periods every day - a couple of minutes she just talks and there is no ways to stop her. In the beginning we could never understand a word she was saying - we just assumed she was talking Finnish or Chinese - we weren't quite sure. Now we actually can make out a couple of words and very seldom can even guess what she is telling us. None the less if she wants her dummy, her cup, juice in her cup instead of water or to drink mummy's or daddy's tea, she definitely knows how to make herself understood!

Baby Talk the 2nd: ... has got something to do with the fact that Hanna will get a sibling in April 2008. It will certainly be another very exciting time in our lives and I am sure also very busy. I am glad that Hanna still has got another couple of months to grow up until the baby arrives :-). We will keep you up to date with the latest news!

Have a great day!
Hanna, Richard & Christine

SA Rugby Fans

During the last couple of weeks Richard and Hanna found a new occupation - training Rugby. How could you train better than watching the really good guys play: every weekend the two of them sit in front of the TV and follow the World Cup which has been shown on the German sports TV channel. Of course they have watched all the South African matches! During the week, when there is no Rugby on TV they train. Hanna learns how to do scrums and how to tackle - when Daddy gets tired, she trains with Aisha! She is getting really good at Rugby, especially at celebrating tries.

Good luck South Africa for Saturday!
Hanna, Richard & Christine

Still alive

For those of you who have been checking our blog every now and then: we will try and get this blog up and running again with UP TO DATE news from the Gathercole family! I don't even start to tell you about what had happened in the last few months, because then I might as well start writing a novel ... a very uneventful novel though ... . You didn't miss much!

Just a few infos: In july we went on a well needed holiday - whether it was well deserved, I dont'know ... . We packed our car with dog, baby and camping equipment and started our trip to Bordeaux / France. We underestimated the distance and it was 2 very long days in the car until we finally reached Carcans on the Atlantic Ocean. The first five days we spent orienteering (French 5-days). The terrain was very interesting but quite hard to run (sandy ground). I was surprised that I actually managed to compete quite well for 4 days in the row - after not training / running in the last months, except for the austrian orienteering events. However on the last day it was just to hot for me and I guess 4 days of running in sand doesn't really make you fresh and ready ...

The week after we just stayed on the camp site and enjoyed the luxury of being lazy. We made a one-day-trip into the wine-growing-area. It was nice to visit all these "chateaux" but Hanna didn't enjoy the cheese we had for our picnic lunch and repeated it our into her car seat on the way back. I have to say that it was dutch cheese - that was the punishment for eating dutch cheese in France :-). Well, that was our last try of sightseeing on our holiday!

On the way back we stayed 2 nights in a mountain village close to Mont Blanc. The Hotel was situated right next to a very small lake. The scenery there was wonderful - a great end to our holiday!

Here is one of our most favourite photos from the trip:
Have a great day! Check again soon, we will try and update on a more regular basis :-)!
Christine

Easter Holidays – Family time!

Richard, Hanna, Aisha and I have been really busy in the last two weeks. Richard and Aisha have been to Hungary on a training camp with the Austrian National Team and Hanna and I were busy preparing the flat and organising a family visit! On Thursday before Easter Alison, John, Claire and Gavin arrived and a day later Michelle and George joined us as well. By that time Richard and Aisha were back from the Training camp and we had a big Gathercole family meeting here in Henndorf – only Michael was missing. We had quite a program over the Easter weekend and as far as we can judge it was enjoyed by everybody.

On Friday we went up to Gut Aiderbichl a local farm with a nice Easter Market. Hanna loved the animals, the ice-cream granny was feeding her and she fell in a love with Barney the Bear. Now Barney the Bear sits in our lounge!

On Saturday we went to Salzburg to walk around the old city. Needless to say it was crowded with tourists! We finished the afternoon with a beer on the brewery terrace where we had a great view over the roofs of Salzburg.

Sunday was a lazy Easter Sunday – just the way it should be. However we “tortured” our South African visitors with Austrian tradition and made them look for their Easter eggs in the garden – which had been well hidden by Edith!

Unfortunately Claire, Gavin, Michelle and George already left on Monday. Before they did, they invited us all to a really nice breakfast at a nearby Hotel. Thanks again!

The last view days we took it a bit easier. We went walking in Hellbrunn, had a look at and had a coffee in Red Bull’s Hangar 7, took Hanna to her most favourite swings in the park and did a bit of shopping.

We wanted to thank you all for making the effort to come and visit us on Easter and for all the wonderful presents we received! Hopefully you had a nice time and enjoyed your stay!

We are looking forward to seeing you all again – rather sooner than later!

Have a great day!
Richard, Hanna, Christine and Aisha

Growing up with two languages ...

... is what Hanna is experiencing right now.
... is a book written by Una Cunningham-Andersson and her husband Staffan Andersson, which I can recommend to anybody who is in a similar situation as we are. It was recommended to me by a Brasilian friend who lives here in Henndorf with her Austrian husband and her two children (3 1/2 years and 2 months). For us it is immensely important that Hanna will be able to understand and speak English very well. Firstly obvious because we want her to be able to communicate with her grandparents, aunts and uncles etc. who are English-speakers and secondly because we hope it will give her an advantage in our society where it is almost necessary to speak English fluently.
As you can probably guess from their names, the authors are a couple living in Sweden, he is Swedish and his wife from Ireland. They have collected many reports from parents who are trying to bring up their children with 2 or more languages. And it seems like there is no perfect solution. The solutions we came up with is that we are trying to give Hanna as much English input as possible and as there is mainly German input as we leave the house we only speak English to her when we are at home and of course no other non-English-speaker is around. We are not worried that she will not learn how to speak German, she will pick it up in kindergarden, school, from her grandparents and while playing with her friends. To learn English will be the challange but I don't think we have to be worried. Of course it might be the case that she will understand English perfectly however won't speak it until she is 4 or 5 years old, which is often reported with kids in a similar situation as Hanna.
Hanna proves to us every day that she already understands a lot - doesn't matter whether we talk English or German!
I wish you a great day!
Christine