New Zealand 2006

Hello All!!!
Well we made it!!! We are now at Day 3 in New Zealand....and have survived thus far...it was a bit rough but I will give you all the details in this post. I will be trying to keep up the blog as often as I can...so keep checking.

The Journey

Ugh!!! I think the term best used to describe the journey is "NEVER AGAIN"...It was sheer hell (excuse my language). It all started the day before the journey. We were planning to go to Auntie Celia and Uncle Geoff's house for a birthday get together for Geoff...(actually as it turned out it was for me....thank you very much by the way G&C)...however, we were a bit late as we had told everyone that our priority was getting little man as well rested as possible for the journey. We thought we were right on track when little man chose to sleep for three hours both in the a.m and the p.m. We got to the party a little late as I had to try and feed ollie before we left. He was great for one side an then absolutely refused the other....strange for the little piggy but not concerning..yet!! At the party he was more then a little bit whiney and snuggly. For those of you who know him...you know that this is a harbenger of something strange since he is usually a. the life of the party and b. never sits still never mind cuddling in to his mummy. So we unfortunately had to make an early exit from the party (not before Adam had eaten his seconds and thirds and I had managed to get a take-away portion of B-day cake and fruit salad). When we got home Ollie seemed to liven up a little however, soon became really tired....again refusing his bedtime feed wanting instead to go straight to bed! He then slept thru the night...again...we thought mission acccomplished on the well rested baby front!! How wrong we were!! Ollie woke up with an almighty racket...there was no calming him...he was screaming like we were torturing him!! He was so loud he even woke his uncle Jason...no mean feat!! There was no calming him...and again...he absolutely refused to breast feed...now it was time to worry as I was about to explode ( I know too much info for some..but it does lend dramatic detail to the travel history!!). So, bundled up in a blanket and screaming his face off at 6 a.m we trecked on over to Auntie Kate's house where thank goodness she had all the supplies. Ollie decided to eat all of the 11 ounces of milk I was able to supply him with...and ate two portions of cereal....we thought...perhaps all that screaming was because he was hungry..again..perplexed as to why he would refuse the milk from the source. Perhaps it is those teeth we thought....To make matters worse...I checked his temperature...for the first time in his short life he was febrile!! Just what we needed! So off we trek to the supermarket to buy all the supplies....two bottles of acetaminophen and of course...good ole Ibuprofen...plus teething gel..you name it we were a walking pharmacy. Problem was...now we had to find room in our 20kg (only) of luggage for breast pumps and a pharmacy full of drugs!! Guess what...we were overweight so, with a bit of shuffling between bags (and pockets) we managed to be allowed onto the full plane!

Onward we travelled! The Journey from England to Dubai (7hrs) wasn't too bad with Ollie sleeping 5 of the 7 hours...we started to have false hope that this journey might not be as bad as we had envisioned. Alas, we were wrong!!

On the next leg..the 14hour extravaganza..we started with a bang. There was something wrong with the plane so while we waited for all the baggage etc to be loaded on....the plane got hotter and hotter...not so bad if you are just sitting there...however, if you have chosen to wail like you are having your nether regions torn off then you get rather sweaty!! Those of you who know Ollie are probably thinking I am exagerrating. Believe me...I have never heard any child as inconsolable as he was. He has all of a sudden developed a temper from hell! there were absolutely no tears...he was arching his back and pulling my hair and grabbing at my face...it was awful. We hadn't even taken off yet!!! I am sure everyone around us was well pleased with their seat choice at this point. Eventually....I am talking at least 45mins later...he gave up and fell asleep in my arms due to sheer exhaustion...not that I had comforted him! Again....Adam and I have always said "thank-God for the boob" usually no matter how "un-calm" he gets himself...he will be pacified and usually to sleep by the breast.....however, wasn't this the day he was refusing to breast feed. So here we have the child from hell, who has a fever, refuses any comfort whatsoever from either parent and will not eat anything. Sounds great eh???

Well long long long story short...he had several more episodes similar to the one described above throughout the next 14 hours. Again...those of you who know Ollie like we do would have been shocked. I didn't know he had such anger in him. It was really upsetting for both Adam and I. Especially with the added worry of his not being well and not eating. I was worried that he had decided to self-wean etc...

Anyway, we eventually made it. Thankfully, there were 4 other very young babies on the flight...one of whom was sicker then Ollie and to whom much of our pharmaceuticals and medical advice was doled!! Adam and I wanted to go for a drink with the other parents who all agreed..never again. One woman was travelling with twins!!

Now we are here....we got to the first campsite and went straight to bed. The next day (yesterday) we went for a drive to find our next campsite...we are now in Orewa (I think it is called) and today have finally managed to make it to the grocery store. We are giving Ollie the next few days to sort himself out. Both Adam and I are at our wits end with the Mr. Hyde side of Ollie who again showed up last night and screamed the campground down between 2-4 a.m. How embarassing when I met another mother in the Kitchen area who said, "oh this must be the little man who woke up our baby last night" . They were at least 4 doors down in another campervan. Just to show you how loud he can be!! Anyway, we are really hoping this is not his personalilty coming thru and that this is just a combo of overtiredness and teeth or we may have to send him to live with his grandparents until he manages to curb his temper! If anyone has any words of wisdom to impart on how to treat an angry/mad and inconsolable 8 month old...I am all ears!!

Right...my hands are dropping off and I have run out o f time 3 times now so I will head off!!

ps....Dad, Mum, Nanny C...wish you could have come now....Dad...the scenery here rivals Ireland I have to say it!! Adam and I have decided allready that we will be coming back...WHEN THE KIDS ARE MUCH, MUCH OLDER!! So, maybe you can join us then.

Take care all ...will keep you posted

ps....he is breastfeeding now...don't know why the crucial 48hour refusal...perhaps in protest to our intended journey..but who knows and who cares as long as it is over!