two weeks already!?

I can't believe it's been nearly two weeks since I last updated. Where has the time gone?

We flew down to Sydney for a visit to the U.S. Consulate. We had to submit paperwork to get a Consular Report of Birth Abroad for Miss Rox as well as apply for her passport and social security number. The CRBA and passport arrived in the mail last week, but the SSN won't arrive for 2-4 months.

Getting the paperwork organized was the most difficult part of the whole process, but was pretty easy because Nate and I are American citizens. It becomes slightly more difficult if the baby has an American mother and a non-American father and is exponentially more complicated if the baby has an American father and non-American mother.

Roxy is an American citizen, but is not an Australian citizen. Australia used to be like the U.S. in that anyone born here automatically gained citizenship, but they changed the law a while ago. Instead, she is on our visa and should we decide to become Australian citizens, she will shall she.

I don't know how this affects her should she decide to run for U.S. President. In order to be eligible for that office, the Constitution states that a candidate must be "a natural born citizen of the United States," and there is some debate about what our founding fathers actually meant by that. Her certificate clearly states, "A Consular Report of Birth Abroad is proof of United States citizenship by law: 22 USC 2705." If it's still unresolved 35 years from now, I guess she can hire any (or all) of the lawyers in our family to represent her in the Supreme Court.

Enough blabber! Here are some pictures!

Roxy's first flight. She calmed down eventually.

This happened in the Sydney terminal the day we flew in! (a bikie is a member of a motorcylce gang, like Hell's Angels)

The view from our hotel room. That's Sydney Harbor up on the left.

We had this lovely tub in our hotel room. We put Roxy to bed and tiptoed to the tub for a soak. Then just like a movie, as soon as we got in the tub, the baby started crying and didn't go back to sleep until the water was cold. :(

My favorite: Artemis, goddess of the hunt! (Part of a fountain in Hyde Park)

We met up with some Davis friends for dinner the night we arrived. Terry and Louise are Australians who lived in the U.S. for a few years and we met them when Lou was a postdoc in our Davis lab. They moved to Sydney a couple of months ago and we finally got to meet their son Harry! Harry was born a couple of weeks after we moved here. We had a delicious Thai dinner and talked all about babies and Australian sports.

Terry and Harry, Nate and Roxy

Brekkie near the Harbor Bridge

Fruit stand in the Sydney CBD.

Playing in the Royal Botanical Gardens. Roxy is now as big as her daddy's shoe. Keep growing, Rox!

These reminders were on practically every corner. We figured they were probably for all of the tourists that came to town for the 2000 Olympics.

We're in the middle of a storm. It's been raining pretty well for the past few days. It's been raining so much that I invested in a new umbrella. Here's Nate showing it off (nevermind the blue sky behind him. It was raining when he left on the walk):

This umbrella is inspiration for a new wardrobe.

Nate has back-to-back four-day weeks coming up. Good Friday and Easter Monday are public holidays here. We don't have any plans for the long weekend. We're thinking we might rent a car and go nowhere - just enjoy having a car for a few days.

Sydney and back in a day and a half!

Too tired now to tell the whole story, but here's proof that we were in Sydney:

In front of the Opera House with the Harbour Bridge in the background

and here's (more) proof that our baby is adorable:

Laughing at Daddy

Cyclone Hamish was a wash

Not much to report from Cyclone Hamish. We've had a couple of cloudy days with a few showers, but nothing big. Hamish was off shore for a while and stayed that way before being downgraded to a tropical storm.

Andy and Darshana arrived yesterday and stayed awake until 9:30!! They have the record!

Roxy turned 3 months old yesterday and she's 13 weeks old today. She loves to coo during her baby massage before bedtime and she's busting out of her 0-3 month sized clothes right on schedule. I've started attending a new mom group and had my first meeting on Tuesday. I'm also taking mom and bub exercise classes that Roxy totally loves - she thinks its so funny to see mama jumping around waving her arms and legs about.

3 month old bubba holding her head up!

Cyclone Hamish

PLEASE CIRCULATE THIS IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT TO AS MANY AMERICAN CITIZENS AS POSSIBLE

Warden Message #1-2009

This warden message is being issued to alert U.S. citizens residing and traveling in Australia that the World Meteorological Organization has issued a Tropical Cyclone Advisory for Australia. Tropical Cyclone Hamish is predicted to affect the Whitsunday Islands and various other parts of the Queensland coast. It may also impact northern areas of New South Wales. Elevated sea levels and severe wind gusts may cause damage from Bowen to Brisbane, QUEENSLAND in the next 24 – 48 hours. Tropical Cyclone Hamish is currently a Category 5 cyclone and is predicted to remain at Category 3 or higher over the next 48 hours.

The storm's progress can be monitored at the World Meteorological Organization’s website http://severe.worldweather.org/tc/au/ and at http://www.tropicalstormrisk.com/.

The U.S. Consulate General will continue to monitor the storm and will issue updated messages as necessary. U.S. citizens in the affected areas are urged to locate shelter, monitor media reports, and follow all official instructions. U.S. citizens should carry their travel documents at all times (i.e. U.S. Passport, Birth Certificate, picture ID’s, etc.) or secure them in safe, waterproof locations. We also suggest that American citizens contact friends and family in the United States with updates about their whereabouts. American citizens in Australia who are in danger should contact local authorities at 000 (triple zero), the 911 equivalent in Australia.

Additional information on hurricane and cyclone preparedness may be found on the Hurricanes/Cyclones page at: http://travel.state.gov/travel/tips/emergencies/emergencies_4294.html and on the “Natural Disasters” page of the Bureau of Consular Affairs’ website at: http://travel.state.gov/travel/tips/emergencies/emergencies_1207.html. Updated information on travel in Australia may be obtained from the Department of State by calling 1-888-407-4747 within the United States and Canada, or from overseas, 1-202-501-4444. These numbers are available from 8:00 am to 8:00 p.m., Eastern U.S. Time, Monday through Friday (except U.S. federal holidays).

For further information please consult the Country Specific Information Sheet for Australia, available via the Internet at http://travel.state.gov.

For any emergencies involving American citizens, please contact the American Citizens Services (ACS) Unit of the U.S. Consulate General, located at 19-29 Martin Place, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia; telephone +61 (02) 9373-9200; e-mail SydneyACS@State.gov; web page http://sydney.usconsulate.gov

Tickets purchased! (Let's hope the local cat burglars don't read our blog)

We've got tickets for our trip home in May. We'll be in California from May 22-June 6. Thanks to the weak Aussie dollar, we got a great deal on our tickets with Air New Zealand. Another bonus - because we are traveling with an infant, we get to sit in the front row of the plane (big planes have bassinets that fold down like a tray table from the dividing walls), so we can be the first ones off the plane (and the last ones to get on, which I think is a bonus)! I guess that's probably the only upside to being on a 14 hour plane ride with an infant.

(On a side note - Air New Zealand boasts that their customers can choose from 20 different diet-specific meals on their flights. I was perusing the list and right there with the Kosher and Gluten-free options was Seafood. Are they serious? It's like that joke, "I'm on a seafood diet...I see food and I eat it!")

The coconut crab - part of Air New Zealand's seafood meal?

We're flying down to Sydney in a couple of week to work out Roxy's citizenship at the U.S. Consulate. There is no permanent U.S. Consulate in Brissie, only an office that opens up a couple of times a year. They were supposed to open up in January, but pushed it back to April. If we wait until April to file paperwork for Roxy's citizenship, passport and SSN, then we might not get her passport to us by the time we need to fly out of the country. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we get her SSN before April 15th so that we can claim her on our U.S. tax return without a problem.

I don't want to post without another picture or two, so here you go:

The spider that lives next to our compost pile.

The peacock that lives in the food court at Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary

Those black splotches are some of the thousands of flying foxes that live just up the river on Indooroopilly Island. We see them flying every night at twilight and they're starting to visit the guava tree in our backyard. Nate found remnants of half-eaten guavas!

A couple of flying foxes just starting their night (picture taken from our back steps).

where did we leave off?

I guess I'm a bit behind on updating the blog. Sorry!

Cloudy skies over the Brisbane CBD as we boarded the boat.

The day before she flew home, my mom, Roxy and I took a river cruise to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary. It was a bit rainy, but I was bound and determined for my mother to see a marsupial! Lone Pine did not disappoint! Once the rain let up (or at least slowed to an annoying drizzle), we scampered around the sanctuary to see as many animals as we could before we had to get back on the boat and head home.

One of the more alert inhabitants

One of the highlights of the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary is visitors can pay extra to cuddle and have their picture taken with a koala. We decided not to do that on this visit, opting instead to visit with the kangaroos and wallabies.

Koala shift change.

The growling cassowary. The world's most dangerous bird growled at us from behind the fence. It was pretty scary - seriously!

Where are the 'roos? (My mom was the only person birdwatching in the kangaroo enclosure.)

'Ruh feeding a 'roo!

Ready for my close-up!

Catfish feeding on leftover kangaroo food.

It was so nice to have my mom here! She helped me sort of get over my crippling fear of making dinner and also made us some very delicious meals. She also got to spend a lot of quality time with her littlest grandchild and reassured us that the Roxanne is as happy and healthy as we think she is! Her visit was too short, but she promised to bring more family with her next time she visits (this means you, Dad!). Come back soon!!!

Roxy and her Nana
Nana and Roxy again (sorry for posting one with closed eyes, but Miss Rox looks so cute, I couldn't resist!)

Our graduate advisors from UCD were in town this past weekend. Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures from their visit. We had them over for pre-rugby game lunch on Sunday - Nate, Peter and Greg went to the Reds (Brisbane's rugby union team) game at Suncorp Stadium. Nate made a delicious pulled pork feast with homemade kaiser rolls and we ate and sweated under the carport. It was good to see them and as wonderful as it is to have vistors from home, it's always sad to say good-bye.

March has come in like a lion - the highs have been above thirty since Sunday and humidity was at about 85% today. The weatherman promised that we have only 24 hours more of unbearable heat and humidity before we get a break. Thank goodness!

Here's one last picture of Roxy in a onesie given to her by honorary Aunt Katie and Uncle Eric in San Antonio.

Roxy's most pestiferous face!

Nana and Noosa

Totally candid picture of Carolyn bird-watching at the Noosa Inlet

My mom, Carolyn, (Roxy's Nana) has been here just over a week now and we've been very busy. She's added 20 new birds to her life list and she's seen a lot of them in and around our neighborhood! The remaining were spotted at the Mt. Coot-tha Botanical Gardens, the City Botanical Gardens in downtown Brissie and on the Sunshine Coast on our first Australian road trip!

Grey butcherbird (top) and Pied Butcherbird (bottom) at Mt. Coot-tha

White-eyed duck at Mt. Coot-tha

Kookaburra spotted at the Noosa Laguna Look-out

The Big Pelican of Noosaville (does not count for bird life list)

Our trip to the Sunshine Coast was great. We hired a car and took to driving on the wrong side of the road with no problem. The weather didn't cooperate fully all weekend, but we managed to jump into the warmish South Pacific and Nate body-surfed like the good ol' sea dog he is.

Look out for the surfer!

Due to a glitch by Travelocity, we got an unbelievable deal on our hotel room at a resort. It had three pools, two spas, a sauna and our room came with a kitchenette and, drumroll, air conditioning!!! Before we left, I picked up a set of long-sleeved, footy pyjamas for the bub because she's only ever slept in just her nappy and she likes to kick(!) off the blankies. We wanted her to keep warm in the cool A/C.

Bubba modeling her new jammies in the cool air

The rest of Nana's visit is to come... to be continued. The sweet sleeping bub pictured above is practicing out her crying-so-hard-I'm-turning-purple skills....