We’re going to get the chance to see their new house for ourselves when we visit them in the near future. It will be Xander’s first flight. If it’s anything like his first train trip, he’ll have a ball. Just hope we can avoid the Dengue fever epidemic when we get there.

It was a wet, overcast day. But it made for a great drive up to Mount Glorious, which was shrouded in clouds. The atmosphere created by the fog as we drove through the rainforest was worth the trip alone. The Elm Haus Cafe was very inviting to the sodden traveller, and provided us with a homely lunchtime meal. We plan to revisit for Devonshire Tea sometime.

Oh, and happy birthday, sweetheart!

It’s been just over a year since Xander was born, and I can quite honestly say it’s been the most fulfilling year of my life so far. Parenthood is everything they say it is: tiring, rewarding, sometimes difficult, but ultimately truly wonderful. To me the year seems to have passed fairly quickly, although it’s been jam packed with stuff.

Xander had a fantastic 1^st birthday party, meticulously organised by his mummy. He’s just started walking, and he has a penchant for climbing stuff. He likes to try to climb the dresser by sort of doing chin ups and then getting traction with his feet against the cupboard. His favourite word is “bird”, though lately he’s really into “balloons” (because we’ve still got bunches of them hanging around our house from his birthday). He’s a happy and frightfully energetic little soul.

We’re still dealing with his allergy problem, but we’ve got an appointment with one of the two paediatric allergists in the state in October (somehow we managed to jump the 13 month waiting list, which we’re kind of relieved about, because his allergy isn’t limited to cow’s milk protein, unfortunately). One gets the feeling that allergies are still not well understood by medical researchers. Nobody seems to agree about how they come about or what the best course of action is.

The second year of his life is going to be an eventful one for our family, with a few things on the agenda before next July. Here’s hoping it all goes smoothly!

Unfortunately the year didn’t end quite as well as it might have. Xander had an anaphylactic reaction when we tried to feed him some formula for the first time. He’s probably allergic to cow’s milk protein, we’ve been told. Within five to ten minutes of beginning his feed, he’d developed dark red blotches on his face, little white welts appeared in his elbow and knee creases and around his ankles, and his eyeballs went red and swollen. He was howling and trying to scratch his eyes out.

That was all pretty scary, but the hospital fixed him up pretty quickly with a dose of antihistamines and steroids. There’s a good chance he’ll grow out of this allergy in a few years, but there’s also a chance he’s allergic to nuts (among other things). We’ll find out when he has some allergy testing conducted.

This year is set to be another big one on a number of fronts. I extend to all the readers of The Thin Line my very best wishes for 2008; may it be joyful and prosperous. Happy New Year everyone!