NEW YEARS TOOTH!

Hey Guys, another huge milestone and yesterday was the 31st December. Max officially has got his first tooth, what a way to end the year! Over the past few weeks Max has had disrupted sleep to say the least and we were constantly blaming it on teething. He had disrupted sleep patterns, red cheeks and goes through around three dribble clothes a day so after say a couple of weeks, you tend to doubt yourself and begin to think it could be something else. That's when we noticed his first tooth and knew all of the hard work Max has done has paid off.

How amazing is it that it's popped right out on New Year's Eve.....I think he just times these things too perfectly. We took Max to have his six month check-up and he seems to be doing very well and is healthy. The baby doctor (she was actually a fully grown woman not a baby) also said that he is developing at a very fast pace, he is coming up to seven months and can already sit, crawl and roll over so I'm kind of expecting him to ask me what he wants for breakfast tomorrow. So as you can guess we are extremely proud of him.

What should we do to celebrate this massive milestone? Well it's New Year's Eve......so me and Jitka had a couple of hours off while our grandparents looked after Max. I know he is developing at a fast pace but I'm pretty sure he is still too young for a glass of bubbly (hehe).

Yesterday we went to the local Fireman's Depot and had a gathering with close friends for a couple of beverages and nibbles. And we had an amazing time! It wasn't like our usual get together from England, with golden coated smoked salmon and spending it with our two best friends, it was more of a karaoke situation and drinking games and we had a great time.

So I hope you guys enjoyed your night, whatever it was you did, and I will give a blog update over the next couple of days and who knows, maybe Max will be walking and talking...... 

Bye Guys

TWO CHRISTMAS'S!

Hey Guys, I hope you had a great Christmas and that you have plenty planned for the New Year. We had a great time and have spent the last week or so celebrating (hence why I have not been blogging). This year was slightly different to most as I am spending this year in Czech and we get to celebrate twice as a family for the first time. As you can imagine we were pretty excited.

First Christmas Day

Here we are on the 24th December and it's Christmas day! Well if you are from the Czech Republic or Slovakia it is (I'm sure there are other countries as well but I'm not sure). So we were woken up nice an early by our little snapper and had our hopes high for a snowy Christmas. As I put the kettle on I looked outside only to see darkness....of course it's 5 am! But as the daylight began to appear, so did the sun which obviously meant no snow.

As the morning progressed all three of us went downstairs to spend the day with my family in-law, and first on the menu was "Vanocka". It is a sweet bread and I can only compare it to a hot cross bun.....very delicious. And as we sat there eating our breakfast with a coffee we watched a Czech adaptation of Cinderella. I couldn't understand a word but wanted to stay within the Czech tradition.

So around mid-afternoon we then moved on to our second meal of the day which was "Kuba". This dish is basically rice with forest mushrooms, simple but tasty and tasted even better with a beer next me. After our lunch we then went on our way to visit Jitka's Grandmother and family. 

This then leads us to the amazing dinner we had as a lot of you know is "Kapr a bramborovy salat" which translates to Carp with Potato Salad. This was accompanied with a glass of wine and money under the plate. Yes I said money under the plate! It is meant to bring you luck in the future with finances, and as I am unemployed I need all the luck I can get, so I had extra (hehe).

Now for the best bit...the presents. After the meal at around 6 - 7 pm we exchanged gifts and I couldn't have been happier. Max got spoiled, like most kids on their first Christmas, and wouldn't let go of his new caterpillar toy. Again he didn't really know what was going on but he behaved extremely well and seemed really happy.

After present opening and a few drinks I decided I had to go to bed as the next day was going to be a long day. So Jitka and her family sat up and watched another movie called Pelisky while I was fast asleep with Max.

Second Christmas Day

It's 5 am again and it's Christmas! Well as I am native English, today was my Christmas.... And how about kicking the day off with pre-heating the oven.....yes you heard me, I was about to cook my first Christmas Dinner ever! Over the last twenty six years the only contribution I have made was eating it. 

So I roped Jitka into helping as two heads is better than one! And I can now sympathize with every single one of you who cooks this meal....it really is stressful but rewarding. Well as the Turkey was cooking on a slow heat I thought that it's definitely time for a bit of Buble (Michael Buble) while eating some mince pies (which I will try and burn off during the new year).

Dancing away while opening my first lager, I was in the greatest mood of all year. Max was playing with his new toys while Jitka's other family members visited us as a surprise. It was nice because it felt like I was at home, even though I was missing my family. As we were cooking the meal, we then found out we were catering for two extra persons, no worries.....I started feeling more relaxed as time went on (mainly because of the alcohol) and it was then when I then realized that no body has eaten this meal before, so there fore have nothing to compare it to. All the nerves had then disappeared.

So around three o'clock it was all prepared and served and I have to say that it was the definitely the best Christmas dinner I have cooked! I know it was the first but we have to keep the standard now as everyone is coming back for more next year. We couldn't have been happier.

After dinner things started to get a little wild as we started to play frustration ( the board game) and after a few more drinks, me and Jitka's brother carried on the festivities watching music on YouTube until late in the night (my parents would have been proud). It really was an awesome couple of days.

Wow that was a big blog! My head is frazzled. We had an amazing week or so and as now New Years Eve is approaching, I have decided to tone it down for a few days. I hope you all enjoyed your Christmas and will have an amazing new year. Thank you for taking the time to read and the blogging will be back to it's usual timely fashion and enjoy the photos.

Bye Guys!