Seasonal Paradise

Irena and Victoria

Cuddling up after a hard couple of days.

Victoria, 3.5kg

Sasha was 2.7kg, and was born 3 weeks early. Victoria was born 11 days early and is 3.5kg.   

Victoria - First Picture

This is the first ever picture of Victoria Brooks. She's about 4 minutes old here. They rushed her through to be weighed and checked out. Then back in to a very exhausted mum. Victoria was a VERY lucky girl. The umbillical cord was wrapped around her neck not once, but twice. The birth took a long time partly because they couldn't speed her birth along because Irena had had a c-section with Sasha 15 months prior. We had thought Irena would have a c-section again, but the doctors decided a natural birth was best. In hindsight, a c-section may have been better.

Irena's Brave Face

4am Monday morning at Vinohrady Hospital in Prague. Irena started her contractions 2:30am on the Sunday morning.


 

Irena

Old Town Prague : New Town Wedding

Bricks And Mortar

What's the mortar of a good marriage?  Lots of kissing. 

Irena In The Limo

All The Girls

All The Boyz

Markus Frind (good friend), Richard Bain (bad nephew), Marc Lesnick (best man), Julian Wilkinson (brother-in-law), Neil Bunn (best friend from school age 14)

Time For A Kiss

Brandy and Castles

Our Charles Bridge

Sabine

First Vodka

Irena and I were presented with a glass of vodka and a glass of water at the entry to our wedding reception.  The person who picks the water is the provider in the relationship.  The person who picks the vodka looks after mi familia.  Irena got the vodka.

Picking Up The Pieces

It's a Czech tradition to smash a plate at the entry to the reception.  We had to clean up the pieces to show we can work together to ...keep the house tidy?  :-)

Wedding Cake

Annie and Markus

The next couple to be married.  Annie and Markus, with Katie. 

Meatballs

Its a Czech wedding tradition that just married couples feed each other their first meal. 

Monika, Irena, Iveta

Irena and her two sisters.

Petr

Cheaky Petr.  Our l'il nephew.

Wedding Cake

First Dance

Our first dance as a married couple.  With our daughter Sasha, and Irena's mother smiling in the background.  :-)

Irena & Mark, Mom & Dad, and Sasha

Dancing with Irena's mum and dad.  Karolina is dancing with Sasha on the right.  At our wedding reception in April.

Irena and Neil

Irena dancing at our wedding with Neil Bunn, my best friend from high school.
 

Sasha's First Words

This video was taken August 10th, 2009. When she was 1 year and 1 week old.

Hi Grandma

I hope you are doing great. Aunt Ann is here now and I showed her the city today. She likes it here. Mark is busy as usual, it is 1am and he is still on the phone. All is good though.

I saw the doctor in the hospital today and he didn't say much. I can have a c-section or the natural birth, it all depends on the size of Victoria. He basically said that 50% of women who had a c-section in the past ended up with the c-section again. I am scared as it gets closer. I hope you enjoyed your Thanksgiving dinner at Mike and Lorette's. We will call you this week with Ann. Take care and enjoy the picture of Sasha. She is a good girl and she can clean her teeth now. Well, I clean her teeth and then let her play with the toothbrush and eat the toothpaste :-)  - Irena

Losing Weight

...isn't easy.  I'm hovering at 200lbs still.  I'm eating far less meat than ever before.  I need to get out and exercise more.  There isn't a decent gym nearby, and the weather is getting rather chilly.  Once Irena has Victoria, it will be great for us to be able to exercise together more.  Swimming, badminton, hiking.  For now, my commitment is to cut down on sugars and carbs, and drink more green tea and get more exercise. 

Urban Hiking

Prague Urban Hiking

We hiked from our place in Andel, up to a park overlooking Prague. 

Lifelines: The things you own end up owning you

Blind people have more sensitive hearing. 

When you close your eyes and drink wine, you can taste more. 

It would seem that our senses attenuate each other.

How about our sensitivity in relationships?  I had a moment of realization a few weeks back.  I realised that the feeling of owning goods attenuated my sense of relationship, to some small extent.  I've known for a while that I feel better, owning less.  But now that we're in Prague for a couple of months, with the bare minimum of 'stuff,'  I think Irena and I are ever so slightly more sensitive to each other because we're not bothered about 'stuff.'   We're renting a small furnished apartment, with a great view of the Autumn woods, just a few minutes tram ride from beautiful Prague.  We have our laptops, two suitcases of clothes, and that's it.  IT FEELS GREAT!  All we have to care about, is each other. 

Here's the view from our window, showing the first snowfall of the season.  It was just cold enough for snow, but not cold enough to settle at all.

Studies on happiness around the world agree that the people in countries like Nigeria, El Salvador and Colombia are happier than people in the USA and UK.  Why?  I'd surmise, partly because they don't have so much 'stuff'' and they focus more on their family and community.  They can generally rely less on their governments and personal financial wealth to support them, so they focus more on the family, partly as a matter of survival.  Their very existences depend on having a close support network in many cases and as a (very significant) side benefit of them spending more time with family and friends, and less time pawing over their stuff, they're happier. 

Just a thought. - Mark :-)

Hedgehog

Having just got back from England I presented Sasha with a British hedgehog.  She took to him immediately, and even kissed him, which was super cute.  She made a loud kiss 'thwacking' noise and placed a kiss on his nose.  :-)
 

Cleethorpes Pier

Cleethorpes pier has been a nightclub since about the time I learned to read and write.  It's looking a bit bland and characterless right now, however.  I hope the owner spruces it up sometime soon.

Grimsby Fish n Chips With Neil

After the Internet Dating Conference in London I took off to my home town in England, Grimsby, and went biking and hiking with my school friend Neil.  I've known Neil since I was 14 and we share the same taste in English food.  Fish and chips.  We went to Beckets in Cleethorpes.  The fish and chips was the best I've ever had.  We ate our fish and chips out on the Pier at the beach.   

Mark and Brothers-in-law Mira and Martin