Christmas Day

Well finally got around to getting a few spare minutes and throwing up some photos from Christmas day - Seb's First Christmas.

Christmas Day - Presents & Lunch

Also here are a few videos of late

Seb Ready For Christmas Lunch:


Seb at the Park on Boxing Day:


Seb Waking Up Post Christmas:

Happy Christmas Eve

Hopefully everyone is having a fantastic Christmas eve and are getting ready for an even better Christmas day with family and or friends.

We had a pretty quite Christmas eve enjoying some lovely Tasmanian Salmon that a customer through work flew in for us.


Usually I'm not a huge salmon fan (mainly scarred by bad packet salmon from the supermarket) but this was sensational, so very rich.


Of course prior we enjoyed a lovely selection of cheeses and wine and of course the mandatory watching of the carols on the tv.

Hope everyone has a great Christmas and I'll be sure to update our Christmas day going on's at some point hopefully even with some SebTV.


Here's a pic of Seb keeping cool the other day :)

Turning 29....

What an eventful year!

My 29th Birthday was a nice relaxing day home with the family. Deb, Sebastian and the boys (dogs) Amare & Farley.

Kicked back and enjoy the NBA double header - although my boys the Phoenix Suns lost by three points :( also enjoyed a lovely home made brunch of bacon and eggs.

We took Seb for his first cruise in his Hummer - oh wait up it's a Jeep - close enough. So off to the park with Seb in his Jeep pram (took a few folded towels under neath him so he'd fit - he so little :)

   



Amare and Farley loved playing fetch whilst Deb, Seb and myself relaxed under the shade of a tree.

Deb made the best tasting brownies EVER for my birthday cake and whilst there are plenty left I'm sure they won't last long.

   

Thanks to all for the lovely birthday wishes via email, sms, card etc and of course thankyou all for the fantastic gifts.

Keep well.

SebTV - Read On...

Welcome to SebTV! Well not quite but with the way the net is going these days.....

Below are some clips from the last few days that I have uploaded to YouTube.

Before we get onto the YouTube clips, this first one is from a relatively new site called UStream which gives users the ability to record (stream) live from their phone onto the net, that's right LIVE! I can sit here recording the goings on of life and you can all kick back anywhere in the world and tune in. Ok the quality isnt amazing, but considering what it is achieving I'm pretty impressed. Oh and of course the recorded streams/clips are archived for viewing at anytime.

So here is my first UStream attempt recorded earlier today.



Hopefully there will be plenty more UStream to come. Be sure to bookmark my UStream page for archived and LIVE streams/clips.
UStream - anewman13 - SebTV
Of course all of these usefull links can be found under the links on the right and via the icons at the very bottom of the blog.


Now onto the YouTube Clips - YouTube offers a better quality but obviously isn't live and requires a bit of time and editing to upload, whilst the 'good moments' will still be uploaded to YouTube more and more on the fly recording will be done through UStream purely for the ease and speed in which the clips can be up online for all to see Live or archived.

So keep the YouTube page bookmarked as well http://www.youtube.com/anewman13/

Of course all of these usefull links can be found under the links on the right and via the icons at the very bottom of the blog.



Day 8 - Bottle Feeding



Day 14 - Hiccups



Day 14 - Mr Happy, Mr Stretchy



Day 17 - Hometime



Day 18 - Settling in at home

Pantry World

What to do whilst waiting for little Sebastian to come home, why build a pantry of course.
Ok truth be known the pantry building was planned before Sebastian's arrival with the folks coming over for my birthday, a early Christmas and for me to utilise dads tools and skills in building a fully fledged pantry to replace our shelving unit. A unit which was custom built some seven years ago for a totally different house and space, it has served us well and will continue to do so - but now as storage shelving.


Thanks to dad for lugging his tools all the way over and his hard work on the wall/door frame and getting me started on the shelves.
Thanks to Ann for being my slave girl in holding shelves and for all her crazy sanding and first coat of paint on the walls.


I'm extremely happy with how it turned out, now that it's all painted (two coats) it looks awesome. Of course it isn't totally complete with a door handle to go on and door to be painted at some point, but it is definetly usable.




Now for the fun part of re-stocking it, working out what to put where (the fun part).

Oh and of course the iminent trip to bargain bulk shopping at Costco :)

Sebastian Arrives - Looking Back To The Day...

Wow what a week, from heading into the hospital on Monday morning with a few complications too actually having our gorgeous little guy be with us I think was both not quite what we were expecting. Although ironically I did mention in the car trip in that I was ready for him to arrive.

It was a whirlwind morning in the hospital arriving around 9am, we had gotten pretty use to the routine due to previous visits of hooking up to monitoring in the labour ward (or birth centre as some of them liked to call it, apparently that sounds nicer). From there a few checks periodically by the doctor and some care from the midwives.



Our first encounter with a doctor that day was a pretty confident there is no chance this baby is being delivered today, within an hour a second doctor (higher up the chain) presented us with a different outlook, more of a this could be happening within the next few days we should go through the process with you of a C-Sect and the various pros and cons associated with these types of deliveries.

Not long after that a third doctor (even higher up the chain) popped in for a check and before you know it we were gowning up, Deb was getting drugged out and we were whisked away for Operation Little Guy.

I can't imagine what was running through Deb's head at this stage but for me I don't think at the time it was really sinking in, thrown a top and bottom nurse ensemble (they didn't have gowns tall enough for me within arms reach), and than followed as the number of people around Deb seemed to continually grow as the minutes ticked. Than I was directed to a waiting room whilst they prepped Deb for the Op.
This was the weird part sitting in a waiting room (that was for people waiting for translators to help them through their various appointments ie street clothed people and I'm siting their looking all nurse like), with a phone that's battery was almost dead and nothing else. Time took forever yet looking back it all happened so quickly.
The actually Op was extremely quick and before you know it we were happy proud parents of 6 week early Sebastian Edward Newman at 12:57pm on Monday 30th November 2009. I got the pleasure of cutting the chord and than two nurses, myself and Sebastian headed down to the intensive care nursery whilst Deb was getting put back together so to speak.



It was tough spending those first couple of hours alongside Seb whilst Deb was in recovery, not getting to share with her the experiences of weighing and measuring and just enjoying this new life in front of me. It was a teary moment but us men don't cry of course ;)



As soon as things started too seem like they where calming down Deb's family had arrived and Deb wasn't far from coming out of recovery. Knowing the hospital like the back of my hand (we had been here ALOT recently) it didn't take long to track down Deb's family given directions of we are in a waiting room on level 4 hehe. And than tracking down Deb was equally as easy ;)

I think everyone was a bit taken aback at their first visit down to see Seb in the intensive car nursery and him in his little hot box and the unexpected earliness of his arrival.



Onto the present and Seb is now six days old and going along great, as with all premature babies there are plenty of challenges that can and do arise along the way and whilst plenty of them are heart stoppers for all around him he is in the best care we can hope for. Seb has been in his hot box for a couple of days, had several drips in and out for various things and had a one man blue light disco (Jaundice) for a day.



The little guy is soldiering on like a tropper and getting stronger and stronger each day.

Mum is doing fantastic, she came home on Thursday and is expressing and breast feeding and whilst I can't even imagine how tough it easy I can see how much of a AWESOME job she is doing and how much Seb loves feeding times!

One crazy week, I'm sure there will be plenty more to come but it was good to get too the weekend and enjoy some sleep and a bit of relaxing time and some time just chilling with Deb and Seb, even if he does have to stay in the hospital for a little while longer.

Hopefully all going well he will be home within the next 10 days or so, whilst we miss him dearly and would love for him to be chilling in his cool Seb room we must also be patient and wait till the time is right. The Royal Womens have been fantastic thus far and all the staff are awesome, especially the Intensive Care Nursery staff are unbelievable in what must be an extremely tough job.

Thanks to all for the lovely wishes and support and we will continue to update (and probably bore) you all with pictures and videos and blogs when we can find some time.



Here's a reminder to the links (you can also get to any of these using the icons at the very bottom of the blog)

Blog: http://anewman13.blogspot.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/anewman_13/
Photos: http://picasaweb.google.com/anewman13/
Videos: http://www.youtube.com/anewman13/

It's A Boy! Sebastian Edward Newman

Blog has been very quiet of late as things have been pretty hectic around here.
Whilst he is a little early he has arrived!

Introducing at 45cm long, 2.4kg from Melbourne Victoria - the little guy Sebastian Edward Newman.



Born @ 12:57pm on the 30th November 2009.

Mother and Son (and Dad) are doing well.

Thanks to everyone for the lovely messages and for all your support.

Where Have I Been? - Issey & Basia Wedding Pic's

Well It's been a while since my last installment, normally a line like that would be followed with pages of what I've been doing, where I've been etc etc.

But this one is going to be quite brief.

The usual work, rest and play haha - here are some pictures from Issey and Basia's wedding from last night.

A lovely location and a good night had by all. Plenty of good food and of course alcohol for one - got to make the most of Deb being a dedicated driver whilst I can ;) Stayed up at Croydon at Deb's folks place which was about half an hour from the location of the wedding so saved a long drive home afterwards which was great.

Anyway for now enjoy the pictures. Will be back in the not too distant future for more updates.

Issey & Basia's Wedding

Big Wekeend of Bucks & Sport

Been a huge weekend for the KaneMan household. The AFL grand final always marks the start of the crazy time of year and the weekends start to fill up with BBQ's, Parties, and all other events (Spring Racing Carnival, Christmas Gatherings and the like).

This weekend enjoyed some Formula 1 live from Suzuka, Japan - one of the very few races that we get to watch in the middle of the day rather than the usual 10pm race start, midnight race finishes that we get accustomed too for the European stretch of the calendar.

Saturday night was Issey's bucks party which saw plenty of Meat, Beer, Poker and Playstation Racing taking place.



I didn't fair so well in the poker tourney, always tough when there are newbies betting on everything and getting more than their fare share of luck. Not to worry as the follow up poker games were alot more fun and playing for more than just a plaque ;) Took out the game that counted!

Plenty of racing on the full wall projector with the racing seat wheel setup was a lot of fun, even if the sight of bung leg man trying to get in and out was not pretty haha.








Today enjoyed a quiet recovery watching the Suzuka Formula 1, Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel got a much needed win to keep the chase alive.
Following the Formula 1 was the Ruby, Melbourne Storm vs Parramatta Eels. Storm played a great first half before the Eels showed some fighting spirit and made it a great contest in the second half. Storm held on for a gutsy 23-16 victory.

Well the body must adjust to this stupid thing called daylight savings, my one week of seeing some sunshine in the morning has come and gone and the return of darkness in the mornings is upon us. Hopefully a quiet week ahead before another crazy weekend approaches.

Test from iPhone

Yes I have jumped on the iPhone bandwagon. After holding out for nokia
to relese it's iPhone killer it wasn't to be as the n97 didn't cut the
mustard. Still a great phone but not enough to knock the iPhone and
especially the new faster 3gs.

So my first apple product enters my world and whilst it's early days
yet first impressions are very good, easy to use the app store is jam
packed with stuff a lot of it useless but there are some gems out there.

Will follow up after some more time with my new toy.

McDonalds Grand & Mighty Angus Burgers

I'm not big on McDonalds, would much prefer a home made burger any day of the week, but sometimes you just can't be stuffed. After a big AFL grand final day it was one such day where preparing dinner was the last thing we wanted to do, now our takeaways would normally consist of Noodle Box, Chinese, Thai Slovakia, Fish & Chips or Pizza.

Tonight however we decided to grab a smallish dinner from McDonalds, and I decided to try the much publicised Grand Angus Burger - McDonalds new gourmet burger. Now we all know McDonalds patties are pretty much the closest thing to cardboard one can consume, and the salad that comes with it would barely pass as salad if you served it up at home.

The first noticeable difference with the Grand Angus Burger was that there was a little bit of juiciness about the pattie, a good addition to the consumption of the burger but no doubt it is the increased fat content that would be within the Angus mince.

After all Angus meat is all about the fat marbling running through it (nothing like Wagyu or Kobe Beef but still some marbling). Now this is normally a good thing in your primal cuts, your Rump Steaks, Scotch Fillets, Rib Eyes etc. But in mince?!

Sure the burger or more to the point the pattie has a more prominent beef flavour which can only be a good thing, the main difference and good thing about these burgers is the soft sourdough buns and in my particular burger it seemed was fresh lettuce.

McDonalds is pushing these new burgers pretty hard, adding all the fancy stuff - Certified Australian Angus Beef, to back their new 'gourmet' burger. For me it was a welcomed flavour compared to the usual Big Mac but still far from a satisfying and healthy option. With so many REAL gourmet burger shops out there (Grilled & Urban Burger to name a few) one wonders if these over-priced McDonalds gourmet burgers will last.

To anyone still wondering if they should give it a go you may as well, you will definetly like it over the normal crappy Big Mac, but you'd be better off taking the time to make a nice burger at home. After all who can really trust this goofy looking guy below?


Ronald McDonald with a Angus Cow at the launch of the Grand & Mighty Angus Burgers.

New NBL Season Tips Off Tonight...

The National Basketball League (NBL) gets underway this afternoon with the first game of the season tipping off at 5:00pm (AEST) with New Zealand playing hosts to the Cairns Taipans live on Fox Sports.

The NBL has gone through some tough times and is still far from getting it's head above water and finding its new identity, but there are many positive signs around the league that things are heading in the right direction. There isn't much point going on about the past and the problems but focus more on the season that is upon us and the changes to the great game we love.

One of the biggest changes is the move to 10 minute quarters (previously 12 minutes) thus giving us a 40 minute game, moving the NBL in line with FIBA and the way the majority of the rest of the world play by (Excluding the NBA who run their own show and rules to boot).

The reduced game time will affect the game but exactly how probably wont be known until we start seeing some games, one would expect most teams will settle on the 8 main man rotation with the 9th and 10th men getting very little to no court time, barring injuries & foul trouble. This is nothing new to the league as this was very much the norm right up until the mid-late 90's, since the late 90's teams have pushed a more up-tempo style of play which saw the full squads getting used more and more.

The 10 minute quarters will hopefully see the up-tempo style stick around, if the pre-season is anything to go by there is no worries there the game has been fast and the points getting put on the board havn't been that far off last seasons 12 minute quarters.

Fox Sports is backing the season after a some pretty poor coverage last season, offering up 51 games live and introducing some new and hopefully fresh commentary to the team. Gone is John Cassey & Steve Carfino replaced with Brian Taylor and Dwayne Russel who will join former players Andrew Gaze and Shane Heal.

For a good preview of the teams and some predictions check out Shayne Hope's article from The West - Shayne Hope's NBL season Preview


National Basketball League official website - www.nbl.com.au
Fox Sports - Basketball - www.foxsports.com.au/basketball/
Hoops Forum - www.hoops.com.au



The Adelaide 36ers where one team that struggle to survive the off-season, a very real chance to be put to rest before a consortium of local business men saved the day - aptly named SOS.
Since taking charge SOS have made a lot of changes and definitely feels to the fans they are passionate about basketball and making the 36ers a success. Of course a lot of this success from a business perspective will rely on how the team does out on the court and with only a top four making the finals this season I predict it will be a tough fight between six clubs (New Zealand Breakers, Melbourne Tigers, Adelaide 36ers, Perth Wildcats, Townsville Crocodiles and Wollongong Hawks) to make the final four, the two clubs I see being off the mark are the Gold Coast Blaze and Cairns Taipans - n saying that they will still notch wins, I just can't see them seriously pushing for a top four spot, but the season is yet to begin and you never know.

The Sixers hopes will be riding a lot on their new import John Gilchrist who in pre season has shown some glimpses of brilliance, Gilchrist will be hard to stop going to the hoop, but it will be his distribution and his ability to play with those around him that will ultimately decide the Sixers fate. Hopefully not an issue will be the injury concern of the Sixers two important bigs in Adam Ballinger and Matt Burston. Both missed games last season due to injuries and both missed games in the pre-season which is a concern, hopefully they can hold up as they both play a important part in this Sixers squad.

The Sixers will look to honour the greatest player to have graced the Distinctive Homes Dome, so great in fact he has already had the court named after him - The Brett Maher Court in his final game. No doubt Mahers #5 will be retired (hopefully soon) and will take it's place alongside Mark Davis #33.

Check out the three youtube clips of Brett Maher Career Highlights.

Rehab Begins

So arthroscope has been and gone and a week passed, a return trip to the Surgeon for a further update to his scrounging around inside the knee.
Unfortuanetly the news wasn't as great as we had hoped pre-op and the first thought Meniscus tear was not present. Got some great happy snaps from inside the knee though and can at least tick off the list of things to do before I die - arthroscope done!

So where to now, Physiotherapy time. I may be a freak but my previous experience with Physio's from terrible ankles from Basketball and Indoor Soccer are nothing but good. Sure it's painful when they seem to be pushing and prodding in ways that the affected body part is telling you shouldn't be happening, but the relief and feeling afterwards is always one of reward, the road to recovery. Of course a few hours later and that quickly disappears and it's back to the injury pain.

So Physio we go and the knee/leg get's one hell of a workout, aggressive approach is thrown around a lot in the first session and whilst it all sounds great to getting back to normal as quickly as possible it is by no means an easy feat.

The improvement is good but it's going to be a long hard road ahead. Bring on plenty of leg lifts, curls, exercise bike and pool walking.

In between all this will be some relaxation time in the month of sport with the ongoing off-track drama of Formula 1, the AFL finals in full flight, the NRL finals just starting to heat up and the new NBL season less than two weeks away one can only wonder who needs to walk anyway, TV is the place to be.

Greatest To Play The Game - #23

Today three great players of the game we love (Basketball for those not in the know) were inducted into the NBA Hall of Fame. The greatest player to have ever played MJ - Michael Jordan (Chicago Bulls), The Admiral - David Robinson (San Antonio Spurs) and Mr Short Shorts - John Stockton (Utah Jazz). Much of my childhood was watching these guys along with other such legends of the time battling it out on the hardwood, a time dominated by Jordan and his Bulls, a time that saw basketball booming in Australia, Upper Deck basketball card trading, Starter and Champion attire and late night replays on channel 10.

All three guys were legends of the game and all equally earned their spot in the Basketball Hall of Fame.



These legends of the game are a dying bread in team sport games, playing their entire career with the one club and showing a true desire to win not just for themselves but for their team-mates, the team, the city and for the fans. These qualities are fast disappearing in the modern sports star as we see time and time again players playing for contracts.

Michael Jordan has rightly been labelled the greatest player to ever grace the pine and that title may well never be taken away from him, a dominance, an ability above and beyond the rest of his competitors that we may never see in any sport, a true determination to win every single time he competed.

I'll leave you with some Jordan ads from you tube.

The Healing Begins

An exciting day at the Epworth Hospital for the arthroscope on my right knee - finally!
Was alot of waiting around for each step of the stage and the same twenty questions getting asked over and over again, do you smoke are you a heavy drinker do you suffer from any allergic reactions are you diabetic etc etc. The ongoing barrage of the same questions over and over again was almost like I must look like I fall into one of the stereotypical categories, or is it just uncommon these days for someone not to be a smoker, heavy drinker or have an allergic reaction to something in some way shape or form, sorry to disappoint ;)

The staff were extremely friendly and seemed to enjoy doing their job, although a little strange having a 40 year old male nurse shaving my leg and enjoying it...

After all the pre-op stuff took place, robe'ing up, getting right knee shaved, texta markings it was time to settle in for the wait, seems I was last on the list for the day so kicked back relaxed in my sexy get-up and watched the ever exciting daytime tv. Do people seriously watch shows like Ellen, The View and Bold & the Beautiful?! Utter Crap! Managed to read the Herald Sun & The Age word for word, even studying every ad in the papers oh the joy.

Finally at 3pm get taken in and setup on a pre-warmed bed - god damn these things are comfy! And another 30 minute wait watching some more crappy TV until finally the doc comes in (Doctor Bruce R.T. Love - cool name that) and lets me know he's only a few minutes from being ready. Had a brief chat to the nurse and doctors assistant and they both commented on how particular Doctor Love is which is good news for me but makes their job always more difficult (sorry ladies, but I'm more interested in the Doc being particular about my knee than making your jobs easier).

Wheeled into the theatre and it has one of the best views you could get of the city (see picture to the right, from inside recovery not theatre but similar views just not floor to ceiling windows), overlooking to the left the MCG and straight ahead the city skyscrapers, this whole side of the theatre was three floor to ceiling windows just a complete glass wall, really hope they don't take in the sights whilst operating!




Within thirty seconds of getting wheeled into the theatre it was lights out time and awoke in recovery with an equally stunning view. After a few moment of hot and cold flushes some water and a bit more of the good stuff (mm morphine) it was time to settle in for a bit more a snooze (See pic to the left in recovery, great blur effect there too). Not entirely sure but think I was in recovery for about an hour and a half before waking up properly and downing a can of lemonade and two sandwiches whilst enjoying the sunset and the view of peak hour moving around in front of me.



Not before long Deb was there to pick me up and take me back home. It was a long and painful night with a deep throb in the leg all night and very little sleep but all is well and the recovery is in full swing. A visit to the Doc next Tuesday and one would imagine some more exercises than just straight leg lifts and we'll be back to normal in no time.

How To Assemble A Pram

Building things is always fun but not always easy, made even more difficult being restricted to one working leg and the other that is more like a paperweight I'm dragging around at the moment.
The Jeep Urban 4 Wheeler comes in a fairly compact box, so our first assumption was there would be a fair bit of assembling required. A fun night of pram building watching Harry Potter are we parents yet? :)


Removing from the box was easy enough and to our surprise the majority of the pram comes pre-assembled. All that was required was the rear axle and braking mechanism to be attached, the wheels to be put on including little Jeep hubcabs. Attach the front bumper and lastly the drink's tray for the big people and walla we have ourselves a pram.


Deciding on which pram to buy was a much tougher ask. So many options each supposedly better than the last one. We decided on a mid-range priced one that offers plenty of storage, has good stability and looked somewhat comfy and of course key to the list was the weight, easy of folding away and how compact it becomes.



Still plenty of more things to build and do, but things will slow down over the next couple of weeks with the arthroscope finally approaching next Tuesday.

The Pain...

It's been four weeks now since I had my rumble with the peaks of the Remarkable mountains in New Zealand and still another two weeks until I finally get in for an arthroscope. The knee seems to have somewhat settled down, although walking is still a challenge and an interesting sight whilst sleeping is a one sided non-moving affair. For someone who likes to move about sleeping is not an easy task!

Mt. Remarkable - New Zealand

While I'm somewhat down and out what better time to get the blood bubble removed from my

head, nothing serious just more annoying than anything (well for the hairdresser - Deb :).

Was a weird experience firstly Doctor Peter Mangos who looked ohh so familiar to me and remarkably he mentioned it straight away as well - I'll remember a face but names forget about it - we agreed that we must have met in another world. The Doc was great and

did what he had to do, albeit six stitches to the head later and a drowsy afternoon.

The weekend was interesting with the pain switching between head and knee and me pondering which was going to make me crazier. Nothing unbearable, more of a nuisance and frustrating. Especially since we are slowly purchasing the goodies for the baby and I'm itching to start putting them together and setting up the baby's room (refuse to call it the Nursery - more on setting up in a future post, when I actually start).

The head is slowly healing and the waiting game is on until the new date for the arthroscope which is now 8th September and than the rehab begins.

I've entered the world of blogging

After reading blogs on a daily basis for a few years now I've finally decided to enter the world of blogging. Why you may ask? This is the very question I am asking myself right now, will anyone read this blog, does it mater if they do or don't what will my blog contain?

Well for most part it will just be a rundown of my life, life with my partner and our expecting son (Jan 10).

Who knows what it may evolve into, I'm sure there will be plenty of sport mentioned (Basketball, Formula 1, AFL, Soccer, Tennis), some techno gadgets and some gaming (Pc & PS3) talked about somewhere along the way as well.

For now though we will leave this as a little introduction and see where the road takes us.

Updates will be purely random, whilst I'm a big fan of planing, I'm not big on schedule/routine.

Cheers for now.