January
This has got to be one of our busiest months ever. Surprisingly, we're feeling good about keeping up on this blog thing, despite it all.

To recap:

• Of course, January started out with some serious fireworks.
• Two scheduled hospital trips for Ella's sake.
• One unscheduled hospital trip to welcome Mattias (more fireworks).
• A birthday bash for Jeff (we're not soon forgetting that banana-split brownie sundae).
• A couple evening outings and a hockey game for some entertainment.
• Two trips for Jeff: Malmö, Sweden for work last week & in Copenhagen, Denmark (now)for friend's funeral
  

We also have had our share of bureaucracy...

• May, Mattias and Jeff visited the US Embassy to apply for:
• Mattias' "Consular Report of Birth Abroad" (ask Jeff K), which let us apply for...
• Mattias' social security number, and
• Mattias' US passport (just got it back today - what a cute picture)
  

Property Tax Forms
Added to the above, there was the 2-page property tax form, to be submitted by end of January. Luckily we learned about it a few days ago, which gave us time to get help. Submitted it today.
Gotta say - you think tax forms are hard? Try them in a different language, under such a deadline. Obviously we took great advantage of local help with this one.
Annual taxes for our new flat? Just under 600 Czech koruna ...about $30.

Visa Extensions + 1
Then, tomorrow morning we have our meeting with PricewaterhouseCoopers for our (long-term residency) visa extensions. This meeting is done each year and requires significant documentation prep. and getting pics.
For 2008 we also tacked on our newest family member who needs a long-term visa.

Lastly, and this is where we miss and love our friends & family dearly: Care Packages.
We know we've been so very quiet in e-mail and phone calls, but we hope all can be forgiven.
We guess we're writing this to mostly explain our quietness. Blog entries reach all of you, but we know we really need to touch base with each of you individually, too.

Love you all lots, us 4

Oh, we got a laugh out of this. Here, we receive notices to pick up packages at the post office.
In our mailbox we just got the notice slips in the picture. Typically, it's "last name, first name" like you see in the left slip (a registered letter).
How is it on the right slip? Well, our package must be addressed to: The Whole Parker Crew
...hence the notice slip is for "Parkercrew, Thewhole"
:)

More Photos...

Yeah, I guess it's the lazy way to blog, but we know it makes some of you content :)


Now, one of dad's favorite pics

[If he wasn't my boy, I'd say this is one ugly baby.] ...Awwww, isn't heeee cuuuuute???
Ella & Yaya
Time for bed.

JUST SOME PHOTOS ....


Sure to be an all-time favorite...


These are of our new stroller...a Phil&Ted's E3! WOOHOO! We love it! THANKS, FAM!!!!! (Ella and Mattias ride double-decker style.)

What a weekend - if only May were there.

We had a great weekend. At least, most of us did. Maylia stayed home with our 2-week old Mattias and Ella. With each outing, we felt bad coming back to brag ..., so we'll write about it.


Friday - puppet show
I'll just quote what May said last January: we went to a puppet show put on by international puppeteers who had come to Prague to take a two week course in wooden marionette construction.
This time, it was Bev & I. What a big difference from last year. Last year, Ella was shy and about the quietest kid in the room. This year, Ella had questions and running commentary throughout the show. "Here comes the kitty puppet." ... "is the kitty going to talk?" ... "what are they going to do now?" ... "Wow, he likes the lady, right?"


Saturday evening - Jazz at Agharta (AghaRTA)
Bill, Bev and I went out to watch our friend, Lukas (bass guitar) and his band play at a swanky Jazz club right off Old Town Square. Wish one of us thought to bring a camera. Suffice to say, Lukas played great, the singer was beautiful and the pianist reminded Bill of the movie Shine. :) Wish we had that camera...


Sunday - Hockey Game
It was Sparta vs. Slavia -- that says it all here.
This is the Prague rivalry. The Czech equivalent to Red Sox vs. Yankees, Bears vs. the Packers, Stewart vs. Kenseth (that's NASCAR for anyone besides Pounder)
These two teams exist to beat each other. While the football (soccer) teams definitely show their hatred more, the hockey game included a few brawls, too.
We may not be Czech, but the excitement level (rivalry, hatred, fanaticism) was high. People were hyped.

We had the game -and we had the seats. With the help of former neighbor Roberto, Bill and I found ourselves on the VIP level - complete with catering and all the beer you could drink. It was a 2 hours of fun boys-night-out time.
And then it became Monday - off to work. For now, some pictures:

Puppet show

Ella's favorite. She insisted on giving it hugs and kisses after the show, until people started filming her.




Hockey Game

The boys: Roberto, Bill & IWhat a score! - Slavia 5, Sparta 7.
I am a Sparta fan, mostly because our place is very near Sparta football arena.
So, Bill & I were happy; Robert, a Slavia fan, was not.

The food was as good as a buffet can get.
What the ...? Two pairs of girls, presumed chilly, come out to "clean" the goals a few times per period.

Ella's just now coming off of her sugar high...

A couple days ago I promised some pictures from our birthday banana-split brownie sundae. Here they are.

Everyone's smiling at the camera. Except Ella. She's smiling at her sundae...


Let's try again, but we have to get Ella's attention off the sundae...

"Enough pictures ... Can we eat sundae now?"

Good stuff?
Damn, that's some good stuff!!

Alas...what goes up, must come down. Nap time soon. Real soon.
(Ella will not be happy someday that I posted this picture)

What was in this sundae?

• banana



• brownies made with marshmallow bits



• Toffee ice cream



• Nutella (devilishly good chocolate spread)



• homemade berry sauce



• topped with walnuts

It. Was. Real. Good.

Happy Birthday to me

Thank you all for your cards, your wishes, e-mails, voice mails, and even your singing.
All very much appreciated!

-jeff

p.s. Somehow, for yet another year, I'm remain younger than our dear Jeff K. in ManchVegas.

p.p.s. Bev concocted a delicious brownie banana split. I'll post pictures later of how much Ella enjoyed hers.

Ella: a Clean Bill of Health

Moving back from the new kid to the old kid ...remember Ella had pneumonia?
In an older post, we mentioned we'd have our follow-up appointment yesterday. We did have it and Ella is officially 100% better.

Yaya (May's mom), Jeff and Kristyna took Ella to the doctor's. (May and Mattias stayed home.)
It was a fairly quick visit, only about an hour or so from beginning to end.

The doctor asked how she's been doing (pretty well lately, except restless being cooped up all day for 2 weeks).

The doctor listened to her chest and said she sounded clear. But they decided another x-ray would be best to rule out any doubt. It came back fine.

So, she's not contagious (that's "nakažlivý" in Czech just in case you need that) and we can stop the meds. All's good!

So, we went outside for a good swing ... (click play on video below)

Mattias and Mom are Home

Hospital Stay
Wednesday afternoon I picked up May and 'our boy' (Kit: remember Mr. Kong?) after the last bit of paperwork to prepare for birth certificate registration and paid our bill.
Incidentally, costs were 60 Kc (~$3) per day for each May and Mattias. So, in countries fortunate enough to have socialized medicine, about 360 Kc or $20 will get you a baby. Being foreigners, we also opted for the "above standard," private room, for an additional 3,550 Kc (~$200) for the 3 days. Maylia spent about 4 hours in the standard room - Oh so worth it.

"Okay ...we're ready."

We're home!!
We called when we were still 10 minutes from home to let Yaya and Ella know we're coming.
Ella was pretty excited to see her brother again.
Yaya (Maylia's mom) holding her grandson - first boy in the extended Kempt family

Couple videos...

Still at hospital.



At home.

PICS

(The "Before" shot, taken Saturday afternoon)

First Picture

Ella's reaction to "Remember we told you ... Well, mommy's baby jumped out! Want to go see him? See your baby brother?"

Open May's door ... "Hi mommy!!"

Ella seeing Mattias first time
"Can I touch him?"

(...one almost-poke-in-the-eyes later...try again...)

Awwww....

It's a Boy!!

Welcome to the World, Mattias Kempt Parker.
You're 7 lbs (measured at 3.13 kg), stretching to 19" (48 cm) and quite handsome.

May is doing great. Amazing ...she decided going in that she wanted to have no meds - I want to have this one completely natural.
Luckily for her, there was also no time for meds. Mattias was born in less than an hour. To sum up, it was "Push, push, push -pop- wow, a baby!"
We decided at 2:00 AM to leave home for the hospital.
Taxi waiting outside at 2:10 AM. Through freezing rain, our driver, Jan Zima (funny since that's almost literally Jack Frost), drove us very slowly to our hospital -took over 30 minutes.
At 3:15 AM, the doctor said, "Yes, you're ready."
By 4:00 AM, we had a son.

Almost looked easy. ...no.

Look at that devil... ain't he cute?

Ella's reaction to gaining a new baby brother:

Update about Ella

I (Jeff) wasn't there at the girls' visit yesterday, but I've got time to post a couple words about it.

Quick story: Ella's recovery is slow. X-ray still summed as "not good." Next appointment on Friday, 11 January. Stay on meds; no time allowed outside.

Longer story:
It sounds like it was a very trying time at the hospital. Their wait for an x-ray alone was over an hour ("forever," as May said several times).

Ella was overtired and sick (= hyper and cranky), with no toys to occupy her. Several folks waiting around on stretchers and in wheelchairs made it all the stranger for Ella.

To complicate things, Czech Republic started a new co-pay system from 1 Jan 2008. The added paperwork/legwork caught Maylia unaware. Instead of getting her x-ray picture, she got a slip of paper she couldn't understand and few people were willing to explain to her. Finally, she understood to return outside, to pay a 30 Kc ($1.50) at a machine, to get her paper slip validated.

Lastly, instead of getting their x-ray picture like last time, the results were interpreted by a technician and written down on a note for May to return to the doctor. The doctor was new to Ella and didn't have the older x-ray (or see the newer one), for comparison.
Only reading the note, the doctor summed up to Maylia: "not good." ...okay.
Sounds like it was a frustrating and unwelcome visit.

Next follow-up is next Friday, 11 Jan. I will be at that appointment, and with our nanny, Kristyna. Not to mention, it's real likely May will give birth by the 11th.

So, more news after the 11th.

-Jeff

New Year's Craziness

A little after 11pm, Yaya and Jeff ventured out to watch fireworks while May stayed home with Ella.

First we went to the edge of Letna Park, looking out over the city.
Pretty, but not so exciting.

Then we went across the bridge into downtown, to Old Town Square.
Much more exciting. There was some sort of loud, laser-light show going on, but still lacking on being in the middle of the fireworks.

Finally, throwing all caution to the wind, we continued to Wenceslas Square. This is the place everyone warns against going to for New Year's Eve, lest you have a death wish.
So, naturally we went.

In Wenceslas Square, more so than anywhere else, people launch their big fireworks from within the crowds.

VIDEOS
This video is us at the lower end of Wenceslas Square. A close call at ~40 seconds. We stayed at the lower (safer) end of the square at first, but edged to the middle as it got closer to midnight. What an adrenaline rush.




Occasionally, rockets go sideways into the buildings & crowd or just explode at ground level (see next video at ~10 seconds). It's nuts.



Last video - we are as far up Wenceslas Square as we're willing to go.


Flashback: Last year at New Year's Eve, we watched fireworks at the Castle. We walked home, passing Wenceslas Square around 3am - it was a war zone (yup, bordering on melodramatic): asphalt was charred, champagne bottles lying about, crowds of drunks stumbling into each other -- your typical war zone. :)