So Al recently got his first real bike, a rather mad Suzuki DR650. Mainly been for commuting to work. On 31 Aug though Al didn’t feel quite right leaving home on the bike. Skipping breaky and dinna the night before didn’t help!

This is a long noodle, really something I had to start getting out for myself?

Turned first corner. Head not right. But I think, I’ll be right and keep going.

Turn second corner (stupid!). Really not feeling right. Now it’s too late. Blackout! Slump on bike which now steers where it wants to steer. Probably accelerates at the same time! Bike veers across the road. Thrown off bike into steel fence. Must have hit knees first.

Come too. In that state of “shock” you’ll know about if you’ve been in an accident before. Ambulance here. Pretty fast for Darwin (we have only 4-5 on the road at any time in the whole Darwin region!). They are cutting out my clothes and bike gear.  I remember thinking my new helmet is trashed already!

Zoe arrives. She is comforting me. I wonder what she is thinking.

Finally they get me into the ambo and out to Darwin Hospital.  Blood tests, catheter, morphine pump, jelcos, drips, needles etc etc. Many x-rays. Most injuries from hip down.

Main Damage Report:

- Right hip. Ball socket joint, ball split in half then flipped 180!

- 3 Pelvis fractures, one a big bugger

- Femur (upper leg) and patella (knees) smashed on both legs.

- Tibula (lower leg) broken on left leg

- Other damage like small rib fractures, hand fracture, external bruising etc, trauma around kidneys…

Stay overnight. Next day the docs say I’m best to go to Adelaide for the surgery. So they fly me there that night in a dedicated medical jet. Eventually end up in Adelaide “Step down” ward, get monitored plenty here.

Zoe, Mum, Mia and Eli fly down the next day. Dad drives over from Melbourne.

Adelaide is slow and painful at first. They want to do all the xrays and scans again. They say I’m really unstable. Temp, pulse etc jumping around. Soon I meet a surgeon “Tony Pohl”.  He’s a key reason I’m in Adelaide – very experienced and well known orthopedic surgeon. Also a really nice guy. He books me for surgery the next day.

Next day (Wed Sep 2) operation goes ahead. Tony mends hip ball with 3 “nails” and puts it back in place. If the ball regrows blood vessels it may live, otherwise hip replacement would be needed. You can guess where my hope lies! Also stabilises both legs with external “fixtures”. Robot type look, feral metal braces going through leg to hold it together!

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Come too feeling a little better around hip. Taking a lot of pain killer drugs. Legs swollen massively, you would not believe they could swell so much. 3X size! I don’t know how the skin stretched so far! Zoe needed help from a nurse after seeing it. We have no photo of that feralness which is a good thing!

Time passes. Given a lot of blood (thankyou whoever donated it!). Blood sample taken 1-3 times a day. Still plenty of tubes. Drain tube from hip. More x-rays.

Moved to orthopedic ward. Dirty, ugly room, but the plus is I got my own room! Nurses very good and they make all the difference when you are stuck in bed, unable to move.

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Right leg operation scheduled for following Friday (Sep 11). Dr Pohl has gone to consult at Darwin RDH hospital for a few weeks. Another great surgeon, “Chris” does my leg. External fixture removed (very good!) Plates and screws from knees up towards hip. Used wire to hold the knee together! Another ~7 hour operation. leg swells some more. Need more blood. Over next few days leg does a lot of draining.

Messages of kindness. Generosity. Plenty of visitors in Adelaide, many unexpected! Family, new and old friends all encourage and help us to move on. We come to know God is with us in all this crap.

Zoe not getting much sleep, Eli won’t sleep where they are staying. My folks helping as much as they can. Her mum also flies down for a week to help her out.

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Left leg ready to go. Booked Tue Sep 15. Similar to right leg operation except plates and screws extend to lower leg! No wire needed thankfully. Again really knocked about for a few days after the op. Need yet more blood! Must be a total of 8 bags (4 litres) now?

Recovery continues. Can’t move legs at all, other than to twitch knees up and push them down into the bed. Limited to 30 degrees at the hip, so everything really happens on my back, from eating,  brushing teeth, etc (you can imagine the rest).

When on your back like this, they want to prevent you from getting blood clots (very dangerous), so they do weird stuff to help with that. This includes powered slippers that “pump” the soles of your feet 24/7, blood thinner injection and pill drugs, tight “TED” stockings.

Fevers won’t go away still. Been breaking into massive sweats about 4 times a day. One temp reading was 40.5. Panadol critical to keepem under control. Main form of pain kill is oxycodone. Scripted for up to 30ml every 2+ hours, usually take 20ml now. Earlier 10ml was enough, but by now have got pretty immune  to the stuff. Main side effect I notice at this stage is tiredness – they put you to sleep quick. Later I find out it also causes the sweating.

50/50 on if I need a Pelvis operation. Works out well, as Dr Pohl, a pelvis expert is still in Darwin. Once my fevers settle a bit, they are happy to send me to Royal Darwin Hospital. If I need the pelvis operation he can do it there. We are keen to get home. I think especially Zoe, it seems she hasn’t slept for weeks. She gets a flight back on Tue Sep 22.

Comfort from God (for the first time in a long time I really know God is with us, grieving with us, supporting us….). Family. Friends……

Noodle and Spam have been neglected but not forgotten ! Our boy Eli was born on May 6 on the couch in Wagaman !

Read on for more Noodle and Spam updates, hot off the press many months ago !

Well it wasn’t so long ago that Al and Zoe were loving Manning gorge in the Kimberley’s. And funnily enough some time later (maybe 9 months at a rough guess) Eli Manning Nelson is born!

Our gorgeous little fella is doing REALLY well.

Mia Moos is being a BERY BERY good older sista.

He loves a feed and drains his Mum on a regular basis. He has no plans on being annorexic!

He sleeps well in his hammock and now at 3 months old isn’t scared to suck stuff.

We had a home birth this time around and would not hesitate to do it again ! Our midwives were amazing and it was sweet being home the whole time, better than any hospital! Bonus is it so much easier to store his placenta in the freezer for later use!

Eli had just a few weeks living in our Darwin (Wagaman) pad. Motel Wagaman was too come to a close however.

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Stay tuned for more exciting news from Noodle and Spam!

- Did Aldoofbanga get a scooter?

- Is Rogi still a fat dog?

- What happens if you cross the Berrimah line?

- Why does Zoe call herself the “Dominator” ?

- What happened to all the doof ?

- Is there still bush?

- Is Moo a professional singer and dancer?

Eli finds this all very funny…

But for now, time to catch a kippa, the weather in Darwin is too good…

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bush trips, moo trips, wateringhole trips, chook trips and other types of trips happen in the last months. But there comes a time when Noodle And Spam needs to be updated with out latest shenanigans.

August was Noodle and Spam’s Kimberley’s Holiday ! Actually Harsh and Rogi got ripped off they had to stay in Darwin. Luckily for them they were treated to 5 STAR luxury with our mate Donsie.

WARNING: Please get very comfortable. This is a record large Noodle And Spam blog, if you read it standing up you might get dodgy knees.

So we kicked off the trip yuppy style at Douglas Hot Springs, a sweet little national park between Pine Creek and Katherine where very hot springs meet the cooler douglas river, there’s water to suit everyone at this place.

Also a bath temperature billabong! And only one croc found in that billabong this year too, our mate Emily can testify to that!

It is always hard to leave Douglas but we got our butts into Katherine and got Moo’s a bargain $10 downing doona from Target Country. Moos was very excited about this as we hadn’t brought her sufficient warm bedding for her swag. Now with a happy Moo we headed towards Kunanurra along the Victoria Highway.  Near Victoria River we found a mad 4wd dodgy camp, the roadside stops were jam packed full of grey nomads so the doof bangas were happy to get some space.

Mia Moo discovered the madness of headlamps here as well, this brought a brief tear to Dad’s eyes! Next off we go to Keep River national park, a beautiful park in west NT just before the WA border. It has so much – bungle like ranges, savannah woodlands, tropical vies, crocs, indigenous art, grey nomads, britz vans, etc. Talking to the ranger guaranteed the cane toads will hit Keep River this coming Wet season, so we were stoked to see it before it gets toadtrashed.

Next we meet Al’s folks in Katherine and good mates Chip and Fi who moved there last year. Chipa knows how to get a really nice boat and take you on a custom black market charter cruise down the Ord. Can not be denied:

We then hit the Gibb and headed into the tasty El Questro park in East Kimberley. We got one of the private camps, a lush spot on the river and a mad base for zebedee thermal springs, moonshine gorge, the best trail riding we ever did, emma gorge and ice milks from the El Questro canteen. Oh and a bottle of cointreau which we forgot in Kunanurra, Al and Zo were very excited to get that for some Kimberley LA DE DA times.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Dad was sadly a bit too soft to take his spanking new hilux up the Kalumbaru Rd, so from here we bonvoyared Al’s folks and headed off alone. The next set of highlights was the bar at Drysdale Station, the grader bloke there who told us about a mad private billabong camp, the tourist bull ball bag stubby holder that Al got (it still stinks like a wet bull and harsh tries to eat it. Al likes it because it makes him feel tuff).

Mitchell Plateau falls (WOW) !

Mitchell falls was a beautiful walk, great falls and heaps of really good rock art. And helicopters! In fact the whole region is chockas full of kimberley indigenous rock art and a zillion grey nomads towing stuff that shouldnt be towed there! And lots of rocks too actually. Al and Moos love the rocks, except for the ones all over the Mitchell Falls road. We got very excited at this point and had no option other than to dress up.

Next we head to Kalumbaru. Got some needed supplies including a classic old mans straw hat for Al, as his hat now had more gaffa than straw holding it together. McGowans Islands camp beach past Kalumbaru was amazing.. Unfortunately we stayed at Honeymoon Bay which looked mad at night but that’s all about we have to say about that joint at Kalumbaru ! It was great seeing a patch of kimberley coast. You gotta have a boat to really see it though, there’s hardly any public roads.

After finishing up at Kalumbaru (getting Zoe a shower at McGowans beach saved Al’s life !) we headed back down to the Gibb and on to Manning Gorge. Third time Al’s been here but never get sick of it. Can’t remember them doing this in the past, but now they provide eskies and tubes to cross the river wth ya stuff in style on the way in !

Click here to view the embedded video.

Zoe got offered a job to take over the running of the camp ground, but she decided to pass the offer for now. Al had to bury the bonnet, the gaffa could no longer hold it together. He was a bit devo’d at this, now he has to wear the kalumbaru straw hat which aint the same.

Click here to view the embedded video.

We could have stayed at Manning for a very long time. But instead we continued on the trip, visiting other gorges (Gavin, Adcock, Bell) and hunting Boab Nuts for Mia’s first birthday (ssshhhh!).

Some more quality free bush camping.

And then from Bell Gorge we turn off the Gibb towards Fitzroy Crossing. Still can’t get that Boab Nut! The buggers constantly smash. We are learning though, I promise. So we check out tunnel creek…

Tunnel creek was dark, cold and full of bats, what more could you ask for when you are going harsh in the bush!

Next we stay in Fitzroy Crossing for a night then head back towards Kunanurra to celebrate Mia Moo’s 1st birthday ! Stay tuned for the next episode of Noodle and Spam !

As a final bonus value because we know you want it here are some of our camp sites from the trip:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Le See Les You Later

Al & Zo

Please meet Henry (the bush doof chicken), Girmy (the Girman) and EggMan (the EggMaam).

Our amazing egg popping creatures…

They are laying daily golden eggs. Harsh does not seem to respect them though, poor Girmy has been traumitised by Harsh a few times and you can find feathers all around our yard. Luckily no blood spilt yet and the Girmy survives.

Henry, Girmy and EggMan enjoy eating like fat bastards all day, sleeping at night, destroying banana trees and dropping chicken turdies in strange locations.

That is all for this short, but important episode of Noodle and Spam.

Mt Bundy Station is just outside Adelaide River 1hr south of Darwin.

Feb 8 2008 marked our special day and we did an NT style homestay B&B at Mt Bundy. . .

Zobe had a mad time horse riding in the monsoon, the trail riding is really good around Mt Bundy Station.

Beautiful and green in Feb too.

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At the homestay the family put on a some mad feasts, and pretty much left us to use the home however we liked…

Their little girl Casey had a ridiculously cute rescued rock wallaby, Zobe fell in love with it !

The farm is really a tourist/hobby farm, with horses, pigs, dogs, etc. They are also farming buff though.

Beautiful view over the farm looking towards Adelaide River from our balcony in the middle here..

Al loved the Monsoon. We went for a cruise down Dorat road, a scenic route near Adelaide river. The rain was rising, the next day we found out they closed Dorat Rd not long after we left it ! No surprise, even on the bitumen we did heaps of river crossings, water and falls were pumping everywhere.

One of our fave camp sites, Robin Falls, the site where we normally camped was completely flooded! This caused Al to start hullicinating as you can see below.

Adelaide River pub put on a decent feed and we got a token NT pub family snap here. Our friend and mascot, Moses the green tree frog also asked if he could have some fame time on Noodle and Spam, here you go Moses this one is for you mate.

More Noodling coming soon to catchup with the times ahead !

OO
Al and Zoe

PS Hookup times to Bomber and Kel from Groote Eylandt, big Noodle and Spam fans who tied the knot in Melbourne this same weekend ! Congrats guys…

PPS Zobe put on a mad surprise doof for Al’s birfday hosted at generous Col’s joint. The cake was so special in needs to be recorded here on the internet forever ! :

Lets start at the very beginning, a very good place to start…

Well the last time we blogged we had done the mission to Litchfield, Mrs Harshess tore from arsehole to breakfast and we were trying to conquer the mighty Mia Moo.

Heaps has changed since then, Mia is now over 5 months old and we have all regained some mojo, reflux has gone and zzz’s are abounding. She is the most edible thing ever and to be honest it is hard not to have fifty million pictures of just her but we are trying… so bear with us

Okay well November we headed down to sunny, freezing, windy and crazy sporatic Melbourne town to see our mate Rach marry this top bloke Ben, it was a great wedding with many tears shed by us all… Miss Logan is now Mrs Abbott (or RAbbott) Massive congratulations you two! Miss you already!!

Back up north we got another wet season visitor(s) “I will huff and I will puff and I will bite yo aise down…”

Mrs Wolf Spider (complete with 7 million, 283 thousand and 39 baby a hole’s) exploded into our little house. Meeemories!

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Christmas we headed to where else but Queensland, to spend some quality time with my Mum, stepDad Billy, Lou and rest of the lot. It was a good week, swimming in the pool, riding Mum’s moped, getting thrashed at the interactive DVD of Temptation (one of my Christmas presents) and generally hanging out and trying not to kill each other

Mia got enough presents to support a country in Africa and we all enjoyed much fish and good amounts of food cooked by Bill…

Back to Darwin, where we got the privilage of experiencing communal living when Cyclone Helen arrived. And I remember why I don’t share house anymore. Al, Zoe, Mia, Rogi and Harsh all in one room…very scary and pretty exciting too. It was quite mild by the time it hit Darwin but it makes you feel very vunerable. You could tell that we were newbies to Darwin as we cyclone proofed the whole house and garden and no one else moved anything. Nada, nothing. If one did hit we would have been destroyed by our neighbouring missiles!

Locals don’t budge until it is at least a catagory 3 or more…
For New Years we headed out to a suburban house doof, Darwin style and rocked out til the wee hours… AHH New Years in Darwin. We went alot harder this year than the year previous… which was impressive with our new addition. Mia fell asleep on the dance floor with cotton wool in her ears and a tshirt wrapped around her head!

New Years morning I found out that my old man had a heart attack, so plans were made to head back to Melbourne. Just for the record he is fine, not planning on changing his 50 a day habit in the near future but still doing really well considering how much he continually punishes his body!

So early Jan I was back in Melbourne town trying not to catch diseases from cleaning this…

I didn’t suceed… at cleaning that is…but managed to not catch too many diseases

Oh well moving on…

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One bonus was that I got to spend some quality time with my dear mate Sahra and her two kids… gotta watch us out in the burbs we breed like rabbits! Yo inner city yupi’s should be afraid, very afraid… we are coming to a neighbourhood near you so watch out…

We then had Allan’s 60th birthday BONANZA. No seriously, it was a bonanza, maybe not just a birthday, more of a carnival?! Some of the features included:

Live music

Video production (see it here if you like, in 3 parts on youtube)

Margie singing solo (made us all cry – for good reasons!)

Motorcycle madness

and the most special of all

Allan and Margie’s renewed their wedding vows… very romantic, complete with ring bling and more tears

Australia Day the we spent the weekend up to our neck in water of one description or another… since Helen nicked off we have been blessed with much humidity and not much rain… rad… so we all headed out bush to Robin Falls for a mad day trip. (Check out Mrs Harshess’ new clothes!)

Robin Falls was beautiful, very full of water, no crocs, puppy dog and Mia Moo friendly… they also have many ‘friendly march flies’ for some added ‘vibe’

Click here to view the embedded video.

The day was stiiiinkin, but we all survived!

So all in all, we have been keeping out of trouble… baking cupcakes with the neighbours and generally enjoying life whilst getting cained by the weather and avoiding getting biten by Wolf Spiders, march flies, mozzies, midgies, fleas, ticks and the occasional frilly…

Hows the serenity…

Al, Zoe, Mia, eRogenous, Mr Noooodle, hipi the green tree frog and germi the gecko xox

You probably guessed we’ve been cracking the Moo code in the last few months.

Of course there is always something exciting to read about on Noodle And Spam so please grab yourself a patch of grass…

Of course we are loving being a Mum and Dad Doofbangas. Mia is so precious and it’s sometimes still hard to believe she is our daughter! Some of you know she has reflux, and it is really an answer to prayer that we found out this so early. And I think God is using it to teach us about patience ! Wow patience that is a trippy concept for Al !

Al has found there’s completely different battle strategies needed to chill her out. For Zoe, a pat on the shoulder works. For Al, he can get her asleep by pumping her full of drugs and tying her upside down in her cot when there is a full moon and 7 green tree frogs dancing on the edge of the cot.

We’ve had some of Zo’s family come visit. Glenys and Billy gave and stayed in town. Lou (Zobe’s sister) and her son Josh also visited last weekend. I think Billy fished every day, and he did pretty well too ! Billy is much better at fishing than playing Skipbo in case you wanted to know. Brought us home a delicious muddy one night and some barra.

Zo took Glen to Berry Springs with Moo and that was actually a mad time for them.

Moo has been growing and is really healthy. She has a smile that destoys us. I guess every parent knows about this.

Sometimes her eye go wide and she goes very, very still. We have learnt this is when she is making contact with Aliens, in the daintree rainforest. Her eyeballs indicate to us if she is either

1) Receving a transmission, or
2) Making a transmission herself.

We recently went to Litchfield – Buleys Rockholes. Normally Litchfield is a yuppy, easy night in the bush but we managed to keep the weekend a bit more exciting. Mrs Harshess’ old canopy completely ripped open on the Stuart – it was a bit like a parachute blowing behind us! Couldn’t believe it, the canvas ripped from head to toe.

It gave us a good excuse to replace the canopy though – when we get another camera Noodle and spam will be updated with Mrs Harshess new outfit (Zoe’s precious camera martyred for no particular cause, left on roof of car and we watched it smashed by truck).

It was mad taking Moo to the bush and plan to do it a lot more ! Here’s some bush Moo’s for your enjoyment:

Finally Al just started a new geekjob last week at CSG, going well so far.

And Mindil markets has come to a close for the year. Funny when it finishes, we have some good mates at Mindil but many of them bugger off to Asia or the east coast over the wet season. We miss you hippies!

Thanks for reading this episode and leave us a gday ok so we can feel a bit of love over the internet !

OO Al and Zo and Moo and Rog and Harsh

Things have been well, Al is doing things he never before dreamed of and I have discovered an alarming trend dubbed the ‘power poo’ that Mia is rather fond of… ! I have been working with children for some time and I have never seen this before… scary…

Read on if you dare…

Mia is trying out paintballing early, and man, she is good! Her bum is faster than a speeding bullet! I narrowly missed being shot at a week ago but Friday I was not so lucky… she hit me with it with considerable warm sticky force. I think she is trying to create a new record or something or aiming for the wall, I can’t figure out which!

Al is receiving counselling from just the thought of it.

Anyways, as interesting as my daughters bowel motions are lets move on.

The first couple of weeks have been, by and large, really great. She is a crack up some of the noises and facial expressions she pulls! Al is sampling up a storm, hiccups, squeaks and hollers! (Bubdoof track coming soon…)
I am getting used to the change in sleep cycle and she is sleeping for 3-4 hour intervals during the night pretty consistently now which is mad! She is feeding like a trooper and already has crazy chubba bubba cheeks and a disproportionately large tummy!
(And my nipples now class as lethal weapons…)

We have had Al’s folks Margie and Allan up in Darwin for the last 3 weeks in their caravan in the yard and enjoying the first born grandchild and my Mum and Billy arrive tommorrow from Queensland, eager to check her out.

So far she has been pretty bizzy bee, with trips to beach to watch the sunset, out to the shops, walks out and about, to resaurants, nurseries, Lake Alexander and of course Mindil Markets… so don’t listen to people who say that your life ends when you have a baby! We are keen to take her swimming to Berry Springs when her little belly button heals up… she’s gotta be Territory tough – (It is just a matter of time before Al has her dressed up in boganwares!) I am just thankful that King Gee’s don’t come in baby sizes! I am thinking fairy dress and steelcaps…

Although one problem is that everyone thinks she is a boy! (Note to the world: PINK baby clothes are U G L Y!) Because she isn’t dressed head to toe in pink and garnished with stupid frilly bits everyone saying that ‘he is a handsome young thing!’ I am worried that the poor child will get a complex!!
Well it was bound to happen – I blame the parents!

The pups have been great too, I think Rogi is mildly obsessed also being that she is so clucky herself! I wish she could have had pups of her own~
She is so curious and gentle around her and sniff sniff sniffing everything!
Harsh is partially curious too but either doesn’t realise that Mia Moo is here to stay or just doesn’t see why it is such a big deal! But both pups have been awesome… I can’t believe that we are now a family of FIVE!

Anyways tune in next time when we actually have a story to tell! Sending love to you all!

And a HUGE thank you to everyone who has sent cards, presents (even the pink ones ) and messages of love to us, we love you all!!

P.S. We will visiting Melbourne from November
(Moo and I will be there for 8 days – 18th – 26th and Al will be there for 4 days – 22nd – 26th)
Hope to see you then!!

This could possibly be the most boastful and proud blog ever but you get that. We are bloody clever. Actually we think we are rather mad, because we did it (Zoe, suffering post-natal Elation, writes this!). We have a daughter.

What a journey, it doesn’t matter how much you read or talk to people or research, your journey is always unique and cannot be explained or pre-empted! Read on to hear about the crazy adventures in the bloody launch of the long awaited ms bean…

Thursday, 2 days after our due date I had booked myself in to see a lovely acupuncturist to try and move things along. My doc would only let me go ten days over I was really keen not to be induced to labour with drugs as it makes the birthing journey so much harder… immediately as my feet touched the ground I got this crazy lower back pain and was pretty convinced that it was going to happen soon… we were woken to the start of contractions about 4am Friday. Yay and AHHH!! Hung out at home all day Friday and Al was able to work from home which was great as it was mad to have someone to help me distract myself/help me with my mojo!

Al’s folks arrived on Sunday and have been staying in the front lawn so it was time for them to head off for a day whilst I dealt with labouring at home! About 2pm I had some more action and contractions were pretty consistently about 20 minutes apart starting to amp up a notch.

I pottered around cleaning/updating facebook/showering and playing with said cute and very concerned puppies. Around 11 pm Al decided that it would be good to go to the hospital as contractions were pretty intense and consistent – about 6-3 minutes apart. I agreed only after we ran out of hot water… the ride to the hospital was amusing, Al ran 2 red lights and we both agreed that it was the right time!

We got to the hospital and the midwives rushed up to the lift to put me in a chair but I walked the stairs and the hallway instead. By this point I was being possibly a tad feisty? Jane the midwife (Undead Jane shown) I had been seeing the duration of the pregnancy was working. This was mad… and I was the only one in labour that night which was also mad! We had managed to labour at home until I was 5 cms dilated which was great news!

Anyways Al was amazing, massaging my back and being really encouraging. (He is one of the good ones)… Dealt with the contractions as they came by using massage and showers – at one point they were coming hard and fast – didn’t feel like there was any breaks in between for a good hour or more… that was one of the hardest points but in retrospect it was probably “transition” just before the pushing starts.

Jane said soon after that I was 10 cms dilated and ready to push whenever I got the urge. At this point I realized that there was no turning back! It was reliving to hear that it was time but freaky too…

My doctor Jenny (a happy but tired Doc shown right, Mia Moo was her 7th delivery in 2 days!) got there for the last 6 or so contractions, and I was making crazy wild animal noises like you wouldn’t believe! My throat hurt for the next 2 days! The pushing lasted for over an hour and was I N T E N S E

But I pushed her out, Al did a stella job of being squeezed and mopping my face with a cool facewasher. I delivered her on all fours on a birth mat, with my husband, midwife and doctor with no drugs and no complications. After she came out, I still couldn’t believe it.

Neither of us could. I still can’t.

The most raw, divine and amazing experience.

She is so amazing! Such a personality already!

She came out with a wee little cry and then she opened her eyes and just looked seriously miffed!

“What’s going on here – why did I follow the light? You guys are all a-holes I was comfortable!”

The required details:

Mia (Moo) Olivia Nelson
Born 2:34AM Saturday 25 August 2007
Weight: 3.51kg (7.7lbs)
Length: 49.2cm
Head circumference: 34.5cm    (OW!)

Here’s some pics of our gorgeous Mia Moo!

Here’s a pic of Allan and Margy (currently caravaning in our yard!) seeing their first grandkid, can you see the harsh emotions ?!

And check out Mia’s calamari, Gangrene beginning to set in isn’t that exciting aye? Expertly prepared by Al:

We are now 39 weeks along and I can’t believe that the time is nigh!

It seems like just a couple of weeks ago that we found out the news – time flies when you are a fat bastard…

The whole pregnancy has been great, have loved it, laughed at it and marvelled at it!

Although I wish the checkout chicks would stop giving us ‘helpful’ advice! Actually you get very helpful advice from bloody everyone – from the dude who changed my tires to the postman…

But it is still surreal… I thought it would become more real to us when we could see her move around, see how big she is (and how big I am) but at this point but I don’t think the reality will creep in until we are actually holding her…

OH MY God we are going to be holding her soon!

At this point of pregnancy the smiles in the street by strangers are replaced by a certain degree of fear that you out are in public, in case you burst your waters on them or accidently squirt colostrum into their eye. It is quite disconcerting…

This stage of pregnancy is full of:

• Stares in the street by strangers

• Assistance getting out of the bath

• Getting really excited over nappies and other methods of poo containment

• Little kids saying loudly in the supermarket “MUMMY look at that ladies tummy!” or my personal favourite when they just point and stare…

• Discussions with strangers about your perineum or pelvic floor muscles

• More ‘helpful advice’ from donut ladies, shop assistants and janitors

• That terrifying feeling that come before you are going to sneeze in public

• A belly button that could be classed as a lethal weapon

• 1am, 2am, 3am, 4am and 5am toilet shifts.

• The realisation that life cannot ever be the same

• Random cravings for banana sandwiches at 4.26 am in the morning

• Weirdly and misshapen belly action

• Again even more excuses to fart, burp and be lazy but this is punctuated with tears

• Walking like a cowgirl

• Crazy baby hiccups that are now scary as it feels like you are going to wet yourself

• Nesting, nesting, nesting (I got up at 3am the other night and organised and LABELLED our linen cupboard) Help!

• Fat feet and ‘cankles’

• Forgetting what your bits look like – I haven’t seen them in months!!

• OH MY GOD we are going to have a BABY moments!!!!!!!!

• Amazing moments of clarity followed by a good dose or surreal-ness!

Click here to view the embedded video.

So things are really kicking up a notch, we are laying bets as to when she will arrive… any day now! And although undoubtedly life will not be the same we can’t wait to meet this little one and share the journey with her.
Will try and not be weirdly obsessed new parent type persons but no promises

All prayers appreciated for the birth and delivery, as well as the weeks that follow.

We will let you know!

In July we’ve been rather mad. Zobe finished work finally, the DB doof system was cranked, the Isotopia festival tested our doofing endurance (why is Zoe in the bush all preggars?), and we camped with barely legal politically incorrect explosives to name just a few shenanigans.

Time to pull out a water noodle, jump on and get comfy as you read on in this brand new episode of Noodle and Spam.

Not so long after getting back from the Roper, and noticing that Zoe’s belly is now growing RIDICULOUSLY, we held a fresh DoofBeeCuu at Lee Point.

It was the day before Territory night and it was beautiful watching the little PA cranking at sunset, with bogans setting off early fireworks on the beach right behind us!
And we had a great turnout thanks everyone!

Al also ran the PA for our mate Clare’s party (above right dodgy night picture). The party went all night which challenged Al’s doofing constitution. Zobe and Ms Bean however had a good sleep! Gorgeous inner city location at East Point Reserve.

Wateringhole, our amazingly random little spiritual community in Darwin, has been really good. We meet fortnightly and do all sorts of stuff – just hang out, pray, eat, talk about theology, the bible, ask hard questions, sometimes even get answers!, and it is always very healing for our souls! Recently we met at Dale and Tim’s place in Palmy, I was very excited to meet their pet Croc Alex – yeah it’s for real you can have a pet Croc up to 1 year old! A very cute little freshy they have from the Croc Park very close to Al and Zoe’s house. Also it is a work in progress but the Wateringhole now has a website!

Territory night was like World War 3 as usual in Darwin, the city is covered in smoke as everyone loses it firing crackers at each other. Al decided not to miss out – for fifteen bucks I scored a nice array of crackers ! They have funny names, and some have… errr… dodgy names as you can see!

Not so long after Territory night we had mate Rob from Melbourne stay with us a week. We camped at Litchfield and I’ve gotta say haven’t had so much fun in a long time setting off the crackers in the bush. A new bogan side to Al has been discovered and he can’t believe he has to wait another year to get more crackers! It should be noted that Harsh does NOT like Territory night, he cracked it and became a solitary monk for 2 weeks afterwards.



Two weddings in July, both mates of Zoe’s from ECA (Early Childhood Australia) where she worked until a few weeks ago (she’s now nesting getting ready for full time poo maintenance!). Madi and Chad had a beautiful small wedding overlooking the bay – with some of the best wedding food I’ve ever had ! And Candice and Mark had a reception on a boat.

Again Al ripped out the DB doof system and cranked their dodgy wedding tunes on the boat! Haha guys we feel like we are getting to know you a little bit now so we are allowed to say that (just have some Cointreau and lemonade if you don’t believe me). Better still we have evidence of a preggars Zoe rocking out hard to Kylie.

Last but not least last weekend, after Mark and Candices wedding, Al and Zoe rocked out at the Isotopia Festival, put on by our mate Jonno from Batchelor. A great festival with bands, doof and one of our favourite acts “The Amazing Drumming Monkies” – Bomber you missed out they rocked hard in the bush!

Al had his bestest and funnest gig in the NT so far at Isotopia. Played at 2AM Satdy night with an ice green tea – thanks Jonno and Si and a random wandering pig it was too much fun in the bush with all the hippies ! Zobe did an amazing job coming to the bush preggars in support of Al’s doofing lusts. Ms Bean should be doofing her way into this world now I am pretty sure.

We did checkout a beautiful nearby waterfall, never been to it before in Litchfield. It’s in the national park but you have to go through private property to get there (Isotopia was on the private property). Very lush.

So our 2007 holiday ended with a fishing trip down the roper with mates Chippa Fiona Bomber Ben and Bec.

Please feel free to grab yourself a log and read on.

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The boys (Chippa and Bomber) were very keen to get down the Roper with their hire ute and tinny. So we did a early morning mission to get there. All too soon we discovered that Al was a bit soft that week and had preferences for sleeping on the odd occasion!

And all too soon the Coytisms began and it was just about time that they began, so that once they began, they would continue, and keep on going, pretty much for the whole week, and Al and Zoe would get hooked on them, and keep on speeling Coytisms continuosly!

Our fishing week was spent not far from an Indig. community called Ngukurr (just a km away on other side of river). Pronounced “Nooka” one thing the community has is a well known arts centre. The Roper Highway near Mataranka takes you most of the way there.

The camp was busier than ChipNfi had seen before… Caravans, genny’s, old feral gypsies everywhere! We made our own camp site. Mrs Harshess and the rental did some serious grass flattening and we were sorted.

Roper fishing is quite mad, and seemingly easy when you know how. The easiest way to fish it (I’ve now heard this referred to as the “southerners” method, though I ain’t complaining since I caught fish!) is using live bait. Cherabin (Cherries) to be exact. Cherabin are like large fresh water prawns and some prefer them to eat over Barra!

The Barra love’em ! I learnt the way to catch them is to find a snag and sit the tinny right on top. Drop a heavy line down with the Cherry and then hope the buggers don’t snag your line.

Al got very emotional with Ben and Bec, just after he caught his first little Barra. He took a while to recover actually.

Zobe is, to be honest, not the biggest fan of boats or fishing. But she did come out to pay her respect to the Barra, Cherries and Crocs for one day.

It’s important for the record that we do have this special picture of Zoe pulling a cherry pot. That is all Noodle and Spam have to say at this time about Zoe’s love for fishing. She (and of course Ms Bean) did have some rather mad banana lounge time though !

So Al did his first few Roper fishing attempts with Ben and Bec. Ben had his boat and Chip, Fi and Bomber were in a hire.

Al: 2 Barra, 1 catfish. Fish: 0. Green teas: 2.
(Crazy, Ben caught the catfish shortly after i did, and as he was reeling it a shark bit off the the fishes arse! So if you aren’t fussed about crocs heres another reason to not swim in the Roper!)

I don’t know how happy Ben really was for Bec but too be honest she was queen, donging many barras on her first day.

We also indulged in mad grilled barra and even mud crabs one night. Chippa, Fiona and Bomber have a friend Bruce at the Roper who babies them every year. He cooked them Buffalo something most nights and is a bit of a character. The only person I’ve ever met that has comfortably eaten his own pet pig! The guys also went Bufallo hunting. I’m not sure they are sold on Buff hunting but Chip did say it was an experience.

Harsh and Rogi approved as they ate fresh Buff two days in a row.

So all too soon it was time for Al to hit the roper with Chippa and team malaysia.
Team malaysia is bomber and fiona. I can’t remember and it’s probably best for any PC people reading this, that we don’t know why they are called this.

Anyway Al got up before dawn buttcracked and all too quickly team malaysia had pulled about 50 cherries from 20 cherry pots. You can see Bomber here holding what he calls a “Donkey Cherry”

Al was stoked all day as he caught a 69cm Barra with the boys. Bomber continued to dong the barras constantly. The poor barras really need to look out for Bomber. He caught two Barra over 1M in size that week! Sadly I don’t have a photo right now to show you the big donkey barras that Bomb caught. Fiona also hooked onto a very big fish (must have been over a metre), it got away though (sorry Fiona!).

We ended our mad Roper week with a gorgeous night at Bitter Springs, Mataranka. Zobe and I scored a beautiful bush site on the Little Roper river, and had some nice swims at Bitter Springs ! And look at beautiful Zoe at Cassy beach with Ms Bean ! Not long now until Ms Bean makes her grand entrance…

…so stay tuned for the next very special episode of Noodle and Spam !

Love Al and Zoe

PS Some live dodgy video of Bomb hooking up:

Click here to view the embedded video.

So read on to discover more adventures in the life and times of Noodle and Spam (well miniRog and miniNoodle anyway)…

We started off our trip in Bangkok and stayed at the yummiest guest house ever! Phranakorn Nornlen was a real haven from the busy, dirty, crazy city streets.

All of the rooms have hand-painted murals on the walls and cute little touches, like goodnight tea at 9pm. It is unlike any other hotel we’ve stayed at – feels like you’re staying at a friend’s house rather than being served by people paid to smile at you! Anyways it was lovely and it was a great base to explore the many markets… he he he

First up we visited Koh San Road which was walking distance from our place, then on day two we checked out the Chatuchak Weekend Markets.

Man… these were the markets to end all markets…

We were there for a whole day and still didn’t get to see it all. Like seemingly 1000′s of little warrens cascading in and out… HUGE and the most random collection of things to buy…

From feral squirrels on a chain, to an alarming array of dog clothing and accessories, to all manor of mad clothing, jewelery, alien fashion accessories, art to junk robots and everything in between.

Hmmm and Al got some interesting looking soup too… (Yes even in Thailand it’s possible to stuff up and order food that only Spam would eat)

A couple of days later we hopped on a plane for Chiang Mai up north where we visited McKean Rehabilitation Centre and Leprosy Mission. Originally founded as a leper colony it has evolved into a hospital, community and place that gives hope people with severe disabilities. It was so much bigger than I expected and Heather Smith (who coordinates the trade and workshops among other things,) gave us an amazing tour of all of the facilities.

From the hospital, to the rehabilitation and occupational therapy centre, the workshop for prosthetic limbs, to the communities, elderly persons villages, farming sites where peoples are learning organic and environmental techniques, to the workhouses where people are being taught new trades, the shop where the work is sold, the chapels and schools!

It was a truly humbling experience. To see people with severe deformities making new legs for people in their communities or carving intricate woodwork or embroidery with dexterity that I don’t have with fully formed hands… Amazing. Heather and her husband Trevor have been living and working there for over 30 years and they are doing incredible work to help communities be more inclusive of all people with disabilities.

For some further information check them out here. Also if you are interested read about some of the serious flooding they have recently had to endure.

We are sort of connected to McKean because we stock their wares at the Free Trade (Fair Go stall) that runs at Mindil Beach Markets. So we were keen to check it all out.

Anyways we had a great time in Chiang Mai, we indulged in many mad massages (even getting two in one day!) Bliss!

All too soon it was time to hit the road… or air and hop on another plane to head to Koh Samui for some more hedonism! Our first couple of nights were in the yupiest place we have ever stayed at… Rocky’s Resort…

It was overwhelmingly lush.

We even hired out a moped and took to the daunting busy streets to check the place out.

AHHH! It was awesome whizzing around and Al did really well negotiating the traffic and roads (hilly, gravel, traffic, thai drivers…!)

After a few days of being yupies we headed to a more moderate bungalow right on the beach. Utopia beach bungalows. Had some great beach time just swimming, eating, sunbaking, reading, swimming, etc.

Here was our base to explore some surrounding islands of Koh Tao and Ko NangYang

We are not really good seamen types so the trip there was a bit pukey, but we got a couple of solid hours snorkelling at Ko Nangyang … and the cheesiest commemorative plates you have ever seen…

Had we known we would have taken our luggage and got dropped of a Ko Phangan! But the next day we again ferried ourselves over to next island. We stayed at Hat Yao on the west coast of the island (opposite side of the island to where all the maggotted hippies rave their brains away at the renowned Hat Rin full moon parties.)

In summary, we had a mad time.

And miniRog and miniNoodle had a mad time too. (MiniNoodle consists of ‘hair of Harsh’ bound in red electrical tape. He enjoyed himself SO much that he ditched us in Ko Samui and is currently rocking out in Thailand – hopefully not with the maggotted hippies )

Hope you enjoyed reading our tales, stay tuned for the next episode of NoodleandSpam.com – to hear all about the bogan side of holiday part II (The Roper River)

Click here to view the embedded video.

We have found a mad location which we’ve loved near Adelaide River just off the south side of Litchfield National Park, Robyn Falls. It’s one of the few swim spots where Noodle and Spam can come although it completely dries up by August! So we have frequented it three times this past couple of months… very simple, it has just a few nice camp sites on a stream and a short walk to the falls. It also has, like all mad spots, 544,45354334,432543543543 cane toads with which Zoe loves to practice her sadistic torture techniques (Note RSPCA: I am pretty sure this is a joke).

NB from Zoe “I don’t practice sadistic torture techniques, I just smack ‘em on the head… a couple of times… and throw their bodies into the fire…” hmmm…

Anyways enough about our issues, we were very lucky be visited by Miss Logan, a great mate of ours who is based in Melbourne (at the moment) and works for YWAM. (If you see a bubbly hipi woman in St Kilda feeding homeless persons it’s probably her and we think she is a top bloke.) She brought her partner Ben up to visit us (we think he is a top chick) and we had yet further mad bush trips, in Kakadu, Robyn Falls and Douglas Hot Springs. (Rach and Ben squishy squashed into the back of mrs harshess like little hilux gimps without a word of complaint…)

In Kakadu we visited Gunlom which was insanely beautiful (beach at the bottom and alien playground at the top), Yellow Waters cruise (a yupi tourist cruise but worth it for the croc and birdlife spotting) which we made it too just in the nick of time and Ubirr (amazing rock art site looking over the Arnhem plains)

Gunlom was gorgeous… we could have easily spent more time there, too lush!! Ranger doof banga also lead everyone through harsh terrain for an hour and half to the madness of Motor Car falls… where we watched feral german backpackers jumping from high places into the gorge. Zoe and Mia did very well in the heat!
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The next weekend we had to take Noodle and Spam (aka: Harsh and Rogi dog) Thanks so much to Moni and Phil, new friends from Unfurl, for looking after the canines. We camped at Robyn Falls again and also did a day trip to Douglas Hot Springs, where bubbly hot (almost boiling) water meets a cold stream and you can easily laze there for a day no worries.

The top of Ubirr is one of my favourite 360 views ever. Another high quality video produced by Dodg Studios here for your enjoyment.

Click here to view the embedded video.

(read on….)

Bizarre adversions to ‘ridiculously mad sushi’

Vomit (not heaps just a little bit)

Jumping up and down on the bed in excitement

Heaps of ‘Oh My God! moments’

“Helpful and expert” advice

Excuses to fart and eat and burp and be lazy

Kung Fo kickboxing manuovers from the ms bean

Ridiculously large nipples

Apples (pink lady or fuji only)

“You do look fat today” comments from Al… hmmm thanks

Amazing moments of clarity

Followed by moments of AHHHG!

And then more mad moments!…

Thanking God for the amazing miracle that is ever expanding within us, we are blessed by her even though we haven’t yet met her! (How is it possible to love someone so much when I don’t even know her?)

Crazy baby hicups (bizarre)

Smiles in the street by strangers

Alien like stomach movements (I can differentiate between her foot, hands and head now!)

And many more things, it truly has been a journey… I don’t think 9 months is enough time to fully register that you are going to be parents!

For those who don’t already ‘officially’ know, we found out a few months ago that we don’t have a mister bean but a ms bean, rather mad. Although kinda bizarre to have someone else’s life flash before your eyes! We are now collecting ideas on how to scare off prospective boyfriends that we don’t like. Our favourite one so far is just answering the door naked… “Ohh hello you must be Dagger, nice tattoo’s… can I take your shorts?”

A friend said the other day – when you have a boy you only have to worry about ONE willy, however when having a girl you have MILLIONS of dodgy willies to worry about!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Crikey had a mad time!

Queensland is a beautiful state, pity about the bloody Queenslanders! (Family nonwithstanding)

Got to finally visit Australia Zoo with my Mum and fed an elephant! (They drool more than Rogi! Never thought it possible!) Hung out with the punk arse nephew – who I love to pieces – Josh… (Nearly 12 and I enjoyed probably the last conversations with him for the next couple years before the testosterone kicks in!)

Went to swim at the beach – which was mad for me (and mr(s) bean) because:

a. I didn’t get eaten by crocodiles
b. I didn’t get stung by box jellies
c. Less likely chance of being eaten by a shark
d. I actually got cool

Miss the beach – crikey that was mad!

Al and I have finally booked our last childfree holiday for a while in Thailand for 2 weeks, so more of beach to come. Followed by the Roper River camping extravanganza! More than welcome visitors to the Roper (non fisher people need only apply Zoe’s sanity at stake

Got some further bets on the sex of Mr(s) Bean…
Hmmm and now we know, and you don’t … he he he
Stay tuned for further belly bean updates til then, don’t trip out on aliens too much and have a bath. (Unless you live in Vicco, then bath in your own wee) he he he

Lots of love Zo and bean

So what do you do with a Sparky Monster in Darwin? We took her to the bush of course…

In the bush, we like to do it Territory Tuff. So we went to Buleys Rockhole and hunted wild ferals to eat.
Buleys was absolutely cranking at Litchfield from all the rain. It was hard to not get swept away. Actually we did get swept away a bit to be honest.

Click here to view the embedded video.

You could see where it has been even crazier during the March floods.

We checked out Wangi which as you can see is pumping. Apparently a few weeks ago during the cyclone monsoonal rains you couldn’t see the rock face.

So much rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain ! ! ! ! !

And crazy purple dreaddies !
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And we leave you now, here at the famous Noodle and Spam, with some typical Darwin sunsets. Don’t tell too many people how good it is up here please!

Stay tuned for some more very exiciting updates from Noodle and Spam.

What happened to Zoe in Brissy?

How the heck is Mr (or Ms?) Bean going ?

Why is harsh always smiling at the moment?

Is Rogi an Alien ? (Click on the picture of her walking along the beach above and decide for yourself)

Is Al working too hard or becoming more psychadelic?

And what is happening in May ! Like is Rachel Logan the famous hamish muncher coming to Darwin? Is there mad fishing trips or anything crazy like that happening ! Huh huh huh ! ?!?!?!?!?

What it did bring here though is a lot of rain ! You might of heard Darwin was blocked off with Adelaide River (an hour down away down the main highway, Stuart Hwy) flooded out.

Lightning and thunder was crazy, we had lightning closer than I’ve ever had, I think it hit our house and I crapped myself actually ! Fried our geek modem and phone line situations. Very exciting for Harsh and Rog.

And “Fliiip Dowrg” who are these puppies in the picture? Better read on then aye…
So here is a pic of the road on my way home from work. Actually this road was dry half an our before the photo was taken !

The water comes and goes very fast in the monsoon floods.

And some aerial photos of Adelaide River (I haven’t got a helicopter yet so these are not our photos ! )

Click here to view the embedded video.

And not to forget the latest Canine news. Harsh had a dodgy growth on his leg, which has been mopped off, here is some pictures for your enjoyment, let me know if you want an enlargement to hang in the kitchen.

Even more exciting Zoe found these too poor little buggers stray at Stuart Park. Over 50 ticks found in each pup ! Chris and Ruth were very kind to take them, they live near RSPCA and are actually keeping the brown one I believe ! Much happier pups now, they ate so fast I think even fatty Eroginess could not have kept up with them.

Lastly thanks so much for all your mad prayers. I flew to Melbourne and visited Dad for the op last weekend (sorry no time for catchups Melbourne mates !) and it went really well ! He’s even going to have a rather mad scar to show off…

Usually don’t let the bother me or the dogs but this time had to keep the canines away, so many of the ferals.

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Another nice sunset ! You wouldn’t think so but just to the left of this photo there was a lightning show. Darwin, or Kakadu at least, gets the most lightning in the world apparently.

Here is an exclusive Noodle and Spam video of stingers in Darwin. Only of the highest quality, you would not find anything else to this caliber on the internet:
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Click here to view the embedded video.

The system can be setup or packed down in under half an hour (even by Al). Which is handy as for example a storm kicked us out of Lee Point last night!

Visited the Nightcliff and Parap markets this weekend. Nightcliff markets was a surpise couldn’t believe I haven’t been there before. Great food, clothes and crafts with heaps of shade about. After Nightcliff markets we had a doof at Lee Point until the rain kicked us out (thanks Si, Dagga, Evan and everyone else who helped save the dB system from being martyed on it’s first outdoor cranking!). Then Zoe picked Bec up, who is visiting for a week from Melbourne.

This is a very humble picture of the dB system. Note we did hang that banner up so we did have at least 1 token psytrance fluro banner in sight later on. And over 10 people, amazing as we thought it might have just been Al, Zoe, Harsh and Eroginess doofing for this! For small parties the little dB system sounds very nice and clean.

Al and Zoe are also stoked, out investment unit went through settlement at the end of Jan and now at last we got tenants !

Al’s been flat nackers on his new job in Darwin. Also Al’s GeekHelp just finished yet another website for a Mindil market stall, this one being Embella www.embella.com.au

Zoe’s doing really well with Mr Bean. Over 14 weeks now and Mr Bean is starting to show !

Finally if you pray then please pray for my folks, my Dad is going in for a second operation this week in Melbourne.