We had one last night with Tommy in London before flying home. Unfortunately he had injured his shoulder the previous night playing touch footy and was in a sling. Luckily it was his right shoulder and he is a lefty so it didn’t interfere with his eating and drinking skills! He took us to a well known local eatery in Chelsea called Daphne’s and we had a super meal with a level of service reminiscent of the old days. No wonder it is an institution in these parts. We stayed at The Pelham, a boutique hotel perfectly located in South Ken and a couple of streets away from all the wonderful London museums.

As we didn’t fly until 9pm we made the most of it and had a fab few hours wandering around the Natural History Museum. To me the building itself was wondrous with amazing detail everywhere you looked. Decades of workmanship and fabulous architecture for all to enjoy and appreciate and all totally free, which is so refreshing in this day and age. It was lovely to see so many families there enjoying all it had to offer.

Then we were off and excited for our return to The Meadow where not one but both of our gorgeous little grandchildren were awaiting us! The MOTH hadn’t yet met Myla so despite our tiredness and 5 changes of trains due to track work we arrived back to such a special sight with both of them lying side by side on their play mat. We didn’t know who to hug or hold first! The big kids were brilliant, completely taking over the kitchen and cooking a great welcome home meal for us, we didn’t have to lift a finger except to cuddle our littlest loves. Perfect! It was so lovely to have the whole gang back together (+2 and minus 2) for the first time since Christmas. Very special indeed.

After a chaotic but wonderful 24 hours we were down to just one bub and a week of beautiful weather followed for our Vietnam residents. The South coast shone and they made the most of it going out every day and exploring the area. I joined them one day for a long walk from Huskisson to Vincentia and Jervis Marine Park. It is so wonderful to have such long flat coastal paths that are perfect for bikes, prams and wheelchairs. It is the most pristine wonderful part of the world with clear turquoise water and pure white sand. We topped it off with lunch at the Husky pub and I think it was one of our best days together!

We didn’t have a moment to get the post holiday blues as we were thrust into baby heaven with Lauren and Myla staying with us for another three weeks. Every morning we were woken to a little tiny person coming into our bed so Mum could snatch another hours sleep and we had the best time cuddling and chatting with her until it was time for her to go back to sleep. A great way to start the day! She is also an early fan of books much to the delight of her journalist Mother and teacher Great Grandma!

The next couple of weeks passed in a flash. As babies are always happier on a regular schedule things were planned around feeds and sleep but we managed to have quite a few trips out and about exploring some areas I hadn’t been to before and even a lovely lunch at a local winery and a cosy dinner at our local woodfired pizzeria!

One good thing about having a baby is that people are happy to come to you as they understand it is hard to pack up all the paraphernalia required for a baby, even for one night away. Thus four of Lauren’s close friends plus a 3 year old came instead to The Meadow to meet Myla. It was lovely to see them all again and we had a super day catching up on all their news, with the girls cuddling Myla and of course chatting (nonstop!) The MOTH built a huge fire in the outside pit and we sat around drinking wine and enjoying the crisp evening as dusk turned to night and a million stars started to twinkle in the velvet black sky. It means a lot to Lauren that after living overseas for 7 years her friends still make a big effort to come and see her and share in her life.

Some of my favourite times were just the normal days where we all hung out enjoying the simple things as a family. When your family live overseas there are often big gesture type holidays which are wonderful but there is something about the small things that I relish, most probably because we don’t get to do it very often! Little Missy/Miss Myla/Myla Moo/Moo Moo/Mooey became our constant companion and right hand girl and was always very keen to hang out with the big kids!!

We were blessed with the weather, crisp blue sky days with sunshine perfect for walks along the coast or around the township of Berry playing our favourite game of sweet or sour (a lifelong game of categorising houses according to how sweet or sour they look!!) with Myla in the pram and Bailey walking alongside – what a perfect picture! Sadly it all changed just in time for our last weekend together when Sam, Liv and Cooper were joining us for Loz and Myla’s last weekend in Oz. The weather was perfect for staying indoors in front of the fire, eating and drinking and playing with the bubs who were SO WELL BEHAVED!! Both were out for the count by 7pm and we had the evenings to ourselves playing board games while those dastardly westerly winds raged outside. Very conducive to a pre birthday lunch for Sam and the biggest steaks we’ve ever seen! He had requested a standing rib roast and we had no idea how huge it would be! Where’s Tom when you need him??

The little cousins were mostly unaware of each other but by the end of the weekend Coops was definitely recognising Myla and we managed to get them to vaguely look in the same direction at the same time after about 120 attempts!

And so all of a sudden it was all over and time to send the girls back to Ho Chi Minh City where a certain someone was waiting impatiently for his little family to return! With talk of a potential return to Australia to live next year I was less sad than usual and with the whole family planning a Christmas together at The Meadow, Uncle Tom included, I am a happy bunny! A last mulled wine in the Berry pub and then home to pack as we had an early start the next day. We were driving 3 hours to visit Lozzy’s 93 year old Pop in his retirement home and to introduce his newest great granddaughter to him. We could hardly believe it when on arrival they told us he was in quarantine awaiting some test results as there was a chance it could have been the severe influenza that has been doing the rounds of Sydney. Talk about bad timing! We were advised to wear face masks but as you can see they were a tad big for little Myla so we risked a quick chat and they had a little moment together at least before heading off to the airport.

As I waved my two girls off at that (horrible) departure gate in the airport I was so proud of how my little international travellers had coped with all the many changes of houses and beds and schedules over the past two months and had my fingers firmly crossed that they would have a good trip home especially with no helper on this return journey. It was only 8.5 hours luckily and a bassinette helped Loz a lot, allowing her to at least eat something or go to the loo! Myla was a dream and slept for more than half of it as it turned out so she’s a perfect travelling companion! I came home to an empty house but to one very happy dog who finally had her people back to herself again! She had been brilliant with the babies, interested and eager to greet them in the morning but never rough or jealous. I bet they will be her besties before we know it!

So we are back to “normal” at The Meadow and have a list a mile long of things to do around the property. With Spring around the corner we only have a window of a few weeks to get the garden in order before it takes off again. I’ve been madly cutting back the roses and hydrangeas as they already have their new season buds and as we haven’t done much to our soil for the past couple of years we have compost and fertiliser ready to dig into our veggie patch as there is finally some rain predicted! We need at least a week of gentle soaking rain before I can even think of planting any new season veggies. Fingers crossed!

The Many Faces of Myla