Zachie is a joy, happy and most of the time easygoing and relaxed, he goes with the flow of what ever I am doing. Now that he’s getting closer to being a 1 year old his determination is starting to come through, he knows what he wants, although I think that’s always been the case he’s now just better at expressing it and I am better at interpreting it.

If you had said to me a year ago as I sat in hospital waiting to be induced that Zachie would be still sharing our bed for nighttime sleeps I would have quietly thought to myself I don’t think so.. but that’s where we are and loosly basing our parenting on attachment parenting has been the best decision we’ve made. It’s also not been such a consicious decision. I just decided to do what came naturally – Love him, go to him when he cried and keep him close which is what we’ve done. Trust my instincts and intuition and voila we have a happy little cherub.

From the moment he was born I chose to keep him close by, that first night I didn’t want to let him go, but was too nervous to sleep with him in a single bed as I couldn’t work out how to get the sides of the bed up but since then he’s always spent the majority of the night in our bed. That in itself has been a god send. I can quite honestly say I can count on one hand the number of nights where we’ve remained sleepless… or I’ve been exhausted (usually from trying to do too much in the early days)  having Zachie in our bed has meant feeding at night involved rolling over and going back to sleep. It makes the transition from womb to room fairly straight forward

My organisational skills are coming into their own – I am only now mastering the art of getting out of the house by 8.30 – 9am with a baby in tow and in order to do that it generally means getting up no later than 7am, ideally more like 6.30. So when thoughts come and go about going back to work and actually having to be somewhere by 8.30am it sends me into shock..

Everything went very smoothly in Turkey, we had a great time exploring Ankara & Istanbul, it was strange being in a Muslim country that was so westernised. But after 10 months of living in Morocco it was lacking a certain something, which I put down to atmosphere and character. Of course there will be some out there who would love Turkey like I love Morocco, for me though there is no comparison. Perhaps it also had something to do with being over haggling and the Grand Bazaar not coming close to the souks in Marrakech. But it really wasn’t what I expected. It was very strange being in a Muslim country that was completely westernised! If it weren’t for the stunning mosques everywhere you would have been forgiven for forgetting the religious basis of this country.

The weather was wonderful and a great change from Marrakech – 8 degrees on average, rain and even some snow in Ankara not enough to coat the ground, but enough to make us smile. Before we knew it we were on our way back to Melbourne, complete with loads of excess baggage and crossed fingers.

Now we’ve been back in Melbourne for just over 4 months and it has taken some getting used to. We started with trying to get some work and as most of you know that took some time. Now we are eagerly awaiting the birth of our momo, according to Dr Len, he’s pretty happy where he is at the moment so nothing to report there. Apart from I am a very good oven and picture of health. Just quietly though, my back is killing me and sleep is become much more broken, practice for after the birth I expect.

Hafid is enjoy casual work and really wants to be working full-time, that will come though and we have settled into a Moroccan Australia version of life which suits him fine. Due to the rental crisis here in Melbourne we are staying put at Dar McDonald in Doncaster. Inshallah one day in the not too distant future we will find a suitable unit or house to rent that doesn’t cost the national debt of a small country nor reflect a bark humpy.

For now though we are all happy living together and loving taking care of each other. Mum & Dad are off 4WDriving at some stage after the baby comes. So we’ll have the house to ourselves for a while. Cooking has had it’s challenges as anything Moroccan has to be overseen by Hafid and you can imagine how that goes down with me!? It seems though we’ve established a pretty good menu by combining the Aussie meat & 3 veg which satisfies Dad as well as Moroccan/Mediterranean for the rest of us.

I will fill you in on the past few months as we go, but I just wanted to get this published to fill in the blanks between when we left & arrived home.

Maasalama

Now I actually look pregnant! All is going well and according to my Dr, I am a very good oven. Experiencing a few braxton hicks contractions over the past few days, but no action just yet… We are hoping to make it to Emma & Pauls wedding at the end of April so Momo is under strict instructions to make an early appearance.
I am feeling great, but the anticipation is getting a little out of control and we are very ready to meet our baby! As is everyone else around us!

39 degrees today in Melbourne, trying to keep cool although I think I am more used to the heat than ever before, thanks to summer in Marrakech, we are currently having a last heat wave in Melbourne after thankfully a fairly mild summer.
Only 4 weeks til our due date and more than likely 1 & 1/2 more weeks of work. All is well, we can’t wait to meet our shwia qerd.

So we then had the tooing and froing about whether to go to Dubai (as it’s on the way home) sorting a visa for there, booking tickets etc. But as it’s turned out we are off to Turkey as Hafid doesn’t need a visa for there and it’s a tad safer than Ghana and easier to get to.

So we are booked to fly out of Marrakech on Monday to Istanbul, where we will then catch the train to Ankara and visit the embassy to collect his visa. Mercury was obviously in retrograde while trying to organise all this, but has turned in our favour with everything falling into place right at the last minute!

We will spend 10 days in Turkey to allow for just in case scenarios arising and to allow us some travel time between Istanbul & Ankara. All very exotic I have to say, this from someone who’s spent the last 8 months in Marrakech. Istanbul has always been on my list of places to visit, but I didn’t think it would happen so quickly. Perhaps this can be our honeymoon by ourselves, although the whole idea of a honeymoon was foreign to Hafid and we had the best time with everyone in Essaouira, which by the way I HIGHLY recommend as a place to visit, especially if you are coming to Morocco. It’s a definite break from the hustle and bustle of the rest of the country.

Of course our leaving is tinged with alot of sadness as it was when I left Melbourne to come here. We’ve created a life together here and I’ve fallen in love with Didiss and Hafid’s family as well, we will miss them very much. I am looking forward to a sit down loo, understanding the conversations around me and making a new home for us in Melbourne especially as this move is made with the knowledge that we will definitely be back in Marrakech and Morocco alot over our life together.

So while we bid farewell to our home here we are both excited, nervous and a little scared but we know the future is very bright for us and will be filled with lots of love and happiness. You can expect us back in Melbourne around the 16th of November.

I will try and post something from Turkey as well, but either way stay tuned as there is alot more happening.

 Bon Voyage, Maasalama, Ci Vediamo Presto, See you very soon xxx Kate & Hafid

Marrakech, Morocco

Originally uploaded by Claire’s overseas.

Marrakech, Morocco

Originally uploaded by Claire’s overseas.

Marrakech, MoroccoOriginally uploaded by Claire’s overseas.