The Culveys… Czeching In - June 2004
Hi all,
I can’t believe it has been 7 months since we last wrote to everyone to let you know what we are up to!
Well life has changed a little; these updates are no longer going to be all about exotic travel and parties…oh no…now we are all about Babies!!
Korea feels a world away now, and we do really miss it, it was a fantastic chapter of our life and the culture shock between to two countries is immense. That’s not to say that we don’t love Prague - we do, but I think even we were surprised at how we miss Seoul. Prague is proving to be a lovely place to be and the mix of peace and quiet in Pruhonice and the access to such a wonderful city is a great balance.
As you all know India arrived on the 6th Feb after about 36 hours of labour. Ly would like to point out that the inventors of the epidural deserve a Nobel prize for pain relief. I too would like to thank them as it meant that I was able to have a snooze in the delivery room once Lyra had relaxed into her drug filled haze!!
India proved to be a difficult baby to deliver due to her size ( 9.2 ILBS) and at the final moments it required the assistance of me and a very hairy (and heavy set) nurse to push on Ly’s belly to push her out. The traumatic last moments unfortunately left India with a fractured collar bone on which she is having regular physiotherapy.
Otherwise though all was well and both of them were healthy and recovered pretty quickly.
Five days in hospital went slowly; being stuck in a room with nurses that don’t speak English was pretty tough, especially as Ly’s milk was not arriving. Breast feeding is almost the law here and the nursing staff were determined that this was going to happen. Ly’s boobs had other idea’s though! Thankfully once we got home we could take control and India became a very contented bottle fed baby.
So from this point on life became a haze of feeding, nappy changing and very stressful physio on India’s shoulder. Fortunately I had a couple of weeks off work and was able to support Ly as she was still very sore from the birth. Looking back now those early days were really hard work but at the time I think we were carried on a wave of adrenalin and tea!
Our first visitors were of course Chris who arrived about 2 days after India was born, as usual on Chris’s arrival we were hit by a blizzard but we still managed to get him to the hospital and he ‘dragged’ me to the pub to celebrate India’s arrival. Next came Nana Peck with Alison and Kieran for a week of hugging and posing for photos. It was then a continuous shuttle from the airport for the next couple of months as India became a major tourist destination in Central Europe!
We had Chris back with Stephie, Nanny & Grampy Culverhouse were back to see Grand child number 5!! Grandpa & Grandma Peck with Uncle Les & Auntie Tan, Auntie Abi & Mark, Auntie Andrea and Steve brought India’s first cousins, Tori & Ben to meet her.
Only days later it was time to put India on a plane for the first time, I was unable to share in the pleasure as work was taking me to Dublin for a few days, but thankfully Auntie Tanya had come over again to help us out and did a wonderful job sharing the experience with Ly.
India had a great time in the UK with a constant stream of willing babysitters ensuring that Ly & I had a bit of time to chill out and relax it was great. In particular Uncle Chris took on the responsibility of India’s night time and morning needs, and India took full advantage to ensure he knew what it was like to have a baby!!! A week in Northampton flew by and before we knew it we were heading to the West Country to see the Culverhouse’s. This proved to be a great weekend of visits from all the generations of the family from Great Grannie through to cousins Tori, Ben, Lucy, & James.
Life back in Prague has been quiet with India progressing brilliantly, sleeping 12 hours a night, working out well with her shoulder, and she is now rolling over unassisted. Her personality is also growing daily she is a very smiley, chatty, and stubborn young lady, can’t imagine where she gets those traits from!!
Having our little bundle of joy has certainly restricted out social life but it hasn’t stopped it completely, we have managed a weekend in the mountains at Spinderluv Mlyn (a week before India was due!) with some friends and India has been introduced to some of the wonders of the local Bohemian Culture of Prague and the surrounding area.
It’s true we don’t have the wide circle of friends we had in Korea but we have met some great people in the village and through work so we feel more and more settled all the time. Both Ly & I have been working hard at getting into shape so the beers and Daiquiri’s have been replaced with Jogging and workout video’s!!
Work for me is extremely busy, trading is tough both in Czech Republic and Slovakia, especially since we became members of the European Union, prices are rising in some area’s already and that makes store spending lower. Competition is very strong, so the pressure is on to perform and keep costs down. My first big development is now underway however with the Distribution Centre in Slovakia beginning it’s construction.
Next for us is our 2nd trip back to the UK for Mum & Dad Culverhouse’s Ruby Wedding Anniversary party!! Quite an achievement without a doubt the party should be a great get together.
Tanya is returning with us to Prague for six months to help with India and give Ly some time to get back to her studies so we are really looking forward to that…..Tanya you don’t know what you have let yourself in for!!!!!! Only joking I’m sure we will all have a great time!!!
So there you go, the window on our life is complete!
Ly would just like to remind everyone of our numbers so if you wish to give us a call utilising the multitude of cheap calling options then our numbers are……..
Home: +420 267 751 459
Ly’s mobile: +420 721 235 949
Dan’s Mobile: +420 724 008 211
Address:
Na Michovkach II/690
252 43 Pruhonice
Czech Republic.
Email:
lyraculverhouse@hotmail.com or lyric@seznam.cz (better for attachments) sungbukdan@yahoo.com or danculverhouse@seznam.cz
Cheers for now, looking forward to seeing some of you next week in the UK!!
Love from
Dan Ly, Princess India and those Moggies.
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