Busy as a bee

Excuse the lack of posts - at the moment, I'm a bit stressed out and somewhat busy so whenever I start writing,I have to stop before I finish whatever it is and end up not posting it until a few days have gone by. I am currently working on a post that will include details from Saturday up until the day when I will post it.

I might not be able to post as regularly as I have done in the past, but I still want to document every single day at the best of my abilities.  Not just for you lot, or for me, but for Morgan as well.


Until I get round to posting the aforementioned blog post, I'll leave you with this:

9th April 2012, in Valletta

Over the hills and far away

Today Morgan and I embarked on an Epic Adventure!

I found 3 toys for her off "What Baby Wants, Baby Gets," and decided she _must_ have them. I contacted the seller and made arrangements to meet up today at 4pm in Sliema.

My good friend Rose texted me in the morning and asked Morgan and myself for a date this afternoon. Needless to say, we accepted! Thus, our adventure began!

 Morgan and Friends - ready, set, GO!

I cleaned up Morgan and put her in a fresh change of clothes, fed her, sterilised and prepared her bottles, got ready and left home. This process tool me a couple of hours, more or less.
Thankfully the first bus arrived just as soon as we got to the bus stop. An employee of the bus company helped me get Morgan's pram on the bus, and I found out to my dismay I'd have to stand up next to her as the foldable seat I'd normally sit on was broken. Ah well.

We got to Valletta safely, and Morgan fell asleep in the process. The same employee helped us off the bus, and so I walked us over to our next bus's bay.

I felt pretty smug, walking with Morgan amongst the crowd. Knowing she's mine made me adapt a Gollum kind of silent attitude.
We got on the 2nd bus, whereby the driver was nice enough to pull up close to the pavement so I could get us on the bus easily. This time, the foldable seat wasn't broken so I got to sit down next to Morgan's pram as she slept. It was rather worrying at times, seeing the pram sway slightly when the bus went round sharp bends. We made it in one piece though, and an elderly dude helped me carry the pram, with Morgan in it, off the bus.

I met with the Toy Seller and had a brief chat with her about Mummy Stuff. Her son seemed to take a liking to Morgan. Who knows if they'll meet again in the future!

After money and toys swapped hands, we bid farewell to one another and went on our separate ways. I then decided Morgan should get to meet a prime specimen of the male Homo Sapiens, so we went to say hi to Kris, who was at work - this was Morgan's first exposure to a book shop!  On the way we bumped into Christina as well!

 We can both be spotted from miles away :D

After a brief chat with the lovely Kris, we made our way to the bus stop to go over at Rose's, which is where I met a Bus Company Employee that was nice, but looked either like a Wood Spirit, or what Pinocchio would look like had he still be wooden once middle aged. We waited for about half an hour, and then got on our third bus of the day. Morgan started stirring as it was time for her nappy change and feed, so thankfully our bus ride was a short one.

 Suddenly, a Wild Kris appeared!

Once at Rose's, I immediately attended to my Fairy's needs. Once her bum was dry, Rose fed Morgan her bottle, and we had awesome banter. Rose being Rose, she couldn't help but embarrass her son by implying Morgan is his future girlfriend and wife. It was also pretty awesome to see Adriel hold Morgan - he is possibly the first male to accept straight away and to appear to be A Natural at it.
I rather enjoyed watching Morgan interact with them two - she behaves in a unique manner with Rose. She kept trying to chew on Rose's face and nose (rather successfully, I must say) which led to our discovery that Morgan is already teething! I wonder how long it will take for her first tooth to emerge! It is rather sad, mind you, as this means my baby girl is growing up VERY quickly. That _is_ good, but I can't help wish she would remain my baby for a while longer!

 

It started getting late, and so we caught the bus back home at 7:30pm. We bid our farewells, and started the journey back home. We switched buses at Mater Dei Hospital, and Morgan quickly fell asleep, lulled by the bus's movements.

A while later, we finally got home, where we found my parents waiting for us on the bus stop. Once home, I changed Morgan into something more comfy, as did I, and we are now chilling in bed.

It has been a fun albeit tiring day. I look forward to more epic adventures with Morgan!

 

Goodnighty!

How To Register Your Child's Birth: Part One.

When a child is born, their birth needs to be registered within 5 working days, according to Maltese Laws. In the eventuality that both parents are to be listed on the birth certificate, one or both parents would need to physically go to the Public Registry Office - located on the 1st floor at Evans Building, Merchants Street Valletta - with BOTH parents' Photo ID (National ID Card or Passport).

If the child's parents are married, and the marriage occurred abroad, the original marriage certificate needs to be taken along - and this needs to be in either Maltese or English.

Should there be a legal separation or annulment, the original contact/court sentence documents need to also be taken along.

If the child is born out of wedlock, you're better off making a phone call before you go to the Public Registry Office. Their contact numbers are 22209100 and 22220920.

The opening hours are Mon-Fri 07:30 - 14:00. On Wednesdays, they are also open between 15:00 and 18:00 and on Saturday between 07:30 and 11:00.

At hospital, you're given a form on which the midwife assisting your birth giving process writes down the time and date of your baby's birth, along with your name and ID Card number and some other details, and ultimately signs it. On that same form, you then get to write down your baby's name(s) separated by commas ( , ) unless you want all names written down to appear on your child's ID Card when they grow up (e.g. If your child is to be called Mark Anthony Charles Philip Elton, but you only want Mark Anthony to be on their ID Card when he grows up, you'd need to write Mark Anthony, Charles, Philip, Elton) as well as some of your own personal details (and the father's, if his name is to appear).

Now, this is where the fun part (i.e. Confusion) begins. If the child's father is to be left out, in spite of knowing who he is, he is very tastelessly listed as "Unknown Father" - however this _can_ be changed at a later date. How? That is what I'm trying to find out.

When I called the Registry people, I spoke to a manager who told me the Father would have to speak to a lawyer and get an Act issued from Court that would then enable the Birth Certificate to be changed.
On the other hand, when I physically went to register Morgan's birth, I asked about this again and got told a different story. _This time_, I was told that both parents would need to physically go to a _Notary_ along with the child's birth certificate and get the Notary to draw up some legal document that will allow the Birth Certificate to be changed.

Since I have no intention of wasting money talking to lawyers and/or Notaries needlessly, I'm going to ask about this another 3 times. The first option to be mentioned to me three times in total will be what I consider to be correct information until proven otherwise.

Oh, and you have to pay €2.33 as a registration fee. The reasoning behind this is a mystery to me. I wonder how impossible life would be for someone whose parent[s] opt not to register their birth because they don't agree with said charge. I know it is a highly unlikely scenario, but can you imagine never having existed to the world? Location would probably be key to how easy/difficult life can be for you.
The birth certificate can then be picked up within 10 working days from the Public Registry Office, or requested online via www.certifikati.gov.mt. There seems to be yet another charge to obtain the actual birth certificate via the website. If you request just an extract, the charge is €2.33, but if you request the full birth certificate, the charge is € 9.32.

Since there are a few details I still need to obtain confirmation about, as mentioned earlier, I will write up Part 2 of this blog once the certificate itself is ready for collection.

In the meanwhile, enjoy this - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KANI2dpXLw - whilst I snuggle up to Morgan once more.

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