Christmas in Germany, a long and complicated trip to New Zealand

We enjoyed our remaining time in Cape Town a lot! Spent time with our friends Jardin (whose place we stayed at repeatedly), Leigh and little Troy, soaked up some sun and shipped 15 kg via mail to relieve our heavy load... We really hope our stuff will make it home, because we went into the post office shortly before it was to close on a Saturday, only to find out that they didn't sell the boxes we needed to put our belongings in. So we quickly got some old boxes from the store next door, but we had to cut them (they were too big) and tape them back together. Since post office clerks in South Africa are just as keen to go home in time as the german ones, the whole thing got pretty stressful, but we made it. The parcels just looked a bit unstable...
A nice afternoon on a wine estate, drinking a sip of wine in the sun preceeded our flight back home. We were warmly welcomed by our families and spent the first day drinking coffee and eating christmas cookies, then fell into our beds like rocks. It was nice to be home, again, but time went by fast.... christmas, visiting friends, meeting new babies, new years eve, and off we were, again, on the 5th of January....
It was the most horrible trip in my life (speaking only for myself, of course, but I think Juergi thinks the same). After more or less stressful packing action, we went to the airport in a good mood. Our flight to Frankfurt was one hour delayed, because of snow chaos in Frankfurt. At first we weren't worried, because we had almost 2 and a half hours time in Frankfurt to catch the connecting flight. But then it was delayed for another hour and we started to get a little nervous. Finally we sat in the plane on our way to Frankfurt. They announced that some people would not be able to catch their connecting flights that day anymore and announced those flight numbers and when the next flights would be available. Since ours wasn't mentioned, we assumed that we are gonna be able to go on. We rushed out of the plane to the transfer desk as we had been told, but we found it deserted. Some other Lufthansa official told us to go directly to the gate. We ran to the "sky train" only to find it out of order. At the next desk, they said the plane had already left and we should relax... GREAT !!! NOT!!! By 2 o'clock that night we had finally eaten something and fell into our beds at the Sheraton Hotel opposite the airport. After a short night we barely made it for breakfast till nine the next morning. Since we didn't have our luggage we were still wearing the same clothes from the day before. Fortunately they were able to get us on a plane to Singapore at noon, instead of 10 p.m. as they had first told us the night before. Happy to be on the way, again, our mood was lowered, as we found out that we had the most terrible seating. 2 middle seats for the two of us and Marlon. We were able to swap, but then the guy sitting behind Juergi was so tall that Juergi wasn't able to put back his back rest. He basically didn't sleep at all. Our friend Claus picked us up from the airport in Singapore and we would have been happy. But Marlon had a hot head and 40 degrees celcius fever. I wasn't feeling well either and by the evening we were pretty sure I had shingles on my back. This meant we had to get medication for me and I would have to stop breast feeding Marlon immediately (in a situation where he was jet lagged, sick, in a new climate and with more than ten hours on a plane in front of us). As you can imagine our mood was dropping rappidly. Besides that Claus was taking good care of us and we managed to at least go out for food two times, see China Town and cool off in the pool (where we were told that we could not swim in what we were wearing. Juergis pants were too long and clogging up the water. ???? And I was also wearing too much, because my swimming suit was in my luggage which hadn't arrived, yet.) After two days and one night in Singapore Claus took us to the airport and we sat down together to eat a last meal together and gain some energy for the long flight to New Zealand via Australia. 40 minutes before boarding I had the feeling that Marlon was getting sicker. He was very quiet and looked like he was developing some kind of a rash in his face. The thought of locking myself into a plane with him for 7 and a half hours didn't make me happy at all. I wasn't able to eat much and we decided to find the airport clinic. After listening to his lungs and a look at his tonsils we decide we could take the risk. He was also more awake and happier all of the sudden. Once on the plane we were already feeling much better. The seats were great an the couple beside us had a boy the same age as Marlon, so they could play. Marlon did not have a rash in his face any more. God knows what that was... We had decided that I would only start on medication after the flight, so I could still breast feed Marlon and the flight was quite good. The shingles pain was still bearable and we got to Brisbane in a much better mood! Quickly on to Auckland New Zealand, where Sveni picked us up. We were so happy to be there, you can't even imagine! Marlon's fever was fortunately gone, but my shingles were getting worse. Last night I breast fed him for the last time. That cost me some tears! I'm sure some of the moms reading this might know how I felt and still feel. The night was terrible! Marlon was awake from 1 till 5, screaming, playing walking around outside with Juergi and me... Then he finally fell asleep on top of me and we got up at 8:30 a.m.. Today we managed to all stay awake and I think everything is going to be better, now. My shingles are still getting more painful, but I'm taking the medication and fortunately I didn't need to touch any painkillers, yet. Sveni's mom made a delicious lunch for us at her place and tonight Sveni cooked a nice dinner for us, as well.
Marlon and Juergi are sound asleep beside me and I will go to bed now, too. Hoping that this night will be better than the last...