John O'Brien should have been getting ready to celebrate his son's first birthday.
Instead the young father stood grim-faced in church on Wednesday to say goodbye to his cherished wife, Bianka, and little Jude, the son who gave his life purpose.
Ms O'Brien and Jude were killed by a shop explosion that destroyed their Rozelle apartment on September 4.
Police had told Mr O'Brien that the bodies of his wife and son were found together in the rubble of their home.
He told the mourners who packed St Joseph's Catholic Church in Rozelle that had been some tiny consolation.
"She never left him," Mr O'Brien said.
"There was no place happier for Jude. There was nothing he wanted more than to be with his mum."
Ms O'Brien and her son remained united, their bodies buried together in a white coffin.
Ms O'Brien, 31, was about to leave her career as a hairdresser to care full-time for Jude, who would have turned one on September 25.
She was, Mr O'Brien said, tough, uncompromising, loving and sweet.
"There were times where she would be the toughest woman on the planet," he said.
"She was also vulnerable and scared and self-conscious.
"She was everything to me."
When Jude came along, Mr O'Brien said, his life changed: he didn't want to go out with mates or watch the footy - he just wanted to get home.
"He gave me purpose," he said.
Now, he said, he feels lost.
Ms O'Brien's father, Bill, sobbed as he told the gathering no words could describe how the family felt.
Bianka, he said, had been a loving daughter, sister and mother, and Jude had been forever smiling.
He had asked "Why?" and the only answer he could find for himself, he said, was that Bianka and John had brought an angel into this world.
"Jude was that angel. He finished his work in less than 12 months," he said.
Around 400 people including many from the Rozelle community attended the funeral service.
The church was filled, with many people standing on the steps outside.
A large group of police and firefighters, many of whom worked at the blast site, attended and lined the street in an honour guard as the hearse left the church.
Police are continuing their investigation into the explosion, which occurred in a convenience store under the O'Briens' apartment at around 4am.
Mr O'Brien was not home, having left for work about an hour earlier.
The explosion and subsequent fire also killed neighbour Chris Noble, aged 27.
The blast destroyed the shop building and forced the demolition of the building next door.
It is being treated as suspicious.
Police have finished their investigations at the Darling St site and surrounding streets have been reopened.
The owner of the convenience store was injured in the blast and remains in hospital, where he has been spoken to by police.
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