Hi Everyone, As promised below is Joseph's weight chart, showing that he is way out in front of his parents (we went through our plunket books to check our weigh-ins). So no need to worry about him not getting enough food... With all the info Sophia is keeping in her diary I can see other spreadsheet opportunities but this will do for now!

We've now had Joseph for six weeks...he's getting to be a big boy and we're all finally getting the hang of one another!

Joseph's milestones include smiling (but he's been doing that for a few weeks now), poking his tongue out, grabbing my top in his hands when I'm feeding or holding him, laughing and he's finally getting some eyebrows! There is also a lot of random grabbing and hitting out - here's a picture of Joseph taking on his Dad in the cruiser weight division.

We had our first Plunket home visit on Wednesday 26th. Our Plunket nurse is called Joan Springgay; she's a no nonsense English lady in her mid fifties. Joseph got a thorough check - eyes, ears, hips, testes, weight, height and head circumference are all in order. Vital statistics include length of 58 cm (53cm at birth) and head circumference of 38cm (36cm at birth). He's rapidly growing out of his clothes and we're about to start moving him into the 00 sizes. He gets a really big puku after a feed which means his 000 leggings are too tight around the waist! He also seems quite long and I need to get him some bigger singlets that we can actually do up under the nappy.

Tummy time continues to be a key achievement for Joseph...he's going really well on that front. It has been hard to get a photo that does justice to his strength this morning so I'll keep trying; here's one from a few days ago that gives an indication of how things are progressing.

We've also had some success with the implementation of the Plunket Sleep Routine and we're using a modified version of it. We went back to Plunket yesterday to talk about how we'd gone and we've "graduated" from Sleep Camp! We do wrap him up when he first goes to sleep but this is his preferred sleep mode. Quite cute I think!

I've had a couple of enquiries about his hair and eye colour...I need to get a picture of his mullet but that has proved difficult this morning! His hair is quite dark but seems to be getting fairer. His eye colour ranges from black to brown to grey so I'm not sure what we're going to end up with there.

I need to issue a notice of correction regarding Joseph's last weight update...he was actually 12lbs 3 oz (the Plunket Nurse gave me the wrong kg to lb conversion). He was weighed on Wed 26th and is now a whopping 13lbs 1oz (5.93kg)! Dan will post some analysis of Joseph's weight gain in the next couple of days (it compares Joseph's weight gain vs mine and Dan - trust me it's fascinating!).

Sorry for the delays between posts - have been busy trying to get Joseph to sleep during the day (unsuccessfully) and Mum and Dad are here to visit their favourite grandson.

On the plus side, Joseph is still feeding like a trooper and now weighs 5.52kg (11lb 2 oz) - he will be five weeks old tomorrow! He's smiling quite a bit and there are lots of new noises (vocalisation I believe they call it). His tummy time capabilities are coming along well and I'll get a photo of that for the next post.

We have had a couple of sessions at the Plunket Sleep Boot Camp - ofcourse he was a little angel for them and settled to sleep as soon as they put him to bed. Very demoralising! However, I did learn some "settling strategies" and got indoctrinated into the Plunket routine (basically a four hour cycle - one hour up for tummy time, feeding, nappy change, burping, playing and then three hours down for sleep). Unfortunately, as all babies are little individuals, I can't quite pigeon hole Joseph into this routine but at least I have some guidelines as to what is possible. He is a good sleeper at night so I know that that is the preferred option!!

As you can see, we're trying a dummy - he's not a super big fan of it but it does seem to relax him and take his mind off crying.

Big weigh-in this morning - a whopping 5.17kg (11 and a half pounds!) - not bad in three and a half weeks. My arms and shoulders are slowly building up the necessary mass required to carry around such a big boy.

The monkey prince is continuing his bad ways and now doesn't like to sleep at all during the day...cat naps being his preferred method of sleeping. So, we're off to Plunket Boot Camp on the Thu prior to Easter and Tue after Easter to learn about "settling over tired" children (or as I like to think gifted children - why waste time on sleeping when there is a whole world to see and learn about!).

You can see the improvement in Joseph's tummy time - the head is definitely able to be held up for a few seconds now...must have picked up some tips from watching the Crusaders v Warratahs match on Friday night.

We had Dan's cousin, Shelley, come and visit on Sunday...pic attached - a great visitor she was too as she came bearing a gift for Joseph and Hot Cross Buns for us!

Trish (midwife) was here on Monday and Joseph weighed in at a healthy 4.72kg (about 10 and a half pounds). He's doing well and is starting to develop quite a little puku! Dan is convinced he is smiling - I'm not so sure as I have yet to see any! The picture of Joseph in the white suit (a present from Aunty Teresa) shows a hint of a smile perhaps!?

We're starting on "hot housing" Joseph's cognitive and physical development (er...not quite!) and you can see him here experiencing tummy time (I think this is the third time we've tried it)...he's still got quite a way to go before he'll be scrummaging in the All Black front row.


Joseph's spazz out mode has modified itself slightly in that he now doesn't want to sleep very much in the morning - he's not a big fan of the pram but does seem to like being in the car! He still doesn't sleep much between 5pm and 10pm but he doesn't scream/cry as much - he just likes being held/rocked.

Finally, we have a picture of the three of us...we all look a bit dazed I think!

We're now into week 3 of parenthood and after having the devil child present early last week, our angel child has returned - we've worked out that curry does not agree with Joseph! He's still a bit scratchy in the early evening but he's not as fractious. He's been sleeping well and spends most of his time in the big boy's cot. We have a sound and movement monitor which we can hear when we're downstairs.

Today, we had the second gathering of our ante natal group...still only two babies present (Taylor = 5 weeks and Joseph = 2 weeks). However, one of the other girls had a little girl, Sarah, on Thu 30th and Jo is being induced on Fri 7th - the next time we meet there will be a few more babies to meet.

Dan is back to work tomorrow onwards so I'll have to make a big effort to get through the day! We've got Trish (midwife) coming tomorrow as well so I'll post the next weigh-in early next week.