Thirteen weeks notched up last night! Yippee!

An eventful week with very wintry weather, a city-wide power cut on Monday and a couple of medical visits for Joseph; plus Mother's Group to see his friends, William, Joshie, Taylor and Elizabeth (sadly no photos yet of MG's babies - forgot the camera!)

But ofcourse, the week started last Saturday with the All Blacks vs Ireland rugby test and Joseph was suited up to show his support for the AB's.

Our Plunket visit was on Tuesday and Nurse Joan gave Joseph a thorough check - length coming in at 64cm (+11cm since birth) and weight 7.5kg (16lb 11oz). So, he's a hefty boy in very good health - these are six month old sizes according to the labels on his clothes.

I am trying to get him into all the lovely clothes we were given before he outgrows them so everyday I seem to be coordinating a new outfit. Here he is in a top our neighbours gave Joseph and some cords that are hand-me-downs from the biggest boy in the whanau, cousin Harry.

Yesterday afternoon was Joseph's three month injections...he was a star and there was very little crying - he's been more circumspect in the past 24 hours but not too grizzly or sick. Dan came too and was able to comfort him!

Finally, a bit of smug parenting...a very cute picture of the big fella to end the post.

We've made it to twelve weeks! Time has both raced and crawled by! Joseph is a very happy little boy - we get lots of smiles and giggles but he gets grizzly when it is time to go to sleep during the day and about 5pm. Dan and I have both settled into a good routine with Joseph and we're both enjoying parenthood.

Since he's now a "big boy", I have taken to dressing him in "big boy" clothes during the day rather than stretch and grows all the time...here he is in a very fetching combo - stripey top from Victoria and denim overalls from Rachel.

Being a big boy means that he gets to do more big boy activities...Joseph had his first trip to the supermarket where he got to sit in the trolley. He found the rickety old trolley very comfortable and nodded off for most of the shopping trip.

We've booked our flights to Noosa for our annual, mid winter holiday...as such we need to get a passport for Joseph. Here's a selection of dud passport photos...



And here's as the one we went with.

He looks a bit like a criminal and he's stuck with this for five years!

We clock up another week tonight - 11 in total. Can hardly believe Joseph is nearly three months old!

A bit of a quiet week with not much going on...we went to Botany Downs shopping centre on Monday to get some larger sized singlets and I also bought Joseph some wrist rattles (part of his hot housing educational programme!) - as Dan pointed out they just fit around his wrist now so we're not sure how long they are going to last. Here's pic of Joseph continuing to improve tummy time skills and you can see he's wearing a wrist rattle on his left hand.

I've had to adjust the carseat as well to accommodate his growth; he looks so much bigger without the padded insert. I measured his length (very unscientifically) this week and I had him at about 63cm, meaning a 10cm increase in 11 weeks. We're off to Plunket on the 13th so I'll get an official weight and length then.

In an effort to save my arms and back from Joseph's weight and improve his head lifting skills, I often carry him around like this - he seems to quite like it and it serves a third purpose in that it stops him crying! He's wearing his red t-shirt to show his support for the Crusaders for last Saturday night's Super 14 rugby final (he had red socks on too).

Finally, part of Joseph's going to bed routine involves having a shower with Dan; he doesn't look too happy in this pic but he really does enjoy being in the water!

Ten weeks old tonight! We've had a good week on the sleeping front...the weather has been quite wet so I've had a lot of time to devote to implementing a day time sleeping routine. Joseph has responded quite well and only cries for a little bit before nodding off. The late afternoon sleep is proving the most difficult to get him to adopt but I'm perservering! We're turning the monitor off when he cries...so much easier to pretend we're good parents when we can't hear him cry!

His fingernails grow so fast and I seem to be cutting them every couple of days. Most mornings when I go to get him from his cot there will be a new scratch on his face, usually around the eye area - it doesn't seem to bother him at all.

Here's Joseph in his Baby Gap towelling tracksuit (thanks to Steve and Cheryl Hoyle) - looking very "southside" in it too. It's been a big hit with the public when he's been seen wearing it.

On the developmental front...Joseph's head control is getting better, he's becoming more aware of his hands and his eye sight range continues to improve. Plus, we think he's very cute.

Again, it's been awhile between posts...I'm going to try and do it every Friday from now on so that it will be a regular task for me!

Last weekend we had Dan's sister, Margarite, come and stay for a few days. Unfortunately the weather was pretty terrible so we couldn't get out and do as much as we wanted but it did mean that Joseph got lots of cuddles.

Joseph was weighed yesterday and is now 6.69kg...as Joan our Plunket Nurse says "a bonny boy". I've bought the next size up in nappies and am going to try them this morning - we've had a few nappy leakages where the "infant" size doesn't quite cover his chubby thighs. Dan has updated the weight graph and I will get him to post it over the weekend. Meanwhile, here's a pic of Joseph in puku enhancing horizontal stripes!

I've been trying to bring a bit more structure to our day and part of this means that Joseph now gets a bottle of formula at his last feed of the day. This is to give me a break and also for Dan to have a set time with Joseph at the end of the day. I think it will work well for all three of us! Here's a pic of Joseph having a little snooze in the sun after his 11am feed yesterday.

Only a short post today but this is fresh off the camera...managed to capture a great shot of Joseph's tummy time skills...he can hold his head up for a few minutes now. I also carry him around on his tummy resting across my arm so that he gets additional TT.

I have been writing this for three days now but have had a few interuptions from the Monkey Prince...at 22:27 last Friday night we celebrated seven weeks with Joseph. It has been a busy ten days and we have seen a few medical professionals in that time. Monday saw us at Starship Hospital for Joseph's kidney scan - all normal (at the 20 week anatomy scan the tubes from the kidneys to the bladder were a bit larger than normal so they wanted us to get that checked out once he arrived). He was charming with Sarah the sonographer and only did one little wee.

Wednesday was his six week injections appointment and he was very good...yelped a little bit when they went in but not too many tears. I fed him straight afterwards and the immunisations did not seem to impede his ability to feed in any way! He was a bit whingy for the rest of the afternoon - nothing that a lot of cuddles from Grandma, Mummy and Daddy couldn't cure! This photo shows two of the three injection sites on his (substantial) thigh. As the nurse said - he's hardly failing to thrive!

I've managed to get a pic of the mullet, which on viewing the is actually more of a rat's tail. Eye colour still not determined and I haven't been able to capture a decent tummy time shot, suffice to say it's coming along well.

We had our first "Mother's Group" on Thursday - only a mini one however with three Mums and babies. Joseph was the oldest by three weeks and also the heaviest by at least three kilos. The other babies, William and Elizabeth, were tiny dots of things...I was remiss and didn't photo-document the event. I'll get a photo from next week's gathering.

He's also getting to the age when we can start getting some shots of him being more alert and generally cute - here he is in a yellow two piece courtesy of Grandma.

I've starting doing a little expressing...I was concerned that if we started giving Joseph a bottle he would refuse the breast. No need to worry...he polished off 80mls (our trial size) in about three minutes (less time than it took me to express!!). Just had time to grab the camera.

Finally, here's something else we swore we'd never do...have him in our bed...this was after a bit of a fractious night and I couldn't get him to settle back in his cot. Anne Geddes - eat your heart out!

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.

This was taken a couple of hours ago - Dan took Joseph down to the supermarket and we thought we'd better make an effort to dress him warmly. So, here he is in his first "prison suit" (nb in Marist colours!). Still a bit of room to grow in the tummy area. Not much has happened today...we had the mid-week weigh in yesterday which Dan updated everyone on - just on 10lbs so he's doing well. Other big news in J's life is that his umbilical cord stump thingo came off the other day and his tummy button is well on its way to healing (thank goodness as it was starting to get quite stinky!). We're about to approach the witching hours so please send us any settling strategies so we can try and settle him within a couple of hours (not the five hours we experienced last night!).

Here's a picture from yesterday afternoon. Weigh-in today - up to 4.48kg - but more on all that from Sophia soon

Hi there, it was a busy day today with lots of visitors dropping in but Joseph pretty much made sleeping the #1 objective - with feeding a close second. Trish, our midwife, called in and said all is going well (weight now 4.35kg). Here's Joseph waking up earlier today and having a bath just a few minutes ago. Now he's fed and asleep again - good boy!

Not much news for today but yesterday was Sophia's turn to take Joseph out for a trip so here's a pic for that big occasion. Also not many close-ups of Joseph so far - so here's one from when he was just a couple of days old.

Joseph having an afternoon sleep today at home. The midwife came round today and he's putting on some weight - now 4.180kg - I think that is 9lb 3oz. Anyway he is putting weight on after dropping 6% in the 1st couple of days as is normal apparently.
We also made our 1st trip in the pushchair today down to Royal Oak where Joseph was a bit of a hit

Here are the 3 of us about 2 hours after Joseph was born

Joseph was born at 10.27pm on Friday March 17, 2006. Here he is with Mum just a few minutes later