We all went back to work this week - week 43 - and Joseph is nearly 10 months old! Dan went back to work on Monday 8th and Joseph and me on Tuesday 9th.

Joseph was very excited to be back at Bear Park and the teachers (especially Christiana and Hiromi) were very happy to see Joseph and see all his new tricks. For his first day back, Joseph wore the t-shirt and board shorts that Nana Joan gave him for Christmas. He is having a great time at Bear Park crawling around all the rooms, exploring all sorts of new nooks and crannies and also eating up big!

Here's a shot of Joseph's new tooth - upper left. It is coming through at a great rate of knots and he is putting it to good use with all different kinds of food - especially apples and crackers. It is also good for tearing toast apart. The tooth on the right side is nearly through as well so I'll try and get a pic of that soon too.

Today the sun was out and we spent the late afternoon in the garden, Joseph had a lovely time checking out all the plants, the tiles and the wastewater drain.

Week 42 of Joseph’s life coincided with the first week of 2007. We had our second week at home as a “family unit” – although I did go back to work for two days on Wednesday 3rd and Thursday 4th January! Dan and Joseph spent quite a bit of time up in Cornwall Park checking out the sheep, cows and chickens. However, they had to do maintenance on the mountain buggy before they could head out to the park.


Joseph has become even more incredibly speedy on the crawling front. Once he gets going there is definitely no stopping he. He has learnt how to get out the door onto the veranda and once he’s outside, he tears around the courtyard and then onto the grass. He likes doing a bit of weeding and generally checking out his “patch”.

Another milestone that Joseph has achieved is pulling himself up to standing. He is doing this with increasing regularity and also with increasing confidence. He will pull himself up on the couch, the mountain buggy, his cot, the dining room chairs and as of this morning, my leg (using my trousers as leverage).


The three of us went to Devonport on Friday for our first family trip for 2007. We drove into the city parked at Dan’s work and then caught the ferry across.

We then walked to Cheltenham Beach and Dan took Joseph out to the water’s edge. Dan said that while the scenery fascinated Joseph, he wasn’t too keen on letting go of Dan to have a paddle in the water! We think he’ll be ready to do more exploring this time next year! We walked back to Devonport and had an ice cream before we got on the ferry. Dan and I each had a double cone and Joseph enjoyed all four flavours – moccasin, cookies and cream, caramel fudge and “gold rush”.


He also enjoyed getting stuck into the cone.

We've made it through our first Christmas week (week 41 of Joseph's life) and are about to cross into our second year - 2007! This week (apart from Christmas ofcourse) has seen amazing improvements in Joseph's crawling ability and he is getting quite speedy.

Dan and I have been on annual leave this week and have been chilling out at home. Unfortunately, the weather hasn't been particularly summery so we've all had a bit of cabin fever. Joseph has been in some kind of transition in his daytime sleeping patterns (perhaps moving from two day sleeps to one?) and he has taken to sleeping either sideways in his cot (pictured) or with his head where his feet usually are. We still wrap Joseph's legs but generally only at night.

Joseph got even more presents post Christmas Day...he has been well and truly spoilt. Denise and Rob gave Joseph an enormous padding pool with a sensible shade cover - I'm hoping that it will be very summery when my sister and nephews arrive in February and that we'll be able to get all three boys into it for lots of splashy fun.

Matt, Joseph's Godfather, has already started getting Joseph on the right track by suggesting he support Chelsea Football Club (as Matt does). He's even started him out correctly by giving Joseph a CFC money box. I know nothing about football so Matt will have to teach him the finer points of that code.

Finally, it is pretty impossible to get a nice picture of the three of us at the moment. Joseph has realised what a camera is and now goes into pose mode when he spies it. So, here's a variation on the family shot!

This is a special Christmas post...I'm a bit late as it is Thursday 28th December! Here are Joseph and I on Christmas morning just getting into the present unwrapping. This is my Santa sack that I had as a child, Joseph is going to use it from now on.

Joseph was thoroughly spoilt with too many presents...I think he was a bit overawed by the entire day actually. Three basic categories were received - toys, books and clothes. Dan and I are particularly happy with the new books as we are a bit sick of the current selection! I have already him "The Tree in the Wood" (courtesy of Nana Helen & Grandad Terry) and Dan has read "How to Catch a Star" (from Aunty Kate, Uncle Simon, Cousins Harry & Alfie).

His current favourite present is the telephone on wheels from Uncle Mark, Aunty Camy, Cousins Jaye & Frances. It is just the right weight/height for him to practice his crawling.

However, he has taken a liking to the 12 racing cars that Nana Joan sent for when he's older!

I will try and get photos of Joseph using/wearing the remainder of his presents over the next few months! Thank you to everyone who gave Joseph a gift. It was very generous of you and very much appreciated.

We had Uncle Gerry here for Christmas and we had a great lunch (except for Joseph who is not into eating at the moment - teeth, ears, who knows?!). However, we did manage to get one strawberry into him, the evidence of which you can see in this picture.


Thinks took a turn for the naughty late afternoon when Uncle Gerry gave Joseph some red wine to try...

Week 40 started with a trip to Plunket for Joseph's nine month check. Unfortunately, Joan wasn't there and we had Katie instead. Joseph was very chatty and charming. We had the all important (official) weigh-in and Joseph is clocking in at an impressive 10.96 kg (about 24 pounds). The weight graph is below and you can see how Joseph is well and truly tracking above both Dan and I. The dip in his weight coincides with his first bout of illness at the end of winter.

We also had a visit to Bruce to check Joseph's ear...Bruce isn't happy with it's progress so we're going to see and ear/nose/throat surgeon at the end of January to be assessed for grommets.

We have quite a few Christmas presents at home, more for Joseph that anyone else! I caught Joseph engaging in a bit of illegal present activity the other day...he had managed to bottom shuffle over to the presents and was having a grand time feeling and pulling them.

Joseph is refusing to eat lunch and dinner off a spoon (but will eat off a spoon at daycare) at the moment so I have been providing lots of "finger food" (grated cheese, vegemite toast fingers, cream cheese on crackers, strawberries etc). He will however eat yoghurt from a spoon so I make sure he always has fruit mixed up in that!

The week ended with Joseph managing to do a few crawls...yep, proper forward crawling on all fours. He'll do that a couple of times and then lunge for what he's chasing! I haven't managed to get a picture of this but I'm trying!

Finally, here's a picture of my two boys taken just before Joseph was off to bed. Super cute!

We'll do a special post to celebrate Christmas Day...Merry Christmas!

I just wanted to post a few more photos that document Joseph's achievements (following up from week 38's post!). I managed to get a few shots of Joseph doing the things I wrote about.

So, first up, two cheeky shots of the hands-free activity. In the highchair, generally being a monkey.


He loves standing in the bath and looking over the side. He especially likes the plug end and just stares at it! He's taken to throwing his toys over the end, initially he would just stare at them but now he trys to pick them up (usually meaning he gets quite far up the side of the baby bath).

This was taken about 10 days ago and you can see his top two teeth, they've actually grown down quite a bit more since this shot was taken.

Joseph is nine months old today (Sun 17th Dec) - week 39. And what a busy week it has been! Monday started with our usual trip to Bruce's (our GP) for another look at Joseph's manky ear (ear drops prescribed!) and then we headed off to a cafe in Onehunga for a pre-Christmas Mother's Group gathering. William, Taylor, Sarah and Joseph were present - no photos unfortunately as I forgot the camera.

Thursday was Bear Park Christmas with a special afternoon tea, a visit from Father Christmas and the arrival of a number of farmyard animals from "Old MacDonald's Farm". They bought a goat, a calf, a minature horse, some ducks, exotic piglets, guinea pigs, three sheep, bunny rabbits and some rats. Joseph was asleep for the afternoon tea and Father Christmas and then was still a bit tired for the animals. Here's a pic of Joseph with Bronwyn, one of his main teachers. He'd just woken up and was not interested in coming to me!!

After Bear Park, Joseph and I headed down to my work where I needed to pick up a couple of things before we left. Joseph helped me send a few emails and signed some expense claims. Here he is sitting in my chair looking very comfortable, a future captain of industry?!

Luckily for Joseph, he received a special Christmas t-shirt in the mail the day before from Grandma and was able to wear it on Thursday.

There have been a few teething issues over the past couple of weeks and Joseph has been off most of his food (apart from biscuits and crackers). Anne from Mother's Group suggested we try "Petit Miam" (the baby yoghurt), here is Joseph having his first taste. He loved it and so we've been mixing that up with some lovely, fresh strawberries for quite a few meals.

You might remember a picture of Shelley (Dan's cousin) feeding Joseph in the early days...Shelley came round for lunch on Saturday and we thought we'd better document Joseph's growth/progress by replicating the photo. It is quite amazing to see how much bigger he has got!

We have our nine month Plunket visit on Monday 18th so we'll get a real indication of how Joseph is going!

We have had a very busy week 38 - I worked a full week (my boss is hospital and we're a bit flat tack at the moment) and that meant Joseph put in a five stretch at Bear Park as well. He seemed to have a great time - singing, painting and making Christmas decorations. He also ate loads of food going by his daily reports - sausages, crackers, biscuits, noodles, muffins. The teachers always comment on his healthy appetite. He must also being going through some kind of growth spurt as he's been waking up for an extra bottle during the night (anytime between 1am and 4am!).

Latest tricks for Joseph include:
- crawling backwards (more of a reverse caterpillar movement than an actual crawling movement!), this works especially well on the floorboards in the kitchen
- holding things in his mouth with no hands (spoons, bottle and blocks)
- standing and now pulling himself up to standing. He can only make it to his knees at the moment though.

He's very proud of himself. Here's a couple of shots of Joseph getting into his toybox - this only happened on Friday and he's been improving ever since.


In terms of baths and showers, Joseph is having a mixture depending on who picks him up from Bear Park (I do a bath and he goes in the shower with Dan). Here's a pic from earlier in the week when Dan was home early and was able to help with the bath. We always put the hood over Joseph's head (he looks like a cross between a boxer, a smurf and a Ku Klux Klan member!!) and it is only recently that he has taken to pulling it off. He is so active, always on the go. They say at Bear Park that he is on the move from the moment he gets there to the moment he leaves - no wonder he eats so much and sleeps so little there!!

We marked eight and a half months with Joseph on Friday with a degree of naughtiness on his part. He wouldn't settle for his afternoon sleep and then it went all quiet. I went up to check and what did I find but the clever monkey pants sitting up in his cot, looking very pleased with himself! So, a new trick that is getting used on the afternoons since! Luckily, a cuddle and a couple of rounds of "You are my sunshine" usually get him off to sleep!

As soon as Joseph wakes in the morning, there is only a short window of happiness before the need for a bottle kicks in - Dan snapped this shot when that window was closing!!

Dan has also been teaching Joseph some naughty tricks - standing in the cot. I'm not sure that is such a good idea so we've agreed to only have standing outside the cot! Joseph loves standing at the moment and while he hasn't quite mastered pulling himself to standing he is intent on giving it a go. He seems to prefer standing to being on his tummy at the moment and he makes himself go all rigid when I want him to sit down.

Joseph's second front tooth came through early last week but you can't see much of it at the moment. We managed to get this pic today at lunch time - you can really see how his left front tooth is growing.

True to form we went to see Bruce last Monday (chesty cough and manky ear) and we're back again tomorrow for a follow-up!

Week 36 of Joseph's life passed by in a blur - Dan and I have been busy at work and Joseph has been well and truly occupied at Bear Park. They keep telling me how musical Joseph is, how he likes all the instruments and dancing to music. We're not sure where he gets that from as neither of us excel at either! Here's a picture taken on Thursday night when Dan picked Joseph up from BP - absolutely shattered from a big week of activity! He seems to have got very big/heavy in the last week or so.

I haven't taken a photo on the chair for several posts, you can see how much his sitting has improved as he is actively leaning forward towards the camera - Joseph has definitely learnt to recognise the camera! After this was taken, Joseph and I popped into my work as I had to have a meeting - Joseph was very attentive during the meeting and had a lot to contribute. He also helped me send some emails and had lots of cuddles from people in the office.

Joseph continues to love bath time and he likes to pull himself up on the edges of the baby bath trying to stand up. His face is all red from the constant dribbling that is accompanying the growth of his left front top tooth. Its arrival is imminent!

Finally, we went for a family walk on Sunday in Cornwall Park. Here are Dan and Joseph looking at the cows (mums and their baby calves). nb pohutkawa trees blossoming in the background - a sure sign Christmas is on its way!

We've made it to 8 months as a family unit! Joseph was 8 months old (35 weeks) on Friday 17th. It seems like we've always had him and those early dark days seem a long time ago!!

Joseph had a very busy week upsetting our usual routine. Joseph and I went to see Bruce (GP) on Monday to make sure his manky ear was healing (it has) and we finished off the antibiotics. Little did we know that this would lead to lots of diarreaha (apparently starting/finishing antibitotics upsets the gut and runny poo can be a side effect). So, on Wednesday, I got a call from Antoinette at Bear Park to say that I had to collect Joseph and keep him at home for the rest of Wednesday and all of Thursday due to his squirty bottom. I am really hoping that this is the end of Joseph's ailments!! Although, on Thursday, we were joined by Joseph's top front left tooth cutting through - it's just cut the gum so there isn't much to see at the moment. He seems to be in a bit of pain so we've been giving him Pamol to help him sleep.

Here's a pic of Joseph on the couch downstairs - admittedly it is not the best shot of him but you can see his two bottom teeth.

Something else Joseph has been showing us over the past couple of days is his ability to throw his hands up in the air and then bring them crashing down on his knees - almost haka-ish in the delivery!

Joseph's appetite has definitely returned (our key indicator that he is getting better/feeling off colour) and he has been making great strides on the eating front. Here's a couple of pics of Joseph feeding himself a cracker and using his new ($13!!!) cup.

Week 34 of Joseph's life ended with a developmental milestone - he has learnt to clap hands! Very exciting and he is so proud of himself (and we are of him!).

I was on jury duty this week (but didn't get selected for a jury!) and we booked Joseph into Bear Park for an extra day so he ended up doing four days there. It didn't worry him at all and I think he had a good time (an even better time than usual with lots of playing the drums, exploring cellophane and making other various noises!).

Joseph's many illnesses have all passed and he is in good spirits - very happy with lots of smiles and heaps of chatting (he definitely gets that from Dan!). His eating is back on track and he's easily getting through three meals, four bottles and a couple of snacks in a day. He even had baked beans at Bear Park on Wednesday (not good for the nappies the next day though!!).

Mum and Dad were here for four days on their way back from visiting their third grandson, Alfie, in Bristol. It is so obvious that Joseph is the favourite and he was at maximum cuteness with them.

Week 33 of Joseph's life was marked with, not one but, two visits to Bruce (our GP) and our fourth lot of antibiotics. I noticed on Monday that Joseph has some green gunk coming out his left ear and though it was best to get that checked out! We went back on Friday to find out what it was (Bruce took a swab and we found out it was the common bug "strep")...so for a few days Joseph had green stuff coming out his nose and ear! However, as I write this on Sunday 5th Nov, Joseph is well on his way to much better health and the leakng from nose and ear has pretty much disappeared. He's been eating really well too - I'm really pleased about that. It looks like that the winter ailments are finally on their way out of our house!

Anyway, in terms of growth and development, this post focuses on Joseph exploring and discovering with items both manmade and naturally occurring!

My boss, Sharon, and her husband, Bob, passed on some things that belonged to Bob's grandchildren - some Duplo and a Fisher Price ABC/counting toy (one that sings and lights up depending on which buttons you press - you know the ones where the song sticks in your head long after it's been turned off!?!). Here is a picture of Joseph engaged in the "soupy swirl" song.

Dan and I bought Joseph a swing today - he loves it! He giggles away like crazy and likes it when we push him higher and faster! It is supposed to last him until he is seven and converts in three stages.

Finally, Dan put Joseph into the swing's box and Joseph was really enjoying that too. He is actually standing in the box on his own. Standing has overtaken sitting and being on his tummy as the preferred positions!