Lazy Sunday

Sadly, the weekend is almost over (well, for Daddy - Mummy's weekend ends in July). George had a pretty cool night last night, with a couple of feeds and then some good sleep stretches.  I sat with him for the last one, from 6:45am until about 9:30ish. Was rather nice - I just sat in his room reading, and gave him a gentle rock and a "ssshhhh" when he grizzled.  He's currently passed out on Rachel's lap after another feed. We're doing nothing today - we're literally sitting around the house just doing chores and having a quiet one. As good as George was yesterday, not every shop or location is going to be "feeding friendly", so an outing every couple of days is quite enough at this early stage.  He's a good little fella, but when he's hungry he lets us know - and the words "Can you hang on for a few minutes?" don't really go down so well.

I took a few photos of the little chap this morning - there was some nice light coming through the main window.

Having a snooze with two of my friends, Hiphop and Blabla

Saturday, Saturday

Weekend at last and all is fine in Chez George (although I can hear Rachel vigorously patting his back now to settle the little fella). This morning George had the pleasure of Daddy doing the poopy nappy change, and Daddy had the pleasure of discovering what appeared to be a mustard spill in George's pants.  Gross, man. Dinner with Ned was excellent, and as he has two little ones of his own, he knew exactly what we were going through in the opening weeks of The George Show.  Poor Ned was a tad jetlagged (either that or we were reaaaaally boring...), and it was an early evening for him - then up for a 9.15am flight to Australia for work.

Today we're heading out to Kowloon to see Rebacca with a view to picking up Barbara's 60th present, and after that - well, a whole lot of nothing I'm guessing. George is currently guzzling at what seems like his 43rd feed of the day, Barbara is doing the crossword, and I'm... well, doing this.

End of week 2 (well, almost)

Well, although George isn't quite two weeks old, we've managed to get him this far without any real damage (the little face scratches are self-inflicted - little dude needs fingernail trimming). He came down to Daddy's work again, and once again was practically comatose until the final stretch home, at which point he rather vocally reminded Rachel that it was his lunchtime.  There are some lunches you just can't have in an elevator, if you know what I mean. Ned is popping over tonight for a drink and hopefully he has time for a spot of dinner too (Grandma Barbara is cooking!).  Ned and his wife Thais used to live in Hong Kong, and although they now live in London, we've managed to catch them a few times since their departure - both in London and in Hong Kong.

Tomorrow we're heading to Kowloon for a spot of shopping for Barbara's belated 60th birthday present, and then we might have a few people coming to visit the little chap.

Naturally, a few shots of the little pooping and burping angel before I sign off.

Weight gains, heel pricks and sleep

Little dude has been sleeping up a storm - went to the doctor's today (apparently he's regained his birthweight), hit Pacific Place to do some shopping, and then came home - and pretty much slept through the whole experience.  This could explain the reluctance to sleep at night. Oh dear. He had his heel prick test today, and Rachel said he was a little miffed at that. Other than the odd needle-induced flipout, he's a pretty cool kid. Mummy uttered a few choice words under her breath at around midnight when the little fella wouldn't go to sleep, but he made up for it with an impressive four hour sleepfest in the night somewhere.  Rachel says she woke up and found herself patting my chest in her sleep (she was burping me).  Crikey.  I wonder if it worked.

A few photos of the little boy and the big boy:

Kung Hei Fat Choi!

Happy Chinese New Year as they say!  George narrowly avoided being an Ox and was born in the last week of the Year of the Rat.  I wouldn't have a clue what characteristics a Rat is supposed to exhibit, but I'm imagining "hairy" is one of them.  The little tyke's hair is as bushy as it was on Day 1 and I'm quite enjoying trying to part it when it's wet... We had a pretty lazy day, although George has his first official house visitor today - Alice came over for a bit to say hi and to gift George several awesome and cute presents (including a little Lion from South Africa, now christened "Harrice" (Harry + Alice). It's gorgeous and Daddy is considering stealing it.  Harry and Alice also gave George some lovely bibs and accessories and some cute little foot and hand animals so that he can locate his feet (you have to see it to understand what I'm talking about - but they are seriously cool).

We're heading upstairs for dinner tonight at Cam and Carolin's - technically George's first dinner outing.  Babysteps, babysteps - it's in the same apartment building as us.  If George pops a valve we're close to home!

Naturally, a few photos of the little fella to finish up - both with his Mummy:

A few more before I go to bed

Honestly, I just can't get enough of this little guy.  His expressions are just too hilarious.  I love the casual hand placement in the second one.  What a little duuuude.

The Daily George - Tuesday

We're in the middle of Chinese New Year, and it's pretty cold outside - although on the plus side, I have most of the week off and it's lovely and warm inside the apartment. The little chap is coming along nicely, and has learned to simultaneously burp and fart at the same time (I'm so proud). Sometimes when he really wants to impress me, he burps, vomits, farts and poops himself in quick succession.  His mum is slightly put out by the four-for-the-price-of-one performances, but only until she realises that he really is quite a happy and content little chap after one of his legendary pants explosions.

Tomorrow is the last day of Chinese New Year, and on Thursday I'll head back to work for perhaps half a day, and then half a day on Friday.  The day after CNY is "lai see" day where people give "red packets" (of cash) to people who either work for them or to unmarried friends. It's a bit strange, but hey - when in China... Anyway, I usually give cash packets to my secretary, the IT guy and girl who do a bit of work for me, and the building staff in the apartment building we live in. Plus, I'm supposed to give little cash packets to the unmarried people at work, but I wouldn't have the foggiest who is married and who isn't.  Oh well.

Naturally, I'll leave you with a few pictures of the little guy:

George's first walk

We took George out for a walk yesterday, and I can confirm that it takes the better part of an hour to prepare a 3kg baby for a 2km walk.  And he doesn't even walk yet. Grandma and Mummy kitted the little fella out and prepared his stuff for the Lord of the Rings-esque journey down to the local supermarket. Nappy, onesie, trousers (verrry cute) a woolly cardigan, a hat, a shawl and a cover for the stroller (a bystander would be forgiven for thinking that the cover was bulletproof - it really is spectacular).  I flipped out the phone and took a photo for your benefit.  Apologies for any blurriness, I may have been giggling at the impressive fortress that he was hidden behind (there is actually a child under there somewhere):

The walk was pretty uneventful, as the little fella didn't once stir and was dead to the world for both the journey there and the journey back.  Mummy was a bit sore after the walk down, and so Mummy and Grandma ended up taking a cab back while Daddy faced his first true test of parenthood and had to push the little guy back home, unsupervised.

Below is a map of the walk we went on (it was 2km from bottom to top) and I have helpfully marked the areas where I stopped to make sure George was still breathing.  I am such a rookie father:

Needless to say, I got him home safely.  I am a legend.

I leave you with a shot of him and yet-to-be-named Hippo (I tried to name him "Hiphop" but the ladies of the house vetoed it) taken this morning:

Oh - and a photo of Ben for your viewing pleasure...

Sunday, Sunday

The nights are getting better, although we're gradually realising that George's late evening slumbers are the main reason that he's reluctant to nod off when we want him to during the night. We're still learning about his little sleeping and feeding patterns - lots to learn... It's almost lunchtime, and... nah.  Rather than bore you with details of what I'm about to cook and shove down my gob, here are some photos of the little guy that I took this morning: