Angelo's photos
spacespacespace George's newest friend Uncle Angelo (remember - George is part Sri Lankan, so every male he knows who is older than him becomes "Uncle") took some lovely photos of the little man at our Saturday morning coffee date this weekend. Check out little Mr Smiley McSmileypants:
Of namesakes and lineage (a special post for Granny B and Aunty Jacq)
Although most people know that little George was named after his great grandfather, not so many know that his great grandfather George was actually an All Black back in the day. This photo of Great Granddad George is taken from the NZRU website. An excerpt from his website bio at www.allblacks.com:
"George Adkins was a stocky front row player whose height of 1.80m (5ft 11in) and weight of 93kg (14 and a half stones) made him ideal for the prop when that position became the vogue following the switch in the early 1930s to the 3-4-1 scrum. Timaru born and a product of Timaru Boys High, Adkins appeared for the South Canterbury union in 51 matches in the decade covering 1929-39. Excellent form in the 1934 and 1935 trials and for the South in the 1934 inter-island match won him a place on the 1935 tour of Britain."
Little George has big shoes to fill if he decides to play rugby...
Much to his mother's disgust, little George arrived in bed this morning dressed in an All Blacks onesie (thanks Aunty Momo) that is about 3 sizes too big. Daddy couldn't resist, having been given free reign on clothing choices this morning. I mean, really - how awesome is this?
Another morning with Daddy
spacespacespace Quite possibly against her better judgment (which is questionable, given her choice of husband), Rachel left Little One with Daddy for the morning. A more extended babysitting gig than last time, this time so Mummy could hit the hairdresser for the pre-New Zealand touch up (her hair looks lovely, of course).
We ended up at FUEL coffee, meeting my photography junkie friend Angelo - who was about to hop on a flight back to San Francisco. Handy location, as FUEL is about three floors up from the Airport train station.
Everything went well - Angelo took loads of photos of George (with a camera I would kill for) and even had a cuddle. The little punk (George, not Angelo) had the nerve to give Angelo nothing but smiles and giggles. False advertising, little one...
He snoozed and snoozed a bit more, and then I took him home. Where he snoozed. And snoozed a bit more. And at 1pm I had to physically wake him for his lunchtime feed of pureed steak and mashed potatoes. Ha, just kidding. He got milk.
Despite his voice sounding a tad hoarse (hey - it's not like he has any actual words for us), the new sleeping routine seems to be working well. I still hate watching / hearing him cry, but he really is getting to sleep in a much more predictable way. It's 11pm as I'm typing this, and he just went down again - four hours since his last feed, and with minimal fuss. All good.
Anyway, here are a few photos from Chez Narly today. Oh yes - that is indeed baby vomit on my t-shirt. I didn't spot it until Rachel pointed it out after I had taken the photo. Little sod puked all the way down Wellington, down to Picton and possibly down to Kaikoura.
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...and just in case you didn't already know, Ben still has no shame whatsoever:
Daddy stayed home
Daddy took annual leave today, mainly to take the Poppy the cat to and from the vet (general anesthetic - dental work - all is fine), but also to hang with George and Mummy. We had a lovely day, most of which George slept through - and Mummy and Daddy even managed to go out for a civilised lunch at the Marriot (which George slept through). now all is quiet in the house and I'm watching the ratbags sleeping next to the heater - I'm leaving it on all night so that Poppy can "recuperate" on a nice warm cushion (if the heater is on, it also means that they don't sprint around the house all night...) A few of the sleepymonster from this morning. Or was it this afternoon? I forget.
From playtime this morning with Daddy
A better day
spacespacespace Well to be honest, beating yesterday wouldn't have been too difficult. Today George got a new sleeping technique sampled on him - no more gentle cuddling and rocking for him. Military school stuff now - in the bassinet, on his side, rocked and patted until he passes out. No more cuddles and lovey dovey crap. I must say, I was a bit hesitant when I saw Rachel wobbling him like she was making a smoothie, but... he was out cold in well under half the time it usually takes to conk him out. Not too shabby.
Also - little man did tummy time today, and mummy assures me that he pushed himself up quite happily. He's so clever.
Right - Georgemonster had a great morning on his playmat. And surprise, surprise - I had the camera handy.
A pictorial summary of today
Modelling my jacket knitted by Granny B
Daddy in charge
Little man was left in the sole care of his Daddy today, while his Mummy shot out and did beautiful girly things to her toenails. Things went smoothly, with the highlight being a duet (starring Daddy and George) of "London Bridge is Falling Down", with the words all change to "Joooooo". George pitched in with the occasional "Jooooo", of course. I guess you had to be there. Fourteen days until New Zealand. Can't wait - have booked domestic flights now; will be in Wellington from 2 April the following Thursday (which is the 7th I think) - in Auckland all other times, including Easter.
A few quick photos of the munchkin today - first was during an iChat (which he rather uncharacteristically slept through) and the second is during a post-bath freakout.
A day of firsts
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That's right - a fist bump from little George for a couple of awesome achievements today.
Firstly - he threw back his first full feed from a bottle. Took him a few seconds to figure out what to do with the teat, but once he worked it out, he chugged it like a baby possessed. Well, at least until there was a quarter of the feed left to go, at which point he promptly fell asleep. Not to worry - a few jiggles and prods, and he woke up and downed the rest of it. His mummy is shooting out for a few hours tomorrow, and daddy is going to be taking care of the little fella in her absence. Emergency services have been added to my speed dial numbers.
Second - he laughed. Not just giggled, not just smiled - but he laughed. And laughed. And laughed.
It happened in the bath - we were almost done, and I was putting a little bit of soap in his neck folds where his milky vomit usually hides during the day. I rubbed his neck with my finger, and he started laughing. So I did it some more and he just chortled, and kept laughing. The more I rubbed it, the more he laughed - his face was hilarious, and he was literally going "heh! haaaaa! haaaaaaaaaa!" It was utterly adorable. Can't wait for it to become a regular occurence...
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Tonight we have video chats with Aunty Anna, Uncle Kieran and future-girlfriend Bella, and then we saw Aunty Katy and Uncle Sam. George was ever the performing monkey and was good enough to give Katy and Sam a lovely big smile before totally flipping out due to overtiredness.
And finally, Happy Birthday to ANG! Hope you had an awesome day - here are some family portraits for you (in the middle one we are in fact mocking George's habit of raising his fist for no reason at all):
Special guest photographer, Mummy
With special guest shoulder, Daddy. And special guest Grumpyface, George:
My first date
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Hi everyone.
Today I had my first playdate. With a girl.
I slept through it all. Oops.
Love, George
Aaaaaah.... aaaaaaaah... aaaaaaaah.... CHOOOOOO!
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My timing was hardly perfect - but here is the little man mid-sneeze.
A good day from all accounts. As well as being rather angelic during his trip to Central (let's ignore the minor flipout at the baby shop), he also had his first go at taking milk from a bottle. We had read that it sometimes takes months for a baby to figure out how to drink from a bottle and teat. It took George all of about 10 seconds. From what his Mummy said, he took to the bottle like a student to a yardglass at his own 21st. The little monster guzzled down his half bottle of milk and then consulted his mummy for more. Touch wood that this wasn't just a one off, but it's good to know that he will drink from one if he needs to.
Apart from that, nothing to report. The little man accompanied his mummy today to pick me up from work. Bathtime was uneventful, and after daddy managed to make a bit of a hash of putting his onesie on, he finally got given his dinner. As I type this, I can hear the dulcet tones of his mother ("Shhhhhhhhhhhh. Shhhhhhhhhhhhh.") soothing him to sleep. He had a brilliant night of sleep last night (save for the nuclear bomb in the pants incident at 3:30am, leading to much screaming and wailing as his nappy was changed), and fingers crossed that the clever little bloke does it again tonight.
He's grown. He hasn't. He's grown. He hasn't. Bah - who knows.
Discrepancies between the midwife's measurements and the doctor's measurements mean that we don't really know how long he is at the moment. Somewhere between 52 and 57cm is an accurate guess. Both claim the other is wrong. Strange. One thing that can't be denied is that our little monster is now 4.2kg (about 1.3kg heavier than he was 6 weeks ago). Oh yeah baby, a quarter of a kilo in the last week. That's my boy!
A few photos from the windowseat in the lounge from this morning:
When Daddy's late home, the only photo you get is from bathtime
...which isn't so bad, as he is ludicrously cute in the bath these days (as compared to a month ago, when bathtime appeared to be about as pleasurable as being held upside down headfirst in a flushing toilet). He actually quite likes his bathtime these days, and usually sits there and tolerates it without much more than a random little "cooo". He doesn't smile in there, but if he's not crying, then I'm going to chalk another one up in the "success" column. Yesterday he hung out with his newest girlfriend, Evie (she of Amanda and Alex). We had a fantastic lunch over there, and then I took a few photos of Evie while she played games ranging from good old fashioned Hide & Seek to "Make Baby George bounce in the bouncy chair". George seemed pretty chuffed with the attention, and threw out a few smiles (he's into older women, it would seem). Looks like Bella Hayes has some Hong Kong competition.
I am once again a bit knackered, so will leave things there. I got a few photos of G-monster in the bath. These are the sorts of photos I think I'll save for his 21st.
Speaking of birthdays - 6 weeks today, and we still haven't broken him :-)
Daddy's too tired to write anything...
spacespacespace ... so you just get a few photos (sorry, I'll tell you all about George's afternoon and new girlfriend tomorrow):
A quiet Saturday
Little man was very well behaved today - we scooted down to Cyberport (about 20 mins walk away) to get some groceries, and he was the model of good behaviour (especially when he got his breakfast down there). After a bit of a nap and another feed (oh, what a life) we headed into town and picked up a few things from various shops - with Daddy not actually working in CBD, trips into Central are a bit of a treat... When we got back he had a wee nap, then an iChat with his future mother-in-law (Anna) - and then it was time for a bath and his evening kip. He's currently crashed out with all of the excitement of the day. Good little fella.
Tomorrow we're off to visit his sugar mama Evie, and apart from that - not much on the cards.
Oh - today's awesome news is that Emma and Mark had a wee girl this afternoon - Eva :)
Some photos from today:
Firstly - some of Rachel and George this morning. There was some lovely light in our room, so with George in a good mood, I took the opportunity to get a few good ones of the best looking members of our little family. Can you guess which one he was farting in?
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Here's a photo of George in his new sleeping wedge. He always faces left when he sleeps, and his doctor told us that we had to barbeque him evenly on both sides, or he would get a bit of a ridge in the back of his head. Check out the little fella sleeping on his side:
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And finally, I couldn't resist - here's Ben in one of his ludicrous sleeping positions this afternoon. Honestly, he is such a weirdo. Seriously, he's fast asleep.
Pop Quiz
Question: What weighs 4kg and threw up on me at 4am this morning? Answer: See photos below.
(If the photos look the same as yesterday's ones, it's because he was in the same seat as yesterday and was sitting in exactly the same place as he was yesterday, and I was too tired to try and move him somewhere else after his morning antics...)
A splash of colour
Little George was a very good boy today (apparently - we're ignoring the bit where he almost crapped all over my hand), and went with his mum to the doctor, to the shops and to Emma and Mark's for a late lunch. No grizzling, no freaking out - just a little angel with a couple of decent sized cheeks. The doctor corrected the nurse's measurement of his length, and let us know that we need to start getting boyo to sleep facing the right - or he'll get this big old ugly ridge thing going on at the back of his head. So we're going to get some sort of wedge pillow and get him to sleep in it. Or something like that. Decided to use some colour shots today - I got the boy in some decent light this morning, and so was able to shoot at a slightly lower ISO (meaning higher resolution, and easier to edit without getting too much grain). Also, someone was asking about some editing (it was a while back), so I've done a quick before / after comparison as well.
Here are the morning shots:
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Here's a before / after of the first shot. I increased the exposure a bit, then ran a photoshop action through it to fade out the harsher bits of colour on George's skin. Then I ran another little photoshop action which helped to bring out the glint in his eyes - and that was it. I don't actually think the first photo is that bad - just a bit dark - but I really like photos with a slight fade / cloudy look. Hard to describe. Also, I shrink photos quite a lot before I load them up here, so the detail is a little bit lost. Anyway, enough blah blah - here's the comparison:
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Oh - and some words of praise from my lovely wife: "That sunset photo of yours yesterday was the first good sunset photo you've taken".
I'll take what I can get :)