Happy New...........Baby :o)

First post of 2010 and a happier post it could not be;

Joseph Revell Cornell was born at 6.52am on Tuesday 19th January weighing a hefty 9lb 2oz.

He was 13 days late in arriving so kept us hanging on, and then when he did decide to make an appearance it was done in a hurry...!

Quick Birth Summary; Jen's contractions started at around 8pm on Monday 18th and the contractions were on average 8min 13.7 seconds apart!! Yep it was another chance for my inner geek to try and prove it's usefulness with an application for my iPhone called Labor Mate (American Spelling)

I was told to go to bed around midnight as there was apparently no point in us both staying awake when they were that far apart! I was woken by my mobile ringing not long after 3am, and it was Jen calling from downstairs (!) to inform me they were now approximately every 4 minutes. ('Approximately' - cha, have I not taught this girl anything?!). Anyway, by the time we'd woke my parents up and my Mam came round to stay with Abigail, it was 4.50am when we arrived at the Wansbeck General Hospital maternity ward.

I'll miss the graphic detail out of the next few hours, but if you're keen to hear them Jen is only to pleased to explain them all first hand.!

So two hours after arriving at the Hospital, Joseph was born. Jen's birth record actually mentions that the second stage labour was less than 15 minutes!

The speed of the birth caused a bit of shock for Joseph and he swalled some Meconium on the way out. As a result he spent a day in the Special Care Unit whilst they flushed any remnants of the stuff from his lungs, and gave him an anti-biotic to fight any possible infection. I did a Charity Bike Ride with Abigail in August last year (pics here), in aid of the Wansbeck Special Care Baby Unit and as much as it felt like a good cause at the time, it's only when your child is in there and you see the amazing work they do there that you can really appreciate it.

Jospeh was back with Jen on the Ward for their second night in hospital, and after being given a clean bill of health I brought them home on Friday 22nd January.

Everyone's first question is always "What's Abigail like with him'.....

She didn't really grasp the whole baby thing when he was in Hospital, as it was more of a bigger deal for her to be going to visit Mammy.

She was kind of curious on his first day at home, in that she would smile and point wouldn't really go too close to him.

The next day although she appeared to be taking it in her stride, Abigail was getting a bit upset whenever Joseph cried.

By his 3rd day at home though, she became the perfect little Sister; full of cuddles, saying his name, giving him toys and stroking his head whenever he made the slightest little whimper.

It was all really interesting to see, and impossible not to get a little teary as she has bonded with him more and more. It was also difficult not to laugh when the first time Abgail decided she wanted to hold Joseph on her knee, that he then promptly broke wind :o) .....

Joseph is simply what I would describe as 'chilled out'. He lets us know immediately when he wants his food, makes it obvious when he still has wind to bring up, and sleeps completely soundly. He has a feed around 11-12pm, another around 3-4am and then the morning one is from 6.30 - 7.30am, all of which means we certainly can't complain about the amount of sleep we have been managing to get right from day one.

Although I always suspected that things may be easier the second time around for us as parents of a new born in that we'd have more of an idea of what to expect, I actually underestimated how much of a difference the experience from Abigail would make. Jen and I are both so much more relaxed and able to enjoy this precious family time without that slight niggle at the back of your mind about whether you're doing everything right.

For anyone reading this who has been round to visit with a gift, or sent a card/gift in the mail - can I just say a big THANK YOU. You are all extremely generous. (Jen's badgering me to sort out Thank You cards which I will get too eventually!). The boxes and boxes of neatly folded Pink baby clothes from when Abigail was born turned out to be of no use, but Joseph already has a full blue wardrobe from all of the gifts he's received.

Even when I cannot find the time to update this blog, I will continue to post regular pictures of both Abigail and Joseph on our Flickr page so please check there regularly. And of course Jen will post a selection now and again on Facebook.

Joseph's Flickr set here. Thanks for reading.

Abigail's 2nd Birthday

I know every parent says it, but I seriously can't believe Aboo is 2 already (6th June)!
As expected she was completely spoiled rotten and showered with gifts on her Birthday. We got up early so she could open our presents, then my parents called in with their's before heading off to France for two weeks in their Mobile Home. Actually the first time it's been properly used - apart from our Seahouses trip of course!
In typical Abigail unpredictable fashion she then decided to make her usual afternoon kip a longer than usual one - on her Birthday of all days. When she eventually got up, I fitted her new child seat to my bike (present from my parents with a helmet) so we could quickly test ride it before heading up to Jen's parents for tea. She was again showered with gifts (sand and water table was the biggy of them), and then insisted on blowing the Birthday cake candles out a good half dozen times!
Dave, Michelle and Elise came to ours and stayed that night so it was SingStar a plenty.

On Sunday we headed to Whitehouse Farm (Photos here). Deliberately waited until the Sunday as it was when they were having one of their open days when you can groom/handle the animals and sit on the various farm machinery. Abigail lapped it up and thought she was great sitting on the huge Tractors etc. (She screams like a banshee at the noise when they're started up like!).

Went to meet Jen's parents for lunch after that and did the usual "make a pig of yourself on a Sunday" thing with Delaval Ice Cream etc!

I think after watching Peppa, George, Mammy Pig and Daddy Pig all go through their on screen Birthdays, Abigail actually knew what was going on for hers this year and what all the fuss was about!

May

I haven't been here since April, so I might as well try and cover May in one post...!

May was the start of what are going to be a very busy few months for us. All in a good way of course but I can't believe how much stuff is planned.
The beginning of the month started with Sam and Alan's wedding at the Holiday Inn. When I say wedding it certainly wasn't a run of the mill one; They'd got married a few weeks earlier in Vegas, in true Vegas style. The ceremony was streamed on the t'interwebs and it was quite bizarre being able to see it. This photo is just after the ceremony finished and they all waved to the camera.
Anyhoo, getting back to the home leg of their doo; it started with drinks at the Holiday Inn, then speeches, and then onto a formal blessing. Then came the food, Elvis tribute act, Poker Table and Wheel of Fortune! Yep it was bizarre, but it was also really, really good.
It was also the first time we'd been back to a doo at the Holiday Inn since our wedding there nearly 4 years ago. It was in the same room, but that's about where the similarities between the two end! Flickr photo set of their wedding is here.

Also went to see Girls Aloud last month at the Arena with Jen. Missed them the last twice they've been due to us having holidays booked.
I wasn't really sure what to expect to be honest after the recently dissapointing show by the Pussy Cat Dolls (photos on my Facebook somewhere). Girls Aloud though turned out to be really good.
The stage, songs, performance, atmosphere were all way better than PCD. Ours seats were dead centre and really close to the front so we had a cracking view of the show. Again the set is on flickr here

Next came the weekend at Haggerston Castle.
Altogether there was me, Jen, Abigail + Lee & Emma + Maddy, Sarah, Jess + Simon & Kirstine + Maff, Kelly & Anna + Jimmy & Family (sorry I'm rubbish with names). We had 3 caravans and it was a proper fun 4 days.
The whole idea was a cheap caravan holiday somewhere and given the Haven Park's are all basically the same anyway we thought it made sense just to go to Haggerston.
Kids all had a great time and the parents all lapped it up too. Within a day of being there you completely forgot that you were only like an hour from home. Yep photos here again.

Had a quiet week during the middle of the month, which wasn't a bad thing seeing as I was on call anyway. Then came Jen's 29th Birthday on the 22nd May (only 1 year away from the big '3' '0'!), which was also a bank holiday weekend. We were both at work on the 22nd so again it was a quiet one, then we went for an Indian's with Lee and Emma on the Saturday.

I think that's about everything worth mentioning here for the Month of May.

The house extension is still on-going. We've now had the plans back for the new kitchen which is quite exciting, although it'll be even better when the plans turn into reality!

June is looking like quite a good month but I'm not even going to commit to saying I'll post here again soon because I'm pretty useless with updates! JUNE: Take That (Jen), Abigail's Birthday, Boy Zone (Jen) and finally a week in Magaluff / Palma Nova which Jen booked last night after work - wahoo!

Happy Birthday OAP*

It was my Dad's 60th Birthday On Saturday (14th Oct), so my Mam booked a table at a local Italian Restaurant. Little did they know that his Brother and Sister were also gonna to make a surprise arrival from London and Spain!
It was hard work trying to keep it all quiet (only Jen and I knew), but worth it in the end. Their faces were a picture, - a complete mix of surprise and "how did you get here?!", haha.
A good night was had by all.
*Our Auld Pa!