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.

Another chapter in the Cornell family Album

I have at last gotten round to sorting out and uploading the batch of photo's from our recent Spanish Holiday, and they're available on Flickr as usual...or as a slideshow if you prefer.

The photo's are from two different cameras - mine and my Dads, and the difference in quality between the Digital and Digital SLR is massive in some shots! Details on the bottom right of each photo screen;

We bought Abigail various toys whilst on holiday including a Baby Walker from my parents which we brought home with us!! Another of these was a rubber football which she loved to chase around the villa on her hands and knees doing her infamous sniper crawl. I couldn't help but notice on one of the photos how much her kicking pose resembles that of Beckham's when lining up a free-kick....!!

6 Months old already

Can't believe Abigail is 6 months old already (well actually 27 weeks now!), but she is...and she seems to get more photogenic the more the camera is pointed at her. And that's quite a lot in our house!

Picture Postcards

Jen recently went to Warkworth and Amble for the day with her parents. She took the camera for the obligatory Abigail shots, but also took a couple of scenery ones. I was particularly impressed with these two. The colours, the sharpness and the reflections give the appearance of shots from a far more expensive camera! Click on the photos to see the full size ones.

(Flickr'd the pics as usual)

Water Baby

Our local Sports Centre had an open day at the weekend to show off the results of the recent refurbishment.

We went along to look at the changes and were quite impressed. It was all well overdue and quite basic stuff, e.g. the addition of family changing rooms, but at least it's done.

The pools had extended ours for the day and as it was free entry we decided it would be an ideal oppurtunity to see what Abigail made of the water. After heading home to grab our stuff and the baby swim seat (another kind donation from a work colleague!), we headed to the 'little pool' which for me must have been for the first time in over 25 years!
After getting over the initial temperature surprise Abbie seemed to be really quite relaxed. She's quite used to being up to her neck in water from the Tummy Tub, and I think that might have actually helped to prepare her. After about 10 mins we tried her in the swim seat (pictured), and again she seemed to take the whole thing quite calmly.

There was a supervised photographer also around to take photos for the local swimming club. They asked permission to take our photo and I obviously leapt at the chance. He then kindly agreed to e-mail us the pic after we explained it was Abbie's first time in the pool etc.

Abigial was completely exhausted after her 20 mins of being in the pool, but it seemed like an enjoyable experience and something which we'll have to do regularly.

4D, - The Garlic Bread of scanning

We went to BabyView in Barnsley last Friday to have a 4D scan. Yeah ok, you could argue there are other things we could have done with the money but what the hell, money came from the sale of an old TV anyway!

I wasn't too sure what to expect because there are some less than impressive examples of this technique on the internet. It also depends which way the baby is lying. i.e. if it's back is facing forward (if you see what I mean), there isn't anything to see. As is happens, Button was facing forward and awake so we got some quite impressive results. We got a DVD film of the scan and also a cd with 30 odd photos on it, - the best of which I've flickr'd. The images are all rotated through 180 degrees, i.e. baby is acually upside down - as it should be during the pregnancy. Yes it is possible to again find out 100% what the sex is during the process, but we chose not to. (The person carrying out the process had actually identified 5 cases in the last year where the sex he determined was different to that given by doctors in the earlier 2D scan!). To clarify the difference, - the pictures are classed as 3D and the DVD film is classed as 4D.

After the scan we carried on down to London for the weekend and attended the Baby Show at the ExCeL, London on the Saturday. Got there quite early before the crowds started around lunchtime. Was quite an interesting day, - obviously there were freebies galore as you'd expect at these things, but there were also some good stage talks; There was one from St John's Ambulance about Baby first aid, then another from Annabel Karmel about Baby nutrition. Flickr'd some pics of the event.

Then seeing as the Saturday was also my Birthday we did a bit of London exploring! We decided to head to Hamley's via Piccadilly Circus for some photo's on the way. Quite a busy day really and Jen did amazingly well considering the miles we put in and the how far on she is!
I was surprised at how on every Tube journey there was always someone courteuos enough to offer Jen their seat! Not what I would have expected in London.
One of the most bizarre things we came across was a London transport employee who's job seemed to be to warn people about the dangers of standing under a ledge full of pigeons on one of the platforms....which was covered in their mess!

Went out for a meal with my family on the evening before heading home on Sunday to relax!

Look out Trevor McDonald!

My Dad being the opinionated bloke that he is, is known for ringing Radio stations etc to voice his opinion when ever he feels like it!
In early December he rang Mike Parr, during his daily Radio Newcastle Breakfast Show phone in. (I think the subject at the time was bank charges or something). Anyway, once the show had finished the Producer rang my Dad back to say they liked what he had to say and the way he put himself across, and invited him to be a guest on the show!!
He readilly accepted (as you'd expect if you know him!), and was on the show yesterday morning (Thurs 3rd Jan '07) between 9am and 10am. I didn't warn to many people before hand, in order to not give him any added pressure, and I didn't listen at the time. - It all seemed a bit too cringeworthy to be listening to my auld man on the radio! Jen did listen via her phone radio at work and rang me near the end to say it all sounded ok.
I recored the show via a DAB radio, so we'd have a copy to keep and possibly add to, seeing as he's also been asked if he'd like to return again in the future...!!
He really enjoyed the experience, and to quote him, "he is now available for autographs"!!!
(If there was ever a time I wished we didn't have the same name!)

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!