One for Granny

Charles' Granny has always been quick to advise that we need to post more pictures. We can leave the narration (and, reading between the lines, weak attempts at humour) behind - she just wants to see pictures of her gorgeous grandson!

Here you go!

These next three are from our road trip to Russell (so Dad could go tramping).

Charles' Favourite Toys

Look, it's another post! Who woulda thunk it?

We thought it would be nice to show Charlie with a couple of his favourite 'toys'.

Like most babies/children in this consumerist world (I know, there is a lot of irony in this particular pair of parents commenting on the consumer led orientation of modern society), Charles is spoilt for choice when it comes to toys.  Friends and family have been generous at every opportunity (though we are still dreading the day that Suzie and Chris follow through on their promise to buy our first child a drum kit as revenge for the Chicken Dance Elmo we brought for Danielle many years ago) and we live just up the road from a toy library.

It always amuses us no end then that the 'toys' he returns to time and time again are the phone on Mum and Dad's bedside table and a wooden spoon that Sam made in high school woodwork (his talent shone bright but was brief) that Charles likes to hit against one of our pots. Toymakers everywhere would be horrified.

No comments are necessary on the artistic merits (or otherwise of the spoon)!

Just to prove that we do provide him with real toys occasionally, here is a picture of Charles on an electronic bike thing from the toy library. He was very funny on it at first, going into a state of absolute concentration that seemed to be neither panic nor enjoyment. Once he got used to it, he thought it was OK.

Final Catch-Up

This should be our last 'catch up' as such. We think from here, we can pretend to be current.

So, what's happened in the period after Easter? Well, we've had a few visits from Granny and Papa Charlie from Wellington. (Baby) Charlie has enjoyed the time he has been able to spend with his Wellington grandparents. We talk on Skype quite a lot, but he hasn't been able to figure out how to get in to the computer screen for a proper cuddle, so the visits are real treats.

Charles has also graduated to the full bath! The writing was on the wall when we had to fold him in three to fit him into the baby bath, but our water pressure here is so low, we had been putting off the inevitable as long as possible. Charles' new bath-time game is to try and get the plug out while we try to restrain him long enough for some of the day's grime to dissolve.

Finally, as is obvious from the photos, Charles is pulling himself up and standing! We decided it was time to lower the base of his cot when Granny walked in to find him casually standing with one leg thrown over the side (sorry, no photo - sometimes panic comes ahead of child photography)

Catch-Up Two - Easter 2009

Ha ha - put your hands up if you believed we would be doing one catch-up per day as promised.  Well it didn't quite turn out as we planned either.  Nevermind, here is another.

For Easter (yes, Easter 2009) we returned to Whangamata to the same holiday home we rented with Jeff and Emellia (friends from Wellington) in 2008. It was a little different with a baby in tow, but we all had a great time, and Charlie enjoyed the change of scenery as much as anyone.

He especially enjoyed Jake (J&E's Jack Russell) who helped teach him how to crawl upstairs! He hadn't come across stairs before, but made pretty short work of them when he had the right motivation. We didn't get any photos of that, though I did catch some video footage on Jeff's video camera. I have no idea how to upload that and it is too big at the moment.  I will have to do some research.

Another highlight was chasing seagulls at the beach. We are not sure whether he actually thought he would be able to catch them (he didn't get close) but he certainly persisted for an admirable length of time.

The last few photos were taken at the park where we had a play. It is always good to get photos with Mum, Dad and Charlie together, as it is not often that Dad lets go of the camera.

Next update hopefully quicker than this one!

Catch-Up One

Whew, it has been a while. We have been hopeless in keeping this blog up to date. While we've had a lot on and Sam is much busier at work these days, that is no real excuse! We will try and do better. In the meantime, we have a few catch-ups to do. This is the first and dates back at least six weeks.

What happened? Charles crawled!! Wow, we are not sure who has found it a bigger adjustment, Charles or his suddenly much busier parents. Each milestone seems quite funny with Charles (and I am sure it is the norm for all). He masters a new trick and then seems to get on as if he has been doing it all his life. All of a sudden he can get somewhere under his own steam - and boy has he got places to go!

What is also amazing (to doting parents and grandparents anyway) is where he wants to go. When he first started crawling, his destination of choice was the bathroom where he would bypass everything and head straight to the low shelf where his bath toys are kept. When there, he would go straight for his Hairy Maclary bath book. He could obviously remember it from bath time and was quite fond of it.

Now he has been doing it for a while, the house is his oyster! It is hard to catch up with him sometimes.

Other than crawling, Charles also had a couple of colds in the last 6 weeks and that has been trying. For us that is. It amazes me how much sympathy can be heaped upon a baby with a sniffle while no recognition of the poor parents who sit up half the night for nights on end with the sick baby! I guess we get one day a year each.

Righto, we are aiming for one update a night for the next few nights.

Charles' Baptism

On Sunday 22 February we had Charles baptised at the Holy Trinity Cathedral in Parnell, Auckland. It was right next to where Andrea and I were married about 4 years earlier!

We were very lucky to have Father Stephen Johnson who has been a long time minister and friend to our family perform the baptism (he also married us all those years ago).

Our Auckland based family (and Sam's immediate family from Wellington) all came along and made the day a wonderful occasion.

Aunty Karen baked a beautiful cake which was enjoyed by all.

As you can see, Charles was ready for a rest with Grandad Wilson by the end!

Another Catch-up!

Another catch-up post I am afraid. Things have been busy in the Moore household. We've had more visitors from the Northern Hemisphere (I wonder whether it is cold over there at the moment) and a whole family from Wellington! Here are some of the highlights.

Jess and Dan from London came for a visit a couple of weekends ago (actually, that may be a few by now). It was great to catch up with them. Charles and Jess hit it off from the get-go!

We also thought that we should post some photos post-eating to show just what kind of a mess Charles is capable of producing with food. Remember, this is what happens when we feed him. Lord only knows what will happen when he graduates to feeding himself (though the rusk on the couch may give some clue).



It was great to have Jeff, Emellia and Charlotte from Wellington stay for a long weekend. Charlotte (4) did a wonderful job of auditing our house for baby and child friendliness. Turns out we have work to do (don't worry Emellia, hair grows back!).  As you can all see. she was very good with Charles.

Finally, a picture that just has to be posted! I wonder whether Charles will be into hunting.

Charles was Baptised yesterday. That will be the subject of a post in the next week (no, really, I do mean it).

Catch Up

It has been a while since our last post (apologies to our adoring fans), so here are a few photos to catch you all up on the last month.

One of the highlights was a visit by Kaspar and Tine from Denmark. Kaspar was an Exchange Student who lived with Sam's family for a year while Sam was in sixth form. He is the closest Sam got to a brother so it was a real treat to see him again. Both Kaspar and Tine seemed very taken with young Charles, so much so that we carefully kept a check of where he was when they were off to the airport!



Mum and Dad also had their first evening without Charles! Big Day Out (sorry, no photos) seemed a great opportunity to share with Aunty Suzie the joys of trying to get Charles to sleep (while we partied!). We spent weeks agonising as to whether it would be OK and whether we should sell our tickets as we were sure it was going to be a disaster. Well, as is always the way, Charles (or, more likely, Suzie and Chris) proved us completely and utterly wrong. If they are to be believed, he played nicely with their own brood, ate his dinner and went to bed rather easily. He could obviously sense the presence of experts.

Another highlight was the arrival of a highchair (where would we be without Suzie and Chris?). Charles loves it and it has made Andrea's day much easier now that he is gobbling down solids. As you can guess, the photo is before Mum has fed him!


Finally, WhanauMoore took their first flight together for Auckland's Anniversary Weekend. Charles seemed to enjoy the flight down to Wellington and made his usual impression on those who had not yet met him. We had a fantastic few days hanging out with Granny and Papa Charlie (I'm not allowed to call him Senior) and even took a road trip over to the Wairarapa to visit James and Lou (friends who have their own recent very well named arrival).

Sitting Pretty

Charlie had a visit from his Great Auntie Karen and Great Uncle Neil this week and - best of all - their boys Logan and Wade. Logan and Wade are great favourites of Charlie - they keep him well entertained with lots of block tower building and general boy stuff.

In other news, Charlie's new favourite thing is sitting. From a wobbly start he is now quite proficient at sitting on his (well padded and pillowed - though Sam fought the urge to have the Health and Safety Officer from one of MRP's construction sites do an inspection before allowing Charlie to have a go!) mat and playing with his toys. 

He seems to really enjoy the change of view and Mum and Dad are still getting used to seeing their baby sitting up by himself! Next thing he'll be borrowing the car keys.

Charlie in Da House

Charlie has a gangsta outfit (Christmas Gangsta) courtesy of his Great Aunt Annette. So far he hasn't developed a gansta attitude (though his sleeping has deteriorated a little!).

Christmas 2008

While we are onto this blogging thing, here are some photos from Charles' first Christmas.  

Boy, what a day.  Three family events ranging from Mangere in South Auckland to Laingholm in West Auckland.  By the end of the day, it was time for a complete and utter meltdown - and that's not to mention how Charles got on!

We had a great day and came away vowing to each other to make much more effort to stay in touch with all our friends and family over the coming year (after all, you never know when you may need a babysitter!).

Obviously, Charles was a bit non-plussed by the idea of a large man coming down a chimney to bring him presents.  I'm sure by next year he'll be all over it!

We are sure his cousins will show him how it is done!

Lunch was had with Andrea's dad, brother and brother's partner and Sam's folks.  We think Uncle Doug and Aunt Elaine look like they are rather taken with Charles....

Grandad Wilson was happy to show off his baby wrangling skills.

Finally, we simply had to include this last photo of Danielle, Lucy and Cousin Wade having a beautiful tea party late on Christmas night, oblivious to all around them.

At the Beach

This is a little late - having taken place a week before Christmas. Still, better late than never!

We had some friends from our time in London staying with us recently and we used the opportunity to take Charles to Piha for his first paddle in the sea. He was rather alarmed at first, but seemed to have an OK time in the end. I don't think his temperament was helped by his parents' shrieking when they were caught off guard by rogue waves! We all ended up rather wet.

Here are a couple of photos with Dad in them.  It isn't often that he relinquishes his grip on the camera, so it is a bit of a rarity to have him included.

Of course, given Charles' dark glasses, it was impossible to tell whether he was checking out the waves or the chicks in the surf!  We have our suspicions.