WhanauMoore

Bliss

2010-05-15T11:16:00.001+12:00

Molly Joyce Fraser Moore

2010-03-12T20:14:00.003+13:00

Molly Joyce Fraser Moore was born on 1 March 2010 at Auckland Hospital. Our thanks again to Lynda Batcheler (as well as the rest of the team from AOC) and the midwives from Auckland Hospital for their wonderful service. Molly weighed 4 kilos at birth and was born a few days overdue, quite a different story from her big brother who was 4 weeks early and not very well. She is feeding well and sleeping very well - so far anyway!

Andrea had a night in Hospital and a couple of nights in Birthcare so came home well rested and ready to face a household of two under two!

We've had a week and a bit at home now, though with a lot of help from Granny who has been staying with us. She goes this weekend and it is fair to say we are a little scared of being left on our own! Luckily we have Grandad Wilson in Auckland who has been a huge help in these busy first days with looking after Charlie and taking him to the park which he loves.

Charlie has taken very well to having a little sister. He is very good at giving her kisses and gentle pats.

We would like to thank all our family - in particular Auntie Suzie and Lucy for helping look after Charlie so well when Andrea went into labour, Auntie Charlotte and Uncle Andy for spending Friday nights at our place to watch the rugby and making us feel like we do have a social life still. Auntie Karen and Wade for taking Charlie to the zoo when Andrea and Molly were still in Birthcare and for the banana bread! Uncle Doug and Aunt Elaine for the beautiful roses and Pooh Bear.

To all who have sent cards, prezzies and food thanks so much. We will get around to sending out proper thanks once we have found our equilibrium.

Andrea, Sam, Charles and Molly

New Year's Eve 2009

2010-02-25T22:54:00.006+13:00

What a year. I can't possibly capture all the feelings I have about 2009 in a blog (especially one written late at night), suffice to say that there's a good chance 2010 wont be as 'interesting'.

Anyway - we finished with another BBQ! But first, a photo that really should be on one of those blogs listed at the left (feel free to borrow it Charlotte).

One of Charles' favourite pass-times - leading Grandad Wilson on wild goose chases.

See if you can tell the difference between this BBQ and the one at Christmas... Andy prepares it

And Granny commandeers it to make sure everything is cooked properly!

Happy New Year One and All. We are looking forward to sharing 2010 with all of our friends and family, including our pending arrival!

Christmas 2009 - Part Two

2010-02-25T22:31:00.006+13:00

In the afternoon, we went to... where else but Char et Andy's for fun, games and BBQ. Granny and Papa Charlie couldn't be with us for the BBQ. We visited them during the day and missed them in the evening.

Christmas 2009 - Part One

2010-02-25T22:20:00.004+13:00

Christmas 2009! First up, Grandad Wilson's.

Coffee Group Christmas Party (thanks Annabelle!).

At home for Christmas morning.

And after lunch, a little cooling down in order.

December 2009

2010-02-25T22:05:00.003+13:00

December is when it starts to get busy again!

First up - Simpson Grierson's Kids Christmas Party! Very generous of Andrea's work to put this on for all the kids of staff and Charlie loved his present.

Followed by a BBQ at Char et Andy's. Always a fantastic way to spend a sunny afternoon and evening.

A photo of one of Charles' favourite activities (no idea where he gets it from).

Another Christmas Party - this time his Daycare one. Chaos, capped off by Charlie stuffing as much chocolate brownie into his mouth as he could manage, choking on it and promptly throwing up all over himself. Nice. I thought I had until at least his later teenage years to have to deal with overindulgence at parties.

Finally, a couple more photos with Granny, taken as she gets used to life with a new set of lungs. Charles thinks it is pretty neat!

November 2009

2010-02-25T21:47:00.003+13:00

November 2009 was a very big month for the Moore's. Charles' Granny got a new set of lungs which was, obviously, a very scary but also exciting time for all of us. Everything else seemed to pale into insignificance for a while but it all went very well and Charles is now looking forward to heaps more play time!

One of the ways to pass time at weekends is take Charles for a walk to the local park. He loves walking there and being pushed on the swing. At first it was a bit of a challenge to get him home afterwards, but he is now pretty good really...

Another good way to pass time (5 hours and 55 minutes of time to be precise) is to ride a bike around Lake Taupo. Look he is capable of smiling at the end. Can't have been trying hard enough.

October 2009

2010-02-23T21:39:00.003+13:00

Not much from October. Sorry, Dad was training for the Round Taupo Bike Ride. This meant weekend mornings riding and the rest of the day lying on the couch and complaining.

These photos from a trip to the Zoo. As you can see, Charlie has the whole walking thing down hat. Dad was struggling though after a particularly long ride well before he was up to it (I can still remember this day, all these months later!).

September 2009

2010-02-23T21:28:00.005+13:00

September 2009. An extended visit from Granny to Auckland and our house. She is champion baby calmer as you can see from these pictures.

Not sure who is putting who to sleep!

Granny and Papa Charlie treated Mum and Dad to a blender, and Charlie to a box!! Charlie was well chuffed.

How early is too early to start a coffee habit? Don't worry, only fluffies at this point (though he can be very grumpy in the mornings and I will admit to being tempted to see whether a morning coffee helps...)

Two photos because he is gorgeous and we can.

August 2009

2010-02-23T21:20:00.002+13:00

So what happened in August? Remember it was a while ago now.

Looks like there was some story time. Like that doesn't happen very often...

Ah yes, Charles stood and began to walk. This was, unfortunately, rather difficult to capture on camera, though we did give it a good go. Actually, the highlight of his first few steps was probably that we managed to capture an early effort on Skype for Granny and Papa Charlie!

He looks pretty pleased with himself (rightly so!).

July 2009

2010-02-23T21:17:00.003+13:00

Only a couple of photos from July. Charles turned one!! These are from the Coffee Group Babies' Birthday Party. Lots of fun.

June 2009

2010-02-23T21:13:00.002+13:00

Let's see if anyone notices...

June (2009 that is) saw us celebrating Charles' first birthday with friends and family (a bit early). A few pics from that.

One for Granny

2009-06-14T21:19:00.007+12:00

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

2009-06-07T20:27:00.005+12:00

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

2009-06-01T16:52:00.004+12:00

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

2009-05-10T18:28:00.005+12:00

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

2009-04-28T21:33:00.004+12:00

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

2009-03-08T17:26:00.004+13:00

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!

2009-02-23T20:49:00.005+13:00

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

2009-02-01T21:04:00.004+13:00

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

2009-01-06T20:46:00.003+13:00

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

2009-01-06T20:31:00.004+13:00

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

2009-01-01T22:10:00.006+13:00

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

2009-01-01T21:58:00.003+13:00

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.

Charlie's First Haircut

2008-12-16T19:46:00.003+13:00

Last week was a momentous one for Charles. He has gradually been losing all the dark hair he was born with, except for the hair on top which has been gradually lightening except at the ends. The result was the classic baby combover, which quite frankly did nothing for him. So last week Andrea treated him to his first haircut. Just a trim but the transformation has caused quite a stir at coffee group - he is now well and truly a blonde and his "short back and sides" makes him look quite different.

Here are a few pics of Charles with his new 'do.

Jolly Jumper

2008-12-14T21:09:00.005+13:00

Charlie has inherited Cousin Lucy's Jolly Jumper (thanks Suzie!). He loves it and thinks he is the most clever thing. I am not sure how secure the door frame is that we have it on at the moment (there are no other choices that I can think of) so he has to be supervised with someone holding the chain in case it comes off (Lord knows what help that would be).

That does kind of detract from the 'convenience' factor though. We will look into a solution at some point I am sure.

A couple of photos

Celebrity Look-alike

2008-12-10T21:06:00.004+13:00

Charles has taken to putting on rather a funny face which we think makes him look like...

Anyway, see if you can guess which photo is of Charles and which is Wallace and Gromit.

Meanwhile, Andrea has decided that Sam could give another celebrity a run for his money...

Bring on the Ladies!

2008-11-09T20:26:00.006+13:00

Last weekend we took Charles to the Parent and Child Show at the Ellerslie Events Centre (I forget why now). We picked up a few accessories for summer, including a snazzy pair of Baby Banz! Charles couldn't wait to try them on and made us take a photo of him wearing them as soon as we got home. He thinks he is pretty cool!

During the week, Andrea picked up a cool retro kiwiana hat as well, so he is all set for summer (especially given all his hair is falling out and the next lot looks quite fair).

Look out all the lady babies if you ask me.
It was Andrea's birthday on Friday, so the three of us went to Prego for lunch on Saturday. Charles tried his ensemble out on the Ponsonby crowd. We think they were rather taken!

Rolling On

2008-10-25T17:37:00.004+13:00

Just like a Rolling Stone (or some other equally round thing), Charles has a new trick! He is rather proud and fond of this one, though it does have an annoying side-effect (self imposed tummy time!).

We think it is early for him to be rolling, though he is rolling from his back onto his tummy rather than the other way around (which is apparently the more common way). Hmmm, it's not like a Moore to be contrary.

The result, of course, is an interactive game! He rolls on to his tummy, gets rather annoyed and 'requires' someone to come and rescue him. As soon as he is on his back again, over he goes! Hours of fun (and a lot less house work done).

Andrea managed to catch a few action shots.

Finally, here is a lovely photo we captured while Grandma was staying with us. Charlie was quite taken with Grandma and really enjoyed story time!

Some Photos

2008-10-08T20:24:00.004+13:00

It's been a while. Here are some photos from the last couple of weeks!

A few from helping Evil Aunty No 2. and her partner in crime Andy move into their new home (complete with chickens!) where Charles' cousins (Emma, Danielle and Lucy) helped occupy his time while we did all the work (as you can see, it is thirsty work). We have also been lucky enough to have a visit from Grandma and Papa Charlie who have been up from Wellington.

Take care all.

For my latest trick!

2008-09-17T20:48:00.003+12:00

All that hard work on the tummy time mat is paying dividends. Charles thinks he can already hold his own head up (though you do have to be careful as he tends to throw his entire body off balance rather regularly).

Good dedication to his training regime is paying off. We have no idea where he got that from - Sam has been to the gym exactly twice since he was born (Charles, that is!! I know what you were all thinking)! Must be Mum's influence. Hopefully he gets her conscientious study habit later in life and makes it big.

The second photo is included as Sam insisted on taking his camera along to Charles' first cafe brunch with Evil Aunty No. 2 and her partner in crime (including sneaking an alternative lens into Andrea's handbag!). This was about the best we could do to catch the occasion. Being a city lad, it takes a lot to impress Charles when it comes to Auckland eateries and this establishment obviously didn't cut it.

Tummy Time

2008-09-14T17:38:00.003+12:00

By popular demand, here are a couple of photos of Charles enjoying (or tolerating) tummy time! As you can see, he is rather accomplished at it.

We don't think he is admiring himself in the mirror in that last photo, but something has obviously taken his fancy.

A Couple of Aunties

2008-09-13T17:39:00.004+12:00

Well, actually,....... technically,........ truth be told,......... there really is no denying,............

One of them may be a Great Aunty. Don't worry, we won't tell if you don't Great Aunty Karen!

Can anyone guess what happened about 30 seconds after this photo?

Charles Meets Nana

2008-08-27T19:42:00.002+12:00

Or Great Nana to him! We finally got him up to Orewa to meet his Nana and Great Uncle Neil (no photo sorry!). They got on really well so there may be another baby-sitting option. He's really easy, honest!

Truth be told, we think he knows when he is in the presence of others and he turns into a perfect angel. We took him to the rugby on Saturday and he slept all the way through. No-one from work believes me when I whine about how little sleep I get! Maybe he gets worried that we will leave him with them...

You Can't Tell Me That's Wind!

2008-08-17T19:00:00.005+12:00

Charles is worried that we may be starting to lose interest (we aren't really) and therefore thinks he needs a new trick to keep our attention. Well, it is a pretty special one - he can smile!!It is wonderful to get feedback and is actually quite emotional. Newborn babies smile when they get wind, but this certainly isn't that. If we choose our moments well, he can really beam up at us with this huge smile.

Mum gets them too (I didn't quite nail the focus, but you get the idea)

Bath Time!

2008-08-12T18:30:00.004+12:00

A short post tonight. Here is a shot of Charles in the bath. He seems to like the bath, though he is probably already too long for the one we have borrowed so far. Do they even come in different sizes? I guess we will find out shortly (so to speak).Charles insisted on the bar. He is surprisingly modest for one so young.

Also, continuing good news on the weight gain front (well, if you are a retailer of baby clothes at least). Charles had a weigh in with the Paediatrician today and now weighs 4.27kg! He has put on 570 grams in two weeks which is 200 grams above average.

What have we created??

Andrea's Secret Weapon

2008-08-11T20:15:00.003+12:00

Andrea has a secret weapon which seems to be unbeatable at settling Charles!

Grandad Wilson is a regular visitor in the Moore household and Charles loves cuddles and being sung to. Favourites so far include 'Shenandoah' (I googled it and got the name of an American National Park - I hope it isn't some subversive song) and 'Three Little Fishies' (I think that one is probably ok).

Here is a lovely pic with Mum.

Can Noise Control Confiscate a Baby?

2008-08-09T18:56:00.005+12:00

Oh boy, what a week. Charles is struggling to get into a pattern with his sleeping. Well, truth be told, he isn't really the one struggling. I think he is happy as Larry staying awake all hours. His parents on the other hand are certainly struggling.

On one side of us we think are neighbours who are students. Or in a band. Actually, we think they may be students who are in a band. In any event, they are loud and they have loud friends. On some occasions they would make a great case study for one of those 'it's how we are drinking' ads.

Well, on a couple of nights this week we have tried to get tough. Charles really needs to learn that he shouldn't expect to go to sleep either latched on to Andrea or lying on his Dad's chest. On each occasion it seems to turn into a battle of the wills, and I am constantly waiting for a knock at the door from noise control following complaints from our student neighbours that they can't hear their drum kit. Or their stereo. Or each other (I'm not sure whether that would be such a loss).

What we would like is more of this

and less of this

Sorry, we don't yet have a photo (or, more appropriately, a recording) of him at full blast.

Baby Puke is Slimy

2008-07-31T22:06:00.003+12:00

In late breaking news, we can report that baby puke is slimy (and travels very well). It hasn't, however had what I like to call the 'Emma Effect'!

Happy Due Date

2008-07-31T20:21:00.003+12:00

Another quick post to mark that today is Charles's official Due Date! He was three and a bit weeks early so, having had him home for a while we are now at the point when we were expecting to become parents.

He seems to have 'woken up' in the last couple of weeks and now has some consistent awake times (usually between about 11pm and 6am). I'm not sure what it is that he wants to do at that time as it is very dark, but he certainly doesn't seem that interested in sleeping.

Andrea and I have had to develop some strategies for catching up on sleep. Andrea tries to have a nap during the morning when Charles finally gets tired. I take micro-naps each time my boss tries to talk to me. So far it is working out well.

Andrea was expecting to have four weeks of maternity leave before Charles came along, so she is thinking he should forfeit his first three weeks of wages when he finally gets a job. That way she can have a holiday then.

We are also getting more confident at venturing out of the house with him, so we can now start visiting folk (and more importantly purveyors of caffeine containing products). Not that the weather makes that very appealing at the moment. I am sure it can only get better from here...

We were very lucky to have a visit from Charles' Papa Charlie last week. He was up for work and came to stay with us for a night. Here they are getting to know each other. I think they look like they will get on really well!

Back to Birth Weight!

2008-07-31T19:43:00.003+12:00

Charles had his second weigh in on the paediatrician's scales on Wednesday (yes, I know we are slack).

Well, he is back to his birth weight! We are very happy as we have been very focussed on his weight gain since we brought him home (I think it is his lack of ability to say, "thanks folks, I think you are doing a bang up job"). Topping up after every feed (well, perhaps every second feed) seems to have done the trick.

We are not sure whether we are expected to keep up with the expressing and the top-ups. We have another visit from the mid-wife on Monday and guess we will find out then. In some ways, the topping up is good because we can be absolutely sure that we are getting food into him and we would hate to go backwards having made all this good progress. On the other hand, it is a bit of a pain having to sterilise all the paraphernalia that goes with expressing and topping up, and we are not sure we want to get Charles into the habit of taking the bottle on a regular basis. I guess we will see.

In slightly more worrying news for Charles, the paediatrician has issued the invoice directly to him. We have had words with Charles about how he should go about paying it as we want to ensure he understands the value of money and that it does not grow on trees. We are thinking that if medical insurance does not cover it, he may have to get a part time job.

All Clean!

2008-07-25T21:46:00.004+12:00

Don't worry, I'm sure we'll find interesting topics to blog about real soon. After all, there is an election coming up. Ok, perhaps not...

Anyway, in real news, Charles loves his baths (which is lucky because he has to have them at least every 4 days (just before visits to or by people of authority). We have learnt to ensure that his towel is nice and warm and there is no mucking around in getting him dressed. We honestly thought we had broken him after his first bath. I guess the positive was to know that his lungs must be fine!!

As you can see, he looks at us with this 'not quite sure' look. He really is very accommodating.

Finally, just because we can, a nice pic with Dad! This is evening - a time when Charles likes to be awake. That ends around 6am. We don't have the heart to try and adjust that just yet. Not sure how long that will last.

The Biggest Gainer!

2008-07-19T11:21:00.000+12:00

Charles is competing with Grandma to see who can put the most weight on. It is amazing what you can do to babies without them getting too indignant!

Charles Samuel Moore

2008-07-18T20:20:00.000+12:00

Charles Samuel Moore was born on 8 July 2008 at Auckland Hospital. He weighed 8lb 2oz and was three and a bit weeks early! Probably lucky given his size.

As most know, he decided to create a bit of drama to mark his entry into the world and spent his first three nights in the Newborn Intensive Care Unit (NICU). He had a little trouble with his breathing and the doctors think he had a chest infection of some sort. The poor thing had to have IV antibiotics for seven days and it wasn't until 15 July that we finally got him home.

All seems to be much better now and he is progressing very well. He is really taking to breast feeding and is putting on weight. He does like his sleep though we'll see how long that lasts!

So far we have had two visits from the midwife team and they have been very reassuring of our rather rudimentary parenting skills.

Thank you to all who have been so generous in the last week and a bit. We have been blown away by people's generosity and also patience as we get ourselves sorted out. We are a little disorganised (to be fair we did think we had another three weeks to get sorted) at the moment, but we will send a personal thank out in the next week or so.

As is the point of these blogs, attached are a few photos from Charles' first week. We'll post a set with a little less of a medical theme next time!

We would really like to thank Lynda Batcheler and AOC and Simon Rowley and the staff at NICU (especially night nurse Kelly) and Auckland Hospital. Even though in the scheme of things Charles wasn't all that sick, it was a very stressful time and all concerned made a huge difference.

Thanks also to both of our families who have spent the last week and a bit running around after us and generally looking after us. We owe you.

1st Post!

2008-05-26T21:47:00.000+12:00

Well, here we are then. Welcome to WhanauMoore - the blog for the ever expanding Moore Whanau.

We'll post updates (occasionally) and try to keep anyone interested updated on our news (for example, today Sam had a cheese toastie for lunch. He made it himself!)

Somewhere nearby, there should be a picture (sorry, we don't have one of the toastie). We needed to practice with this fandangled interweb thingy. It was taken in... wait for it... Sydney! Our last weekend away (hopefully not ever) for a little while. We had a great weekend, catching up with Alice and her husband Kim. It was fantastic to see Alice (who we haven't seen since our wedding) and meet her husband.

Look - another photo. Just because we are getting the hang of this (and to prove that we can still stay up after dark).