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.

Charlie's First Haircut

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

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

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!

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

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

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.