Joel's First 8 Weeks

Well, my goodness... the first 8 weeks of Joel's life have just flown by! Where do I start?... It has been an absolute joy and pleasure so far being a dad to little Joel, although life has changed completely and I'm getting used to the lack of sleep.

Everything went brilliantly on the day of birth. Ang was booked in for a cesarean because little Joel was in breech position (the wrong way round) and we turned up to the hospital just after 7 in the morning knowing that it would only be a few hours before our lives would change for ever! We were taken up to the operating theatre where I got changed into funny looking theatre clothes complete with a pink hat. The operation went very quickly, it almost felt like we were at the dentists, except that instead of pulling out a tooth they yanked a little baby out... a boy ... little Joel!! The surgeon pulled him out, all wrinkly, and shoved him in our faces... "you have a boy" - how very exciting!

The first few hours of his life Joel became an expert at breast feeding and quickly learnt how to fall asleep. We were very lucky to be assigned our own private room in the ward which meant we could get to know Joel in privacy, as well as have lots of friends and family come to visit. Ang recovered well from her operation and after a couple of days we were heading home (driving VERY slowly) ready to introduce Joel to were we live and Toby and Josh, our cats.

Since those first few days we have got to know little Joel very well - even learning what each of his different cries means! In the past week, Joel has perfected his smile and has now added very cute noises to his repertoire. It is even more of a joy to spend time with him now that he shows how happy he is to be played with. Very special. Ang is also doing well and is loving the time at home with Joel.

Click on the pics below to many more photos from Joel's first 8 weeks.

Joel Robert Wood - Week 1

Joel at 8 days

Joel at 22 days

Joel at 32 days old

October 22, 2007 - Joel Robert Wood is born

Just a quick message to say that Joel Robert Wood was born today by c-section at 11:25am, weighing in at 7lb12. Both Ang and Joel are doing very well. Lots more photos to come - but this will get you started!

Jon, Rachel & Charlotte Visit

This weekend we had a lovely (and privileged) visit from Jon, Rachel and newborn Charlotte as they spend a month in the UK, taking a short break from life in New Zealand. It was really good to see them and catch up with all the happenings in their lives.

Click on the link below for more pics.

Jon & Rachel Visit

Ang Re-Arranges the Kitchen

After a year of living in a bit of a chaotic kitchen, Ang and I decided to make a change. Ang ordered some purpose made to measure reed baskets from Scotland and as soon as they were delivered we got going on cutting some shelves to size. The picture below shows the finished product...

Josh Got A Little Wet

With all the wet weather we're having in England at the moment, our two lovely cats are really struggling to stay dry. The picture above shows Josh on a very wet evening when he came home drenched! One of many occasions we see them soaked.

My Cat Beats Up Dogs (well, almost)

This weekend we went for a walk to our local park, about 200m away from our house. As usual our two cats, Toby and Josh, followed us down to the park and waited for us patiently on the edge, not daring to move out of their boundary. As we returned home we encountered a large dog which instantly too an interest to the cats. Toby, the larger of the two cats immediately legged it up the nearest tree, but Josh, ever the adventurer, arched his back, stuck his tail up in the air and stood on his tip toes while hissing - he was trying to make himself look as scary and big as possible. If you know him, you'll know that Josh is FAR from scary...

The dog took no notice of this and kept walking towards Josh. By this time, I was more than a little concerned and tried to put myself between the dog and Josh - didn't want the little guy to get hurt - but unfortunately the dog and Josh were moving too quickly, so I wasn't being of much use. Suddenly, out of the blue, Josh charged at the dog making an awful noise as he went - the poor dog didn't know what was going on, turned, yelping as he went and legged it towards his owner. RESULT! It was so funny to see such a small cat (Josh is only ickle) chase such a large dog away.

I was so proud of the little guy - he was truly an amazingly brave cat. Josh jogged back home with his tail in the air and deservedly had an extra large dinner while I spent time coaching Toby out of the tree... he was all shook up.