Couldn't resist...

posting another picture of baby Sophie. Here she is asleep in her cocoon.

And one of Keira the cat just 'cause...

Grandma and Grandpa Kay come to visit

Stephen's parents arrived yesterday evening to meet their first grandchild. Sophie is very lucky to have so many doting grandparents!

Here are some pictures of Sophie with Peter and Patricia...

The midwife came to visit today as well and when weighed found that Sophie has put on 13 oz in one week! She now weighs 10lb, 1oz. She also measured Sophie at 53 1/2 cm which means that she has also grown 2cm in 2 weeks. Our little girl is getting so big!

Here is a picture of Sophie looking cute in her swing...

And one last one of Stephen carrying Sophie in the sling...

Christmas Eve

So both Stephen and I have now been told off by several friends and members of our families for not having posted on here for a while... Life has just been so hectic!

My parents have now gone home; it was lovely to have them here. They just about got caught in the fog that descended upon us trapping many would-be voyagers in England, but decided at the last moment that the flights looked less crowded Tuesday... what fortune as they might not have got out if they had waited another day! Sophie really enjoyed having her grandparents here and bestowed many smiles and coos upon them. They also brought many gifts with them from family and friends in Canada; Sophie was spoiled rotten and will be the best-dressed baby around!

The health visitor came Thursday to weigh Sophie... She was 9lb 4oz! She had put on 11oz since last Friday (she then weighed 8lb 9oz - an improvement of 8oz over the week before, and measured 52 1/2 cm - having grown 1 1/2 cm from the week before!). The health visitor is obviously pleased with her growth as babies typically put on between 4-7 oz a week... I think our Sophie takes after her mother in her love of eating!

Here are some pictures of Sophie taken in the last week... We will take more tomorrow and attempt to get them posted much faster this time!

Grandma and Grandpa Riordon come to visit

My parents arrived yesterday morning for a week's visit. It was wonderful to see them at the airport and they have promptly fallen in love with their first grandchild. Sophie has suitably returned the affection and displayed it by creating lots of nappies for them to change, spitting up on their clothes and falling asleep when they are busy trying to entertain her. She has, however, delivered the most beautiful smiles in the world (and to anyone who claims that 'they are just gas' I challenge you to come and see for yourself!) so that her Grandma and Grandpa will forgive just about anything.

We went out to a pub for lunch today in Guildford. It was nice to be eating out and Sophie was fast asleep for our entire time in the pub which was fantastic, but after ordering and paying for our food one of the people who work at the pub came over and said that we were not supposed to have a baby on the premesis! He let us stay as we had already ordered but I felt so out of place after that. I wonder if there will be a lot of places where we won't be welcome?!

Anyway, here are some new pictures of Sophie and her grandparents... Enjoy.

All in pink

Here is a photo taken by Stephen this evening of Sophie and I.

We were out all day today in Guildford with some of the other mums from our antenatal class. Sophie has been a complete angel all day long and Stephen is just putting her to bed now.

But so much for our bedtime routine! We have fed her, bathed her and changed her, but when we went to take her out for her walk it was raining! So it is the rocking chair for our Sophie this evening... at least she got lots of fresh air this afternoon.

Two weeks old!!

Yesterday our Sophie was two weeks old! She changes every day a little bit which is both wonderful and heart-wrenching to watch. Yesterday we put her through her first night of bedtime routines... It actually worked very well and Stephen and I were encouraged by the peacefulness of our evening and by how well she took to it. Up until now the hours of 9-12 were our most difficult as Sophie was quite grumbly then and that is when Stephen and I really want to be in bed. But we started her on a bath last night at around 7, changed her, fed her, took her for a walk all bundled up from the cold, fed her a top up and then into the basket she went (without crying!) and stayed for the whole night! I just hope it works tonight as well!

Here are a couple more pictures for all of those of you who can't get enough...

This is Sophie in her first 'real' clothes before we went to the Christingle service at church on Sunday afternoon.

This is Sophie when we went out for coffee with the girls yesterday.

Out for a walk

Sophie is beginning to get a bit fractious in the mornings, waking up every half hour to feed for five minutes to get back to sleep, so she and I have been going out for walks as the movement seems to get her to sleep much more effectively. The walks will most likely do me and my figure much good in the future but just now they are killing my coccyx and stitches!

Here is a picture of Sophie in one of her snow suits... She looks just like a little snowball!

And one of the two of us just heading out this morning.

And finally here is one last picture of Sophie (sleeping yet again!) in her first pink outfit... She has already outgrown some of the smaller newborn sized clothes and is fitting into the first of her 0-3month clothes!!!! How is it possible that I am already saying 'where has the time gone?'

For all you picture-mad people out there

here is another picture of Sophie sleeping in her basket...

Tomorrow we are going to the Chrisdingle service at church so I will get someone to take another family photo of us to post.

A few days on...

Here are some pictures of Sophie playing in her play gym this morning.

She is so cute that even the cat had to come take a peek :)

She enjoyed it for the first few minutes and then got over-stimulated and was a bit of a grumbler for the rest of the morning. Right now she is wide awake and chattering lying on Stephen's chest. I just hope she will settle down enough to sleep tonight!

Here is a picture of Stephen and Sophie earlier on today just before a visit from the health visitor.

Sophie was weighed and measured at the visit and she is now back up to birth weight at 8 lbs 1 oz. She measured 52 cm and her head has grown 3 cm since birth (!!) and is now 36cm.

A week and counting...

We have now been parents for a whole week. Our little Sophie is so cute and we feel that she is the most beautiful and best baby in the world. We went out today to lunch with some people from our ante-natal class. It was our first lunch out and it was very funny to see all of us with our babies in car seats all sitting around a table at the restaurant. Stephen said we made quite the sight.

Here are some more pictures of Sophie just to prove that she is the most beautiful baby in the world...

Sophie's first swimming lesson.....

Starting small, but just in case the 100m hurdles doesn't work out we have started Sophie's swim training. Her personal best for one lap of the baby bath is currently slightly under 1min! We hope to move from "froggie style" to some more usual swimming styles soon!

Sophie's first bath:

And a bonus "mummy" pic!

Stephen

A quiet evening in

What a good baby our Sophie is! Here are some new pictures of her curled up sleeping in her daddy's arms...

In the interests of Science

I've started to compile a list of findings - aimed mostly at discovering a new baby "theorem" with which I can give my name and therefore live forever in the dusty halls of scientific endeavour.

In starting my quest I have discovered a nice easy law, which I shall tentatively call "The Kay Feed/Time Realationship" A more complicated mathematical derivation of the law shall follow shortly, after it has been ratified by the British College of Sciences.

The Kay Feed Relationship is as follows:

"If Baby is prepared to suck on Daddy's nose for a period of 10 seconds or more, then the necessity for feeding is imminent."

I will soon expand this "special feed relationship" to a more general form, by including a statement about the "suck pressure" that the baby exerts!

Here is pictorial evidence of my new law:

Stephen

Something Missing...

Reading through the posts that Stephen has uploaded in the last few days I have realised that he has sneakily managed to avoid putting up any pictures of himself with Sophie so here they are!

Proud new father with baby Sophie Tuesday morning.



Getting Sophie ready for our first outing as a family.

Let Sleeping Babes Lie

So, we have now been in sole charge of Sophie for two days! Time for a little update on our progress....



The midwife visited us yesterday morning and found both Tara and Sophie's progress to be excellent - so gave us a day off today without a check-up. Tomorrow the midwife will visit again ad carry out what are called "Guthrie Tests" looking for phenylketonuria (I see a prize in the offing for the first person to let me know how to spell this phonetically!), congenital hypothyroidism and sickle cell disorders. So it's a quick heel prick blood test for Sophie, and she will also be weighed to make sure that she is doing well.



We had our first "excursion" yesterday. We decided to test our buggy driving skills and took Sophie to the shopping mall to get her a passport photo taken - as usual the photo doesn't really do her justice, but on the grand scale of my NZ passport photo and the slightly worring picture of tara looking like a vampire for one of her ID cards I think that we have got off lightly!



On the trip we also visited the registry office so that Sophie could become a real person! Tara sprung a little suprise on me and added an extra name when the registrar asked us what she was called. So she is now Sophie Ellen Trixibell-Lulu Kay.



Just kidding! She is now Sophie Ellen Patricia (for my mum and Grandma) Kay.



After yesterday's exersions we have had a nice relaxing day today. Sophie let us get to sleep at about midnight and only wanted feeding at 4am and 8am so we got a reasonable amount of sleep each. I spent a good proportion of the day trying to get the passport form filled in correctly. I think I've now got it right - and it only took 3 goes!



Travelling Sophie:

Stephen

All home safely

We were discharged from hospital last night around 6pm - after finally managing to pass the baby test! Who would have thought that you needed to score at least 80 out of 100 on the multi choice section and write a 500 word paragraph on how to change a nappy whilst making dinner at 8pm at night during a power-cut!

We made it through our first night together - Sophie has been excellent, feeding regularly, and sleeping through from about midnight until 8am.

The midwife comes to visit us sometime this morning, and after that I have to race around to make sure that Sophie's birth is registered properly, that the application for a baby passport (so she can go to NZ at Easter) is done and so that we can start claiming child benefits.

Here's Sophie's entry into the "cutest baby of all time" competition, on her arrival home last night

Stephen

Few more pics to keep you all happy...

Everything well here. Tara and baby seem to have got used to each other and are falling into a nice 6 hourly feeding routine. Sophie seems to spend most of the rest of the time asleep - but I'm not there during the night so I'm told that I am missing her talking and practising her 100m hurdles technique. Tara assures me that she is quite exceptional T both, and that she is well on her way to being the first women olympic champion prime minister (insert the country of your choice here) has known!

I have also been in contact with the local roading company and they have agreed to purchase as much high quality tar as I can scrape from Sophie. The midwife told me it was called "meconium" but I'm not sure how to pronounce that - and I'm sure that with its stickness and durability it will do extremely well in filling the pot holes on major motorways near us.

We hope to be released from the maternity ward jail (sorry - allowed to go home early for good behaviour) tomorrow. This is as long as both Tara and Sophie make it through their respective check-ups and tests. I hope that they remember to use the right test on each of them. Sophie tends to puke if her stomach is palpitated too much - and I'm fairly sure that Tara won't be as flexible as the "clicky hip test" requires!!!

Enough blathering - here's what you've all been waiting for (the midwife even took the camera off me so that I also, reluctantly, have to feature!)

Tara - looking good (this is from today - I promise!):

Very sleepy Sophie:

Tara and Sophie (not sure who the odd looking one eyed bloke is!):

Stephen

Announcing the Arrival of.......

Sophie Ellen Kay. Born at 5.36pm on the 27th of November. Weighing in at a hefty 8pounds (3.63 kilos to those of you that have managed, like me, to upgrade to metric!)

The whole experience was truly mind blowing, so I'll just stick up a few early photos and tell the tale properly after a decent sleep!


Tara and Sophie in the recovery room:

Getting to know each other a little better:




And finally falling off to sleep:



Stephen

ps - by my quick calculation Dennis wins the due date prize for guessing the right day!

Not many left in the running now.......

So, we are now 5 days overdue! Tara's tummy must be far too nice a place for the baby at the moment - we haven't really had any indications that anything momentus might be happening soon!

We have another midwife appointment on tuesday next week, and Tara has beeen booked in to be induced next Sunday evening (the 3rd Dec) if nothing has happened by then!

I'm getting a bit impatient!!!!

Stephen

No Sign Yet...

Just to satisfy any curiosity, nothing has happened yet and there is still no sign at all of baby wanting to make an appearance. Hopefully he or she will decide to come soon!

1 day past due date

Well, sorry to all who betted on yesterday or this morning. Nothing yet. I tried my very best last night by ordering a medium-hot curry and when I didn't feel it was hot enough even topped up the spice with lots of Stephen's madras sauce which made my nose run and eyes water! The heartburn wasn't too bad last night but I am paying for that this morning. I think my primary diet today will consist of gavascon!!!

Stephen has already left for work this morning, looking dashing in his suit. Too bad for him that the baby didn't come yesterday as well as Mondays and Tuesdays are his hardest days at school! I think it is getting quite difficult for him to concentrate on work these days as well as he is so focussed on the baby and wanting to meet him or her. He usually loves school and even starts wishing holidays over near the end of them so you can imagine how surprised we both are that he doesn't really want to go in right now and would rather stay home with me... I would feel honoured but I know very well that I am not the draw!

I will keep you all posted in the next couple days and will put up any other pics that get taken in the mean time.

Still in there!

So I am still pregnant and baby has not yet demanded to get out. That means that both Peter and Sean have guessed wrong so far and that my mum and Poppa are getting very close to wrong guesses as well... Let's just hope that Julia's David is not right as he guessed that Baby won't make an appearance until the 20th December! I don't think that Stephen or I could take that!!!

I think that Stephen and I will be going out for a hot curry tonight in order to try to hurry things along... so I will definitely be spending the night awake - either with labour or with terrible indigestion brought on by the curry!

Our Poor Cats!

We are obviously getting a little crazy just hanging round waiting for things to happen - so we've given our cats a bath!

They did need it - as both of them have taken to trying to drink out of the toilet, even when I'm trying to use it!

The results are below - they are both giving us very evil looks!

Stephen

Fancy a little Wager?

I've decided to start a little "book" on our arrival date!

Leave a comment with the exact time, down to the minute, and date that you think that Tara will give birth.

Closest to the official recorded time by the hospital will win a small, yet possibly significant prize!!!

Stephen

2 Days 'till D-day...

Stephen and I have been doing the last few things to get ready for baby.

This morning we put the car seat into the car which wasn't quite as straight-forward as we thought it would be! It took us about 1/2 an hour to get it in to our satisfaction and even then we aren't so sure that we have done it right. Who knew it would be so complicated? Hopefully we will get better with practice!

Stephen has also taken some more pictures of me with my big bump. No sign of baby yet so who knows how much longer he or she will take to come out. We are getting very excited though and every morning Stephen asks me where 'his' baby is. It would be nice if baby came soon though as we are both so curious to meet him or her.

The Final Countdown - T-Minus 1 Week...

So we move into our final week of being a young, cool, metrosexual couple - bring on the exhausted, bags under eyes, financially strained parenting years! The bathroom floor has now been grouted and the door re-hung - thank goodness I have managed to convince Tara that the rest of the house doesn't need painting right now!

We have also timed our run to the hospital, and informed the police of our expected due date so that we don't get pulled over in the mad dash (the police offered us an escort for a small fee and donation to their christmas party fund, but we have decided that we will be able to manage the 20mins to the hospital using the hazard lights and the horn alone).

We went to Frimley Park hospital today to do a quick tour, check out the birthing pool, and make sure that I won't die of a heart attack when faced with the parking charges!

School are prepared for me to disappear for two weeks worth of paternity leave, though as I have to set all the work for my classes to do before I leave I effectivly have to do two weeks extra work over the next couple of days to make sure that everything is ready!

4 of the 8 couples that took mummy and daddy lessons with us (we graduated top of the class and were awarded gold stars for our preparation and wonderful senses of humour!) have now had their babies. We see one of the couples quite regularly. Its very interesting to hear their "maternity ward" stories from both male and female perspective - I have a feeling that the male version, whilst slightly exaggerated, is probably closer to the truth than the hormonally charge feminine one!

Watch this space - not long to go now!

Stephen

Calling all potential Babysitters......

As per the Kay rules for new babies- no christmas shopping will be done in the Kay Family household this year. We (well - really me!) have decided instead to run a free babysitting training service for anyone interested in learning the noble art.

We will offer unlimited access to our child between the hours of 5-10pm - whilst we are out having fun! Coffee, tea and hot chocolate will be provided though applicants to our scheme will be expected to provide their own food.

At the end of your training session we will provide you with a verbal evaluation of your progress - and improvements that we think you could make.

This free offer will be for the christmas period only. We expect to start charging for our training service in the new year!

Hopefully this scheme will save my bank accounts from the pillaging that they are undergoing now that Tara has started her maternity leave! Silly me for thinking that maternity leave was for resting and relaxing (and possibly some house tidying!), it is apparently for shopping, and lunches with the ladies!!!

Stephen

ps - latest midwife appointment shows that all is well with mother and baby. Bump now measures 37inches, and head is engaged (I think that means that everything is downhill from here!). 2 and a half weeks to go and counting! Going to the labour ward tour today, and got to finish tiling the bathroom!

The End of Half Term

We have just had a lovely week off work together but Stephen is back to the grindstone tomorrow. We have tried to make the most of relaxing to the max before the baby arrives and we lose the luxury of a child-free week to do with as we wish.

Stephen has ripped up all the carpet in the bathroom and made a start on laying down the tiles. He has all the hard ones left... around the corners, toilet and sink! The bathroom looks a bit like a bomb has hit it but it has been promised to me that it will be finished before baby arrives so I can take hope in that! The floor looks so nice though that it casts the kitchen floor in a really bad light and I can't wait until that is done too... And it would be nice to get rid of the carpet downstairs to lay laminate if the floor boards aren't nice enough... And it would be nice if the walls were painted fresh, and the railing painted and the base boards painted, and the... Stephen?

We are both looking forward to the 'nesting' bit you apparently go through just before you give birth!

Welcome to our House!

Have had a bit of time to play on the internet now its the half term break! Have managed to create a short video for all of you that have not seen our house yet.

Am sitting here feeling very pleased with myself!

Stephen

A Lady of Leisure... for the time being!

This is a picture of me on my last day of work. I am now a lady of leisure for the next few weeks until the baby arrives. I will get Stephen to take a picture of me next lying on the sofa eating bonbons!

I think however, that I will most likely be spending the time doing a thorough spring clean as who knows when it will get done next?!

4 weeks until baby is due!

One week left of work

Well here it is Sunday night again and another weekend has sped by... There is a light at the end of this particular tunnel though as this is the last week of work before half term. And as I am officially on maternity leave after half term, this is my last week of work until July! I am very happy for that and it can't come soon enough as far as I am concerned as I am so tired these days and was just about to fall over at the end of last week! I may have to go in a few days over half term just to wrap things up, but that will be much more relaxed and I will be able to come and go as I please.

I am very aware that we haven't taken any good pictures for awhile of us and the bump so I will do my best to persuade the photographer to take some good ones tomorrow when we are on our way to work.

I had a midwife appointment Friday afternoon. Everything is fine and my bump measured 34 weeks big which is right on track as I was 34 weeks. I will be 35 weeks tomorrow and can hardly believe that we will be parents in about a month. In some ways the time seems to have sped by, but much of it felt like it was crawling as we experienced it!

I should get going, but I will endeavour to get some new pictures on here asap.

Tara

New Picture

Here's a picture of Stephen and I with the new buggy and car seat that Patricia brought us all the way from New Zealand. It's beautiful isn't it?