Ten days on…

Boy how time flies!

It is with much sadness that we said bye to (Matt and Amy’s) Nana and Granddad today, who returned home after staying with us to help out since Amy arrived. And a huge help they were. Thank you!

Amy is doing great, and at her one-week weigh in she was already back up to her birth weight – and is continuing to keep her mum busy with her demanding feeding schedule. That’s my girl!

As for me, I’m loving the time off from work, especially since summer appears to have arrived in the last few days – lots of family time, especially with Matt who seems to be coping rather well with the new arrival in the house.

Along with Amy, Matt has done pretty well on the gift front, which has made him feel special too. Thank you to everyone who gave us gifts for the kids. We appreciate your kindness.

And just so the boy doesn’t feel left out, here’s a recent pic of the lad enjoying an ice-cream in the back yard…

For more photos, click through to my Picasa Photo Gallery, or grab our favourite pics of Amy and Matt on their own galleries.

It’s a girl!

We are thrilled to announce that Amy Kathryn Noble joined our family at 12:46am on Monday – November 3, 2008.

She arrived via a natural water birth delivery, weighing in at a healthy 3.78kg (or 8lb 5oz for the imperialists). Following a superb delivery, we decided to return straight home – just 4 hours after arriving at the hospital. The only fly in the ointment was Dad forgetting the baby capsule and having to do a quick dash home at 3am to fetch it!

Louise and Amy are doing great and resting well at home, and if Matthew’s chatter about Amy is any guage, he’s stoked to have a little sister. 🙂

If you’re after some photos, our picks of the pics will appear at amy.noble.gen.nz, with the full set available in the “Amy: Introductions” album in my Picasa Photo Gallery.

Waiting for baby

Approaching 38 weeks…

Comparing photos

Any similarities here…?

Ages are: left = 18 months, right = 19 months…

Happy Retirement Dad!

You’ve most certainly earned it. 🙂

Dads #1 teacher for sons

Yo fellow Dad’s out there!

Sons learn life skills from their dads

A new Father’s Day poll shows nearly 75 percent of Australian dads learned their most valuable and important life skills from their own fathers.

Top among those skills was how to drive a car, how to ride a bike, changing a tyre, changing a light bulb, building a fire and knotting a tie.

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“We know from previous scientific research that boys who have active and involved fathers are more likely to do better academically, socially and emotionally,” he said in a statement.

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via Stuff.co.nz (and archived via WebCite) …thanks Sarah!

And this coming Sunday (7th Sep) is of course Father’s Day here in New Zealand, so don’t forget to thank the old fella for your life skills!

Recent YouTube additions…

By me! Two of the little guy in fact.

A while ago Matt figured out he could move his little plastic chairs to help him reach things – including the door handle,

Initially however, his cunning plan was flawed as the door swings inwards – right to where he planted the chair. HA! That didn’t last long. He now knows to leave a small gap, open the door a crack, climb down, move the chair, then open the door. Luckily, we have a last line of defence – all our external doors have deadlocks that can only be opened by keys (now hidden!)

And this vid was taken a couple of nights ago when Matt was having a great time singing “row row row your boat…” with his mum in the bath,

Enjoy.