WELCOME TO OUR NEW ADDITION

Sorry it has been so long since we last blogged. A lot has been happening as you know.

Firstly, we have to welcome baby Xavier to the family.

He came just one day after his due date, although this was driving his Daddy mad - he was eagerly waiting the arrival of his new bubba. Things were made worse by baby Fraser Colquhoun arriving promptly on his due date!

Never the less, the wait was worth it and Xavier Christian Hale was born;

Sunday 12 October 2008

Time: 9.52pm

Weight: 8lb 71/2 oz or 3.845Kg

Length: 54cm

All went well and both Xavier and myself were fine - so good in fact that we left hospital on the Tuesday - desperate to get home to the peace and quiet and away from the noisy hospital. We took the early discharge option where the midwife will come to your house for the next 7-10 days and check on you and bub.

So far he is settling in well, we haven't found a routine yet but he generally manages up to 5 hours a sleep over night and daytime sleeps vary. Just when I think we have some sort of routine he changes again. He is very alert and very good a lifting his head. He is starting to make eye contact with us and hopefully won't be long before the "wind" smiles turn into real smiles - can't wait.

Ben has been a fantastic big brother and is quite happy to cuddle his little baby brother even when he is howling his head off. He has been good at being able to settle his baby brother too! Ben was in Townsville the two weeks leading up to Xavier's birth, he flew back on the 12th October. Heidi and Ian offered to pick Ben up on the day just in case Xavier decided to make his grand entrance...........good job they did. At the time that Heidi would have been at the airport collecting Ben, we were headed for the hospital! What a nightmare it could have been, the airport is about 2 hours from the hospital. Ben ended up staying the night with his cousins, Daniel did call him after Xavier was born but he was already in bed asleep, although he did talk briefly to Daniel he doesn't remember the call!

Daniel took the first 3 weeks off work to spend time with Xavier and I, it was nice to have the support. He is a very devoted Daddy and I think he wishes he could have longer but he has organised to have two weeks off again at Christmas which will be nice. The only thing he doesn't seem to handle well are the poopy nappies!

In between sleeps I have managed to keep in touch with work and do a few jobs from home for them, I arranged to have remote access so I can dial in and do work at home. It helps keep the brain functioning and also helps keep my business manager, Claire, sane as she also has to look after a couple of other centres too. I'm doing things like the rosters and did the banking reconciliation - something Claire hates as I can usually balance mine and she never could prior to me starting at the centre. Down the track I will do a few more things and if I keep track of my hours I can get paid for them once my paid leave runs out (in about 4 weeks).

Well that's about it for now, sorry it's taken so long and I'm not sure when the next blog will be but we will do our best.