Thank you to everyone for their warm messages & wonderful presents for Nathan. I am so happy that he is fortunate to be born into such a loving community. Out of all the messages, there is one in particular that I was so impressed by, that I wish to share it with everyone on this blog …

Your New Arrival

It’s got a cute nose,
And big round eyes.

It’s caused excitement,
You can’t disguise.

It’s a wonderful baby,
From a perfect pair.

And that’s reason enough,
For a great fanfare!

… thank you Sinikka Koivu.

As soon as Nathan was born, the grey miserable weather that had been haunting us for too long, dissolved as Mother Nature let the sun shine brightly non-stop for 1 week … a nice gesture to welcome Nathan to the world.

Jaythan_Birth_Weather

Not that Mummy & Daddy managed to see much daylight. Being up at hours that only students and vampires seem to find comfortable. Sleeping during the scraps of time that Nathan spared us, between his own eating, sleeping, and diaper changing sessions. The word ‘shattered’ has a completely a new meaning in this alternative dimension that we have entered. Days, nights, mornings, evenings, all roll up into one big mush. TV is something only known in science fiction stories. What have we done???

I can tell you what we have done, now that we are awake during daylight hours. We have created the most wonderful and beautiful little boy. We have completely and utterly fallen in love with this precious bundle of joy. We get lost for hours just looking into his eyes, the smell of his skin is so intoxicating, the softness of his skin can put fabric softeners to shame, and his looks … well he will make the girls’ hearts melt.

Well I thought this day would never come, but before I could get my head around the idea that today would be the day, I was holding my beautiful son in my arms!

Wednesday 10th October 2007

01:30AM     Barbara says that she ‘feels’ different and there is a little blood loss.
03:36AM   The ‘plug’ falls out.
05:10AM     Contractions are occurring once every 4 minutes … called the midwife.
07:10AM     Contractions occurring every 2.5 minutes … instructed to go to the hospital.
07:30AM     Barbara is already dilated to 8cm, but the water has not yet broken.
09:00AM     Water breaks.
09:10AM     Pushing starts … and videoing wink
09:56AM     Nathan is born … weighing in at 4050 grams!!!
10:15AM     JJ cuts the umbilical cord.
01:00PM     Parents and son are sent home.

I cannot even start to say how happy we are and how wonderful Nathan is. I cannot believe how fast the time went by. Now with the snoozing, feeding, and changing every 2-3 hours, the concept of time does not apply in this house any more. I cannot even acknowledge the fact that I was working in the office on Tuesday. It feals like weeks ago. Luckily I recorded most of it on video, so I will have the opportunity to see it all over again in slow-motion!

Well here is the first picture of Nathan … saying hello to Grandma! When he gets a bit older, I will explain hand gestures should be done behind her back! wink

 

Nathan_says_hello_to_Grandma

Thank you Lord for blessing me with such a wonderful son!

Well he’s still in there! Seems to be very comfortable where he is now … just floating in his toasty warm and cosy environment. Even with the around the clock feeding, this five star hotel looses a star for the only complaint he has … the noisy pipe by his head! wink

Pregnant_Belly_(blog_version)

Barbara, on the other hand, is getting concerned that this will be a birth by explosion, rather than the standard ‘plop’! What can I say as the supporting parent? Rather her than me!!!

Well she’s ready to burst … but she managed to hold out with work to the very end to maximise her maternity leave. So Christmas and New Year will be work free … but I am sure that she will have her hands full here at home (probably for me too)!

Now she just has to keep her legs crossed till mid-October wink

It was a grand sunny day indeed! Originally, I was nervous about the run as I wanted to set a good recorded time (sub-55 minutes). However, with Anita, Angie, Richard, & Gabs to escort me to the run and prove cheering support at the start, as well as when I crossed the finish line, made this run more memorable than any of my previous runs.

I am truly grateful for their motivation that helped me achieve the sub-55 minute timing (just) … less for the reason that they wanted me to do well and more for the fact that every minute was coming out of their shopping time in Meadowhall! Well, they certainly let me walk off the run long enough in Meadowhall.

Great_Yorkshire_Run_2007_002

It was so great to have the family involved in such an occasion, that I hope that next year more members of the family sign-up, so that we can run together and break my 54:47 minute record!

Anita, Angie, Richard, & Gabs … thanks for the memorable weekend!

Love JJ xxx

Oh what a wonderful feeling … walking into the new baby room for the first time with the ‘baby blue’ wallpaper and the beautiful baby furniture to compliment it. Just being in the room brings this whole experience even more alive and signals to us that we are one more step closer to meeting our son! It is such an amazing sensation!

Baby_Room_(blog_version)

On the downside, I am a little upset that he has a better bedroom than us. I suggested to Barbara that this will become the boy’s room. However, I feel that will not be accepted.

My boy … I love you dearly xxx

What better way to start the launch of our new family website! Joint in celebration with a family member … Natalia Bottomley!!!

Hey Natalia! We wish you a fantastic birthday! When I have worked out how to share this blog, you will know that we were thinking of you today!

Love JJ & Barbara xxx

With the expected arrival of only the third male ‘de Haas’ to be born in 84.5 years, all activities are focused on getting his new home in shape. Of course, that does not mean that I would not be distracted and build a new website instead!

However, all is for a good cause. With this ‘blog’, I can update everyone with news of the pending arrival … as he is eagerly kicking to get out!

After that, I hope that we are able to track family events and news … once I have worked out how to properly use this blogcast stuff!