Jack and Katrina's Place

How do you cpature the silly side of babies personality in an image? Hard but here are some of a happy little boy talking complete rubbish to his Dad the other night.

I'm back from Melbourne now, back to Welllington's cool and bright summer afternoons. Guy has grown so much in the week I was away, especially his head, and face which seem to be swelling as he soaks up new experiences. His face shows more personality every day. He has started to really 'talk' or make new baby words, one is a sort of a shout/laugh, and one is more like a little asking noise, the photo of him looking at the bug is actually him laughing and playing with it. He likes the 'aircraft recognition' poster I've put next to his changing table too, though it's probably all the parachuting little bunnies that he likes most. He is sleeping well now, sometimes grizzly in the late afternoon with a couple of bursts of yelling before settling. Last night for something different I took him for a ride up Mt Victoria in the buggy, the bumpier the track the more he liked it. He stopped his grizzling and screwed up his eyes to watch the clouds tumbling past until he nodded off, only to wake when I stopped moving.

Hello folks, Katrina here. I have been very silent on the blog site to date - mainly due to the demands of motherhood and grabbing every opportunity to rest and do mountains of washing while Guy is asleep. Over the last week, Jack was on a helicopter aerodynamics couse (sounds very boring and technical!!) in Melbourne, so Guy and I decided to take a trip down south to introduce him to his southern relatives.

We had a lovely time seeing lots of family members and friends over 5 days, but Guy found it all a bit much with the hot North Canterbury summer. He voiced his dissatisfaction with the heat and busy days by bellowing for 3 - 4 hours at a stretch in the evening of most days! In between these performances, we managed to get some nice photos!

The trip back to Wellington was great (with a plane full of peak hour business travellers), with all the cabin attendants clucking over Guy who was very well behaved. Unfortunately, he waited until we were halfway home from the airport before starting his daily screaming session. Lucy, visiting from London, was feeling quite clucky but after several days of Guy's evening arias, has been well cured of any mildly maternal feelings she may have had! Having said that, she was absolutely marvellous when Guy gave his finale - a projectile vomit all over himself, the floor and his sobbing mother - thanks heaps Luce!

Upon our return from Christchurch, Guy had his 6 week immunisations. It was more traumatic for me than for him, the worst protest he made was when his mean mummy pulled the sticking plasters off his little chicken legs during his bath!

A day short of 6 weeks, and Guy made his first plane trip down to Christchurch. He travelled like the frequent flyer he'll undoubtedly become (with grandparents around the country, and a father who is a pilot) after the safety briefing he slept the whole way!

In anticpation for our stay at Katrina's family home in Kaiapoi, Pat dusted off the bassinet they bought for Katrina, 31 years ago.

Phyllis is Katrina's Granny, Guy's Great Granny, who lives in Kaiapoi. She was very pleased to finally meet a very well behaved little Guy.

and here's Phyllis's sister Hilda meeting her first great, great nephew

There are four generations between Phyllis Elder and Guy Curry Stanton. This is the photo Katrina wishes her mother Lois, could have been here to complete.

We had a lovely visit with Katrina's Granny (Great Granny to Guy), her sister Hilda, (Great Great Aunty Hilda to Guy), and Katrina's Aunty Valerie who took the photo and made the delicious lunch.

Sunday morning at Grandad's place.

Diana is strictly Pat's cousin, but effectively Katrina's Aunt, Guy's thinking about this...

Katrina's brother Ian has just begun a building apprenticeship. Guy really liked Uncle Ian the builder. He can be Uncle in charge of tree huts!

Guy's 2nd cousin Thomas is 2 and half now, soon Guy will be old enough to follow him into all sorts of mischief!

While in Christchurch, Katrina's friend Lucy came to stay and help Katrina travel home. Lucy was on holiday from London where Katrina used to be her flatmate.

Katrina has known Caren since they were 8yr old ballet girls together. (must post that photo!)

After 5 days of travelling and meeting folks, Guy was just a bit tired and grumpy.

Congratulations to Inge and Stu Doig whose baby boy, Sam was born on Wednesday morning. Here is Guy Catching Up with Inge and Sam, I suspect they will get up to much more in future.

We have been enjoying some great sumer weather here, and Katrina has been getting out and about with Guy in the buggy, here they are at Oriental Bay on Tuesday evening, Guy is sleeping under the sunshade.

One of the good things about a baby who wakes for early breakfast at 04:45 is you do get to see some nice sunrises. These last weeks have made me much more conscious of the passing of time, times I was previously unaware of like, the wee small hours of the morning. There is a special joy sometimes in being awake in these quiet still hours, and just sometimes you can capture it in a photo.

I'm going to be away in Melbourne nest week, learning how helicopters fly, so Blog entries may be a bit sporadic. I'll leave Katrina with a fully charged set of camera batteries, so there should be a bumper edition Monday 27th Feb, CU Jack.

After the ride in the buggy to get Bagels, Saturday morning was a whirl of social engagements for Guy. Here he is with Ruth who was in town with Steve for a wedding.

Our friends Nicky and Matt called in to see how Guy was growing. I think Katrina was describing her C-Section to Nicki at this point!

Saturday was a busy day for Guy and by early afternoon he was all tired out. Here he is with Amy who called in to see him before she goes away for three weeks on a barge to investigate building a bridge near Thames (Kopu bridge)

Jack's Uncle Ken & Aunty Kerry came to visit on Saturday afternoon. Like Ruth and Steve they were passing through and took the opportunity to meet the youngest member of the clan, as it could be a while before we get up to Auckland to visit Guy's many other friends and relations.

On Saturday morning while Katrina had a sleep in Guy and Jack took the buggy down to the supermarket to get bagels. It was a bit windy so Katrina made sure Guy was wrapped up.

Jack's Uncle Ken and Guy.

He sleeps best when he's secured like this.

And when we got back we had some wiggle time.

There is nothing more precious,.. than those few hours while he sleeps.

Just to show we are still doing things other than look after Guy, here are the steps I made on Saturday down in the bush. The gravel track is my next door neighbours, but to get to the bottom of his steep garden he winds his way down through our section. He is 74 and finds this slope treacherous, (I do too!) so while Guy was sleeping I knocked these up out of timber left over from the deck.

Looking for Breakfast.

Snug as a bug.

Trying to go to bed.

A few folks have asked us where we came up with the name Guy? It is not a family name on either side and far from the top of any recent top 50 names list. It was a boys name we both agreed on very early. We came up with lots more but none really appealed, we kept coming back to Guy. One of the criteria for a boys name was that it should be short and 'direct'. In effect it should be easy to call out in a busy pub, and 'Sebastian' , one of Katrina's early favourites, just failed that test. Mind you my earlier suggestion of 'Nathanial' was just about as bad but at least he could've been 'Nathan or Nate' as in "Nate,,mate, get us a speights!" (Yes Tony, it was also inspired by Nathaniel Herreshoff, who I've always thought was a groovy name for an old sea dog.) Katrina and I were both fortunate to know separate 'Guys' during our formative years, both of whom were respected and successful men, so that contributed a lot.

The other thing I like about Guy as a name is it could go either way, (so to speak). In case you thought the pub ordering criteria was a bit stereotypical we also considered what would happen if he decides to become a ballet dancer or alternative playwright. I think in 20 years he could be "Guy Curry Stanton, Scupltor of Coromandel' just as easily as,,, " here come's Big Guy in the corner for another Try!" Actually it's a secret fear of Katrina and I that he will grow into a sports nut, as neither of us can name more than two (current) All Blacks, (Tana just resigned right?) So there would be a certain irony in spending our Saturdays on the sidelines of soggy paddocks and interminable sports bars, but I guess we would do it gladly!

While we are talking names, Douglas was my middle name and my father's middle name and before that it was the name of my Gran's Uncle who was killed in the 1st World War. Thus it has since been the middle name of the eldest son of the eldest son of the eldest son.

Last names were more problematic. I am not a fan of the current fashion for hyphenated names, mostly as I feel it's just 'unsustainable' But Katrina felt very strongly she wanted to Guy to be clearly a descendent of the Currys. Katrina had a point in that the Stanton Clan has spread far and wide (My father was one of 7) while the Currys (with a y) are much fewer. So after considerable thought Guy has two last names, Curry Stanton. I was searching for a precedent for this the other day, when our friend Margaret Vos sent us a beautiful book of poems, "The Favourite Poems of Jacquline Kennedy Onassis" For the same reasons I guess she wanted to take on the name of her 2nd Husband while preserving the link with the Kennedys. If it was good enough for the Mrs Onnassis, it will do us.

There is a symmetry in the Kennedy example too, As I have been asked many times how I got to be 'Jack' short for John (my legal name) Although he never said for sure, my father was a great admirer of John F.Kennedy through the late 60's and I suspect that was on his mind in 1971. More practically I see the 'prefix' Curry coming in handy in future gatherings of the whanau, when it might be handy to be able to call out, "Curry Stantons,, get in the car "

So there you go, now you can look at the pictures... CU Jack

Just a quick note this morning, to say Guy had another check up and is growing fast. Yesterday he was 4.350kg (9.6lbs) which is 690gms or 1.5 lbs in 14 days. It has been a hard two weeks for Katrina with Guy feeding every three hours, but he is starting to stretch that out to four hours during the night. We have also experimented with giving him bottles of breast milk, which gives Katrina a few precious moments to herself.

Thanks to Katie at the Auckland Museum for the very cute shorts and T-shirt. The 6-12months size will be great later this year, or maybe even sooner at the rate he is growing.

Guy went for a hip examination yesterday at the hospital, a routine thing for babies who have been in the breech position with their feet up around their ears. The Doctor was very happy with the movement , but has asked us to come back for an ultrasound scan just to make sure. Seems a bit unneccessary as Guy certainly seems to enjoy full and free movement of his hips. He especially enjoys pants off time when he can stretch out his legs, point his toes and swing them around. Sometimes he reminds me of a little gymnyst warming up to go on the pommel horse, and looks likely to vault off the changing table if left unattended. Other times Guy shows a marked tendancy to lie dead flat on the floor, also looking strangely grown up. I have a photo of that somewhere, but for today here is one of him waving a wiggle with me.

Otherwise no new photos today, Guy has been in a very demanding mood, and we have just been too tired to get the camers out. Hopefully it will pass soon.

Four weeks on the outside now. Guy is very well and continues to delight us with his alert and happy nature, well OK , we're less delighted at 03:00 when he's sure it's time for a play but how can you be cross with this little fellow.

Sadly Granny Miggy is driving back up the country with Emma this morning, at least they'll have a strong southerly to speed them north. Katrina and Jack are getting ready for another week, work for Jack and even more work for Katrina, keeping Guy fed and happy. Last night he was persuaded to sleep for 4 and bit hours, after a restless grumpy few hours between 8pm and 10pm. Jack's Cousin Anna (in green shirt) and Kenneth came for dinner. Kenneth is a computer expert but also an extreme handyman, and helped Jack come up with a plan for replacing the nasty pink painted chipboard bannister with two recycled planks of native timber. This project will happen umm,,, sometime ,, in the future, beyond the next three hours.