The Camera equipment update is complete. I've put in over 50 hours of research and effort, and spent a tidy sum of money. It is a long term investment.

I was very mindful of the time I stepped up from a compact camera to a SLR. I was really expecting to see a huge improvement in the photos I took, but I remember being really disappointed with the first film I had developed. Sure there were some good images, but there were also a lot of throw aways. The compact camera took an average photo fairly easily. The SLR took a good photo - but required a little knowledge, effort and experience to do so consistently.

These new lens can take a great photo - Al and I have both been surprised and delighted by how clear and sharp they can be. They just take a little more knowledge, and a few new tricks or processes to do so consistently. There have been plenty of throw aways - but I am really enjoying the learning process, and Jack is a great subject to practise on.

Interestingly though, I think probably the best individual item purchased in this upgrade was in fact the cheapest. That was a flash unit, which has really improved the colour and exposure of the indoor shots. If I had of realised I would have picked up one of those many years ago!

Posted by Doug at 10:11 PM

Here is one of the first photos of Jack with the new flash unit and 24-105mm L series Lens, taken yesterday. The resizing and jpg compression doesn't do it any favours (the chair in particular looks much better in the original photo), but we were really happy with the skin tone. He has rosy cheeks (we suspect the teeth are bothering him again since he is chewing furiously on his fingers at the moment), and he is extremely tired after deciding he did not need an afternoon nap.

We have been rather busy. On last Tuesday and Wednesday Jack was more clingy and required more hugs than usual, a sign he wasn't feeling the best. On Thursday afternoon he started to cough. Two hours later he was making a horrendous grating hacking noise. Al took him to bed early while I did some reading on coughing and babies. There were good signs - he wasn't vomiting, he didn't seem overly concerned, he wasn't struggling for breath, and he was sleeping well. (Much better than his parents anyway - in particular Al. She kept settling him every half hour or so when his coughing would wake him momentarily.)

On Friday Al took him to the doctors. The books said not to give a child anything for a cough without checking with a doctor, and with the weekend coming up we wanted options to make him more comfortable. He had seemed a lot better - but that is normal during the day. He got upset being handled by the doctor, cried, and managed to do a great job demonstrating his barking cough. To our surprise (and a little embarrassment, since we had already pegged it as ok), it was diagnosed as Croup, and a prescription dolled out.

Jack has handled things well. He is not entirely his normal self, has been sleeping longer than usual, and coughing regularly through the night. But he is still playing, being cheeky, and demanding things left, right and centre. Al is doing a great job - but is fraying around the edges. She has also come down sick in the last two days, and is in need of more hugs herself. They both have cut back on their social calendars - and have hermited themselves away for the last few days.

In this same period Jack has added a new word to his collection of sounds. He is saying Nan and Nana all the time. I asked Grandma Q if she had drilled it into him while she was baby-sitting, but she assured me she hadn't. Things are just constantly changing.

Posted by Doug at 10:34 PM

Al sent me an email this morning at work... …

Jack just stood by himself momentarily! He was up holding onto the playpen bars in his downstairs play area. I handed him one shaker and he started shaking it while still hanging on with the other hand. I picked up the second shaker, shook it, and then held it out for him to hit his shaker against. To my surprise he let go of the bar, stood there for a couple of seconds, then grabbed the other shaker out of my hand. With both shakers in hand he simply plopped down on his bottom and happily shaked them! He didn't seem to realise anything special had just happened (while I of course clapped and hurrahed).

Posted by Doug at 9:45 AM

Having croup overshadowed Jack turning 10 months. Thankfully he seems very resilient and got over the worst of it quickly. He still has a bit of a cough that is taking awhile to shake. Unfortunately the croup virus can be passed onto adults in the form or chest infection / cold, which I quickly came down with a couple days after Jack. It has taken me a whole week to recover, with just a little bit of a cough remaining now. This curtailed some of our usual activities last week and had us hibernating at home.

Enjoyed my first mother's day yesterday. The day started well with presents and an early breakfast in bed at around 6am. Jack then gave me a surprise 'present' by going back to sleep until 8am, so I got a sleep-in! We went on a small family excursion to the Botanical Gardens. It was a cold wet day so we all rugged up, and put the rain cover for Jacks pram to good use. Doug enjoyed taking some photos with his new lenses, and I enjoyed the scenery and walk. Jack enjoyed looking around and tapping the inside of his pram cover. We had hot chips for lunch, which Jack enjoyed munching on. The afternoon was spent watching Jack having his normal playtime. I took the opportunity to just sit and enjoy watching him concentrate on his tasks and moving about freely, and taking in the simple pleasure of seeing his delight and happiness in his home environment.

Special occasions like Mother’s Day make you stop and reflect - where we were a year ago (pregnant and anticipating the birth), to where we are today, and where we might be by this time next year. I am so happy to be a mum, and it is nice to stop and appreciate that, and it all it means.

Jack's latest developments:

- As well as emptying containers, Jack is now enjoying putting objects back into containers

- Jack has started waving. He does so enthusiastically to himself in the mirror, and sometimes (but not consistently) to his Dad

- We notice that Jack taps his feet and hands happily to the beat of music that he likes. He also seems to 'sing along' to some songs and nursery rhymes. The music teacher today commented on him doing it, and the childcare centre commented last week that he was singing. He gets a big happy smile on his face when his music class CD is put on (usually at meal times).

- He is starting to move further around on the furniture, so can cover a couple of metres shuffling sideways along the couches. He has momentarily stood without holding anything a few times. He is starting to get the idea of taking a few steps towards his dad when he holds his hands and encourages him to step forward.

- Jack has decided it is more fun climbing in and out of the shower and wandering naked around the bathroom, rather than just playing at the bottom of the shower. Hence I have returned to showering by myself, while Jack plays in his upstairs playpen. (With me listening for any upset sounds.) As a result he has enjoyed the return of more regular baths, and happily crawls about, splashes madly, and keeps standing up around the edges of the spa (with us putting him back down).

Posted by Al at 12:51 PM

Mother’s Day, my mum being down for the week, Jack being in a particularly good mood and doing new things… Lots to mention. Instead I think I’ll go to bed early. I could actually have fallen asleep at work today – kept having to get up and walk around. Lost count of the number of cups of coffee and tea I consumed. Yawning so hard at the moment I'm causing tears to stream down my face. Yes. Sleep. Now. Would. Be. Good.

Posted by Doug at 10:13 PM

There was such a long list of things scheduled over the last week that for self-preservation we had to just concentrate on one thing at a time. We were at the Aquarium for lunch today – a family day function for my work. It was the last thing on our list, and all three of us came home and promptly went to bed for the afternoon. While tired, Jack managed to enjoy the aquarium. He seems to have cottoned on recently to the concept of having his parents point to things of interest, and looking in that direction. Various fish brought grins, looks of surprise and happy astonishment.

Posted by Doug at 5:10 PM

I was thinking this evening how commonplace it has become to miss parts out of TV shows. (I can hear an exasperated Al saying, “Parts – I miss entire shows!”). Life has become full of baby related interruptions.

It started three weeks ago with those chips. Jack then started to feed himself sweet biscuits, then chicken, then toast, and today he moved onto buttered bread. He seems to have gotten over the gag reflex, picked up the idea of ripping and chewing with his gummy mouth, and as a result has opened up his world to a whole new array of foods. As usual with the little champ, he has done this with no fuss, and doesn’t understand why his parents get excited over it.

Both of us are also a little relieved. Now we don’t need to worry about the nutritional effects of raising Jack on only pureed fruit. We also have a new way of keeping Jack quiet while we eat our meals!

Posted by Doug at 7:20 PM

Jack had his induction hour at the new childcare centre today. While he cried at drop off and pick up, he appeared to have handled it ok. This centre is rather professionally run, from the programs to the building, and even the uniforms of the staff. As a consequence it has initially felt less welcoming. The staff members are friendly – it is just that the place seems too neat and organised to be the residence of babies.

I was going over the enrolment form this evening, and even that was a little off-putting. Instead of one change of clothes, they ask for three. You provide your own nappies, although they only ask for four. If you use more, they charge $1 a nappy. (I’ll just throw more in.) If your child is absent you will be charged for the day. Don’t bring your child if they are sick – but you will be charged for the day anyway. Give two weeks notice if your child will be away on a holiday – but you will be charged for the days anyway. While this is standard and normal, it might have been simpler to state once you enrol your child for any day, they will be charged for that day regardless of their attendance.

Al seems to have handled this change better; I seemed to have handled it worse. At the back of my mind I have that nagging and wearing parental bugbear thought – “Gee, I hope we have done the right thing.” I know we most likely have, I just wish the hard bits at the start were already over and done with.

Posted by Doug at 10:42 PM

Another e-mail from Al...

Swimming went really well. He didn't cry when doing the mat activity, so they put his eyes under the water today. When he crawled on the Mat he actually gave big cheeky grins and stopped to tap along the way. Best effort yet :)

...

Lately I have been getting out of bed just after 5:00am. Jack has taken to sitting up groggily and watching as I walk around the room in the semi dark. Occasionally he makes little hello noises; occasionally he will give me a tired wave. Once I disappear into the bathroom he nestles back besides his mum and goes back to sleep.

This morning after I came out of the bathroom Jack stood up in bed (leaning on his mum) to loudly say hello and wave at me. He won’t remember the things he does at this age, but Jack does a perfect job showing love and affection to his parents.

Posted by Doug at 9:31 PM

It has been another hectic few weeks. In addition to his normal activities, the last few weeks have included:

- Seeing a train for the first time. He looked a bit startled at the sound and sight of it, but then enthusiastically waved to it from the platform

- Went to a play centre with friends Damon, Dominic and Isabel. The Mums also enjoyed the chance to catch up, and have decided to do this as a regular monthly activity.

- Had baby Alyssa come to play. When she was looking at his books he kept stealing them away from her!

- Had cousins Jorja and Thomas come to play, along with Uncle Mal, Auntie Sarah, and Grandma and Grandpa Q. They had a good play session, Jack particularly enjoying Jorja’s puppet show. It was good to see Thomas taking some of this early steps, and seeing the two of them playing side by side.

- Grandma C came to stay for a week. She enjoyed watching Jack's swimming lesson and playgroup, and having some extra bonding time with him (which also helped me get some extra work done).

- Jack has started to enjoy hiding and getting into small spaces - under our bed, under my desk, under the kitchen table, or peeking out of his soft foam box - and giving us his cheeky smile as he does so!

On a more significant note Jack started at his new childcare. He had his induction last week (being left for 1 hr), spent 2 hours there yesterday, and is currently there for a little over 2 hours today. He has cried each time he is dropped off and picked up, but they reported he settled within a few minutes and has spent the time interestedly looking at the other kids, and playing with a bead frame and other toys. He seems to understand the concept from his Thursday Childcare, and adapted far quicker. Of course it still tugs at my heartstrings and makes me feel horrible each time I leave him crying and looking distressed.

We will continue with him placed there a few hours a day for Monday and Tuesdays leading up to when I am in the office more from July. I am currently finalising my work arrangements with my manager to confirm how many days I am in the Office vs. home, and therefore what activities I can continue with Jack.

Even with just the few extra hours free I have been able to get some clothes and other shopping done, some home tasks, as well as extra work done. It will make life slightly less chaotic and more manageable for me over the next month, although I feel a bit guilty when he is there and I am at home. I keep reminding myself of the longer-term benefits, and hope that they make up for the pain of adjusting for both of us in the shorter term. I have adjusted much more quickly this time. Knowing he has been largely happy on this Thursday placement the last few weeks (although only sleeping in 15-20 min bursts) has made me feel more comfortable. I am glad to get him accepted into this second childcare place after such a long wait. I am feeling resigned to the fact that he would be spending more time in childcare and less time with me, although of course I have not been wanting the day to arrive.

Posted by Al at 2:59 PM