4 days old!

Our little darling is now 4 days old, so we must show you some more photos!

He is doing well and enjoying life outside the hospital, it was a shock to me and Bradley how warm it is after our stay in the air condtioned maternity ward. He is feeding alot and appears to have the appetite of his Dad! He is sleeping in bits, this morning he slept for 3 solid hours, a complete joy to me the most sleep I've had since I went into labour.

One more, still at the hospital.



His first ride in the car seat to come home.



Some rare sleeping moments!







We thought we would share this photo with you also, the morning I went into labour Neil went to photograph sunrise, as he thought it would be special to capture the moment the sun rose on his sons first day in the world, I thought my contractions would be going for hours so thought it was a good idea too. The sun didn't come out fully but partially pierced the clouds leaving a nice glow and a moving photograph which we've called 'Bradley's New Day'. Hopefully he will think its special when he is older.

Bradley has arrived!!!!

Bradley Luke Paskin was born at 11.13am on Wednesday 21st February, weighing 8 lb. and 4 oz.



He is a real cutie but I'm sure thats what all new parents say! Everyone he meets is very impressed by his head of hair and his Daddy is a bit jealous!!!



Everything went well, even though the birth plan went out the window; Bradley hadn't read the text books about first labours lasting days. My contractions started in the early hours, but Neil still went to work (and photographed a jetty on the way) as we thought it might be a while but he only got an hours painting done before he got the call to come home quickly! We went straight to hospital as the contractions were coming thick and fast, after 3 hours of heavy breathing, pulling Neil's t-shirt, digging nails in and a lot of grunting, he was delivered (amazingly with no pain relief).
Within the first second he let out a huge cry, showing off his lung power!


We are so delighted with him and only 2 days old he has already brought us so much joy!

Here's lots of photos of his first 2 days, probably a lot more to come! (remember to click on the photos to enlarge them).









We've just got home from the hospital, we will write more tomorrow but let me know if you want any more details!

Still no pitter patter of tiny feet!

Yes, Bradders is still holding out, although I think it's wishful thinking on our part that a first baby might come early. Still one week till his due date!

Last weekend, Neil and Tanky had to do their duty and help with the gardening, which meant collecting and moving lots of palm fronds ready for burning.



Updates for the week, are the biggest spider sighting, so far. I carefully tip toed into the garage to get something while joking with my Dad about spiders to be greeted by a huntsman about 5 inches in diameter, you could hear the scream from miles around. Neil was much braver and after photographing it, he caught it and put it outside(as the garage is attached to the house with a spider size gap under the ajoining door, I insisted it should be removed!)



Last weekend, I was very ambtious and managed another sunrise again, we headed south to Military jetty, as we didn't actually see the sun rise there last time. Neil got a couple of lovely shots but the trouble with Queensland is everybody gets up early which meant even at 4.30am there were people on the jetty which stoppped him getting many shots.





We took some more coastal shots at Shelly Beach which is just north before calling it a day, all that hard work and it was only 6am!





We have offically hit the rainy season with a bang, not that we have a proper rainy season like North Qld. But for a whole week it has hardly stopped raining! Living in a country with tin roofs and torrential rain make for a very noisy combination especially when it rains through the night! So far this week we've had 7 inches of rain, the swimming pool is overflowing!

On Wednesday, there was a break in the rainfall and the sun made an apperance so we headed down to the Maroochy River which is about 15 minute drive to photograph the fishing jetties, cool photos but not very romantic as I had heard a rumour it was actually Valentines day!





We have had a quiet weekend, going to some local markets yesterday and out on a scenic drive inland today, we were going to do a gravel forest drive to see if an hour of bumpy roads could start labour but when we got there the track was closed due to rain, back to the drawing board!

When we got back Neil took some shots around the garden of the exotic plants and a heavily pregnant women lurking on the front lawn!







Almost sure there will be baby news next time, don't forget to leave comments on the blog as long as they don't mention the size of my belly!

Lazy weekend

Sorry, no baby news yet. As much as Cath is ready for him, Neil says he should stay in there till 40 weeks! Okay for him to say!

We had a pretty lazy weekend really, Neil is reconstructing his website with his very patient brother, which is a long and time consuming business. We will keep you posted when it's time for the big re launch. So Cath has just been chilling at home.



Sunday afternoon I managed to drag Neil away from his Mac for an hour or so to go and see the animals at The Big Pineapple. We took advantage of our 'friends of The Big Pineapple' membership so got in free. It was good fun as Waldorf the wombat was out and about, last time he was no where to be seen. Wombats really are the cutest animals!



The Koalas, Emus and Roos where on good form too.







We spent a bit more time in the farm area watching a very funny donkey chase a dog around its enclosure, a real character; Neil wants a pet donkey for the garden now! He quite liked the pigs too!





We met dingo number 2 who must of been hiding on our last visit, he was busy stalking some of the chickens but with a big metal fence between them, I think the chickens felt pretty safe!



Thats it really for the week, weather has cooled a couple of degrees so life is a little bit easier. My hospital bags are all packed so just waiting for Bradders to make his move.

January Update

We are still here, sorry about the lack of blog entries in the last month. So here is a round up of events for the rest of January.

It was back to the hard slog for Neil, the temperatures are rising, hitting 30 degrees by 7am. Cath struggled with the heat and found the best place to be is in Tanky with his ultra cool air con!

As Cath is growing rapidly at the moment the weekend adventures are getting less and less! But we still managed a few photo shoots this month, firstly heading south along the coast and ending up at Wild horse mountain lookout to yet again photograph the Glass House Mountains at sunset. The sunset didn't quite play ball but got a few 'snaps' by Neil's standards. We took advantage of the nice light while waiting for the sun to set and Neil took some shots of my bump!




The next photo trip was to Cooloolabin Dam , which we have photographed before but were hoping for a better sunset this time. Mother Nature did comply and Neil was fairly pleased with the results. Cath came too, covered head to toe in clothes and boots, as last time we were here we got some nasty mossie bites and saw a snake! So I was taking no chances with shorts and flip flops!





The final photo trip for the month was a sunrise at Golden Beach which is about 35 mins south. Cath too managed to get up at 4am to join in on this one. The Sun forgot to make an appearance however the clouds managed to show up, but Neil made the best of it going for some moody shots at Military jetty. On the way home we went via Kings Beach to take some more moody coastal shots.






Other news for the month, much to Neil's delight we had a whole day crash course of Ante Natal. Learning the ins and outs of child birth including a very graphic video! Just what Neil wanted to do on his day off!!!
Only 3 weeks till Bradley is due, he is so far playing ball and he is in the right position for his exit! We have had an extra scan to check where the placenta is as my UK notes didn't say. It was great to see him again at such an advanced stage, everything looks good and he is definitely a boy!

It has been a good month for Neil's photography, he's been published in two magazines, featuring a 3 page portfolio in 'Photography Monthly' and a front cover + 5 page article about the Lake District in 'Photoworld'. If anybody wants to read the articles please email and we can send you the pdfs. Also a publisher is using one of Neil's images for the front cover of a book on Scottish Castles.

Keep posted for baby news. Hopefully baby photos might be on the next blog entry. Neil will try his best to spread the news and show off some piccies as soon as Bradley arrives.