Wonderful William!

Will continues to delight and develop beyond our expectations!

Here he is with his girlfriend - born two days before Will...

William weigh's a shade under 6kg and showers us with smiles - you can see for yourself here



Whilst Will takes up a lot of our time, we have been so lucky (so far!), he even slept until gone 6am this morning!

Living the dream,

CBW(and Bobby!)

Family Fun!

We have been fortunate enough to have both sets of Grandparents jet in from different continents to share our gorgeous William with us! The Whitakers arrived two weeks after Will was born, and enjoyed a mostly wet and windy 3 weeks (its not like that very often - honest!).

Will's first West Ham strip arrived in time for him to enjoy his first relegation experience - he has been randomly crying ever since!

The Whitaker's and Dupont's overlapped by a couple of days, which enabled us to be together for the only time other than our wedding. We had an excellent time, and managed to enjoy a glass of wine or two to celebrate! Bobby made sure we all had a full glass!

William soon worked out how to smile and regularly puts relegation behind him for a few moments, in order to make hearts melt!

We took both sets of Grandparents to the Marlborough Sounds - my favourite place in the whole world - yes, even more than Southwold I'm afraid (that's more about the people isn't it?!). We enjoyed walks, mussels and oysters (me mostly!) and gorgeous skies like this:

And this - do you see why I love it so much?!

We made advantage of the presence of Grandparent's and had an informal naming ceremony for young William. Bernie chose a lovely wooded area with giant Redwood trees dominating the area surrounding a quiet clearing. We each said a few words and even sang a song for the little man!

A few tears were shed - relegation still fresh on our minds!


William is growing really well. We have a Maori-focussed parenting group who work with us to monitor William and give us advice now the midwife's responsibility has finished. He was measured and weighed and finds himself in the 75th centile for weight and 91st centile for height. His legs in particular are growing really strong and he can push himself along the floor already using just these powerhouses! He held up his head (breifly of course) from just a few days old and is getting stronger by the day.

Bernie is feeding him home-made milk only still and doing a fantastic job. It amazes me that every molecule of his body has been provided by her... sorry, I'm a geeky science teacher!

Smiles are the best part of every day and I cant wait to return home for a few after a busy day at school. The Whitakers enjoyed a few, but the Duponts were spoilt to his first mini laugh on their final night here - I think I'll explode when he first talks!

Will has been lucky enough to have two holidays in his first 6 weeks of life. We cannot wait to be able to take him to more and more fantastic places here - particularly when the weather warms up and we can throw him in the sea!

So farewell from sunny Nelson (yes, the sun has returned!), we are so incredibly grateful for the endless thoughts, presents and cards we recieved from so many people. Will's room (now looking even cooler!) is packed full of clothes, toys and love - let the smiles roll on!!

Billericay!

Thanks to (great?!) uncle Michael Whitaker for pointing out that William's name, when abbreviated might be mistaken for the Essex capital of Chav! Will Ariki = Bill Ariki = Billaricay...

Our young Kiwi lad is doing so well. He eats and sleeps really well and is being more and more active each day. His cheeks are filling out and we're looking forward to his next weighing - on Tuesday (with Grandma and Grandpa Whitaker present!). I'll eat my own face if he hasn't put on weight! Will has been pretty good to his mother and only requires a couple of feeds most nights - I do a bit of winding and settling down, but its hard to do much more without a pair of large breasts!

I get to have quite a bit of tummy time with my lad. We took him to a cranio sacral expert who specialises with children's physiology. He released a lot of tension in Will's neck which means that he has become incredibly floppy! Early indications were that he could hold his head up for long stints when lying down... this has now reduced and I'm sure the poor boy feels much more comfortable for it!

William doesn't cry much - only when he needs food or winding really. He is looking around the room much more and pulls all sorts of faces - building his muscles up for real smiles soon hopefully!
Bernie is continuing to do a fantastic job, with her ever-present sweet smile! We have had a builder in over the past few days who has woken us each morning by knocking down part of our wooden walled house! Amazingly, Bernie has taken all of this in her stride and hasn't been phased by it at all. Will has also slept through the cacophony and the front of our house is now waterproof which is quite nice! We don't get a lot of rain, but it does help!

Today we are taking William into Nelson for the first time - coffee shops and knick-knack stores out number the larger chain stores, we hope that doesn't change over the years. I've been called up to the first team for this weekends fixtures - and they're sticking me up front - desperate times for Metro FC! One of my teammates is having a bad taste fancy dress party tonight - he also has a young baby so Will is going to his first fancy dress party aged just 12 days old! I promise to drink all the alcohol so Bernie and William do not get poisoned!

I'm off to get ready for our jolly into town. Many thanks for all of the cards, flowers, gifts and well wishes from so many of you - particularly those whom we moved so far away from! Our love and best wishes to you all - we simply couldn't be any happier!

CBW! xxx

This has got to be my favourite picture EVER! Will spends pretty much all of his time on the breast or sleeping - that's my boy! I have joined a football team - our pitch is 100 meters from our front gate! Rain on the weekend made for a bit of a mud-bath though! I scored and we won so happy days all around!I then managed to enjoy my first shower with my son - what an awesome experience!

In other news; We have planted various citrus, fig and plum trees, but there were already some healthy fruit trees in our garden when we moved in. The most successful are the Feijoa trees, which are ripe at the moment. I'd never heard of this bizarre fruit before coming to NZ and must admit that my first impression was that NZ'ers were a crazy bunch for loving this tangy, sweet-and-sour fruit, but Bernie and I have come to really love them too, which is fortunate, considering we have kilos and kilos ripening as I type. They are a similar size to a kiwi fruit, and you eat all, but the rind... you'll have to visit in order to try... like our parents will oh-so-soon!

We have had a few visitors and some lovely gifts from people - Will has a bigger wardrobe than Bernie and I put together, but to be fair, we don't shit ourselves quite as often as he does!

William Ariki Whitaker

Ariki is a Maori name for: a paramount chief, high chief, chieftan, lord, leader, aristocrat, first born in a high-ranking family - qualities of a leader and is concerned with the integrity and prosperity of the land its treasures and people.

We chose this as a middle name as we want our Son to have an attachment to his birth place, and also we want to heap expectation that he will one day rule the land! Joking aside, it's a strong name which will hopefully make him more accepted by his peers in the area... that last bit was in jest too...

You cant quite see it, but he regularly sleeps like this with his hands clasped like a preaching minister! His doting mother is an absolute star:Will, like most babies, cries when having his clothes taken off, but immediately freezes when immersed in water - as if back in the womb. And stays like that for some time!

And on and on and on...

Ain't he a sweetie?!

Bobby is Will's big brother or guardian, and intently follows and watches him cry, feed and sleep. Bernie or I are always nearby, but Bobby really doesn't seem put out by Will - he just seems pleased for the extra company!

So as you can see, Will is sleeping well, but more importantly, he is feeding really well and has noticeably filled out already. Bernie is continuing to be an absolute legend and her aches and pains are subsiding without pain relief or antibiotics - I have sooo much respect to all women who go through that!!

We are yet to move onto the reusable Eco nappies, but have already produced a lot of rubbish from his nappy changes - so it wont be long. We have a lot of earthy / hippyish friends here with babies who have suggested some good natural products too, like almond oil as a moisturiser for his skin and sheepskins for his car seat and bed. He passed his hearing test with flying colours yesterday and we just pray that he keeps so happy and healthy... not that we know he's happy yet - facial expressions are more reminiscent of somebody trying to adjust their glasses without using their hands... amusing for us!

I managed to take most of the last week of the school term off, and now have a further 2 weeks with my beautiful wife and son - if only life could stay like this! Will only woke us once last night, twice the night before and didn't stay awake for long - I hope this honeymoon period keeps on rolling merrily along!

It's been great chatting to lots of you on Skype - it certainly bridges the gap and to think that Bernie's Brother in NZ has seen just as much of Will as family in South Africa and England, it goes a long way to bridging the gap we put between us!

It's 9:30am and back off to bed for more baby time!

Living the dream,

CBW xxx

Introducing William Whitaker!!

This is literally seconds after William was born. At 8:38pm NZ time, 11 days early and already weighing 8lb 13oz / 4kg. The home birth plan was going fine until the head stopped passing through the cervix (he has a big head like his nephew Ben!) and after many hours of pushing, a talented man and his salad servers pulled our new favourite toy into the world!

We chose his name just after we found out Bernie was pregnant, but spent the next 8.5 months thinking of girls' names. That's probably the cause of all of our dreams which featured girls, not boys... we were both genuinely surprised when he came out instead of she (or hermaphorodite thank feck!) That's my boy - he's done a lot of suckling this past 48 hours!

Back at home aged approximately 24 hours after birth, Will fell asleep on my chest - so heavenly! God, this fatherhood thing makes you soppy!

He certainly sleeps a lot too!

Sadly, I had to go to work today and missed his first bath - he loved the water apparently:

His umbilical chord is set to fall off soon...

Bernie has amazing strength and and stamina and has bounced back in no time at all - she honestly looks awesome! Her loving nature is already being put to excellent use and we're simply buzzing at all of the wonderful things we'll be able to do with this wee lad as he grows up... we're already planning our first small holiday away when my parents join us in less than two weeks... no hiking or kayaking yet though I promise!

Many thanks for all of the well wishes in emails, cards and texts. We have not spent much time replying to you all so please don't be offended!

Time to play with my new boy! Speak soon,

Love from CB&W!x x x

B is for Beautiful, B is for Bernie!

Apologies for the long absence of news from Nelson. Whilst Britain continues to thaw, we are still enjoying one of the best summers in living memory of Nelson's oldest and hardest to please residents.

The most important and exciting news is that Bernie is doing fantastically well. She and baby have been growing consistently, so much so that two weeks ago (aged 34 weeks) baby was an estimated 7 and a half pounds, which even made the radiologist wince and squirm in her chair!

Nevertheless, Bernie is her typically active and full-of-beans self and it is still a battle to get her to sit / lie down. Baby is equally active and causes Bernie to make regular "oooh's" and aaah's" as it flexes his/her muscles inside. I took this picture this very day - doesn't she look awesome?!?
Bernie recently had a Baby Shower (the name just freaks me out a bit and fortunately I didn't have to attend!), which she really enjoyed. We're fortunate enough to have a large circle of friends, mostly through school who are or have recently gone through child birth and we have managed to talk about little else for what seems like years! I celebrated in a more manly way - with a pint (or two!) of my fine home brew! My Mexican cerveca here enjoyed in an Adnams glass... very refreshing after a long bike ride!

We have managed to borrow a lot of baby gear from friends and family (mostly Paul and Shirley!) and pretty much everything bought has come from tradme (like ebay) including the change table, push chair, chest of drawers etc for a total of not very much... Also, it sounds as though our parents will be testing their baggage limit to the max when they fly here soon, whilst only bringing only one change of underwear for the entire month!

Bernie's rocking chair ($25 from a recycle centre!) is going to hide most of this part of the nursery, but I thought it best to start my artistic exploits here - hopefully my skills will improve... I last painted something almost twenty years ago... and yes, that is grey hair... thanks Dad!

The fish is a carving I can take no credit for, but the other creatures are just passable I think!

Although we've got a child on the way, we already have a beloved companion - Bobby. He has really taken to me and often pushes past Bernie to greet me when we return from work... I don't know why as its usually Bernie who feeds him! It might have something to do with the fact that we both love running around like headless chickens and play fighting... he is unbelievably affectionate for a dog though... he often falls asleep like that and then twitches his paws and barks quietly as he dreams of chasing balls!

I'm trying to toughen up his image though - a Harley Davidson bandanna has been donned, but he doesn't like looking at the camera for some reason... he smiles a lot!

Despite only having my bee hive for a few months, they have already spoilt me with 12 kilos of beautiful, golden honey. I filled 30 jars of various sizes for gifts and personal use. We've been using it in cooking from stewed apples to curry! I'm now in the pest control phase of bee ownership, with varroa and other diseases which attempt to decimate bee colonies. Everybody keeps telling me over and over again how I will not have time for anything other than work and baby related stuff once he/she is born. Nevertheless, I've joined a football team who play within 50m of our house and hope to be able to keep the bees, garden and the odd bit of biking going over the next few months... only time will tell!

Bernie has spent many an hour making some awesome curtains for the nursery. I cannot imagine the long process involved in making all the pleating and getting them looking so neat, but Bernie has done an awesome job. They look a bit garish in the picture, but they really suit the sea/sky theme of the nursery:

We're now 31 days from due date, but we're both praying for an earlier birth - not just so I get time off before the school holiday's, but it would be ace for us to have a little getting-to-know-each-other time before our beloved family arrives, and I don't want Bernie to have to squeeze out a ten pound beast!

We're still planning for a home birth and birth pool will hopefully be used as and when Bernie feels like one... we've got to get this new triathlete in training as early as possible to maximise training for... only joking, I just want something comfortable to lie in whilst Bernie gets all the attention!

Love and best wishes from Chris, Bernie, Bobby and Bump!