the horror the horror
http://www.mauiwindcam.com/ropetree/

A day of housework and socialising!
Steve, Helen's ex-pat brother is over from Perth and he popped round. Really nice to see him and his young lady Corrie - the joy of being incredibly proud and showing off can never be beaten!
My Dad and Marion came by. He's as proud as I can remember. His excitment is palpable and he looks fit to burst. I got a photo developed in 10x8 for his frame (the frame originally had Helen and I at our wedding which latterly usurped by Mitsie and Pete and now by Henry!) which sat on his stand all weekend while he bored people with tales of being a Grandad. We've insisted that Marion is Grandma. While she's not my mum, she is very close to us now, and it will make much more sense to Henry rather than try and work through the complexities of adult relationships whilst he's a kid. But she seems stoked as well.

I've had a day of baby fluid being unleashed upon me. Henry has systematically peed, shat, puked and sneezed all over me - now, usually I wouldn't have a dot of this type of behaviour but somehow, when you become a father this all seems pretty reasonable. It's a swift and quite incredible transformation!

It seems like ages since I posted; it is an odd thing bloggin. I was chatting to Nathaniel about it and I was really enthused about my blog but unsure of my motives for doing it - strange really, but seem to have been mentally blocked! No change there i guess you'd say. :-)
This weekend was rather lovely, the weather was decent, Henry was pretty well behaved and I got to spend more quality time with the missus. Friday was spent mostly in bed with the boy. Apparently skin on skin contact is the best way to help bond with the baby, although I struggled to bond with a wee man who simply pulled my chest hair out and dribbled Helen's milk on me - that's just way too wierd.
He's putting on weight brilliantly. By Friday he'd put on 5oz since birth, which was great since usually babies lose weight through passing merconium - the famous first black dump. This is the hair, wax and "stuff" that babies ingest inutero and it weighs quite a lot!!! That didn't stop the mighty Henry though, and today when he was weighed he was 6lbs 1 oz which means he's pie meating ~Horton all right.±
I even managed to squeeze in half a game of rugby on Saturday!!!! Life is sweet!!!!!! I even neglected to mention that I had a cold of mammoth proportions. 12 days of baby Henry sneezing into my face whilst being winded. Hospitals are filthy places...

Looks like my angel has left and been replaced by my real son, who unless has a bottle in his mouth is screaming blue murder or passed out! Now comes the tactical parenting. I plan to waked Satan, sorry I mean Henry around midnight (which these days means staying up late) and feeding him tons of milk, before keeping my fingers crossed that he sleeps till maybe 5 or ideally 6.... watch this space

Well so far so good - the sleeplesss nights are not so bad - he needs feeding last thing and usually has a little feed about 5 hours later - so providing you can get his feed in around midnight, you have a full five hour stretch, in fact this morning was six! Not ideal when you've been used to 8 hours a night but nonetheless a good start!
He is so beautiful it is silly! He just glugs his milk now, and has gone from 100ml a day on Saturday to ripping through 450ml yesterday - it won't be long till he's a bloater too! :-) The midwife came yesterday and it looks like she screwed up - she should have sent Helen for a scan to check on his size but failed to pick up on the various factors- I get the impression we were luck to have got a decisive SHO in hospital or this blog could have been significantly more melancholy!
The level of people wanting to come and see him is ridiculous! I accept that family want to see him and that friends ARE keen to get involved but some (mostly family) seem to forget that we're knackered! They come over en masse and then sit tight for hours! and wait for a cuppa! At one point I chose shitty nappies over shitty small talk. Hopefully we've addressed this and it won't happen too much!
Being a faather is the best thing ever by the way, and clearly my son is the best boy in the world ... ever. I just get the squishiest feeling! Night before last, I was doing the night shift so yesterday Helen was more than accomodating in letting me go windsurfing! Sadly I sailed like an idiot since I could not concentrate on the job in hand, but simply couldn't stop thinking about my lovely son - ought to avoid driving, using heavy machinery etc!

we're home - and it's wonderful! We had a feed last night at 1.30am and then he slept through till 7am!!!!! This fatherhood thing is a breeze!
It was a terrible struggle getting him out of hospital, the rules kept changing and at one point we were going to have to kill everyone! Nwo he's back everything seems less traumatic and pretty easy - although I didn't give birth to him in fairness!!!

Well he's here! Delivered by CAESEREAN section at 09.39 14th September 06 weighing 5lbs 5oz, or 2.4kg Henry Horton arrived into this world. Much to my surprise, Alex was right, Thunder and Lightening hearlded his arrival after the most traumatic emotional and terrifying night of my life.
My feet haven't touched the ground so this is just a quick note to say he's well but small and needs to beef up a bit - one wonders if there's a skinny couple somewhere with a fat baby wondering what deal the stork had dealt them! Helen is recovering well and once he's stabilised his blood sugar, and temperature and also started feeding a little more he'll be coming home!
I'm a Daddy now!

they say that kids change your perspective, i just hope it affects my photography positively

what a fraught day! all morning and a chunk of the afternoon at the hospital where they decided that Helen had blood pressure that was too high and a couple of other bits and bobs that suggested that inducing labour is the way forward. That means a pessiary of chemicals that cause the body to go into labour automatically. H will go in tomorrow all being well at 7, i'll have to go home and wait for the call that says green light go go go!
The problem is... it could take up to 3 days and be a little painful, for Helen rather then me!
I took the dog for a walk and had a beer with my dad; he handed the Horton baton over to me. One last beer as just Father and son before I became Dad and he Grandad. He said he was proud. I cried!
I wish my mum could see this happening to us and share in our happiness.
So onwards and up wards........

I've just watched another 9/11 documentary, and began to think of all the people I know, and have known. It seems that as one grows older, one grows apart from old friends, colleagues and family. I have people i know well, like, and on the whole enjoy time wiith that I'll never see again for one reason and another; distance, apathy and simply growing apart to name but a few.

It makes me feel quite sad so maybe i'll leave that Scotch alone and go to bed!

Another day of waiying and so the worry starts to set in! We made another visit to the hospital and Helen spent 45 minutes attached to a monitor - the ambiguity is the issue here. In medicine there are no definites, so everything becomes a shade of grey. Which in turn dilutes all the reassurance medical staff offer. We head back again tomorrow morning to see what's what.

It looks as if we'll only have a week to waiit either way as they plan to induce by the 12th day overdue. 5 down and 7 to go as the old adage a watched kettle never boils seems increasingly apt.

Another day of waiying and so the worry starts to set in! We made another visit to the hospital and Helen spent 45 minutes attached to a monitor - the ambiguity is the issue here. In medicine there are no definites, so everything becomes a shade of grey. Which in turn dilutes all the reassurance medical staff offer. We head back again tomorrow morning to see what's what.

It looks as if we'll only have a week to waiit either way as they plan to induce by the 12th day overdue. 5 down and 7 to go as the old adage a watched kettle never boils seems increasingly apt.

Another day of waiying and so the worry starts to set in! We made another visit to the hospital and Helen spent 45 minutes attached to a monitor - the ambiguity is the issue here. In medicine there are no definites, so everything becomes a shade of grey. Which in turn dilutes all the reassurance medical staff offer. We head back again tomorrow morning to see what's what.

It looks as if we'll only have a week to waiit either way as they plan to induce by the 12th day overdue. 5 down and 7 to go as the old adage a watched kettle never boils seems increasingly apt.

We spent the day cruising around having realised that last night's fun and games were mini contraction and a forerunner to the real deal and Helen and Gareth would become Mum and Dad pretty soon. It was a beautiful day so we began with a walk on the beach with the dogs, a hearty breakfast, followed by some housework (hanging up the giant Nemo I bought whilst hypnotised by the shiny things in the disney shop) and a couple of hours cruising in Charlie our Beetle. I meant to take some pictures of her outside but forgot my camera - the attached are just in the garage but she's very cool.

We both think that the birth will be this week. Last night was pretty scary but one great thing was how calm we both were - maybe like the swan analogy but above the water we were cool!! Hopefully this week will see Henry born and the pair of us remain calm........yeah right!!

you know when the internet has taken over your life when she says I think I'm in Labour and you start wondering whether you should blog it immediately!!!

Well that was arelief - we discovered that Helen is now within the normal blood pressure range and baby is fine! It was just so worrying for virtually no apparent reason!

Suffice to say we are all good and about to tick another day off the calendar. Apparently, most babies are born 11 days after they are due so in that respect statisticvall he should be born next Sunday!!!!

In the words of the late great Steve Irwin - CRIKEY!!!

now one day late - only 13 to go max! it's quite stressfull really, we have to go to hospital tomorrow since H's blood pressure is up and they take no chances these days - the waiting has become ridiculously emotional, and the next person to ask either "Have you had it yet?" or "when you going to 'ave it" Will be sworn at copiously


on the plus side i'm enjoying the macro lens!

Oh and I have twoi new lenses courtesy of ebay!

A 20mm-40mm 2.8f EX Sigma lens AND a 105mm 2.8f EX Macro lens - both a quite sweet!

so just one day before Henry is due to arrive and the silence is deafening!!! Helen is desperate for him to arrive as she's fed up now and frankly I CAN'T BLAME HER!
It's really tough now since he's cooked she's ready and no amount of Bombay bad boy - http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_1909392.html?menu= can save us.

I think it may be getting to the neuro side of things - Helen asked me a bit earlier whether i could "do" a disabled person if i was a prostitute. go figure.......

I nice weekend - no baby yet but a 50-nil win at RUGBY, as well as a joint man of the match award made for a good day yesterday and today was just awesome windusrfing.
Stayed local in an effort to stay close to Mrs G who is three days away from dropping. As part of the deal I could only sail for three hours without causing major upset (Pregnant women shouldn't be upset. It hurts and I have the bruises to prove it)
However I had my best sail of the year by some distance - 5.2 and 85 litre Tabou followed by *board Kombat wave. Stayed re;atively clear of jumps since my shoulder and back were still sore from playing rugby the day before. The waves were head to logo at times, and the wind was perfect cross shore. I was rigged for the inside so gybes were close to the ski bouys and then I could ride waves right into the shore with no fear of stalling. I'm not exaggerating when I say that I took 5-6 turns on some waves - not bad for an 17 stoner!!!!! [:s]
I easily had the best riding I have ever had in sHoreham, not as scary as Hove but nevertheless pretty amazing. I'm still glowing now and going through one particular lip smack o ver and over again.
As BB said not going clew first makes a big difference and today was sweet. No longshore drift, not tooooo crowded and sunny - If Snow Patrol were at Hove, Lou Reed was at Shoreham, it's just a perfect day.........

Well it's the first Rugby match of the year today! It's absurd, but i always dread it like the dentist, but this year especially since I HAVE to sacrifice an epic weekend windsurfing for the match!!

As social sec I agreed to organise a BBQ and get some beer, which is proving to be a bit of a mare since it's due to piss down all day, and frankly, I don't want to be there. That aside it'll no doubt be great.........