1

RC is super active and my back is so stiff
Mark's wrist has RSI and has been giving him grief for weeks, he's trying to bandage it and favour it so it can heal and he can be strong enough to hold RC easier when he pops out.

Tim's Birthday
TJ's due date
Tim spends all day trying to convince TJ to come out and have a combined birthday

2

40 week appointment at the Family Birth Centre

Tim's spends the morning trying to push against the top of Amanda;s belly hoping it'd convince TJ to come out the bottom

3

I feel RC's head scrunching into lower parts of me than before
I am so stiff and sore

Granny Darrell really thinks TJ will pop today - to no avail

4

RC very active in the evening / night
I am beginning to get sick and am still really stiff and sore
Mark finally feels ready workwise for RC to pop out

Tim starts milk truck driving from 3am - 11am to make quick bucks (delivering to supermarkets)

5

I wake up sick
RC's due date

Amanda really feels TJ will pop out today

6

I'm feeling quite sick and spend the day at home pottering in my craft room
RC is very active and giving me sore cramps in the evening

Amanda's in good spirits, worried about being induced/caesared this coming week
Tim's finding his job pretty cruisy

7

Still sick and I sleep all day
Mark's wrist is less sore now

Amanda has cramps all day

8

I had horrible contractions this morning from about 6am, then nothing for a number of hours, then they became more regular from 2pm. Mum came after work to help distract me, and then we went into the Birth Centre at about 8.30pm.

Amanda's water broke 3am NSW time. She had a long hard labour, and eventually 9 pound TJ had to be ceasared at about 8pm on 8 August 2005, weighing 9 pounds & measuring 57cm.
Tim takes TJ to the nursery while Amanda's being stitched up, and cries with amazement.

9

After a long labour in the spa and on mats on the floor, I gave birth on a birthing stool at 9.25am. Granny Darrell arrived about 15 minutes before Julia's entry into the world, and bravely witnessed her debut. She weighed on at 3370grams, or about 7.4 pounds with a length of 50cm.
Granny Darrell held her and then went off to work. Later on, Grandpa Paul & Granny Colleen Langlois came to visit, and then great aunt Cass, Aunty Reeze, Nats & second cousin Bella. Grandpa PG & uncle Bill popped in for short visit after their respective long days at work and uni.

10

Our new family leaves the Birth Centre before lunch for our first day at home.
Uncle Geoff visits & then Great Grandpa Big Bob.

11

Julia weighs 200g less and is feeding well after a sore start on Tuesday.
Elise Berenger visits

Amanda's feeding much better & is trying to fatten TJ up as he's lost almost 1 pound since birth.

12

Granny Darrell pops in after work, then Scott, Nicole & Monica visit in the evening

Amanda & TJ come home from hospital.
Tim has been working nights all week, and then showering at the local caravan park, spending as much of the day with TJ & Amanda in hospital & then driving the 50km home to sleep before doing it all again.

13

Last visit from Midwives, Julia weighs only 20g less than her birth weight.
Lunch at Granny Darrell's and Julia is introduced to Bob & Sue, Great Granny Tass & Monica. Cass, Isabella and Great Grandpa Big Bob see her for the second time.

TJ has hiccups along with Julia across the phone line

14

First Bath with mum at Granny Darrell's
Feeding Frenzy

15

Mark's 24th birthday - shame I was grumpy & upset, so he didn't have a nice birthday
Bruce, Scott, Nicole & Brendan pop by for nibblies to celebreate Mark's birthday and present us with a huge hamper for Julia's birth, from Sean & Mina too.
Julia slept soundly all evening for abour 4 hours after her bath.

TJ is feeding a heap.
Tim's having fun with TJ managing to wee in his own face during changes

16

Julia goes for her first outing in her pram in the freezing cold as we had to walk down to the Waterloo flat to clean it between tenants.
Julia doesn't want to be out done & sprays Mark' chest magnificently during a change.

Tim does his first Module Tec job for Channel 7

17

The Health Nurse visited & weighed Julia - 3570 (200g heavier than her birth weight)
Visit from Ed's Sue & Josh

TJ's doctor's appointment - he's put on a pound.

18

Julia's first shopping expedition with Godparents Brendan & Bronwynne Grieve

19

Finally managed hand and feet prints (during her bath and got ink everywhere)

20

My 24th birthday - a lovely lunch at Granny Darrell's & Grandpa PG's
Julia's first sleep over at Granny Darrell's & Grandpa PG's
Julia watches rugby with Grandpa

21

Our birthday breakfast at Granny Colleen & Grandpa Paul's
Julia scrapbooks with Granny while mum sleeps and dad and grandpa play on the computer.
A much happier bath with mum & dad

22

Lots of washing after our weekend at grandparents
Julia is becoming more responsive & waking for longer periods each day, amuzing us with many funny expressions.
She's learnt to latch really well, even if the first suck is painful, she's usualy righted my nipple in her mouth by the second suck.

Tim is getting his milk run timing down tightly but today ran out of petrol in his truck halfway between the Gold Coast and a little country town 50km away.
TJ goes for his first walk.
Our first photos of TJ finally arrive!

23

She's been waking up pretty much every 3-4 hours now for a while except for today!
Today she has slept for about 1 hour between 10.30am & now (8pm) - she keeps pooing & wakes during the changing, or wakes herself and is hungry - ALL THE TIME - I have been sucked dry - hopefully another growth spurt.

24

She slept most of the day
She's learnt when a she gets a finger shoved in her mouth instead of a boob, and pulls a horrible face before darting her tongue against your finger to spit it out.
Tumble drier has died!

25

She sleeps most of the day

Tim has a new proposal for sound proof rooms for Channel 7 which is keeping him busy

26

She does the most spectacularly projectile poo over me and the floor about a metre from her change table.
She's up all day today as well.

Amanda's mum arrived from country Victoria - her first trip on a plane, and to a city, to see her newest grandchild

27

What do you know - up all day
We go on an adventure to Teresa's for a Nutrimetics Chocolate Party
When she wakes, she stretches out her arms (if they've worked themselves free and does ballet moves)
On waking or often when burping, she makes this angular 'S' shape, bringing her legs to a sitting position and arching her back with her head thrown back, and her face scruched but eyes open and eyebrows raised

TJ's first adventure to the big markets with Tim, Amanda & Granny.
Amanda's mum rides up to Brisbane with her nose glued to the window taking in the sea for the first time.

28

Up all day - alert, always learning - loves looking at the differences in light through the blinds.
Jodanne Visits
She often looks like a scorpion once we've layed her down and she's realised there's a different support now, she'll raise both her legs up n front of her which when she's all wrapped looks like a scorpion's tail

29

Lots of waking - bit of sleeping - she still freaks herself out by jerking her arms & legs if she's not wrapped tightly.
Uncle Geoffrey visits

TJ smiles now when Tim wiggles TJ's lips while singing, "Dad loves TJ".
Tim has taken the week off to spend time with TJ before Amanda leaves to visit her mum - he finally realises what hard work the nights are for Amanda waking up for TJ

30

Mark's first day back at work
Feeding Frenzy
Jo, Will & Simone visit
Brenda & Natasha visit bearing gifts from Sevenoaks
We gonk out just after Mark gets home from work

Tim took TJ to the sea, and dunked his feet in, at which he let out a screech and lifted his legs up as high as he could and kept them there for the next hour.
Tim and Amanda are finally worn out and so Amanda takes the first night shift and Tim took the second armed with a bottle of expressed milk - welcome to sleepless nights Timbo.

31

Julia's up a heap feeding, but slept for a good 3 hour stretch in the morning enabling me to do some housework.
I sleep in the afternoon and then we all three gonk out earlyish again - Poor Mark has not seen her awake now since Monday evening.
Boobs are not sore anymore - she is good at fixing an incorrect latch after the first suck.

TJ sat on the couch for 3 hours straight watching Tim and Amanda do the housework.