Huntington Beach Trip

Today my Mum and I took Callum down to Huntington Beach for a little excursion. We walked out on the pier and then down Main Street. We stopped for afternoon tea at Starbucks and Mum bought some souvenirs (not from Starbucks!).

Again, more photos:
http://picasaweb.google.com/craigsdickson/HuntingtonBeach?authkey=kmmu1ZYyVZc

sniffles and snuffles...

we had a long night last night.

early in the morning (2 am or so?) craig was woken up by a lot of gurgling and snuffling from the bassinet. it was soon after that we were both jolted out of bed by a scream that we'd haven't heard before. callum had a congested head and didn't know what was going on. he was stuffy, and so he started to cry from the discomfort, but as he was so stuffy his breathing was even worse. the cycle kept repeating itself until he let out the scream that got us out of bed. we ended up staying up for a few hours with him, cleaning out his head, and consoling him when he got upset from being sick.

today we took him to the doctor to find out that callum is sick with his very first cold. beyond sucking the snot out of his nose and putting him to bed with his head elevated there's not much we can do to alleviate his discomfort.

Boxing Day at Laguna Beach

We spent the 26th at Laguna Beach with the grandparents and the kid. We had lunch on the balcony at Clae's at the Laguna Beach Hotel.

It was sunny, but kind of cool. Unfortunately the kid pitched a fit and Jen and I bailed out and came home and left the parents to explore.

Some photos for your enjoyment:
http://picasaweb.google.com/craigsdickson/LagunaBeach?authkey=PZKMOMopWBM

Christmas Day

Today was obviously a big a day around here. All the grandparents were present and accounted for and of course it was Callum's first Christmas. Obviously there was a chance that he was going to be spoiled rotten, and he was not disappointed.

I took on the task of cooking the main meal of the day and everyone else chipped in along the way. One of the nice things about being the chef is that you don't have to clean the dishes!!

We did some presents in the morning and then opened some more between courses, but we didn't really finish up with the present opening until quite late tonight.

Callum had a special 1st Christmas outfit ready to show off and it garnered the obligatory oohs and ahhs from everyone - it also generated a paparazzi style storm of camera flashes. Check the photos below.

We checked in with my sister in Brisbane and tracked my Nanna Sandery (my Mum's Mum) down at her sister's place. Although I dialed all the numbers to get to her, my Mum hung up on her before I got a chance to talk to her! Nice one!

In total there were 3 cameras clicking away during the day and I have 118 photos on my computer total (merged from all 3). Here is a link to the best of the best: http://picasaweb.google.com/craigsdickson/ChristmasDay2007?authkey=us_ohWc55Uw

Christmas Eve

Jen and I went to a party at my boss' house this afternoon and we left the 3 grandparents in charge of looking after the kid.

Of course it didn't take them long to get the camera out. Here are some photos taken of the kid while we were not around:



And here is a link to the photo album if you want to look at them individually: http://picasaweb.google.com/craigsdickson/ChristmasEve2007?authkey=fwOkVryKdNQ

The Parents Meet In Person (Finally)

Finally, for the first Jen's Mom and Dad and my Mum met in person today. They have talked on the phone and exchaged email and snail mail but have never been in the same room together.

By all accounts, the meeting went well. :)

Nanna Dianne arrives!

Finally, my Mum arrived this morning from Australia. We have been looking forward to her visit for many months now.

Of course, we will pretend she is here to visit all of us, but the reality is she is really here to meet just one of us.

Here are a couple of photos from when we got back to the house from the airport this morning and she met Callum in person for the first time:

Callum Close Ups

Some photos from Jen playing around with the camera. Callum is 19-days old here.



Here is the full album if you want to browse one-by-one:

http://picasaweb.google.com/craigsdickson/CallumCloseUps?authkey=TW1MrzBwDvo

Laker's Game

I and a co-worker were invited to a Laker's game tonight by one of our software vendors. This is the 2nd time this vendor has invited us and it is very hard to refuse the invite. They book one of the luxury corporate suites and lay on all the food and beverages.

Tonight they played the San Antonio Spurs and pulled out a 5 point win in a pretty exciting finish.

Sometimes it is good to be a decision maker (or at least an "influencer") when vendors are concerned. :)

Callum @ 2-weeks Old

The Jaundice

Well the day we left the hospital the doctor noted that Callum was showing signs of Jaundice. Apparently this is pretty common, but needs to be addressed, as if it gets out of hand it can cause brain damage.

They took a reading the day we left the hospital and then we went back the next day to get another reading. Unfortunately the number jumped up on the 2nd day which of course freaked us out. But by the 3rd day it had stabilized and Callum's skin color has gotten less and less yellow during the last week.

Here is a good photo that shows off the yellow coloring:


Here is more info on Jaundice if you are interested http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/infant-jaundice/DS00107

Grandpa Ted and Grandma Les visit for the 1st time

Jen's parents, Ted and Les came to visit on the 30th and stayed until today. They helped us keep the house running this first week and were a great help.

Here are a few (of the many, many) photos taken this week of Callum with 2 out of his 3 grandparents:
http://picasaweb.google.com/craigsdickson/TedAndLes1stVisit?authkey=ndGXZ1QX8dM

Callum in Car Seat

This is a video Jen shot of Callum today (he is 9-days old) sitting in his car seat. She shot it while I went into Starbucks to grab coffee for us.

It is not earth shattering but it is the very first video of Callum, and it gives me a chance to experiment with embedding video in the blog. Enjoy!

Random Callum Photos #1

Here are some photos from this last week. They range from 5-days old to 9-days old. Enjoy!

Here is a link the usual web album:
http://picasaweb.google.com/craigsdickson/RandomCallumPhotos1?authkey=UjPGz4HM7WY

Here is a slideshow of the same web album. I am just experimenting with the ability to embed these slideshows in the blog. Let me know if you like it.

Callum's First Bath

We procrastinated a little bit on the bath concept, but finally took the plunge today (no pun intended, well maybe).

In the hospital they deftly used this little yellow bucket to bathe him in, which they gave us when we were discharged. We decided that it didn't look too hard so we tried that method. Turns out that that was a huge mistake. The kid lost his mind within seconds of the process starting, so the rest of the process was completed under the heavy duress of a screaming infant. We intend to try out a different method with a purpose built infant bath tub next time around.

Here are some photos. The photos of Callum in the blue and white striped outfit are him after the bath as he went through just about every emotion as he calmed down again.

http://picasaweb.google.com/craigsdickson/CallumSFirstBath?authkey=zvhIFS1f3KQ

The 1st Post

We started a new blog so that we can cover more than just baby stuff. We figure that the adults in this family do interesting things too that somebody might be interested in.

The baby blog is still available at this URL http://9monthpanic.blogspot.com/ if you are interested.

And now, on with the show ...