1st Christmas

So what did you get then? I got a portable DVD player! Cor. Penny got a lovely necklace (from me). Ripley got lots of Toys from relatives who spell his name Rippley for some reason. Anyway, having a great time, one of the best Christmas' in many years. I even managed to miss the queen's speech again, HOORAH. Really relaxed, don't want to go back to work, so I might not. Can't wait for next Christmas - then he will be able to open his mountain of presents unaided :)

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What! No Recent Posts?

Well.. it is Christmas so what do you expect. I will try and post an update soon.

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Sleepy Boy 

Sucking the Giraffe 

Huggy Bear 

Happy with Mum on the bed 

Grrr 

Confused 

Stressed 

Happy 

In his carrier 

Tired but Smiling

Everything is cool at the moment. Pen and I feel like we have a handle on things, we have a routine, we can predict most events before they occur and so we feel comfortably in control. We still get bloody tired and that can be a strain, but then Ripley smiles every-so-often and we both remember what it is all about. Looking forward to our first Christmas together. Will try to upload more photos later, I have some nice new ones.

Don't forget to visit http://www.kitt.net/ripley/ for the video wall.

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Hint: Talk to each other

I don't put every single detail of my life in this blog. So without going into detail I have to say this - it is CRITICAL that you and your partner talk to each other. If you don't have a partner then talk to your parents. If you are on your own then talk to friends. Either way it is important to vent your feelings no matter how silly you feel about them. Penny and I are good at talking, but sometimes it is hard, you don't want to worry your partner with all the thoughts buzzing through your head but you simply must...

A problem shared is a problem halved.

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Hint: Write stuff down

If you are worried about anything, write it down in a notepad, then when you see the health visitor you will have a list to reel off and all your concerns will be addressed. If you don't do this then you will remember something after she leaves and worry until she returns - At one time my list looked like this:

Strange bump on side of head!

Small white spots in strange places!

Bit snuffly - what can we do?

Is he eating too much?

Is he sleeping too much?

etc etc.

Note: if you look at any baby related newsgroup you will see that my questions are the concern of almost every new parent.

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First Electronic Communication

Chris@Work: how is the little chap
Penny: fine - trying to get him to write you a message
Penny: he keeps using the 'space' bar
Chris@Work: ahhhh :D
Chris@Work: can he type a message again
Penny: f0v1
Chris@Work: and again
Penny: \HNMJ B
Chris@Work: hmm.. nice use of caps lock
Penny: GOOD ISN'T HE
Chris@Work: yes - not bad
Penny: YEAH DON'T KNOW HOW THAT HAPPENED
Penny: think thats it for today

Lovely Pen & Rip 

My Current Favourite Photo 

And the Name is...

Worked from home the other day so that I could escort Pen & Rip to the register office. Rip has a name now! So I guess we will have to stop calling him baby. His name is:

Ripley Thomas Howarth

Penny put her foot down, probably bored of the wasted evenings talking about potential middle names, so Thomas was the name of choice. I like it, my only reservations are:

1) It is 2 syllables. Ripley (2) Thomas (2) Howarth (2) - doesn't roll very well.
2) R T Howarth ? R T ? Arty! Oh well.. he might be arty I suppose (better than RC which ironically he is at the moment)
3) I wanted Danger to be his middle name :D

As you can tell we have been thinking about this a lot :)

Penny is unwell at the moment. I feel bad, I have to work so Penny is looking after the baby when she really should be resting and getting better. I help as much as I can without it affecting my work + Penny's parents are a great help, I can tell they are really getting attached to Ripley.

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All Better

Made up with Dad + Keiron called the other night. It really helps to talk to people. Helps get things in perspective.

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