Play Time

Took a couple of photos of Toby during his play time this morning:

Visit From My Parents

My parents were visiting from Kal. It's always so good to see them. Taryn, Jess and Jen always love seeing them too. They got to see Toby for the first time. He had many cuddles!

Unsettled Boy

Toby has been unsettled the last couple of days. Jo figured it out that she's been slowly increasing her dairy/lactose amount and it's been passing on to Toby. Poor mite has been upchucking his feeds and has been passing a huge amount of wind. Poor kid has a musical bottom! She'll cut back again and hopefully his discomfort will ease.

I did manage to get some lovely photos today though:


Love this one:


Can't believe he's 4 weeks old!

Brit Milah Photos

Now this is weird. I know I uploaded the photos from the Brit. I must have forgotten to press publish though. My apologies everyone.

The Brit was last Sunday. It was the most difficult thing I have ever had to do. Everyone was amazing - we couldn't have done it without all the help with the food and assistance to bring it off.

We ended up having the Bris itself in the temple. It was fast, thankfully. Toby cried a little, but was able to be consoled. Ron held him and I stood next to them. I had watched quite a few online, otherwise I'm sure I would have fainted. Did I mention how thankful I was that it was quick! Poor baby was really unsettled the night of the Bris, but has been getting better and better every day since then. We didn't get a lot of photos, I was more intent on getting through the day, but here are some of the better ones:

Here's Joy, Jen, Jessica and Taryn:


Here's Toby in his car-seat snoozing peacefully before the Brit. Afterwards he pretty much was passed around from one cuddle to the next!


Saying the prayer for the challah afterwards:


It was a momentous day, and exhausting. However, so many people helped to make it what it was, we couldn't have done it without them!

New photos of Toby today

Thought I would upload some new photos from yesterday.

Here's Toby with Ooha (Phyllis) She thinks he's just perfect.


And a close up: (Gosh he looks like Taryn here)


Here's one with Taryn:


And here's just one more:


He's doing very well still. I do the night feeds and sleep in a bit in the morning, and Jo's doing the daytime feeds. It's working well. Toby doesn't mind as long as he gets fed. He does like his food! He's healing well after the Bris, and every day is getting less cranky.

Coming Home Photo

Here's Toby in his Safe and Sound Unity capsule. He fits beautifully in it and it clips into our pram too. :D

We're Home!

Yay, Yay, Yay! Toby and Jo are home! Happy, happy dance!

Ok, Ok, could I use any more exclamation marks? It's just that I'm so EXCITED!

Taryn and Jessica are thrilled, the dogs are intrigued and the cats are studiously ignoring him.

Photos coming soon. :D

Taryn and Jessica's First Hold

Taryn and Jess got their first hold of Toby today. They were so thrilled. Jess is such a natural with little babies, she just needed a little reminder to support Toby's head. Taryn thought he was adorable!

It was definitely a success for them both though. They are completely in love with the little guy. Who can blame them!

A friend of ours says he is the image of Taryn in looks, I can see the resemblance with certain expressions. So far he is the personality of Jess and has Jess's elf ears. He has Jen's nose. So cute! What a great mix of all 3 of our other kids.

Taryn and Toby:


Jessica and Toby:


Mummy Jo (looking much better today) and Toby:


Oh, and the colour of Toby's eyes? They are dark slate grey. Just like Taryn's were. :D

Doing Better

Today was a much better day, which is good: it needed to be. Jo's pain in under control now and she's off the oxygen. She's still on clear fluids, but there are signs her gut is coming back into gear. She's able to move about a little now in bed, so tomorrow Taryn and Jessica can go into visit her. I haven't wanted to take them because of the amount of pain she's been in, and the quantity of tubes and wires she's been attached to. She's free of most of it now, so we'll go tomorrow. If they are very lucky, they'll get to hold Toby too.

Because Toby is now allowed out of the nursery and up to Jo's room for feeds! He pulled his tube out tonight, so it's a good time to see if he's ready for all breast feeds with the occasional bottle feed during the night of expressed milk. He is doing so well!

Toby is 8 days old today!


You want me to burp?


Ahh, that feels better!


Sleep time:

Can I panic now?

Actually, I don't even know where to start. But before I do, let me say that Jo's recovering now.

The day before yesterday Jo started getting significant pain in her abdomen. Yesterday morning her stitches gave way (internally and externally) and she was taken to emergency surgery to repair it all. I was so scared waiting for her to come out of surgery, I am so thankful she is recovering now. She's still in a lot of pain, it really does suck being unable to take codeine, morphine and pethidine. Fentanyl is her friend right now.

Family and friends have been wonderful. They took Taryn and Jess during the day and overnight so I could board in with Jo. Now I'm home I'm a bit of a mess just thinking about all the what ifs. Jo's on some pretty powerful antibiotics to ward off any impending infection.

Good news is that Toby has graduated from the intensive care nursery to the lower care neonate nursery. He's off nearly all his tube feeds, and Jo was able to express breast-milk for him last night. 6 days post caesarean and her milk finally comes in properly. She was so relieved.

And because Toby's in the lower care neonate nursery, he could finally come up to Jo's room for a cuddle with her:

First Bath

Today was the day of Toby's first bath! He enjoyed it so much. It was wonderful to see him totally relax himself into the warm water and just float there calmly. It must have reminded him of being in the womb. He was so calm and serene, he just relaxed completely into my arms and fell fast asleep.


Here he is wearing his preemie outfit. It's a little snug over the head, so he won't be wearing this one again. He's still firmly in size 00000 though! Isn't it cute?


A cuddle with Mummy Jo:


Tiny toes:

Cuddle Time

Today I got a beautiful cuddle with Toby. His eyes haven't really opened yet, so it's hard to say what colour his eyes are yet. Will they be bright blue like Jessica and Jen's were, or will they be dark grey like Taryn's were? Being as Toby has the same bio mum as Jen and Jessica and the same bio father as Taryn, it really could go either way.

Cuddle time:


First kiss:


What a precious baby boy: