Sunday 31 December 2006

Happy New Year

Happy new year everybody. We've just returned in from a great night with good friends  of ours.  We had a fantastic BBQ, lawn cricket, and some great games. Somehow we didn't eat until 11 and i think celebrated new year 5 minutes early, but what the heck - we had a great time!!! Thanks Brent & anna for hosting in your new house. I did take some photos, but left my camera - gutted!

Saturday 30 December 2006

Gracie - The photos so far!

Poor Gracie!


Gracie Crying, originally uploaded by thekingsleysmiths.

Here is a very cute picture of me and Gracie that Laura took yesterday. Gracie and I have a bath together most days which we both absolutely love. She seems to absolutely love the water which we're pleased about - she really enjoys floating around, and we're both amazed at how hot she seems to like the water.

She isn't so keen however on me fully dunking her under the water!! I'm trying to teach her to hold her breath under water, and sadly the only way of her learning that is by doing it.... so, I try it each day, and she is getting better, but she is pretty keen on trying to breathe the water in! It will come though! This photo was after my attempt yesterday!

Thursday 28 December 2006

Gracie Update


Gracie looking gorgeous, originally uploaded by thekingsleysmiths.

Well this morning we had the midwife round to check on how Gracie is doing. She weighed in at 8lbs 13oz!!! She's grown 13oz in 6 days.... she must have an apetite like her father!!!

Presents for me!!!!

I'm getting slightly fed up - Gracie gets all the presents!!! so, if you'd like to buy me a present, point your browser to my Amazon wishlist - there is plenty on there that i would love to receive!!!

More on Gracie


Gracie Staring!, originally uploaded by thekingsleysmiths.

Well, Gracie is now over 2 1/2 weeks old and is settling in nicely to life in the Kingsley-Smith family. I thought I'd give you an update on how she's doing, what she's been up to and anything else I can think of.

In her first 3 days, Gracie lost just over 1lb which wasn't good at all - she was having some trouble feeding, and was subsequently losing weight fast; Laura has since nailed the feeding, and since she came home from Birthcare, Gracie has now returned to well over her birth weight of 7lb 10oz.

She seems to be really thriving - we're using Gena Ford's Contented Little Baby routines to help her get settled in to life, and so far it is working a treat. She eats and sleeps brilliantly. She is certainly a very contented baby so far.

She has plenty of feeds in the day, which enables her to go a decent stint at night without a feed; we generally put her back to bed at around 11pm after her final feed, and then she wakes for her next feed at about 4am and starts the day at 7am. We do feel very grateful that she doesn't scream the house down.

Laura has been pretty exhausted over the past few weeks, so I am helping out wherever I can - I love changing the nappies, and spending as much time with Gracie as I can; she really is the most beautiful thing, and I love just being with her.

Her hair appears to be growing, although we're kind of expecting it to fall out at some point - that seems to be a common thing, but for now it is thickening and getting longer.

Christmas was good fun although exhausting - we went to church in the morning after having some beautiful croisants courtesy of Dizz & James. For lunch, we went to a family from church (well - it was their extended family of 38!!!) we had the most amazing food, and I played tennis and volleyball for most of the afternoon - a perfect christmas.

Laura slept for most of boxing day, and I did many jobs around the house, trying to get things back to normal. In many ways it felt like christmas didn't really happen this year because our main focus was on Gracie - I know next year will probably be pretty different though.

Well, that's as much as I can think to tell you all right now - hope that helps you to imagine Gracie a little more.

Merry Christmas

Wednesday 27 December 2006

Things we're using on the web!

Since we have moved away from our original blog at www.thekingsleysmiths.co.uk, I've been looking around the web trying to figure out the best ways of freely storing photos, videos etc on to the web. I thought I'd share with you what I've found, so that you could start your own blog if you wanted to.
We've just started using a browser called Flock - it is a really nice simple interface, and integrates perfectly into blogger, flickr, and photobucket. It has some great extensions, as well PC/Mac compatibility.


Gmail really is one of the greatest email providers I've come across - i've had free accounts with almost everyone. I've paid for email accounts, but none of them compare with Gmail. Google have really done well with this - so much storage available, and so many integration with all the other Google apps.


We've taken advantage of the new version of blogger - it is very easy to have fun with the template, and with the addition of widgets, it is possible to do so much more with the look and feel of your blog. With the new ease of use, or blog will have template changes regularly.


We've been uploading photos through Flickr - it is simple enough to use, and as I said before we are able to upload photos through our Flock browser. It is as simple as dragging the photos we want into the browser, giving them a name, and hey presto!!! From within Flickr, we can then post photos to our blog, make slideshows, print them, abd heaps more.


This is my latest discovery - while I've used YouTube for ages, and laughed with the rest of the world at the hilarious videos to be found, I've not actually started using it to upload videos until recently. It's great! We are able to post our videos of Gracie, and embed them on our blog so that you can all view them - how cool is that.


Because we are using a Mac, we have had some problems with having webcam chats with people on PC, but Skype have a version which allows webcam chat between PC & Mac - thanks Skype! We're currently using their beta version 2.5 for Mac. Skype is free software that allows free calls from computer to computer, and very cheap calls from computer to landline. It's worth a download!


I am also using Myspace as a way of keeping in touch with new and old friends; I have a Myspace Music account, so will post some music up there once I can get my recordings sorted! It's great fun - you'd be amazed at how many old friends I have found on here!

Gracie looking at mummy


Gracie looking at mummy, originally uploaded by thekingsleysmiths.

Saturday 23 December 2006

Gracie's first bath with mummy!

Friday 22 December 2006

mmm - I wonder where Gracie gets it from?

We've been trying to figure out why Gracie loves to sleep so much.... this is me on Saturday night watching a movie with some friends!!!

Gracie sucking her thumb!

Thursday 21 December 2006

Gracie in the bath


Gracie in the bath, originally uploaded by thekingsleysmiths.

Gracie Smiling


Gracie Smiling, originally uploaded by thekingsleysmiths.

Wednesday 20 December 2006

More Gracie Video

Daddy giving Gracie her first bottle feed

I am now giving Gracie her last feed of the day by bottle so that Laura can get to bed and rest - it's a nice bonding time for me and Gracie, and is a blessing for Laura also I'm sure! She seems to enjoy the bottle, and demolishes it so much faster than she does from the breast!

Gracie in her moses basket

There's that mouth again!

Tuesday 19 December 2006

5 Days till Christmas!


Our Christmas tree!, originally uploaded by thekingsleysmiths.

Well it is 5 days until christmas. Thought you may like to take a look at our very small tree! Next year, we'll get a propper tree!!!

Monday 18 December 2006

Windows Vista!

I'm sure you all know I'm an all out Mac fan - I found this video on the New York Times website and it made me laugh! It's a review of Microsoft's new OS vista...

Click Here to watch

Laura & Gracie sleeping


Laura & Gracie sleeping, originally uploaded by thekingsleysmiths.

Sunday 17 December 2006

cute!


cute!, originally uploaded by thekingsleysmiths.

Gracie resting after a play!


Gracie & Kiwi!, originally uploaded by thekingsleysmiths.

Gracie happy on Daddy's lap


Gracie on Daddy's lap, originally uploaded by thekingsleysmiths.

Video

Gracie Smiling


Gracie Smiling, originally uploaded by thekingsleysmiths.

She smiles :-)

Gracie Sleeping


Gracie Sleeping, originally uploaded by thekingsleysmiths.

We've added some more photos to flickr - this is one we took this morning. Gracie is now over a week old and just gets more gorgeous by the day.

This weekend we had the church carol services, in which i was heavily involved leading the band - the services were really awesome - i'll see if i can upload a little video for your viewing pleasure!

Thursday 14 December 2006

Gracie & Mummy


Gracie & Mummy, originally uploaded by thekingsleysmiths.

Here is a lovely picture of Mummy and Gracie on their last night at Birthcare. Laura is doing so well - she is taking motherhood in her stride , and just looks fantastic!

Gracie in her moses basket

This is Gracie having a sleep in her Moses basket this afternoon after returning from the hospital - doesn't she look absolutely gorgeous!

Gracie


Gracie, originally uploaded by thekingsleysmiths.

A lovely picture of Gracie taken by Lani!

Gracie loving her first bath with daddy

Today I had my first bath with Gracie and it was really amazing. She just loved being in the bath with me, and almost fell asleep on my chest. Like her parents, she seems to be very confident in the water!

Tuesday 12 December 2006

Flickr Photos


More Gracie!, originally uploaded by thekingsleysmiths.

Ok, you may have noticed that there are photos down the side of the blog. This is because I have set up a flickr account to host the countless photos we'll be putting up on the web. Rather than posting lots of photos on the blog the whole time, I thought it would be easier to have some albums online.

So visit http://flickr.com/photos/thekingsleysmiths/ to look at our albums. Don't worry - we'll still add photos here too.

Gracie news!

Well, having a baby really is the most amazing experience! I am absolutely besotted with my little Gracie, and love every minute with her.

The 3 of us are staying in Birthcare at the moment which is a private hospital especially for new mums and their babies. The New Zealand system for having babies is absolutely incredible! We are waited on 24-7 and have midwives there to check that Gracie is feeding well; Laura had a massage from the physio this morning - it really is fab.

Laura has been an absolute star - the birth went amazingly, and she has made an excellent recovery, although I always knew she would.
We're staying in Birthcare until tomorrow, when we will return home to Point Chev to introduce Gracie to our house and her new room.

Thank you all for your comments and messages - it's great to hear from you; We feel very loved and valued.

Gracie's first visit.

Well, Gracie had her first visit from one of our great friends Lani. Lani currently holds the record for the most visits - i think she has been in 6 times now, and is visiting again twice today. Her and Gracie seem to get along just fine which is SO sweet!

Gracie & Amélie


Gracie & Amélie, originally uploaded by thekingsleysmiths.

Gracie met Amélie Rose Johnson for the first time yesterday afternoon and they got on like a house on fire. Amélie was born at 11:59pm on Monday 11th December. How cute is that!

The happy Kingsley-Smith family

Here we are... our first photo as a family. I'm sure there will be plenty more of these!! Watch this space!

Sunday 10 December 2006

Introducing Gracie May Kingsley-Smith

Gracie was born at 9:48 on the 10th December (her due date). She was 7lbs 10oz and is absolutely gorgeous. Both Gracie and Laura are doing really well.

Here are a few photos, ranging from 5 minutes after the birth, to 3 hours after.










Saturday 9 December 2006

D-Day (or B-Day)



Well as you will see by the counter below - today is the due date of the baby.... while these dates don't really mean anything, we're hoping that ours will be on time - with the powell military genes you would hope it may happen, but perhaps the kingsley-smith genes wipe that out!!

Last night we went to the CocaCola Christmas in the Park - if you'll remember, last year we were sat in the boiling heat; this year, we had a cold southerly wind, and plenty of rain but none-the-less we braved it with a few friends and had plenty of fun dancing along with some classic New Zealand D-list celebs! The photo above was Laura trying to keep warm last night!

Friday 8 December 2006

Andrew Callum Gregory!

Congratulations Lucy & Al (Laura's sister & brother in-law) for pipping us to the post and giving birth this morning to Andrew Callum Gregory!

We were very excited to hear the news, and can only get more excited about our own iminent arrival! Let's hope it comes soon.

Thursday 7 December 2006

Blog Changes

Our blog is moving... the new address is http://www.thekingsleysmiths.blogspot.com

The new RSS feed is http://thekingsleysmiths.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default

Please bear with us as we make the transition - it may be a little bit messy for a while, but will be worth it in the end, as we couldn't continue paying to use an english Internet host. We are using the new Blogger Beta, which has some great new features.
Thanks

Wednesday 6 December 2006

St Paul's Christmas Services


Saturday 2 December 2006

How long to go?

A restful weekend



This weekend has been gorgeous, Paul and I have had such a lovely time together watching DVD's and catching up on lost sleep. We even got to the beach yesterday - my first trip of the season - which was beautiful even though it was a bit windy!

We also discovered some of the highlights of our local area purely by chance really. On the way back from the beach we spotted some kite and windsurfers right on the water next to our house; o we went and found where they launched their kit from and found that the windsurfers base themselves only 5 minutes walk from our house! Paul couldn't believe it and now hopes that by this time next year he will have some kit to do this himself.