Pat’s Point of View

It’s so typical for usability professionals to point out the un-usability of everyday things they encounter, and I normally try to resist, but I just have to comment on the Bonds EasySuit.

You’ll no doubt have seen the ads on TV, cute lil buggers wearing stretchy one-piece numbers. They look good and feel good—no seams or buttons—but damned if they are decidedly not easy to put on!

It looks like it’s easy enough, you just open the hole on the lower back and slip it on. Yeah, good luck. You need to bend baby in half and then simultaneously insert arms and legs into the corresponding holes and somehow they’re supposed to spring back into shape, fully clothed.

Grace gives me a slightly perplexed look and emits a short ‘humpf’ as I bend her in half like a pretzel. The look on her face seems to say “you sure you know how to do this?”.

What’s needed is a suit fitting system like in Iron Man :)

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Lucky I have a terabyte of storage, I’m going to need it if we keep taking this many photos of our kids! Here’s a sample from weeks 6-12.

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I have a few nick names for my daughter, but one of the most apt is “Princess Grumbles” because she does get stroppy from time to time—common for Picean women I hear :)

Yet lately, she has taken her grumbliness to a new level. She has a cold, you see, and we believe she has also started teething. This is one more in a string of early bloomer events for young Grace, she was early entering this world, early to get into regular sleep patterns and now early to sprout teeth. It’s not unheard of but teething normally starts at about six months, not three.

So it was a decidedly un-relaxing weekend, hopefully she feels better soon.

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My little girl is growing fast, so I’ve posted a few photos so you can see how well she is doing.

She’s very animated but sometimes hard to interpret. For instance, in this photo is she is practising her a) scary face for Halloween b) Ice-T gangster rap, or c) what-to-do-in-an-armed-robbery look? Perhaps she’s pretending to be a pirate, I don’t know.

There aren’t many photos of her sleeping, that’s because it’s a bit of a rarity at this stage. Her mum is doing so well, I don’t know how she copes. I have it lucky, I have to go off to work, so I get to sleep at night!

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I’m so very, very proud to introduce you all to my daughter, Grace. She came into the world at 5:09am on the 6th of March 2008, weighing a petit 3.2kg and measuring 48.5cm long.

The birth wasn’t quite what we expected (more on that soon) but in the end we got what was most important, a healthy baby girl. Jenn did really well, staying fairly calm and focussed the whole time. I did my best to support her but she is a tough little bugger and did all the hard work herself.

The midwives at RPA and our obstetrician Anthony Frumar were excellent, they took good care of all three of us and we are so glad we birthed there.

It’s so cliched but oh so true, nothing can prepare you for this experience. I feel so happy when I hold this little miracle in my arms and see a face kinda like my own, looking back at me.

For the moment, we all really need a rest, but you’ll get a chance to meet this little miss in due course. And thanks to everyone for their best wishes so far!

UPDATE: I’ve uploaded some more photos

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Today is my wife’s birthday, and I want the world to know. I want the world to know how special Jenn is and how proud I am of her.

I want the world to know that Jenn is pregnant, coming up on 26 weeks, and is holding down a full time job. That in itself isn’t that unusual, but she decided to return to work after starting the pregnancy as a housewife (now how many people choose to do that?). She did this because she was bored, but mostly because she wanted to make sure “we’d be alright”. She’s great at what she does, earns as much as me and has a pretty stressful job to boot.

I want the world to know how caring Jenn is. She takes care of me, which she does usually without complaint, even after a hard day at work. On top of all this, each night last week she worked a fill-in shift as a restaurant manager. She did this because she is such a generous and genuinely selfless soul who puts those she cares about before herself.

I want the world to know how smart Jenn is. She manages all our finances and investments, and if it wasn’t for her I would be broke and destitute. When we met, I was earning roughly twice what most people my age were earning, but couldn’t rub two cents together because I’m hopeless with money. Now, we’re well on our way to financial freedom and it’s all because of Jenn. Despite this, I often have to remind her that book smarts ain’t nothin without street smarts. Some might say I’m intelligent, but I’m not smart (except for my decision to marry Jenn, she’s the smart one).

I want the world to know how tough Jenn is. Being pregnant is no walk in the park, mums-to-be are always uncomfortable, irritable and bloody tired. And this heat doesn’t help either. Yet my wife takes it all, without much complaint, she just buckles down and gets through it. (And you should hear the price she got on our new air-conditioning!)

I want the world to know how unforgettable Jenn is. The other day, she ran into an old work colleague from years ago. He said “You know the thing I remember about you from all those years ago? You used to always say ‘we’re not saving lives kids’!” (in reference to the utter lack of substance in advertising, but more importantly Jenn’s ability to keep a positive attitude and the big picture in mind). People who meet Jenn remember her, because she’s fun, dependable and doesn’t give in.

I want the world to know how beautiful Jenn is. Even when pregnant she gets whistles from passing cars. Since the first day I saw here I thought she was the cutest thing ever. We just recently had our second wedding anniversary and there’s nobody else I could imagine being with.

For these reasons, and more, I’m so proud of Jenn. I’m absolutely convinced that nothing short of the almighty Himself will stop her from achieving her goals. Except, that is, for her own self-doubt. So here’s to you honey, may you have a great day and may you realise how special you are to me, our child, and to everyone who knows you.

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As I sit here in Adelaide, I find my thoughts turning to the strange goings on in my wife’s belly. Our little baby (who has a mere 15 weeks to go) seems to like nothing better than to see how far she can push mum’s belly beyond its normal shape. My favourite of all are the scrapes, rather than the punches, because you can clearly feel those little knuckles rubbing along the inside.

From what I hear, we will soon be able to make out elbows and other body parts as my baby attempts to redecorate her steadily shrinking accommodation. If the current prods, pokes and scrapes are anything to go by, we’ll probably be able to make out fingerprints pretty soon!

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Time for a big announcement folks. Jenn and I are very proud to announce that our little family will grow to three early next year. Yep, we’re pregnant and we’re just about to enter our second trimester! On the left you can see a photo of our twelve week scan.

Bubs will arrive in mid March 2008, not long before my birthday. We both have a feeling the bub is a girl, but I guess we’ll find out soon enough. Either way we have several names picked out already.

It’s been a bit of an emotional roller-coaster over the last year or so; trying to fall pregnant and dealing with disappointments along the way. In the end, I think the thing that made all the difference was Jenn taking time off work to relax and de-stress, not to mention a tropical holiday. When we were blessed with the good news we started yet another trip on the roller-coaster!

Mum-to-be is currently walking a tightrope of emotion; I never quite know how she will react to anything. However, it’s a beautiful transformation, and quite noticeable too. Besides the constant and severe tiredness and having to “make pee pee” every two minutes, Jenn is more relaxed and a bit more soft. It’s hard to describe and possibly only I can detect it but she looks, feels and smells more mum-like. Weird.

So now the news is out we can finish making preparations. We’ve been researching all manner of baby products for ages now, and in fact we bought a pram last weekend. Same with doctors and the like, I think we’ve been through the entire list of obstetricians in Sydney! We had chosen to go with the birthing centre at RPA but with a private obstetrician—for our first bub anyway—but after speaking with our chosen doctor we’ve decided to book into the RPA maternity ward as a private patient.

There’s so much to think about, just ask Jenn, I think she’s read every book ever written about giving birth. I wouldn’t want anyone else to be the mother of my children and she’s doing a great job. Besides coping pretty well with the tough first three months, she’s also budgeted for everything so we know we can afford it (what a woman!). No doubt there are going to be some challenges ahead, but nothing in this world makes me as happy as the thought of having a baby.

So getting the twelve week scan was quite exciting. We were a bit worried coming up to the scan but once we found out everything was ok we were so happy. Bubs was moving around heaps during the ultrasound and we could see her/him quite clearly. It was the most beautiful experience. Nothing like seeing your child for the first time to humble you in an instant.

Thanks to all those who have already sent their best wishes. We’ll have you over next year to see our new baby :)

Mazel, mazel. Good things!

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We’ve just arrived home from our trip to the Gold Coast where we spent the week between Christmas and New Year with my brother and his family and in-laws. We had a great time, even though it was too short!

We gave our car a good work-out (its first long trip) and there’s now an extra 1935 kms on the clock. She performed brilliantly and it was a comfortable 12 hour drive each way—well as comfortable as that task could be. After that drive, all I can say is thank heavens for cruise control!

The first few days weren’t great in terms of weather but that’s OK since we were just hanging out with the kids, relaxing and doing some ‘factory outlet’ shopping. I even caught a fish. We were staying in a nice quiet part of the Gold Coast known as Runaway Bay, which incidentally is where we caught the ferry to Couran Cove island many years ago.

On the weekend we spent time with Jenn’s sister and her family, who were holidaying in nearby Surfer’s Paradise. First up, Wet’n'Wild Water World, a theme park dedicated to water slides (in case the name didn’t give it away). I think it was pretty good, and I’m practically allergic to sun and water! By far the best ride was the Black Hole, Jenn screamed like a little girl.

Next day we did Sea World, which was more sedate but had the attraction of marine animals, even if most of the time they were part of some lame ’show’. The polar bear and penguins were my picks of the day.

Faced with the prospect of a 12 hour slog back to Sydney today (returning to work tomorrow) we decided to split the drive home over two days and stayed at Nambucca Heads for New Year’s Eve. That place was rockin!…not. Anyway it was the safer option.

So after a great Chirstmas we had a great little holiday, couldn’t ask for much more than that.

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Today we arrived back from a long weekend in the Hawkesbury region, where we went to celebrate Jenn’s 30th birthday. It was a nice relaxing stay at Loxley on Bellbird Hill in Kurrajong.

We enjoyed chilling out and taking a little break from things, as well as a bit of local sightseeing (helped along by a thorough reading of a book covering the history of Hawkesbury settlement—we were fascinated to learn about the third European settlement in mainland Australia). Among other things there was some fantastic scenery and an excellent botanic garden (Mt Tomah).

We enjoyed the area so much we’re considering moving there some time in the future :)

I’ve posted some photos from the trip.

See what people are blogging about: Hawkesbury, Kurrajong, Hawkesbury-Nepean, Sydney

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