Us and the kid

Lunch with Uncle John

Today we had lunch with my uncle John on the way home from Gembrook (we even got to see Sarah Joy, my cousin, before she had to catch the train). Had yummy soup for lunch, enjoyed talking about our lives, and even had a little jam session with Gord on guitar and John on the darbuka (drum)! I LOVE listening to Uncle John drum - watching his hands move is mesmerising... I also loved looking at all the photos on the wall (see background of photo below, and that's
only a few of them!). I'd love to something like that at our place!

I actually had heaps of fun playing with a bunch of lego John pulled out for Piper to play with - I haven't had that much fun with lego since I was growing up! Nice to be a bit of a kid for a while.

In the photos above, Piper is holding a little boxed cake to celebrate Jasper's birth - as John pointed out, you don't need to put a candle on a birth cake =)

And now it's 10.30pm on Sunday night, and I should be heading to bed, especially as I have a bit of a sore throat. Jasper's sleeping cozily on Gord's lap - he really loves sleeping in arms, which is entirely understandable. Gord's chatting to DJ, who came round after church, so yeah, nice vibe here... But betta sign off... love to all...

A few more snaps...

Melbourne with Michelle

Today Gord, Michelle, Piper, Jasper and I had lunch at Credo Cafe in the city. Credo is run by Urban Seed, "an ecumenical Christian, not for profit agency that is committed to engaging faith, community and culture. Urban Seed combines street work in the heart of Melbourne with education programs and a strong independent voice on urban, business, social and political issues including homelessness, drug addiction, problem gambling and poverty."

Anyone can come to lunch at Credo Cafe - it's an inspringly genuine mix of those who have a lot and those who don't. Not like a soup kitchen, in that regard. I thought it would be cool for Michelle to see a different side of Melbourne before she has to head back to Canada - which isn't all that long away! (Boo hoo!) Thanks to Samara for talking us through what she does with Urban Seed...

Anyway, on the way home we stopped to get these photos done, just for fun... =)

My star trek character

I'm sure that you are all fabulously interested...


You are Will Riker

Will Riker 75% Beverly Crusher 70% Uhura 65% Chekov 60% Jean-Luc Picard 60% Deanna Troi 55% Worf 50% Spock 49% Data 49% James T. Kirk (Captain) 45% Geordi LaForge 40% Mr. Scott 40% An Expendable Character (Redshirt) 35% Leonard McCoy (Bones) 30% Mr. Sulu 20%

At times you are self-centered but you have many friends. You love many women, but the right woman could get you to settle down.

Click here to take the Star Trek Personality Quiz

Jasper Sage Funk

Hello All,

Well, a name for our beautiful baby boy has come to us, seemingly from out of the blue:

JASPER SAGE FUNK

Jasper cos we like it. It’s also mentioned in the bible (not that this was a criterion!) in Revelation 21:11, in relation to the new Jerusalem coming out of heaven – “It shone with the glory of God; it had the radiance of some priceless jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal.”

For me, this says our little boy is sacred (as all babies are) and this felt so obvious, holding him in my arms for the first time. He came to us whole and complete and so, so precious.

And Sage…

Just as Piper’s middle name, Phoenix, told a story for us – our sense of our life together rising from ashes with the blessing of our daughter – we were searching for a middle name for Jasper that captured something of where we’re at.

I’d made a playlist of some songs to listen to while I was labouring. The last song was one that was often used at the Tantra course we did, when we came back to sit in the circle, to ground/centre everyone again, a really beautiful song called So Much Magnificence. It captures something of the boundless, infinite nature of life. The song means a lot to us, and it came on right when our baby was being born, coming to the surface of the water, which seemed like amazingly perfect timing.

The name Sage captures, for us, the ‘vibe’ of all this somehow! It also reminds me that our baby will teach us many things, and is already wise in so many ways. I want to pay attention to, and trust, his wisdom.

Sage is also a grounded, earthy name, meaning, of course, the humble herb.

And given Australians shorten almost every name to a nickname – in this case, most likely Jas /Jazz – we unwittingly continue the musical theme in our family!

So there you have it!

Also, for those of you who are interested, here are some of the usual details:

JSF was born Saturday 5th of May, 2007, at 4.34am.
Born at home with Jennie & Nicola, our midwives, and Margie, who was available for Piper as well as being a lovely person to have around.
The labour began around 1am (literally the first contraction!), so a 3 ½ hour labour (Piper’s was 4 hours 50 mins, with around 12 hours of prelabour).

Head circumference –
Jasper: 35.5cm
Piper: 33cm
Weight –
Jasper: 3600g / 7 pounds 15 ounces
Piper: 3395g / 7 pounds 5 ounces?
Length –
Jasper: 51.5cm
Piper: 50cm

For more stories and photos, go to our website: www.becandgord.net

Yep, betta sign of here… All my love…

Bec

Thank you MGT

Hey Sefton and company at MGT - thanks for the lil guy's first teddy bear... not the footy that I was hoping for (hint hint out there folks... :) but very nice nonetheless...

The flowers smell quite nice... don't think you can tell that from the photo.

Thank you Insight mob

Here's a little gift from the people where I work a lot - Insight Marketing Systems. A very cute (and useful) bouquet of socks, singlet, body suit, hat, caterpillar and bib...

Big sister

This is what a big sister looks like when she gets a hand onto someone's mascara at church...

Comments now fixed!

Hiya all,

I just changed the settings so that now anyone can comment on our blog (and make name suggestions!), rather than just Google members. So go for it now, Dad - I heard you tried for a while...

Well, the baby's crashed out, Piper's in the bath with Mum watching and playing with her, Gord's making a lamp, of all things! (after just having cleaned up after dinner) and here I am on the laptop - but not for long!

Anyway, I'm feeling really good - no baby blues yet - maybe tomorrow, maybe not! I'll write more soonish, but thanks for all your thoughts, love and prayers...

Love Bec

More pics...

Here's a bit more of the overall birth, and a few more of our boy the next day...

Still no name, but its on the way I'm sure.

Its a baby

Well, much to Piper's chagrin, its not just a baby, but a baby boy...

Its now the end of the day that this new wonder showed up. We've spent most of it alternatingly sleeping... tonight, Bec's parents have just left, and we are sitting a bit wearily in front of the footy.

The birth event itself was beautiful. My version is simple - Bec woke me up at 2:30 AM when everything was in full swing. I managed to get the birth pool filled up just in time for her to hop in...an hour later or so, at 4:34 AM, the little guy was born.

He's just under 8 pounds, no idea how long (he's got big feet though...) and as of yet, still unnamed. (Suggestions are welcome in the comments...) His coming to consciousness in this world was a wonder to behold... lifting out of the water, small and purply, then a few tentative breaths, a few squally cries, and then he opened his eyes for a look at us.

Our son looked intently at each of us, as if placing a face to the voices that he already knew. He was very peaceful in the water, and alternated between suckling/nesting in Bec's breasts, and floating in the water.

Piper hopped into the tub at this point, and for the next half hour she enjoyed being in the water. (Piper was there for the last hour of labour, and had no issues with any noises that Bec made... in fact, the first time Bec starting to vocalise, she looked at one of us and said, "Mommy's moaning now...". )

Tonight, we are relaxed, and feeling full of blessing.

The full story of the birth will show up at a future point, with some photos.

Birth Movie

Hello All,

No still no baby, though maybe soon...

Found out about this movie called Pregnant in America, while checking my emails this afternoon. It's supposed to be the Farenheit 9/11 & SuperSize Me of the birth sphere. I know America has an even more skewed health/birth system than the rest of the Western world, but it should make for interesting viewing.

Michelle, my cousin, and I were catching a bit of arvo TV (quality, mate, quality!) today and saw a pregnant woman reclining, getting ready to give birth. This ALWAYS irks me, cos for one thing, you're not supposed to lie on your back for long periods of time, especially in the third trimester, cos it makes it more difficult for blood to get through to the baby (not to mention it can get to feeling uncomfortable). But even more irksome is the idea that women should give birth in this position. What freaked me out this arvo was that Michelle commented that she didn't know you could give birth in any other position. This is no slur on Michelle, but crikey, it just highlights how generally brainwashed Western culture is when it comes to giving birth!

Anyway, that's all the sermonising I want to do right now! Want to clear my head so I can go and have a baby meself!

So, if you're interested in the movie, check out the website, or view the trailer here.

Love to all, and we'll pass on any news ASAP!

Love Bec