Monday, March 9, 2009

A name chosen!

We’ve finally settled on a name for our baby boy:

JETHRO ARCHER FUNK

Well, we can’t get away from our J names for boys! Just the way of it. Jethro emerged as a possibility, and we had a serendipitous moment when we discovered that the name means ‘abundance,’ a concept that has resonated a lot for us lately. And who knows, he might develop great organisational skills and live up to one of his namesakes!

And we had to get another ‘-er’ name in there somewhere! (Nah, just kidding, that was a fluke…) Beyond the obvious (meaning ‘bowman’), Archer means ‘geniune, bold, brave,’ concepts that seem to fit with Jethro’s direct stare and calm nature (as much as we can tell at one week old!). We certainly hope they’re values he can grow into. Ironically, Dad has been calling him Archibald while we were taking our time coming up with a name, which is, of course, a variation of the same root word.

We’ve lost the musical theme of Piper & Jas’s (Jazz’s) names, unless you count an oblique reference to the British blues rock band Jethro Tull. Instead we’ve picked up a pastoral theme: Jethro Tull, who the band was named after, was an 18th century English inventor and agriculturist, and the seven Archer brothers were well-known pastoralists and explorers in 19th century Queensland. One of the brothers was called Archibald, if you can believe that! Archibald Archer…

The combination of names lends itself to a number of different nicknames: Jet, Archie or, running with initials, Jaffa, and no doubt many more. This feels good, given we live in the land of abbreviated appellations!

So there you have it, probably our last attempt at naming a child, unless someone else wants us to do the honours for their child! Hope our kids can appreciate our choices once they’re old enough to have an opinion…

So now we are:

Gordon Funk
Rebecca Kate Funk
Piper Phoenix Funk
Jasper Sage Funk
Jethro Archer Funk

Piper turns 5!

Piper turned five on the 6th of March, and in the midst of our baby-space, we tried to make it a special day.

Mum and Dad came round for morning tea, and Piper was able to open her presents, wearing her new favourite dressing gown from Savers that she bought with Dad.  She'd wear it everywhere, if she could!  Anyway, present number 1, a ballerina thingy from Pippa...

Some horse stuff from Gord and I...

Pink Barbie gumboots and Pink Barbie slippers from Pippa and Poppa.  (My Mum took Piper shopping earlier in the week and this is what she chose.  No surprises there!)

A ballerina t-shirt from Gramma & Opa in Canada.

And posing in it later on - man, she's getting to be a big girl!  (The hat's still in use, Michelle!  So are the skirt and coat!)

The other present Piper got (from her dad!) was getting to eat whatever she wanted all day! About two minutes after Gord announced the concept over breakfast, she says, I'm gonna eat some chocolate!  And so she did!  And goodness, by the end of the day, was she hyper!  Hopefully it was empowering for her, and a reminder for me why we try and eat healthily, on the whole!

Lovely shots of Dad and Jas.


Later on, a movie night, watching one of Piper's favourites from the library: Spirit.

Meanwhile, Jethro had his first bath...

Cuddles on the couch.

The next day, Olivia, our neighbour, made Piper a cake, and the whole family came over to see the baby and sing Piper Happy Birthday - lovely!


Friday, March 6, 2009

New addition

One day old...



Three kids together...

Getting some sun to ease the jaundice...



Gord and his boys, one sick (Jasper) and one sleeping...

Labour of love

I'm finally getting to blogging, after a month or so where I felt like, the bigger my belly got, the less headspace I had for anything blog-wise or computer-wise. And hey, now I have something kind of interesting to blog about! Here's a bit of the story...

A Piper-and-Jasper totem pole, in front of the birth pool bits.

Labour's kicked in, midwives on the scene...

Resting between contractions...

Kids up, baby must be coming soon...  Jasper really doesn't know what's going on!

Baby born - Piper thinks "piece of cake!"

Man, I look happy!  I think I'm glad it's over!

And my reward: tea and toast in bed, wrapped up with a new baby...