LachlanMactaggart.com

So it seems that Dad couldn’t live without a functioning TV. 

If you don’t know the story of our TV then let me explain.  A few months ago our TV starting having issues.  Black lines appeared on the screen out of nowhere and would come and go over time.

After a while they spent more time on the screen than not, and so making any serious TV watching hard to do.  After a bit of googling Dad thought that he would be able to fix it, and so along with his trusty assistant they set off to pull the TV apart, resoldier some of the connections and put it back togther.

And to everyones supprise, it actually worked.    Or so we thought….

Two weeks ago it started flickering, and got so bad that it was un-watchable.  Even the trustry screwdriver and a false sense of ability couldn’t fix this easily.

So research began…  This time we wern’t going to rush into a new TV purchase without thought, and after much research decided to settle on the 50″ panasonic Full HD set (TH-50PZ800A).

So enough ranting, here it is.  The best feature is the built in HD tuner, so bye bye set top box. (and 1 less remote).

PS: The playstation looks MAD on this, I highly recommend anyone thinking of getting a HD set but wondering if its worth it to do so. MAD I say…

Just 2 weeks after a big party at home for Lachies 1st birthday, the party rug was pulled out again to celebrate Dad’s 30th birthday.

Everyone was there and a great night was had by all.  The first set of pikers went to bed around 3:30 while the rest were able to make it through to 5am.

Here are some of the photos from the earlier part of the night.

For those who are you’ll understand, and for those yet to be you’ll get to know.  The responsibilities of being a parent.

I know at the moment that its pretty straight forward, he’s little, needs food, to be kept clean and warm. Pretty simple hey?

But that will change, he will get bigger, get his own personality, have his own thoughts and it will be then up to his parents to guide him on the right path and make sure that he grows up to be a well adjusted, kind and thoughtful little man. But again, I think I’m ok for that, especially as I still have the mentality of a 3 year old.

No my question is When do we have to let go? Not let go totally, but when should he be able to make decisions for himself and when should HE be responsible for his own actions?

Yes.. I know the answer is a long way away.  But still it’s something I have been thinking about.  At what time does he become capable of making his own real decisions?  Real ones, that put him in danger (not serious like driving over a cliff, but ones that might end in a little pain), and its his choice to ensure he picks the right path. If he gets this responsibility too young he may end up choosing the wrong path but if its left until he is too old, he’ll resent us in that he hasn’t been given the opportunity.

I’m sure he’ll think he’s ready much earlier than we think he will be, but who’s right.  Us.. Why? Just because we are older, probably but try convincing him of that. Him? No chance..

I guess I’m not really asking the question, as I don’t think there is a hard and fast rule.  I’m just pondering the question so that at the right time I might have some small chance of noticing it.

Did you know that it has taken us this long, well to last Friday night actually, to get photos with the 3 of us in it?

Here are a select few, not all have the 3 of us, but at least there are now some.

Lachie’s now over 1 week old and everything is going great guns.  I guess its time for a bit of a progress report.

He is now gaining weight well, so much so that he put on 100g in the last 2 days.  For those playing at home thats really good as they like to see between 25-35 a day.  The reason its 100g over 2 days is that they only weigh them when they are in the nude, and today was bath day and thats only every second day.  See the photos below for some of Lachie’s more reveling shots.  (saved the bad ones for his 21st).

He was 2054g at birth and then dipped down to around 1974g after his first 3 days which is great! 

<sidenote> did you know that most newborn babies get around 1/2 a teaspoon (yep teaspoon) each feed for the first 3 days, and thats why they all lose weight before they put it back on. Its all due to Mum’s milk not starting till about 3 days after. </sidenote>

So anyway back to Lachie, he went down 80g which is 3.8%, and they would have been happy with anything down to 20%.  But seeing as he was small and they had been tube feeding him the loss was much better.  So after the first bath,  he started to weight back on.

The next set of baths saw him put on +26 +32 +58 and then finally today add another 100g.  That brings him to a grand total 2190g.

So his weight is going really well, and the progress of his sucking is going gangbusters too.  For those catching up, as a prem his sucking and swallowing are not developed as much as a full term baby.  This stuff really develops around 35-37 weeks.  Well now we are entering that area, being in the 35 week range now, and so as expected he is starting to work it out.  He can’t get his leave pass from the hospital until he is taking all his feed via his mouth, be them from a bottle or the boob. With his current feeding structure, he’s doing about 6 feeds a day, and is now up to about 2.5 of them via the mouth.  His progress is well on track and we should see him home here sooner that was originally estimated. 

The estimate was initially around 5-6 weeks, basically to bring him to full term, but hopefully things are going better and it might only be another couple or so.

So I think thats all the updates, weight and sucking going well and in general he’s a happy little chappy.  One of the quietest in there but he’s also still working on those vocal cords.  He’s much more alert and looking around (again see photos for proof) and seems to enjoy the time with mum and dad more.

In relation to all the people that have come and seen us all over the last week, I again thank you and apologise if your stay has been short.  We really do thank you for taking the time to come over and see us, and especially for keeping Lachie in your thoughts.  There will be much more time very soon to see him in much more detail.  Rach and I both thank everyone for their support during this unexpected arrival, and look forward to the future times that we will all spend with the little dude.

Oh! and for the record, yes he is a Collingwood member, and yes he told me he was very pleased that we kicked the swans out of the finals to progress on another week.

Enough blathering and get to the pictures.

Lots today from a snap happy dad.

Little Nude Boy! Dad had to cover the tally wacker as it was going off like a firehose.. Boys do that you know!

Bath time mum…

Is that a smile I see?

There are some ruder ones that this, but a boys gotta have a bit of modest.

Out of the bath, and time to get dressed.

Mmmm.. Nice warm clothes.

and Mmmmm cozy with mum again, Little boy in blue.

And who is this?  Katy and Brett.. Who would have guessed Katy with a baby.  and has Lachie got more hair than Brett?

Enter more visitors… Just had to post this photo of Kim!

Tag! Nanna’s turn.. A couple of mums watching over the little fella.

He’s not doing anything, and already the center of attention.

Aunty Kim has to get a hold.

The Purcells meet Lachlan.

Little Kaitlyn also wants to get in on the deal. Thank you Kieran, Anita and Kaitlyn for coming to see our little bundle of joy.

You can see below that we were organised, we got the nursery painted and ready weeks ago, and at that time we  rightly expected to have a few more weeks before we would need to use it.

But I guess that is still right, as it will be a few more weeks before we need to use it.  At least it is complete.

And just to prove that we actually did work, here are the progress shots.

The white roof is on by now.