What's in a name

Theodore Kemble Bush. The name has generated quite a number of comments and questions so I thought a blog post was in order.

First name first. Theodore came from a couple of places. First, my Grandpa (mum's dad). I never really knew my grandpa but have enjoyed reading his war diaries recently. So grandpa was probably where we first got the idea of the name.

The only other Theodore that had come to our minds when thinking of a name for our son was Theo Huxtable, from the Cosby Show.

In thinking of naming our son Theodore, we also thought of the shorter options, such as Theo and Ted. We had briefly considered simply calling him Theo but we like Theodore.

We like calling him Little Ted and our Little Teddy Bear but I think he will be Theo in every day use.

From time to time he is Theodorable as well.

A link we hadn't known about was that Graham Henry, the All Blacks coach, is nicknamed Ted.

Hopefully our little Ted is blessed with a better smile.

A link we hadn't thought of is Theodore from Alvin and the Chipmunks - hopefully that one doesn't come back to hurt our Theo! Theodore the chipmunk is described on wikipedia as the following...


"Theodore is the chipmunk of innocence. He is shy, loving, sensitive, chubby, gullible, trusting, naive, irresistible, snack-munching, adorable and cute."

Theodore, definitely the cute chipmunk

We've had one or two comments linking Little Ted with Playschool. I joke that our next son will be called Edward so we can have Big Ted and Little Ted.

Little Ted, front left. 

One of the most common comments we received about the name though is how much people love it. I think it might be one of those names that people had kind of forgotten about but might be about to go through a bit of a renaissance, I'd like to think we started the trend!

The second name has caused more confusion than admiration but when people hear the story they like the significance. We were quite settled on the first name but had a few options on a middle name. Kemble wasn't at the top of the list but as we sat in the hospital last Sunday we both liked the idea of having a middle name of some significance to us, the other options we just liked but they didn't mean much to us.

Kemble on the other hand, while being quite an obscure name has great significance for us. About two years ago now we did a 2 day walk along the Thames path from Windsor to Henley, staying over night in Marlow. We enjoyed this walk so much we decided to walk the whole length of the River Thames Path, about 180 miles. We didn't intend to do it in one go but over a series of long weekends. As we did these walks we spent a lot of time talking about our future, including having kids. It was a good opportunity for us to put some good thinking and talking time in to when and where we wanted to have kids. We decided that it would make financial sense to start having kids in London, and also might give us and our kids the opportunity to get British passports which would allow us to live and travel throughout Europe without restriction for the rest of our lives.

In terms of when we wanted to have kids there are always lots of considerations. We knew that we were keen to have kids as soon as possible as we aren't getting any younger. We decided one of the things we wanted to achieve before having kids was to finish walking the Thames path, this was not the type of thing to be done while pregnant and even more difficult with kids. So the Thames path was a great and symbolic achievements of ours, and Kemble, the final village on the Thames marked the end of one journey but the beginning of one our greatest journeys. It is for this reason that Kemble has great significance for us and we think it makes a pretty nice middle name too.

Jackie sitting on the Millennium seat gifted by the Kemble WI near the end of the Thames path. 

Jackie celebrating reaching the end of the Thames path, the last time she would be allowed to chug champagne from the bottle for a while as we started out on our next adventure.

Looking back from the source of the Thames to where we had come from. There was a thick fog  which made navigation a little tricky. 

Below are some more random photos of Theo taken over the past few days...

There were a few public transport firsts this week including first tube, train and bus ride. Theo was pretty chilled out about the whole thing. Mum and Dad were a bit more stressed out by the advanced pram manoeuvring required for these expeditions

Theo loves his bath and fell asleep on his first  bath. 

Too cute not to include this one.

Today the boys went out for a walk while mum caught up on some sleep. Theo caught up on some sleep too. 

Our little yellow jelly bean

We've just gone past Theo being out for 1 week and what a week it's been. The highlights and scary moments were:

Monday 17th: Jackie had no sleep on the ward at hospital and Theo was being stubborn at feeding from the breast. Throughout the day we continued to get advice on breastfeeding from the midwives but at our discharge appointment with the paediatrician Theo still hadn't feed  so we stayed in a bit longer for further support. The midwives were very good at showing different breastfeeding techniques and reassuring us that it is not unusual for newborns not to latch on straight away. What they didn't provide us support with, were what our alternatives should be given he was not getting much food. We left the hospital around 8. Marshall gave us a lift home, we had a bit of a challenge getting our car seat fitted but got there in the end and got Theo home and into his bed.

Tuesday 18th: Theo still hadn't feed much, he had gone 2 days now with hardly anything to eat. I went out to the pharmacy to buy him some newborn formula because he had to have something. Jackie called her community midwife team. They were supposed to have been informed by the hospital that she was home and would need a home visit but the hospital had not sent over the paper work. Jackie asked if someone could come and see us but the best they could offer on that day was an appointment for us to go an see them, which was fine as it was just down the road. The midwife was very good, we established a plan so we would feed every three hours trying on the boob first, then expressed breast milk and formula to top up. She also identified that Theo had jaundice and a mild tongue tie and his weight had dropped a little more than she would have liked. The jaundice made him yellow (we started calling him our yellow jelly bean) and sleepy which would make it more difficult to get him to feed, which is a bit of a downward spiral because feeding is one of the best ways of overcoming jaundice.  We left with an appointment to come back on Thursday.

Wednesday 19th: We stuck to our plan and were feeling more confident as we knew Theo was getting plenty of food. We even took Theo out for a walk, stopping in at the new cafe in the lobby of Du Cane Court. It was at this point we found out that the main entrance to our building does not have a door wide enough for a pram, we have to unlock and open the second door in the double doors to get in - not ideal.

Thursday 20th: Having stuck to our plan for two days we were feeling a bit better although Theo still wasn't feeding off the boob, was still quite yellow and still very sleepy. We were still very worried. The midwife today was a nice Canadian lady. She was pleased with our feeding progress and Theo had put on some weight which we were very pleased with. She was however very concerned about his jaundice and wanted to refer us to hospital to get his blood tested to see if he needed UV treatment. This involved us being referred to our GP to get referred to A&E. So we left the midwives, quite concerned. Went straight to the GP who was very good and actually a paediatrician at another local hospital. We decided with her to go to her hospital (Chelsea and Westminster). Before going we bought another car seat to avoid the faff we'd had when leaving hospital initially. We got a taxi to the hospital which is kind of in the city. They were very good there from the receptionist, the nurse who saw us as soon as we arrived, the paediatrician and the breast feeding advisor they were all really good and reassuring. The test for jaundice only takes a few minutes and we were pleased to hear that Theo's levels were not so bad that he needed time on the sun bed. By this stage he was also noticeably more alert, were we through the worst of it? We took a black cab home with a very entertaining driver which perked us up even more.

Friday 21st: Having been given positive encouragement and having had a better night sleep we went into Friday with more confidence. We went in to town, bought some supplies and popped in to a market that one of the churches was hosting. We bought some nice lemon and poppy seed cake.

Saturday 22nd: A reasonable night sleep  meant I was able to get out for a jog for the first time since Theo was born. We had a midday midwife appointment where we were given some great encouragement for getting through the first week and turning around Theo's jaundice. His weight was back up to close to his birth weight which was a huge achievement. We decided to go out for lunch to celebrate. Theo's first meal out. He was very well behaved. We went to Gazzette, a local French restaurant which we thought was fitting given the RWC final the next day. It is also a nice restaurant but reasonably priced and welcoming of prams. The food always takes a while to come but we had lots to catch up on so didn't mind the wait.

Saturday evening we had our first visitors. Marshall and Fiona came bearing gifts and dinner. We had a lovely evening with yummy pie and even a bottle of red wine.

Sunday 23rd: At our first pregnancy appointment about 8 months ago, the 23rd was indicated as our due date (it was later pushed out to the 27th), we certainly did not expect to have a 1 week old baby at this stage but here we  are. After a decent night sleep Theo was dressed in his AB's jumper ready to support the team. I went round to a friends house to watch the game. For the second time this week it was a tense time with elation and relief at the end. And what better way to celebrate the AB's win than to come home to my wonderful family. We're planning a nice Sunday meal to celebrate our first week of parenthood (and the AB's win of course)

We're hoping the week ahead will be less eventful than the past week! At least that way I won't need to write such a text heavy blog!

The one you've all been waiting for!

I expect this is our most anticipated blog yet.

Theodore Kemble Bush was born on Sunday morning at 7:25am UK time weighing 6lb 8oz and 51 cm. So he is a bit of a lightweight but that's probably to be expected given he turned up a couple of weeks early.

Below is an account of the past week, filling in a couple of gaps of information that were left out of the last blog post. Photos are at the end of the post, so I expect most of you will skip the text and go to straight to the photos but it's nice to have the following recorded so we don't forget.

Wednesday 12th October: I get home from work conference, meet/surprise Jackie at the doctors. We're a little concerned about the size of Jackie's bump, the last midwife appointment measured it much smaller than the doctor had. The doctor suggested we come back in a week.

Thursday 13th October: a relatively uneventful day

Friday 14th: Jackie had about 2 hours sleep, couldn't get comfortable.  Most of the days activities are outlined in our previous blog however at 7:30pm Jackie's waters broke. We called the hospital, ate chicken pie and chips, watch most of Ghostbusters (well I did) and then went to the hospital in a taxi - in that order. We thought the hospital was going to be a quick check up. While we were there mild contractions started. We got there at 9pm, left at 3am Saturday morning. Everything had turned upside down. We were told Jackie had 24 hours before she was induced. We had a booking for induction at 8pm on Saturday, the delivery would happen in the 'delivery suite' not the 'Carmen suite' where we wanted to give birth.

Saturday 15th:  Very little sleep, maybe 1-2 hours each. The contractions had stopped. We went for a walk and in search of pastries and contractions. It was a lovely day and we appreciated the fact we could go for a walk in the park. We found a cafe and snarled their last pastries and had smoothies. By the time we left mild contractions had started. Back home we did final preparations and packing for the hospital. I was monitoring contractions, they were irregular in strength, length and spacing. After we were packed and ready to go we had curry for dinner, we knew it was not really going to help bring on active labour but I was disappointed we hadn't got to have a week of labour inducing curries. So Jackie agreed to having curry from our new favourite curry takeaway (see earlier blog). Our friends Marshall and Fiona took us to the hospital which was much nicer than taking a taxi. We got to the hospital and the waiting began. Waiting to be seen that is. 8pm is handover time between shift so it was 9pm before we were actually taken to a bed. By which stage the contractions were getting stronger.

Sunday 16th: To cut what is becoming quite a long story short, by Sunday morning, having had no more than 6 hours sleep over the past three nights, Jackie hooked up to all sorts of things the midwife was concerned that Baby Bush's heart rate had dropped considerably. She was surprised to find that Jackie was fully dilated so they decided to get the baby out. This is when it got very scary. The midwife and doctor team were clearly concerned. They had to get a doctor straight from theatre, I guess doing a c section, to come to us to deliver. The call for a push came. All sorts of things were being said, there was some concern about the cord being around the neck and lots of other things which didn't register with us. Then the yelling started to push harder, Jackie responded and within minutes Baby Bush was out, being rubbed and slapped by the midwives. They had to spend a few minutes checking him over. He was fine and was handed over to scared, relieved, excited, emotional parents.

Right, congratulations to those of you who put up with reading the above before seeing the photos...

Jackie at the hospital on Friday night

Out on Saturday for a walk in the sun

Taking some gas and air in the early stages before the real pain (and pain killers) kicked in. 

Celebratory chocolate milks for a job well done

The Prize! Little Ted sleeping at the hospital

Some Dad time

Dad and Little Ted

Mum and Little Ted. Look at the smile on mums face, you wouldn't know the torment she's been through in the past 36 hours

Little Ted at home in his moses basket. I took this photo without the flash, hence the funky colour

Hopefully there will be more blogs in the coming days covering such topics as the first few days and the name.

Thank you all for your calls, texts, emails, cards and good wishes. We apologise if we can't respond as soon as we would like, it turns about being parents is quite time consuming!

Make the most of it while you can

Just a general update blog today. We've had quite a busy week as we try to make the most of our last weeks as a twosome.

Last Sunday I watched the rugby with some friends before Jackie and I headed out in search of afternoon tea. We decided to head to Clapham Common which is kind of a big brother suburb to Balham. It's bigger, noisier and more brash than Balham and for that reason we rarely go there. However on this occasion we uncovered a treasure we didn't know existed. Venn Street.

Until recently it was a relatively ordinary street with cafes, bars and an independent movie theatre. What has given this street a new lease of life is that it is now pedestrianised. So the cafes, bars and restaurants now have more sprawling outside tables. We took a seat at one cafe, it was probably not the pick of the options but it was one of the few with seats available. We had a great people watching spot so were were happy.

Jackie on Venn St

On Tuesday and Wednesday I had an off site work conference that I had to go to, the bus bringing us home came right past Balham so I got the driver to drop me off and was able to surprise Jackie at her 3pm doctors appointment. After which we went for cake at a local Balham cafe called Trinity Stores. It was great. We followed this with a walk around Balham and Wandsworth, quite a treat and good reward for the longer hours I'd been putting in preparing for the conference.

Trinity Stores in Balham

Then on Friday we went to view a nursery in Balham which we both loved and hope to be able to get baby Bush in to. After which I worked from home which allowed Jackie and I to go out for a nice lunch. It was back to Clapham and while we had a look at Venn Street we ended up going to a place we last went to probably more than 4 years ago. The food was delicious and it was a nice break from work.

Esca for lunch

YUM! and reasonably healthy.

On the way home we stopped in at the Nightingale cafe which is opposite Du Cane Court where we had hot drinks and cake in the sun.

View from out seats at the Nightingale cafe towards our favourite local restaurant - Bucci

View from our seats at the Nightingale towards  our home - Du Cane Court. Shame about the road works, spoils the photo a bit. 

The weather in the past couple of days has been brilliantly sunny but very crisp, winter is definitely on the way! Another sunny day today and we're about to head out for a stroll.

So we've had a good week of spending time together, relaxing and enjoying each others company because soon we just won't be able to do things like that!

Bake Off

We don't have a TV but occasionally watch TV shows on catch up on the laptop. Normally an episode of Poirot, however this year we got in to a reality TV show that we've followed closely.

Now this isn't your regular crap singers singing crap songs or other pointless reality TV show where people have to phone in to vote or anything like that.

This show is called the Great British Bake Off.

Following an application process 12 people from across the country were invited to compete.

The show format is something like this:

• Each episode has a theme and 3 challenges.
• Challenge 1: Signature bake - a bake of the bakers choosing (within the theme)
• Challenge 2: Technical challenge - a recipe selected by one of the judges, every contestant is given the same recipe and ingredients. The judges are not present for the baking process but are brought back to do a blind testing and judging. 
• Challenge 3: Show stopper - bakers are asked to bake something but there is plenty of room for personalisation and flair.
• At the end of each episode the two judges select 1 or 2 people got booted off. 

Tonight was the final with Jo, Holly and Mary-Anne. Three ladies with very different personalities. They were all great, we liked them all (Jackie didn't like Holly as much as the others though).

Other contestants of note were Janet who made it to the final four, we loved her, she was a typical grandma home baker. We also liked Jason who was a 19 year old who really injected a different vibe into the competition. We thought he got kicked off too soon.

The presenters of the show in the middle. Jo the winner on the far right, Jason far left, Holly second from left, Mary-Anne 5th from right and Janet 4th from left. 

The series website, including recipes(!) can be found here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b013pqnm

So for the final tonight Jackie had her own little bake off...

Lasagne for main course

Oat and raisin cookies and ginger bread loaf

Ready for the show.

The winner in the final was Jo and we were really pleased with this outcome as she was so sweet. In commenting on the outcome in the final, accomplished baker Jackie Bush said "she was a well deserved winner as she was a real home baker, a mum and housewife. She was very humble and didn't have an ego," ever the diplomat, Mrs Bush added "not that the others did have an ego"

We've added the blogs of each of the finalists to our blog roll if you're interested in reading up on them or trying out any of their recipes they should be on the right -
Jo's Blue Aga (Jo's, the winner)
Recipes from a normal mum (Holly's)
Time To Cook - Online (Mary-Anne's)

If you're interested in the recipes for our baking the cookie recipe is here: http://allrecipes.co.uk/recipe/2775/oatmeal-and-raisin-cookies.aspx and the ginger bread loaf recipe is from our friend Juliette Hogan it can be found on her public facebook page, click here to access

Now that that series is finished I'm not sure what we're going to do with our spare time ;)

Heatwave

This past week we have had the 2011 summer that never happened.

Temperatures have been pushing 30 degrees up to and including the weekend.

We had a great weekend in the sun. On Saturday Jackie went to a new yoga class and I went for a jog. We packed a lunch and caught the train two stops to Battersea Park where we lazed around watching people around us, including lots of observing young families. As the day drew on we caught a bus back to Clapham Junction where we went to the Drafthouse for a pint and we ended up staying for a meal too. A few photos from our day below...

Jackie looking resplendent next to the lake at Battersea Park

Battersea Park is next to Battersea Power Station funnily enough, the chimneys are ever present towering over the trees

Ready for some serious paper reading

The park is on the Thames, we thought being close to the water might offer some respite from the heat

High tide on the Thames

Jackie in front of a large fountain pond. Some kids were paddling in the pond but it looked pretty gross and I think most of the kids regretted getting in once they had. Especially the poor girl on the right of this shot who appeared to be stuck, she didn't move an inch while we were there and looked quite terrified. She sent her younger brother off to get mum to help out, we didn't hang around to see the outcome. 

All four Battersea Power station chimneys

Jackie's bump silhouette

 This morning we went for a tour of the hospital where Baby Bush will be born. It was hot in there, they don't have aircon because heat like this is unusual. I'm pleased that by the time we have to go back the weather will have cooled down a bit. Apart from the heat the hospital was great. The birthing rooms are comfortable, private and have all sorts of contraptions which I'm looking forward to using. We also saw several tiny babies around the place which was great. One mother even got up to introduce her 1 day old to the entire tour of 12 people!

After the hospital tour we went to a cafe for yum smoothies, French bread with jam and chocolate croissant.

The afternoon was spend in a beer garden at a friend's farewell, we spent most of the time speaking to our friends who was also at the farewell who have a 6 week old baby girl, we got lots of tips and suggestions from them which was great.

Jackie pre hospital tour

After a shower and a change of outfits ready to go to the farewell party. We didn't take the pram but did think about it. 

All in all it's been a great weekend with amazing weather but we're ready for it to cool down now. Bring on winter.