Park, Park, Park & Park

I had just finished reading C a chapter from Paddle-To-The-Sea, and snapped a few before morning naptime.

Here are his current dimensions: 57 cm. long 10.75 pounds Big blue eyes Brown hair, maybe making a move to blonde.

B booked a cottage for the few days around Christmas this year. It was inspired. Here's a shot of it. We stayed in Downton ( here's a map ), which is one the edge of The New Forest. The cottage is owned by the couple next door- Richard and Judi- who invited over for drinks with their family on Boxing Day. We did a few walks around the surrounding countryside, while C stayed warm in his bear suit. I've uploaded some of the other pictures to flickr.

A little behind schedule on the updates. No internet access in charming Downton, Wiltshire (more later) where the three of us spent the Christmas Holiday. Here is C- Christmas outfit and all- with his first of many Christmas gifts from Mum and Dad- a simple wooden puzzle toy from Muji.

Michael and Helen stopped by the flat earlier this week. here's a great piccture of Grandpa to follow the one from two days old .

Adding to the crowd-pleasing PROPORTION series ( Pro 1 , Pro 2 , Pro 3 ), herewith is the next installment. Please refrain from the easy jokes about drunkenness, although the champers was pretty good.

C celebrated three First Events over the week-end: 1. His first bottle feed, which now means I can do the late night feeding shift. 2. His first pub visit with Dad Saturday afternoon- The Anglesea Arms (unfortunately slept through the experience of one of the best pubs in London). 3. His first Christmas Drinks party Saturday evening- again, was very well behaved due to sleep.

First: Once again, I must thank John Ryan for his suggestion to go to blogger.com in the first place, rather than build a website. His idea over lunch in Windsor ( see this post ) was the Park & Park blog conception, and it's worked- simply and beautifully. Thanks John. Second: I've uploaded more pictures to flickr .

Here's a great picture of Bells, a good one of C, just before a feed.

I rushed home tonight to finish up C's bath before he fed. We're trying to get him on a more regular schedule, and Bella is doing a great job towards that direction. Seeing him clean, shiny and wrapped in a towel, brought me back to to Day One. Such an emotionally memorable day. Here's a flashback- taken 30 minutes after delivery.

As you will recall from my previous post on our future acquisition strategy , I mentioned that an update on our sleep bank account , nappy inventory turn ratio and outsourced service provider relationships was to follow in the near future. That time is now. The sleep bank account has seen consistent improvement in real terms since the deal close date (20Nov2005). Although average full-term REM time length is shorter, parental gross rack time is only 1.5 hours below norm (as measured over a 24 hour window). This may appear poor, but the time spent developing the acquisition well out weighs the cost of sleep deprivation. The nappy inventory turn ratio is still elevated at approximately 9.5 per day. Again, this is outweighed by the fact that the visiting NHS Midwife take a strange pride in the korma sauce production (a legitimate descriptive term used by said NHS Midwives) the acquisition has generated. The outsourced service provision (now complete) was a resounding success. Shirl

Grandma Park cooked an American-style Thanksgiving feast while she was in London. Here we are, just before tucking into a Free-Range, Corn-Fed, Fully Organic Dorset Turkey. W're still working on leftovers three days later. The picture includes Carol, C, Bella, LM, Adrian and Nettie.

So, it seems that I was slightly mistaken by my comment about not sailing tall masted ships . A remarkable likeness of C has been spotted on a Van Maurik vessel, from awhile ago. He may have been transporting cigars from Amsterdam to the UK. This picture is a bit small, but C may be spotted towards the stern. Thanks to Nettie for uncovering the historical connection.

Following on the recent comments about Cs eligibility to hold the Presidency of the United States, I felt I should clearly muddle the waters. To put it simply, the issue of who can run for US President and Cs standing as a citizen (in the context of running for President), has not been clearly resolved by Supreme Court case. Briefly, a natural-born citizen is someone who is legally recognized as that country's citizen at of the moment of birth. Citizenship is determined by place of birth OR parents. Children born in the US are citizens. Children born of a US citizen anywhere in the world are citizens. Now, if George Romney had beat Nixon for the 1968 Republican party nomination, and then won the popular vote (a most unlikely event because of his verbal gaffe*), not only would we not have the term Chinese “ Ping-Pong Diplomacy ”, but the Supreme Court would have resolved the issue once and for all. So, I will now add “Potential Supreme Court Case Namesake on his way to the US Pre

Following on the earlier Proportion posts 1 and 2 , here is another picture showing C relative to Dad. And every day when I get home, C is bigger than in the morning when I left.

Casting your memory back a few weeks, I thought I'd document his dimensions at birth. Length: 52 cm. (about from your fingers to your elbow) Weight: 3.8 Kg (about a sack of sugar) During the pregnacy, his leg length was in the 95th percentile- meaning he had very long legs for his development. At this point, the jury is still out, but he may be the next Bannister (if not Prime Minister or President).

Here's the Grandparents (minus Grandpa Park) gathered around the sleeping C in Peter Jones after a nice cuppa.

C spent much of this past weekend engaged and active. Andy visited Friday, and Jack came over on Sunday. C and Dad took a good stroll around South Ken Saturday afternoon. Dinner with Nettie and family that evening saw C on display. Sunday we all went to Carina Ciscato's pottery gallery for her annual open studio. All a bit much, it turns out. C was cranky most of Sunday afternoon and evening.

We registered (got a birth certificate for) C. at the Chelsea Town Hall today, in the heart of London, darling. This is the same place where Bella and I were married back on the fourth of July, 2004. And the same gentleman did the paperwork for C. Grandma took this picture out on the steps afterwards.

My brother Nate has now decided on a potential nickname for C: AJ- First of all, I have decided to refer to the newest member of the clan as simply "Fletch", for reasons which you will have to puzzle out for yourself. I assure you that it has little to do with a certain Chevy Chase movie. Of course, the reason is the Mutiny On The Bounty character, Masters Mate Fletcher Christian (played by Mel Gibson a few years back). We shall see if it sticks. None of us sail large masted ships.

Just a few quick points to explain why we set the Park & Park blog up. 1. To journal our memories just prior and ever after C's birth. 2. To communicate to family and friends the tales and pictures of C. 3. To experiment with new technology.

Thanks to Corey and Ewa in the States for prompting these pictures. The frst one of his hand is here , and now his foot next to Bella.

Grandma Park arrived for a two week stay with C. She landed earlier, and all three of us met her at Heathrow. Here's the first shot with C. More to come over the next two weeks.

Kate (partnered with Sebastian ) is a pal from the NCT class, whom Bella has become fast friends with. Max is their addition to the world. Despite the size of Max now, he WAS five weeks premature.

In honour of the triumph of the Welsh over the Aussies on Saturday, C donned his new Cymru rugby jersey. Thanks to John and Sheila Van Maurik, he now has a few sports covered. Soon he'll put on his Chicago Cubs Baseball kit from Uncle Nate and Aunt Dawyn.

A few new events in the C Bio for the 26th, November: First proper outing for C (other than the walk home from the Hospital). First trip to Starbucks, papoose-style on Dad's chest. First seven hour continuous sleep. First proper social outing by Dad (with the prior written approval of Mum, of course). First German visitor- Philipp, all the way from Hamburg. As Bells' Family Crest says: Carpe Diem.

At 4 days old, here he is holding tight.

Just lying in bed after C finished a feeding. Beautiful.

Andy and Jack were generous enough to drop everything on Sunday evening, and listen to me bubble on about the miracle of birth. We wet the baby's head at our local, Troubs, over a bottle of champs.

And here's Granny and Mummy, admiring C's dashing good looks he inherited from his father.

Here's Bella's father yesterday afternoon with the new one. C is taking well to meeting new people.

Christian went out on his first date this evening- 24 hours after coming out, and he's already nipping out for red wine and good pasta. We snuck across the street from the hospital for dinner, and he was a perfect gentleman. Didn't hold any doors for the ladies, but did not complain once through the entire meal. He earned a champange toast, which we enjoyed on his behalf.

Christian Richard Park. It took all week-end, but now: Happy, healthy, and asleep. All doing well. Here's the first shot a few minutes after. More over the next few days.

Well, we went in early this morning to Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, and very little excitement followed. So, we went out for a good walk and chocolate pudding. Here's a picture of us after licking our plates. Fitting because this is the place where we first met- The Randall & Aubin on Fulham. Bells is now resting comfortably.

Well, here we are. I'm having a pint , Bells a bath, and in 12 hours we get delivering. There she is with bump for the last time.

So, it looks like we'll induce on Friday morning. Nothing big; he's just 12 days past the 'born on' date. So, by Sunday, we should have a crying handful.

Made plans to get out of London for the day, and went East. To the Thames shore in Kent , by Uplees. Had a great walk along the salt marshes, and then eventually found a warm pub for a pint. Here's the Bell in the fresh air. I've uploaded a few others to Flickr. Click on the logo to the right.

We've scheduled activities for the week-end in an attempt to keep our mind off of things. Every once in while, a Braxton-Hicks fakie will pop up though. We were sitting in a movie this evening when one did. My response: "I paid 17 quid (25 dollars) for these tickets- we're not going any where until they run the credits." Sunday, it's off to the country for a pub lunch.

No rumblings yet. And we've still got a bit of time- in the UK they'll induce two weeks after the due date of 5 Nov. Bells has been sleeping ok the last few nights, but before you go to bed you just keep wondering "Will this be the night?"

Just patched in a new bit on the lower right side. If you put in your email address, you'll automatically get my postings without having to come to the site. Try it.

Since we're still waiting, let's post some pictures of mates. These guys- Jan, Philipp and Maurice- good friends, are from the Ashridge MBA. And are standing in front of arguably one of the best pubs in the UK- The Alford Arms in Frithsden

Still no news, even with the earlier activities, AND driving over speed bumps to go on a hike.

Bells had her first glass of alcohol tonight since late January. A bit of good French bubbly. And then a great Indian curry from our local favorite. All in the hopes that this would encourage an on time delivery- according to the Mid-Wife. Watch this space...

As Park & Park plc is on the verge of a large corporate acquisition, the Board of Directors thought it prudent to brief the Wall Street and London City analysts, as well as corporate shareholders. To be succinct, we will discuss only the potential effects of the acquisition on the income statement, balance sheet and cash flow statement. The sleep bank account, nappy inventory turn ratio and outsourced service provider relationships will be dealt with in the future. The income statement won’t be materially affected in the near term. Revenue should remain constant. Costs, in aggregate, should change only marginally. The specific cost line items though will change dramatically. High value travel and entertainment expenses will be significantly curtailed, while daily operating expenses will increase. The Finance Director expects these changes to balance each other. Therefore, net operating income should remain stable or slightly below trend in the near-term. The balance sheet

Here's a shot of Bells with the new camera. You can't see the kicks, but they're there.

Bells (and I) will give birth here . Here's the pram we bought to walk home from the hospital with (maybe). And the baby will most likely be born a Scorpio . And then if I'm really lucky, me and my mates can wet the baby's head at a proper pub .

We recieved the first of what will be several books from my parents today. Holling Clancy Holling was an author that Dad read to Nate and I when we were young. Now we have Paddle To The Sea.

Inspiration.

Now, we're getting sorted. Map to right of Park & Park Corporate Headquarters-London Division.

Wow. Now I have interesting links on the side- one on economics and one on business communication. See right.

I think I now have a link to some pictures at flickr; see what you think.

Here's a picture of the expectant mother with 1 month to go. We had lunch with John and Julie from the US in Windsor.

Just got a text from another couple from the NCT classes. They induced Monday, and had a C-section today. Makes things a bit anxious at the London Park Household.

Waiting for the big day...