Park, Park, Park & Park

Shhh...

A few years back, to keep myself in shape, I decided that I would do two things around my birthday: Walk on my hands. Run a fast race. Well, this year was no exception. ( Here's the race ). So, on the 24th, I walked around the office- a good 50 feet at least. And for the non-believers, here's the photo. Again, with the camera phone.

Yesterday was Mothers Day in the UK, and C did the honourable thing for the first time around. He picked beautiful, springtime flowers from the garden, and wrote his Mummy a special note. (I did lend him a bit of cash to pop for a proper massage for her also).

It is now semi-official. We now have three willing candidates, now all we need is a Christening. Bob Barnett (Ubu) Andy Worth Louisa Walker (nee Egerton-Warburton) This will give Christian one person in the UK, one person in the US, and one person in South Africa. It will also provide one person to get him in trouble, one person to get him out of it, and one person to be constantly reasonable. Of course, these individuals will now have to live up to their roles. (And we haven't told them who has which role.)

Wearing his new gear: Not entirely content, but bath time was coming up.

I've uploaded some more recent photos to Flickr. Just click on the link or picture badge to the right, and you can see the bigger versions.

We spend a fair bit of time braggin' bout C on here. So, we thought we should take a day off... And brag about Dad today. I ran a half marathon (13.1 miles) this past Sunday, and did very well. 1 hour, 42 minutes, which means I ran at a sub-8 minute mile pace. And finished in the top 20% of 5000 other runners. So, my European training program of running 3 or 4 times a week, a glass (or two) of red wine each night with dinner, and regular 8 hours of sleep (thanks to C) has major dividends. Pretty good for an almost 37 year old... By the way, the picture was taken with my new Sony-Ericsson camera phone- not bad.

Not mnay boys this size can wrestle fiendish green beasties, but as Adam works with a bunch of Australians, we thought we better get C started early. The marks on the side of his head aren't where the snake got him, they're excema.

After work, but before bath time, C and I sat down and ruminated on our Irish heritage. We agreed that Dublin is a beautiful city from the top of the Guinness Brewery , that Brad Pitt doesn't play IRA characters very well, and that Chicago is great for dying their river green every St. Pats Day. We toasted four-leafed shamrocks with a pint o' Guinness afterwards.

We've got big grins because Grandma Park is babysitting, and we're headed out for a proper Saturday night dinner. It turned out fantastically for everyone involved- we ate well, Grandma had a great time, and C didn't cry one bit. Same smiles when we came home.

109 days old (normal) 66 cm long (91st percentile) 15 lb, 12 oz (75th percentile)

Mom has now arrived in the UK for a week long visit with C. She came bearing many gifts for him, including more clothes, designs for Christening outfits and a red bandana to put on his head. I had one when Bella and I met, which subsequently ended up at the bottom of the Serpentine Pond in Hyde Park. C is growing up just like Dad. Pictures to follow.

We had a lovely lunch with Bella's Godmother, Elinor Murphy on Saturday. Here she is with C, after a fine meal at The Ship in Shaftsbury(recommended in my Pub Guide). She brought a fitting gift for C- The Christian Year by John Keble (JK is one of the Wigan's ancestors). It's a collection of prayers from the Anglican Church, and this one was from 1871. Lots of earnest-looking handwritten notes in the margin.

Not the most flattering of pictures, but here's C sitting in his bath wearing a flannel. I think he realises that his Daddy is taking the mickey out of him ever so slightly.