So big now

This weekend was one of those fun family ones where we got to celebrate as a family Gabbys 1st birthday, it is amazing to see how big all the kids have got. Just watching all the boys (and Erin) running around playing soccer outside just made me realise again how good God has been to us as a family and bless us with lots of little and not so little ones.

One of the great joys was seeing little Kate again, she was the youngest and latest addition to the family but now seeing her with Gabby kind of makes her a big girl now : ) 

Our beautiful boy

Today I managed to get a glimpse of pure bliss, our little Caleb is growing up so fast and he is so amazing. I cannot believe how this little guy has just been so much fun. We really haven't had any issues and he is sleeping really well, today was a nice chilled time before the family came around and managed to get this pic of him just chilling on Debbie.

It's been an amazing 9 months!

Wow I really can't believe that it's been 9 months since this precious little girl entered our lives, today Gabriella turned 1 and what a fantastic time we have had. We are truly blessed to have this little person in our lives. 

We had the family over today for tea and decided to just let Gabby loose on a piece of cake, oh and what fun it was! Here are some pics of the event that we will remember for a long time ; ) 

Father's day # 1

Shew so who would have thought that last year as I sat around our dinning room table a year ago celebrating fathers day with Pop's (my father in law) that a year later I would be celebrating as a father of two?

I am really grateful and privileged beyond measure to have these two little blessings in my life. I have received gifts today to celebrate this special day but the greatest gift I have is my children and knowing that I am there father and there hero ; )

The joy of children

I have to say that I cannot begin to express how wonderful it has been this last week know that we are the parents of two beautiful children.

Some people have asked me if this is it for us and the answer is a resounding no. Why stop at 2? One thing we have learnt over the last couple of years is that God is good and will always provide... So why not have the same attitude when it comes to having children. God will always provide and give Grace in every situation and we are confident of this fact and are most certainly going to put this to the test... Not God but us!

Gabby and Caleb will most certainly will have more than just themselves in the future, what this looks like and what time frames we are talking about I could only begin to imagine but one thing I am certain of and this is that children are a real joy and I can't wait for the next one, two, three or even four ; )

Crazy cousin session

It has been a really cool weekend, we have had lots of family come by and see us... More to see Caleb I suppose. Nicky & Ashley (my sister & her daughter) came through for lunch and spent a fair amount of time with us. So much so that Ash and Gabriella had time to do a "photo shoot"!

If you ask me this was all a bit of craziness ; ) but very cute so I had to put some of the pics up for the world to see the crazy that is the norm of my family

Through death life comes

This post is really going to be one of the toughest I have put up, the reason for this is because if has affected so many people very close to us and possibly some that will be reading this.

John & Helen Gray (Grandparents to my wife Debbie) are two of the coolest people I had ever had the privilege of meeting. after we got married we planned a trip in 2006 to the UK where they lived to go and see the family over there. At once I was impressed by them, their love for each other was amazing. At the time of the visit I was amazed to find that they had been married for over 60 years and the love hadn't gone. They were fun loving people and I really enjoyed the time that we spent there, as I am sure you will gather from the pics there was a love here and it is rare... I personally have never heard of anyone being married to a single person for that long. Anyway over the years John got older and Helen stuck by, towards the end of last year things really started to go downhill and at one time took a very quick downhill spiral and caused some serious concern and most certainly sadness within the family. Debbie was at the time trying desperately to get a passport sorted for Gabriella so that she could go over and see them, sadly this didn't happen in time and with the pregnancy looming near it made international travel almost impossible without putting Caleb at risk so she couldn't get over to see them. Val (Debbie's mom) managed to go over and see them and sadly the weeks that she was there John passed away. We are really grateful for the fact that she was able to get there and see them before John passed away. There has most certainly a void left behind... A Father gone, a Grandfather missed and a sweetheart lost...

John Edwin Thomas Gray

29th May 1916 - 2nd April 2013

So that's not the end of the story, there is always a point to these posts... on the 29th May John would have been 97 years old and sadly wasn't here to celebrate, however God had plans for us and on that day God decided for Caleb to enter the world. as one life passes away another is added to an ever growing family. While in the hospital last week and Debs was in labour she looked at her phone and saw that it would have  been Johns birthday. We had finally found a second name for our son after months of  deliberation. 



Caleb John Payne

Born 29th May 2013

Man this could get rough

So I woke up this morning feeling like I was hit by a bus, my eyes were killing me and were all puffy so I had to take action! I am really grateful for my pal Tommie, he bought these things for his wife that she in turn recommended to Debbie as really good pain relievers (so now you know they are not meant for your eyes : ] )

last night was the fist night home with Caleb and it wasn't too bad but it was rougher than what I think either of us had expected... listen I am not saying that I thought this was going to be a walk in the park but surly it cant be T.H.A.T bad.  well is was up and down all night, not because of the little guy but because of the shot sleep times between feeds. i am not one that needs lots of sleep to operate but I must say that 4 hours sleep broken up into little bits doesn't help anything... even if I were Superman! anyway we are really grateful for  a healthy little boy that we can love, treasure, nurture, train and loose sleep over.