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.

Welcome to the world

So what a day, well my day has stretched over two of them. I had a business trip down to Durban yesterday to finish up some stuff before the arrival of Caleb in the coming weeks. Debs told me as I was getting up that she didn't think it was a good idea for me to go and I assured her that everything was fine and I would see at home later.

Anyway by the time I got home Debs wasn't feeling so good and told me her stomach was sore and by the time 11 PM rolled around we decided to pack up and go to the hospital to get it checked out.

Needless to say they just decided to keep her in for observation, after many restless hours they decided to check and it was moving ahead... They called for the anesthetic and the rest is well history. And out came our son, second born to this Payne family. A healthy 3.75 kg and 48cm tall baby boy, not a single complication not a hitch just in and out.

One thing I need to say is that Debbie is a real trooper and managed this so well and is one of the heroes in the tale, the other hero is God and the grace he has shown throughout this entire experience. We have had a truly amazing time latley just reflecting on his provision and guidance over the last year... We were looking at our local church directory today with just the two of us and who would have thought that a year later we would be a family of four!

So welcome to the world Caleb John Payne, we love you and are grateful for your unexpected yet precious arrival today.

Our little genius and sleeper

Well I guess that the title of this post says it all, Gabby is the smartest 11 month old I know!

Really this girl of ours really is smart, this week it seems as if she has made huge steps forward... In the things she does to the things she says. She really is picking up things fast, this week while I was brushing my teeth and holding her she looked at me with this strange face so I wondered what she would don't she has a tooth brush of her own... So I gave her one and she stuck it in her mouth! Ok so that was a fluke, but two days later I went into the bathroom and and holding her again gave her the toothbrush and she puts it in her mouth and starts moving it back and forth... Ok so maybe not genius material but a proud daddy moment and I love it!

I have realised that Gabby loves sleep! In the past week her sleeps have really become loooooong, I told Debbie this morning "like mother like daughter" Debbie Sent me this pic while I was at work the other day while she was out at the shops... Nothing will stop her from having a sleep : ) when I spike to Debbie she told me that she was sitting upright and started nodding off so she put her down and off she went to lala land.

One thing we have been discussing lately is how blessed we are and have been by having this little girl in our lives, we are truly thankful to God for opening up doors in such a way that we could be together. Things don't merely happen by accident but most certainly by devine direction, We love you Gabriella and are grateful we could be part of your precious life in this world.

Close now

WOW its been a while since anything new has been put up here... sorry for that if you are a loyal follower.

There has been so much happening lately, 3 weeks to go before Caleb arrives and our little girl hits her 1st birthday in a little over a month. life truly is good and I am so glad that God has seen fit to show so much grace upon us. Our lives at the moment are pretty calm (thanks to the fact that Gabby is an amazing baby) but we think that it will be getting a bit crazy soon... but that's ok. God has put us in this place and will give us the strength we need to get through the days ahead.

An update on how our girl is crowning so fast, she is standing all by herself and moving around the furniture like a trooper! I think she is really close to walking, however for the sake of Debbie we are hoping that she will hang on a bit until Caleb is a bit older. She has also made some huge jumps in her vocab, , Deb has really done a fantastic job spending time talking to her and it is paying off... her latest trick is to "Taa" for something. It really is funny when Debs sits down on the couch with any sort of food stuff no matter where Gabby may be she goes into overdrive and crawls at warp speed over to Debs, pulls herself up and proceeds with the following "taa, taa, taa, taa..."

One of the other things we have started doing is getting Gabby into the shower, with Debbie getting bigger has made bath time a bit of a nightmare. So I decided to shower with her to help out, its really funny the noises she makes! It took about a week for to get used to the fact that the water falling on her is actually fun : ) she has now gotten so comfortable she doesn't even want to be held, she just goes on the shower floor and just plays in the water. This little girl really is a trooper and game for anything, and we love it!

Another thing we have been doing more frequently is going for a run, it's been getting cold so have had to wrap up warmly. On this particular day as we came around the corner I saw two other runners ahead of us and I pretty sure I heard Gabby say "go get em dad!" not really but it was fun to push past them and see there faces... One day she will say that and enjoy there surprise with me : )

Now what do I say about Caleb? He is getting big! At one stage we went to the gynae and he was over two kilos and growing rapidly... at the last visit he had slowed down slightly and was just under a 3 kilos. We have another visit this week so we will have an update that I will post later this week.