Car seats mastered

Sunday 16th July
Today Daddy is shifting some gear over to our new house at Waitahuna, so we're going along for the ride too. Thank goodness the adults have mastered how to get us belted into these jolly car seats comfortably now.

Our first family portrait

Take 1.....
Take 2.....
Take 3.....
Take 8.....












Nana Anderson stayed with us for our first two weeks at home to help Mum and Dad out. Before she left for her overseas trip, Nana had one more job to do - simple: just take a photo of the four of us! HA - poor Nana. Every time she clicked the camera, one of us wasn't looking. It's just as well that Mum and Dad have a digital camera as Nana had to take lots of photos to finally get one with us all looking straight ahead (well, as close as we could get).

More O'Connell boys

Our Invercargill cousins, (Shamus, Anton & Tazman O'Connell) came to visit us when we were three weeks old. They enjoyed holding us, playing with us and watching daddy bath us.

There sure are alot of boys in the O'Connell family now! We have 6 boy cousins and only 1 girl cousin (that's 8 of us grandsons and one granddaughter for Nana and Pop to keep up with).

Hey Big Ted

We have been really spoilt by lots of people. One of our gifts was a basket which included these two teddies. Mum thought it was a good idea to get a photo of us with the teddies just to remember how small we once were.
PS - The teddies aren't that big!

Tuckered out

Sam - That's me, pushing out a few zzzzz's before my bath. Mummy thought I looked ever so cute and wasn't in a great hurry to undress me for my bath as I really do not like being naked! Once I'm in the bath things aren't quite so bad, but I really do protest before and afterwards when the adults seem to take soooo long to undress and re-dress me. I wish they'd speed things up a bit.

Bouncing baby boys

Three weeks old today and trying out one of the bouncinettes for size.

Big boys clothes

Finally we get to wear real clothes!!! Aunty Anita sent us these gorgeous outfits from Melbourne. We are getting as much wear out of them now as we can, because Mummy says that we're growing so fast it won't be long before we are too big for them.

(Jacob in green, Sam in red)

SPEIGHTS!!!!!!!

Sam - Yes, Dad has me in training rather early doesn't he!!! He wants to make sure I can recognise the Speights label when I'm older (as if I'm likely to avoid seeing it in the future!!!!)

Mum and her boys

Just like Dad, our mum is very proud of us and loves any chance she gets to show us off to EVERYONE! We are getting used to cuddles from lots of different people.

All Blacks of the future

Well here we are being fitted out for our first lot of All Black training gear. It may be a while before it all fits, but we're getting used to the colour, styles and fabrics so that we're ready for the 'call-up' to play when needed.

Nana O'Connell helps out

Mum was very lucky as Nana O'Connell came to help her out while we were still in Clutha Health First. She gave us lots of cuddles, bathed us and got to be a champ at putting on the 'no-pin' cloth nappies.

Tricky car seats

After 3 days in Queen Mary (Dunedin), Mum was ready to get closer to home, so Dad and Nana O'Connell came and picked us all up and we headed for Clutha Health First (Balclutha).

Jacob - I'm the little fellow in blue and as you can see from the photos, I was the guinea pig for working out how to restrain us safely in these jolly car seats. Dad and one of the nurses thought they had it sussed, but OH NO. If you look closely you can see that my legs are all pulled up and the straps are around my shins instead of at the top of my legs!!!! This gave everyone a good laugh. I was very good about it all though and didn't protest.

Sam - By the time they got to strapping me in they had things well sorted. I definitely look more comfortable than Jake.

Our first bath

We were 3 days old when we had our first bath. We were bathed before leaving Queen Mary for Clutha Maternity.
Nana Anderson bathed Jake and Bronwyn (one of the nurses) bathed Sam.


Jacob - That's me letting out a big bellow in the bath, but then I realised it wasn't all that bad.


Sam - It was pretty cool sharing a bath - not that we will be able to do that for much longer.

Jacob Matthew meets Uncle Matt

Jacob - I got to meet my special uncle who I am named after when I was only one day old. Here I am keeping one eye on him. I do wonder if I will ever grow up to be as big as him! I'm sure he thinks I'm pretty cute as he couldn't stop looking at me (and Sam too). Sam got big cuddles from Uncle Matt after me.

Silly old daddy still thinks that Matthew is spelt with one t so luckily mum filled out the birth registration and certificate details!

Dad and his lads

Check out the grin on our proud dad's face!

Snug as a bug

We are quite used to sharing space, and right from the beginning have enjoyed sleeping side-by-side. Quite often one of us opens an eye just to check that our bedmate is there. Even if one of us is protesting loudly, (or sticking their fingers in their brother's face) the other one does not wake up.

Meeting Nana & Grandad

Sam - As you can imagine, Nana and Grandad Anderson from Luggate were very keen to meet us. Here are some photos of them holding me when I was only one hour old. As you can see they are both very smitten with me - I think there is even a tear in Grandad's eye!!!

Our birthday - June 23rd

Hello world!!!
After 37 weeks growing in mummy's tummy we decided that we'd had enough and it was time to meet you all.
(Well actually Jacob was keen to enter the big wide world, but Sam was in no hurry).
NO - we are not identical.
YES - we are adorable!

Jacob - After a rushed trip to Dunedin (Daddy did drive quite fast - secretly I think he was hoping to be pulled over by a police officer so that he could say that Mummy was in labour and get away with speeding), I am proud to say that I was the first to arrive. I was born at 10.06am on June 23rd 2006, weighing 5lb 10oz.

Sam - I wasn't really that keen on leaving my comfy surroundings, despite the medical team trying to persuade me by pushing me down into a good position. Then when my heart rate dropped suddenly, everyone got a big fright and quickly took my mum into theatre and performed a caesarean so that I was born safely. I finally arrived at 10.59am on June 23rd 2006, weighing 61b 20z (I might be the younger brother, but I am the bigger brother!!!)