blog of dodd

spike in leaves

2007-11-27T09:23:00.003+11:00

spike in leaves, originally uploaded by Kelly and Jim.

st michaels mount

2007-11-27T09:23:00.001+11:00

st michaels mount, originally uploaded by Kelly and Jim.

Greece

2007-10-18T04:20:00.001+10:00

There are to be some quite sizeable additions to the blog in due course (once the machinery stops crashing whilst uploading snaps.)

In the meantime, three pics from Greece got through to get you started ... as you can see, the little nugget has grown enough of a fatsuit to handle the ocean water, and was loving it by the time we left. Splash Fatboy Splash!

Blakedown

2007-07-28T22:27:00.000+10:00

A long awaited reunion for Jim and his parents. Mary and Ken meet their Grandson for the first time. It was a long journey of about 30 hours but we had a warm welcome . Spike seems very happy with his British relatives and was ready for lots of cuddles. A man on our plane commented that Spike will have a good career ahead as an opera singer and commended him on his powerful voice box.
Peace baby. Hippy child Spike Montgomery Dodd spreading the love.

Spike having a fantastic day in Mary and Ken's garden. He couldnt take his eyes off his entertaining cousin Jack. I cannot believe how green the grass is. It feels so soft and spongy, like carpet. We saw a woodpecker in the garden, but I am still waiting to catch a glimpse of the mole. I am hoping to see a hedgehog. Did you know that a baby hedgehog is called a spikelet? How sweet. I think I must have given birth to one of those!

Yes it's poking through. About 2 days after arriving in England, Spike's first tooth has emerged. No wonder he was so upset on the plane. I thought he hadn't been sleeping well on account of the long daylight hours in the English summer. But the poor little child must have been suffering. So now he has the appropriate equipment, we might take him down the pub for a T-bone.

Brunswick

2007-07-21T22:23:00.000+10:00

Outside the flat in the lovely Brunswick Heads. When Spike is smiling... I am smiling.Happy family on the beautiful Brunswick beach at sunset.

Spike child

2007-05-05T14:34:00.000+10:00

He seems to have been growing a fair bit since we last blinked. As a result he's now looking like this...

Down by the river, Tracey manages to get his biggest smile ever recorded on camera!

and the full extent of that shot in the pub, now clearly dwarfing the beer!

Here's a couple of photos from a month or so back. With the lovely Mali and then soundly asleep in his basinet.

Bath or shower time is always a winner. First he became obsessed with his hands...

Now it is his feet...

Shape of things to come???

But before all of that, he has to get used to the cold salty water. I say cold, though it's 23 degrees here in Northern NSW, so it's hardly cold for a wanna be surfer like his Dad, but it's also a fairly different experience to the 30+ degrees of the bath.

After a couple of false starts, here he is clearly enjoying himself (well he is not crying) up to his waist in the calm water of the river. Whilst he started the experience with a few sharp intakes of breath he soon forgot about the temperature as he became fascinated with splashing, an activity he seems to take very seriously!

But the good times don't last forever, and the tears come back. On this occasion, Kelly's mother Valerie came to the rescue, while we popped back in the ocean for a rare swim together!

Change of scenery

2007-04-20T19:32:00.000+10:00

Well time certainly flies and it seems that we have been living in Sydney for ages now... (9 years for Jimmy and 7 years for Kelly in her most recent stint.) So that seems like enough of a reason for a change as anything else. So we did!

Packing up was a mamouth job as usual. Not aided much by my desire to sell off anything and everything that I hadn't used in the last tweleve months. Still, that's all done now, and I have a ebay feedback rating of 42 as a result!

And this is what the flat looked like on the eve of our departure...

And this is the life we swapped it for! Three cheers for Brunswick Heads!!

Little gold dude

2007-03-05T14:58:00.000+11:00

It is interesting that more significant career events have happened to me whilst not working than ever happened while working. Good old George was happy to come back to animal for an afternooon and pass around the little gold dude they call Oscar. It seems you get a golden handshake after only 3 and a half years these days.

Christmas 2006

2007-02-07T17:25:00.001+11:00

It didn't occur to me until my Dad mentioned it last night that I haven't shared many pictures of Spike since he was born. Sorry about that! I guess that's just because I've been too busy spending time in his pleasurable company. Also, I haven't actually been taking that many photos of him (which is a complete amazement to those that are familiar with my happy snapping) but this is only at the expense of tonnes of video. He's such a wriggly little chap that a mere still image cannot contain him!

Some of that video I may share later, but for now, here's some of those snaps...

Passport photos

2007-02-04T20:15:00.000+11:00

Today we had a mission trying to get a photo of Spike that they would accept for his passport. The criteria was for his face to be looking straight at camera, not at an angle, with both eyes open, mouth closed and being able to see an equal amount of each ear. Needless to say, this was a near impossible task that took 100 photos to get right. All of the pics below failed the test.

This one, however, they accepted...

Surf Check 3!

2007-01-26T21:11:00.000+11:00

A typical day for Jim up in Brunswick Heads goes a little something like this...

Gibo and Alex's Surf checks 1 and 2 are now online too. Check them out here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2aLGKei4Zuo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=245HS8XAVc4

Spike pulling faces

2006-12-20T08:56:00.000+11:00

More photos

2006-12-08T16:18:00.000+11:00

New Arrival

2006-12-04T17:00:00.000+11:00

Et Voila!!!

The saga of Kelly's pregancy is finally over, and the result is a 3 kilo bub called Spike, born on the 4th December, 5pm Aussie time. He is tops.
And has quite a head of hair too!!

We've finally managed to get out of the hospital (and it's associated interuptions) and are back home trying to get Kelly some well earned R&R.

What a trouper.

Due Date

2006-11-25T12:00:00.000+11:00

No labour signs yet, so a lovely day at the beach was had; hopping across the rocks and ducking under waves.

Kelly is looking terrific! It seems as natural as anything for her to be this shape now and she carrys it remarkably well. Despite her extra 15 kilos and weighing the same as me now, she is often found to have more stamina than I have... ahem.

Jazushi

2006-11-22T09:04:00.000+11:00

Well this is what they say you should do a lot of before having a baby, and great fun it was too. Last night Mali accompanied us to this sweet little restaurant in Surry Hills that combines the delights of live jazz music with japanese tapas style dining. Dont let the introductory popcorn put you off either, the food here is excellent. Cheers to Amita and Magali for footing the bill!

Fully cooked

2006-11-20T09:20:00.000+11:00

double click on this image to see a gif animation of kelly's belly at 37 weeks.

Third best friend

2006-11-17T19:33:00.000+11:00

Today I joined the 7s club with the purchase of this sexy two tone 6 foot fish.

Damn, why didn't I get this five years earlier? I could have actually raised my game and enjoyed the surf rather than practicing falling off and holding my breath. Still, like most things in life I guess, it's never too late to make good choices. And this is one fine choice indeed.

Maybe, just maybe, it also has the capacity to reduce my child to be's future shame of his pop and allow me to stay on the same beach as him/her.

If Im not Taj Burrows within a week I'll want my money back.

First Wedding Anniversary

2006-11-05T22:00:00.000+11:00

Our first wedding anniversary was supposed to be spent doing some fine dining at Tetsuyas legindary restaurant, but seeing as Kelly isn't 100% back into her food yet, and the delights of raw fish are off limits, we decided to postpone that delight until early next year.

Relatively speakinng, however, she has been feeling much better of late, so we did manage to head up to the trusty Vanguard in Newtown to see an excellent live band called Circle of Rhythm.

Gong Ride

2006-11-05T11:33:00.000+11:00

Fate decided that I should start our wedding anniversary celebrations with a 90 kilometre bike ride as this was the date of the Sydney to Woolongong annual bike ride which I've been wanting to do for ages.

This year it was back better than ever now that the coast road was finally reopened to allow the ride to pass smoothly through the Royal National Park. Seeing as I was busy being distracted with baby preperations, surfing and doing all sorts of other fun stuff, I only managed 2 training rides.

Fortunately one of these rides was with Nigel, a friend from work, whose bang into cycling and generally knowing a lot about what he's into. He taught me alsorts of really interesting and useful info about endurance such as being diligent not to overexert yourself and be very careful to refuel regularly along the way. Did you know that your body requires 500ml of water every hour, and 30g of carbohydrate every half an hour in order to sustain consistent excercise?

Well, I didn't until I was sitting exhausted on the train back from this ride after only half listening to this sound advice.

Would be great to take Trogdor sometime, as its a really family event with all sorts of interesting characters on tandems or pulling various members of their family up the hills. For more info check out this link...

http://www.gongride.org.au/

Here's a happy snappy of the view from stanwell tops at the top of the most major climb.

Trogdor goes to Brunswick

2006-10-25T10:42:00.000+10:00

A wonderful week was had in Brunswick. The tinnie is fantastic. Below is Jim's debut fishing trip with master fishermen Pat and Geoff. Pat got a whopper whiting, Geoff got a little lucky with a little fish. Jim's first fish was a baby flounder who got a quick kiss before going back in the river. The next day we ventured further up river to Mullumbimby with Tara and Rupert.

Sunset on our favourite bridge.

A rare moment of laughing during my pregnancy! There's nothing funny about being pregnant.

The Book of Kells

2006-08-27T21:06:00.000+10:00

can you tell what it is yet?

Neilson Park

2006-08-13T18:51:00.000+10:00

Looks like Jim has his hands full of baby here. A perfect day at Neilson Park. Sydney Harbour is just stunning. We were, however, upset to discover our favourite tree right next to the sand has had an extreme make over. Many of its beautiful extending branches have been cut off. We used to hang the hammock in this happily accomodating tree, but now we have to join the commoners and picnic on the grass. It is still a gorgeous place to spend a sunny arvo.

More Good times in Brunswick Heads

2006-07-24T00:13:00.000+10:00

A very surly sky over Brunswick today. Jim managed to run along the beach from Bruns all the way to Byron without the rain getting him. However it was not to be a completely dry run. It was high tide so Belongil Creek was up to chest height. Then further along the beach the tide had come up to the breaker and Jim had to swim out into the surf and do a bit of ducking and diving. He managed not to be dashed against the rocks and is ready now to take on Heart Break Hill in the City to Surf.

20 week scan

2006-07-18T00:04:00.000+10:00

Half way there. It is amazing to be able to see our shapely baby dragon. My sister thinks he looks like a ghoul in this skeletor portrait. I'm sure he will flesh out a bit over the next few months. Our baby has some lovely bones and a great kicking leg.

O'Meara Clan

2006-07-13T15:38:00.000+10:00

It was a special evening with the family. We had a huge meal at a lovely restaurant at The Pocket. It felt like we were in the middle of a rainforest. Mum and I sat cosy with the fireplace warming our backs. Lisa also had her back warmed by meaty leftovers as the waitress bit off more than she could chew and dropped some plates. I'm still trying to digest those lamb shanks.

Kelly's Work

2006-06-28T22:39:00.000+10:00

Well it's been a difficult job so far but at last I'm growing some hips and womanly bumps and bits. Sadly I've had to replace the kung fu and pole dancing classes with pre natal yoga and physiotherapy sessions. Not so much fun. During meditation I have to free my mind of the urge to let loose with a roundhouse to the yoga teacher.

Jim's work

2006-06-11T21:43:00.000+10:00

Jim takes his work very seriously. Preparation for a day at the office is very demanding. I can now see why so much overtime is required...and where my hairspray is going.

Baby Dodd (Trogdor the Burninator)

2006-05-17T21:20:00.000+10:00

J - Here's a couple of pictures from the 12 week scan. We were a little nervous going into this seeing as Kelly has had such a bad ride during the pregnancy so far. As her 'morning' sickness was so extreme, we were a little concerned as to what else might be so unusual. However, we were very pleased to realise that everything was okay. So we sat back and rejoyced in the pixels. Quite surprised to see so much movement at such an early stage - his arms and legs were flying everywhere. It was a wonderful day (as everyone had foretold) not least because it was the first time we could actually forget about the traumas of the all day sickness and jump up and down because we will soon be allowed to act like kids again all day long!!

J - The working title of this baby project thing is Trogdor. S/he named himself pretty quickly since he was giving Kelly so much grief in the vomit inducing department. As such the only sensible name for such a beast was trogdor. Half man, half dragon. Burninating the placenta...

check this link for the backstory:

http://www.homestarrunner.com/sbemail58.html

Honeymoon in Japan

2006-03-01T21:06:00.000+11:00

Elvis Lives.... in multiples in Yoyogi Park.

Jim on the lovely bridge in Takyama.

Vendor machines are everywhere and deliver instant hot drinks. Pop the can in your pocket to keep your hands warm.

Kelly on the bridge in Takyama.

More crazy sites in Yoyogi Park.

Teenage girls love to dress up and pose on the bridge at Hirajuku.

I love this sign on the trains warning passengers not to get caught in the closing doors.

Even the animals must be looking good in Tokyo.

Our Home

2005-07-08T21:08:00.000+10:00

Jim and I have nearly been in our lovely flat a year now. It's so sunny and just a quick stroll to the beach. We are really enjoying the Coogee lifestyle.

Northern Territory Creatures

2004-06-27T21:44:00.000+10:00

The Northern Territory is so exciting I could barely keep my teeth in. Witchety grub tastes vey nutty and is full of protein. I also ate heaps of orange and green ants which are citris flavourd and high in vitamin C. Locals eat them when they have a cold.

You just can't keep Jim out of the water! He was very keen to meet the toothy inhabitants of this billabong in the northern territory.

I love this little visitor. He popped into our tent early one morning at Edith Falls. He actually jumped onto us looking for some body heat. He is so beautiful and friendly.