Nearly Two

It's hard to believe that my little man three is about to turn two. He is an amazing little fellow but so much more fiesty than Thomas. James has been throwing tantrums since he turned one and it's been quite a trying time for us.

However, what he takes from our sanity is returned in more than equal measure by the love and affection he shows us. At least that's my point of view.

He's not as articulate as Thomas 'Stephen Hawkings' Sherlock-Hemming but he is certainly more dextrous.

At the end of the week I am off with Jimmy Jams to visit Poppa and Granny. This will be my first trip away with James. I think it will be a challenge!

Today, again, I had a thought about the middle one who could not be with us. Gabriel, I'm so sorry you're not here - but for all our frailties and shortcomings, I hope you're watching over us with love.

It crawls

Little unit 3 has gone mobile. It was Mother's Day when he took his first few little crawly motions, but today, he's not really crawling fluently but he is certainly well on his way.

Good work little James! Now let's get you sleeping occasionally, huh?

4.7 Months Later

My little baby James is not 4-and-some months old. Just in the last couple of days he has learned to hold himself up and can now move towards things. I hesitate to call it crawling but it won't be long before we can no longer expect that where we put James down is where we will find him.

It has been challenge so far - the reality is he's probably not so different from Thomas, but I've found it difficult.

That feeling readily melts when I get one of the few genuine smiles I receive every day - from my little Baby James. He will be grown up before I know it.

A little update

These little creatures really can be quite frail. Not long after I signed off last night my lu3 picked up some ailment. It was serious enough that he was taken to the Child Care unit and put in the little kiddy sauna. It's amazing (again) how quickly little beings can turn. It was a matter of ninety minutes or so. Similarly amazing, though, is how quickly they can bounce back. He looked a lot better this morning when his crib photo was taken and better again this afternoon when I dropped down to the unit again.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=73001&id=593779477&saved

Hopefully he won't be in there too soon but I trust you'll agree he isn't the ugliest little infant you've seen ;)

So James-in-a-box. Keep plugging away, my littlest man. We'll have you in arms soon enough. It's where you belong.

The power of a woman (a child is born)

Tonight, we welcomed into the world our beautiful son James. He's here, he's safe, and right now, he sleeping. It won't be that way for long so Libby's also making the most of it. She's out cold, too.

That leaves me.

I'm sitting here in Room 9 at Calvary Private. It's a huge room, and apart from the gentle heaving of Libby's breath as she sleeps, and the even gentler version that is James', it's silent. And that gives me time to sit on the couch and reflect on what happened today.

What happened to today was noting short of amazing. When my wife said to me, not fifteen minutes ago, "Thank you for being there today", I had to return by saying "Thank you for spending ten months of your life bringing me a son".

There is nothing pleasant about bearing a child. Nothing at all. Every book you read about birth wraps it in some beautiful, life changing experience. It's all bullshit.

It's long, incredibly painful and in some cases can be a compromise to your dignity. It amazes me how a person could rationally answer in the positive this question:

Would you like spend nine months of your life getting ever fatter, giving up pretty much everything you like to eat, see or do, then spend half a day compacting your insides into the size a tennis ball and back 30 times an hour, only to finally punch a watermelon through a hole the size of a lemon?

For us, I think I worked it out. It's love. Love brought us here. Love sometimes throws reason to the wind and makes rational the irrational. I have love to thank for the journey I have taken so far with Lib. And I will have love to thank for the journey that will continue now with James.

I hope I make the most of that journey. Not only for me but for those I love most: my wife Libby, my beautiful son Thomas, and our brand new traveller, James.

A new course starts today. G'day little fella.

Dinner

As Libby comes to the end of her pregnancy, she's tired. My dear friend Rebecca (Thomas: "Love Bec... Love BEC") was nice enough to visit on the way through to Melbourne on Friday. We (all three or us) were pretty confident that the day was coming, if not that day. Well, it didn't, but it is close.

Today I spent the morning taking Thomas and the dog for walk. It took twenty minutes to get to the end of the cul-de-sac and I was beginning to think this was a very bad idea, but everything suddenly became warmer and Thomas, Banshee and me had a great time at McDonald then off to the big park, then the little park before we came back home.

Tonight we went to Dinner - Libby, Thomas, and me - and had a great time at Zefirelli's which has recently reopened after fire damage. We're now having a short break from the movie we hired to settle Tom to sleep. We hired "Hancock" and so far it's been really good.

So not much really to report on the LU3. It's coming, it's starting to make it's moves, but it's not quite there yet.

We'll keep you posted.

Maternity Leave

Libby gave up on work. Went there on Friday and just packed it up. So that must mean that the time will soon come where we welcome this little person into our lives. The obstetrician says everything is fine and if it turns up anytime now everything should be just grand.

I've given work the heads up that I'll be taking time off soon to bond - it's pretty busy right now despite all the upheaval going on there.

I feel a little bit guilty - the Thomas blog was far more involved and intricate. I hope this next one doesn't feel unloved because of it.