What a difference 6 months makes!

Hamish is 6 months old today. Here he is on day 1:

And now:

Merry Christmas!

This carol sums up what I think is most important about Christmas. It's one of my favourites and a real cracker:

Hark the herald angels sing
"Glory to the newborn King!
Peace on earth and mercy mild
God and sinners reconciled
"Joyful, all ye nations rise
Join the triumph of the skies
With the angelic host proclaim:
"Christ is born in Bethlehem"
Hark! The herald angels sing
"Glory to the newborn King!"

Christ by highest heav'n adored
Christ the everlasting Lord!
Late in time behold Him come
Offspring of a Virgin's womb
Veiled in flesh the Godhead see
Hail the incarnate Deity
Pleased as man with man to dwell
Jesus, our Emmanuel
Hark! The herald angels sing
"Glory to the newborn King!"

Hail the heav'n-born Prince of Peace!
Hail the Son of Righteousness!
Light and life to all He brings
Ris'n with healing in His wings
Mild He lays His glory by
Born that man no more may die
Born to raise the sons of earth
Born to give them second birth
Hark! The herald angels sing
"Glory to the newborn King!"

Merry Christmas everyone!!

Today

Has it really been over a week since I last posted? Goodness me. I'm sitting here watching the carols on TV - cheesy but it does help to get me in the Christmas mood.

Today, a fuse blew at home so half the house was without power for most of the day. Adam fixed it when he got home, but it was really the last straw for me today - I gave up trying to get everything done and watched a few episodes of Jane Eyre instead. Such a good story, and much more enjoyable than running around getting organised. I've managed to get most things done in the end anyway.

Oscar ran inside this evening with a mouse in his mouth - eewww. He was sent back outside straight away. Poor mouse.

Hamish was really grizzly whenever I put him down for a sleep today - I ended up giving him panadol because he seemed more distressed than usual. It's the first time I've given him panadol and it seemed to work. Perhaps he had a headache - if I'd been crying as much as he had, I would probably have a sore head! Plus he did bump his head a few times today but that's not unusual.

We opened our Christmas pressies this evening (as we'll be leaving early in the morning) and Adam got me an excellent, thoughtful present - a massage chair insert thingo that plays music from my ipod at the same time as giving me a back massage. Does that make sense? It's called the MP3 Cush massage seat. I love it!

In Defence of the Welcoming Wife

A joke email that does the rounds every now and again lists guidelines from the 1950's for a wife to follow to welcome her husband home. A selection of the tips can be read here.

It's basically stuff like make sure you have a meal on the table when hubby gets home; tidy the house before he arrives; make sure you look nice, etc.

While some of the suggestions might be a little over the top, and I don't particularly like the inference in some of them that the husband's day is more important that the wife's, I've been thinking for some time that I agree with the basic principle - make your home a welcoming and relaxing place for your husband to come home to.

As I'm at home the most, I've got a lot of influence over the environment here - even when I've had a rotten day, I can choose to do a quick tidy up before 5pm, or leave the mess so he has to step over toys to get in the door. I can have a plan for dinner (however vague or basic) or I can leave it up to him to feed himself. Whichever choice I make has an impact, for good or bad, on his day and our home life.

I don't think there's anything wrong with a wife treating her husband as an important person at the end of the working day - in fact, I think it's a very good thing. I want Adam to look forward to coming home each evening. It's a highlight of my day - and it should be a highlight of his too!

Out of Control

I enjoyed this article by social commentator Hugh Mackay in the Saturday paper. He argues that a lot of society's stresses are created by a sense of things being out of control:

"The current obsession with control looks to me like a symptom of a deep unease in our society. The yearning for control is a cry for help. The most useful response to that cry is not to say, "Here's how to get your life under control" but to explain that the deepest sense of wellbeing springs not from mastery of our circumstances - let alone mastery of others - but from mastery of ourselves."

Lights Out

We've got some Christmas lights up around our house and in the yard. Adam enjoys putting them up each year, and has grand plans for a future where our house is covered in them.

This year, we've discovered solar lights - such a great idea! You get a string of sparkly lights connected to a small solar panel (instead of having to plug them into a socket). Adam put some up along the side fence, and to our dismay someone cut the line in 3 places on Saturday night.

He was able to fix them up so some lights still work, but it's really disappointing. Adam's opinion on it includes quite a few swear words.

In happier Christmas news, today I put up the nativity scene inside.

Having fun

Art vs Science

I've come to realise that caring for a baby is an art, not a science.

I've been getting very stressed about a plus b not equalling c. It's hard not to feel like a failure when you do everything you think you're meant to and the results aren't there - but then it's not about results really. A baby isn't a science experiment.

So what is it about? It's about growing a family, and sometimes, just about getting through the day. It's about taking two steps forward, one step back. It's about marvelling at this little person, made in God's image. It's about poo and spew and sleepless nights - desperately wishing they were over whilst not wanting to let go of the precious moments.

It's about the best of times and the worst of times - all rolled into one!

Rest

I feel relatively well-rested today, and it makes me realise how tired I have been the last couple of months, and the effect this tiredness has on me. Everything seems so much easier and life has more possibilities today - very different to how I usually feel at the moment!

Tomorrow I could be back to exhaustion again, so I'm not getting too excited - just enjoying it for the moment.

Jessica Rowe

Another story that caught my eye today was this one, about Jessica Rowe's post natal depression:

http://www.smh.com.au/news/lifeandstyle/people/jessica-rowes-scaryobessessive-ideas/2008/12/06/1228257377860.html

I was interested in her revelation that she had thoughts of harming her baby. I wonder how common this is - I've certainly had moments when thoughts like this have popped into my mind. I've never felt like acting on them at all - I've put them down to exhaustion and not worried. I guess if they were there all the time I'd be concerned.

I admire her for speaking out - the image the media and public figures normally give us of motherhood is far removed from the day to day reality.

Down Syndrome Screening

Stories like this one make me really angry: http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/test-all-for-down-urge-doctors/2008/12/06/1228257383143.html

I reckon the idea that babies with down syndrome are better off being terminated before birth is based on the following assumptions:

1. It's up to the parents to decide if a baby gets to be born (the rights of the baby don't seem to come into it); and
2. A person with down syndrome would be better off never having been born.

I sometimes wonder if people who advocate the termination of downs babies have ever met someone with the syndrome. Yes, it's a disability and it brings many challenges to both the person affected and their family, but it's not the end of the world! I've met plenty of people with down syndrome and on the whole they're no different to others in their enjoyment and experience of life.

It is a tragedy for someone to be conceived with downs syndrome - but terminating a pregnancy because of the condition is merely creating one tragedy in the hope of avoiding another.

Blue Steel

I tried to take some studio style photos of Hamish today. It's fair to say it was a bit of a disaster but some of the photos are funny.

The last one there is of him practising the 'praying mantis' - getting up on all fours and rocking - a prelude to crawling.