There are fires everywhere around Central Australia at the moment.  It’s so bad that the sky has gone all grey from the smoke.  It’s pretty awful and I have a sore throat for a week.  There is one burning close to our house too.  It’s a bit scary although driving home from work at night and seeing a fire burning up a mountain is pretty cool.  Keith and the neighbours have spent the last few days out fighting them as we can’t seem to get any interest from the fire services who keep saying that it is someone elses responsibilities.  I  am hoping we won’t have to evacuate but  you never know.

Nina made me very happy today. We were listening to a bit Trace together and having a bit of a dance and during the bit in “talkin about a revolution” that goes, “don’t you know you better run, run, run, run, run, run, run, run,” Nina started singing along. I have to say her runs sounded more like “uns” but it was pretty close. She’s definitely mummy’s girl today.

I watched Q&A last night. It had been awhile. It’s the kind of show that you really need a break from. The political spin over and over can get pretty exhausting. Not to mention I have been trying to get to bed at around 10pm But last night’s show was predominantly about religion which I’m interested in and I was trying to organise some photos on out computer so I thought I’d give it a watch. I was nervous that it was going to be terrible, that there would be a whole bunch of Chritians saying bigoted and embarassing things. There was some of that but a lot less than I thought and the representative atheist said some pretty bigoted things of her own to even it out. Surprisingly, I found myself agreeing with almost everything Kristeena Keneally said. I wouldn’t have called myself a huge fan when she was the NSW Premier but last night she was great. Good Christian arguments in support of asylum seekers, gay marriage as well as religion’s role in politics.

Nina seems to have a worked a lot of important things out. When you say “hi five” she puts her hands up for hi five; when you say clapping she claps; when you say boo she covers her face (well not much but she tries) and says boo and my favourite is when you say kisses she leans in for a little kiss. I think she also understands “uh uh” but has also learned to ignore it. When we say it she stops what she is doing eg, pulling DVD’s off the shelf, looks at us, gives a cheeky grin and then keeps going. It is extraordinary how quickly they learn.

A new phrase she has added to her vocabularly of mum, dad and nanna is “oh dear”. This addition has me worried about how often I must say that. She can also say “oh oh oh” which she does on cue every time Beyonce’s “all the single ladies” starts playing. Martin is appalled that teh first song she learned to sing along to is Beyonce but it’s pretty cute.

This blog really needs some love. I have logged on a few times thinking maybe inspiration will come but nothing comes to me so I log out again.

I think I’m a bit void of inspiration in life in general. I realised it’s probably mostly due to the fact I don’t really get enough quiet time these days for any spiritual input eg reading the Bible or other books on spirituality, prayer and meditation, writing and journaling. With that realisation after we put Nina down to bed last night I walked down to the river sat and read for awhile and tried to meditate a little. It wasn’t long before it got too dark and cold but it was something and I feel infinitely better. I just have to try to do it more often. But the pressures of life and tiredness are not easy to overcome.

Anyway, I am thinking about grace. Not really fully able to articulate the thoughts fully of yet but I really am grateul for all the grace I receieve in my life. I need to give it more. The world needs more of it too.

I am pretty excited about my blog’s new look. It is much more me I reckon. Mostly done by Ryan as usual so big thanks to him.

Anyway, the thing I am most excited about is that I can now put photos on my blog. To get started I thought I’d put a recent one of our little trip to the beautiful Litchfield National Park in the Top End and one of my gorgeous girl on her new toy

Nina is not a very happy little one at the moment. I guess you can never fully know but I am pretty sur she is teeting, there is lots of drooling and a slightly funny smell in her mouth which the good old internet assures me is normal for teething babies. She also doesn’t want to eat very much at all especially anything that is a little bit acidy. For example she usually loves strawberries and pears but now she cries whenever they go into her mouth. I guess it stings. Anyway, it’s pretty tiring as she’s not sleeping that well. She seems to wake every hour or two and whimpers for awhile. It’s pretty sad to listen to. We go and sit with her but there doesn’t seem to be much else we can do. We gave her some pandol for the first time the other night as she just wouldn’t settle at all.

Thankfully when she is not eating or sleeping she seems to be able to distract herself from it by exploring everything. Her favourite game is picking somthing up and giving it to you. Then you say thank you and give it back. We are very excited because now when we sing, “if you’re happy and you know clap our hands” she claps her hands. Not always in the right spot but getting there. She also has one of those toys in which you put the rings on the pole. She learned to take them off pretty quickly but recently she has learned to put them on. Funny the things you get excited about these days.

I heard a statistic on the radio the other day that said 52% of Christians are not anti gay marriage. I don’t have any statistics but I think that is probably about the same as the general population. While I would like to think that Christians would be less judgemental than the average population and more supoortive of marginalised communities and people entering long term committed relationships I thought at least that is better than all the horrendous comments made by Chritsians at last weeks rallies in Canberra.

I’m exhausted! The last 10 days have been pretty huge for me. It started on Tuesday night. Martin left for Darwin at 5pm. I was at work as I always am on Tuesday night and knocked off at 9pm. I was tired and hoping Nina would have a good night as I was going to have to get up to her the next day as Martin was away. She didn’t. She was up at three times and then wanted to get up at 5.40. I brought her in to bed with me to try to sleep some more but was up not long after 6 none the less.

I left Nina with Ryan and Libby at 8am and went to work. I came home at 12.30 to spend the arvo with her and then back to work til 9pm again. On my way home my doula client called to tell me she was in labour. So I went home had some dinner and a shower and at 11pm after an hour nap went to the hospital to be with her. At 6.20am on Thursday morning she gave birth. Another totally awe inspiring experience that I felt so blessed to be a part of but I could barely keep my eyes open. Lucky the amazing Libby and Ryan who had already spent the night with Nina agreed to look after her till 10am so I could get a little nap.

That night I did manage to get a much need 11 hours sleep although there was three wakes up in between. Then off to Darwin to meet Martin for the wedding. Martin wasn’t really able to help much though as he was the best man so Nina and I were on our own. It was a pretty nice wedding though and we had a lovely room looking over the water in Darwin.

On Saturday we headed down to Litchfield National Park. We were lucky enough to have some friends who live their as he works as the ranger. They have a little boy who is one month older than Nina and pretty gorgeous. It was fun watching him and Nina suss each other out. It was also a beautiful place to visit with it’s amazing crystal clear water and waterfalls. Although it is hard to get crocs out of your head. Also, impossible to get a much needed sleep in with two babies around.

Back to Alice on Monday evening and then back to work on Tuesday morning with an 8am start and 9pm finish on both Tues and Wed. Thursday was just 8.20 to 12.20 but then today was 8.20 to 4.30. Thankfully, it hasn’t been a bad week at work. The teacher I work with has a very different philosophy about teaching to me which can make it pretty heavy going but I get along pretty well with the students.

Anyway, it’s good to be home tonight and I am planning to go to bed now and sleep all weekend. Well as much as Nina will allow.