It’s been forty degrees or over for the last three days and more of the same predicted for the rest of the week so it’s hot hot, hot.

Ryan and Libby have arrived and I am very happy to see them. Marilyn and the girls have also returned from Adelaide so things will be a bit more lively around here.

Nina’s sleep training is going pretty well. Heated up a little too. Basically now she has no more dummies or singing she has to learn to fall asleep by herself (and around 7pm). We just sit beside her until she falls asleep. I thought it was going to be horrendous but it hasn’t been really. She usually wines a little for about 10 mins (which she did anyway if we bounced her to sleep maybe even longer) and then falls asleep. She also only gets one night time feed now and she has to stay in her cot until 6 in the morning. Again I thought it was going to awful but on both nights she has woken twice. The first time she got her feed and the second I just got up and rewrapped her and sat with her and she fell back asleep within five minutes. She’s woken at about 5.45 but just played in her cot until we get her up at 6. Napping has been a little harder. We decided she has to have three naps a day for at least 1 hour and half. She usually goes down pretty easily, again 5-10 mins of wining but then wakes about 50 mins later. Then I go and sit with her but unfortunately it takes about 30 mins of wining before she falls to sleep again. I do still pick her up for a hug if she gets very upset but thankfully that’s rare. It wasn’t an easy decision to make we really had tried to not have to do anything like this but we have reached my limit. We have also become convinced that she really needs to sleep more for her own good (and ours). She doesn’t love this but we have done it as gently and gradually as we can and as said she has actually gone okay and we are all happier when we are awake for it. We also figure that over Nina’s lifetime there will be many times when we are going to have to make her do things she doesn’t like eg eat veges instead of chocolate or go to school, it will never be easy I assume but we are all going to have to get used to it.

In other ways she is going well too. She laughs and rolls and swims and plays with toys. She is fascinating to watch. She has a fancy new pram which she seems to like and I absolutely love as does my back.

I start teaching again next week and yesterday I went in to meet with the guy who will be working with me. I have enjoyed thinking about thing apart from Nina. I just hope that the late night won’t be too heavy going.

I think that’s about it.

And it is the mot beautiful sound I have ever heard.

Iwatched the sun rise this morning. It really was rather pleasant watching the day dawn and the colours change and listening to the world wake up. Obviously our sleep plan didn’t go so well last night.

I am going to review all the books that I read again this year. I did that in 2009 but not last year as I was bit preoccupied with other things.

The first book of 2011 is the Book thief. It was brilliant. Set in Nazi Germany, it’s a story about a young girl who steals books amongst other things. What is unique about it though is that it is narrated by death. When I was first told that I thought it would be a bit weird, I didn’t think I’d like it but it was done so well, it was fascinating. It’s a story about death and suffering, about compassion, about books and words and their power. It’s a sad story but doesn’t knock you down completely, there is something uplifting in it. It made me feel grateful for life and drew me to mindfulness, this quote especially,

People observe the colours of the day only at its beginnings and its ends, but to me it’s quite clear that a day merges through a multitude of shades and intonations, which each passing moment. A single hour can consist of thousands of different colours. Waxy yellows, cloud-spat blues. Murky darkness. In my line of work, I make a point to notice them.

I used to think that we had come a long way in our treatment and understanding of people with a mental illness but today I am not so sure. I was visiting a friend this afternoon in the mental health ward at Alice Springs hospital. On the door it says that all patients, staff and visitors must be treated with dignity and respect however it seems a few of the staff members have failed to read the sign. My friend is being treated with complete disregard for her dignity. She was dragged into a locked ward, and she has the bruises to prove it, because she got a little angry because she was being patronised and treated like a child. Now, they have drugged her up so much with medications (for an illness that she doesn’t even have) that she can’t think or even speak properly. I was reminded of a poem that another friend wrote about how people with mental illness are not allowed to experience the normal human emotions. If they are sad, they are depressed, if they are angry, they might get violent, if they are confused they are psychotic. It’s not fair. My friend has truly suffered enough and she has come out the most gentle and kind person yet she is being treated as if she is a danger.

Woke up at ten to six to a crying baby. Gave her a feed in bed and got up at about 6 to change her. Then I tried to do a few things while Nina sat in her bouncer. At 6.15 Martin got up so I went back to bed for an hour. He woke me up at 7.15 with some coffee from the awesome coffee machine and toast. He left and 8.00 and then it was Nina and I. She played on her tummy for a bit, kicked on the mat with her nappy of off, put all her toys in her mouth and had a short nap. I tried to start planning some of my classes. I actually did get a little bit done but not much.

At 10.00 I drove Malley and the kids to the airport. They are off to Adelaide for a week so things will be a bit quiet around here. We then went to the pool shop, got the water tested and did some chores in town, each time getting her in and out of the car. Back in time for lunch and another short nap for Nina. Spent the afternoon bouncing Nina, feeding Nina, changing Nina while watching movies.

Martin came home about six. We cleaned the pool, bathed and massaged Nina, cooked dinner and finally managed to settle her at 8.30. We ate dinner, I quickly checked my emails, wrote this post. Now I am going to have a shower myself and go to bed.

Being new parents is exhausting.

I have decided that my New Year’s resolution is to be more mindful. That is to be more aware of what I am doing rather than just being on automatic pilot all the time. I want to be more in the present moment and to be grateful. With a new born baby it is hard to find time for long quiet times with God or reading the Bible etc so one must be more aware of God in everything. To change Nina’s nappy in worship or to hang out the washing or rock her to sleep in constant gratitude. Nina is a person who lives in the present. Who is curious about everything around her so she is a good companion for this journey.

Today I am very grateful for 10 hours sleep with only one wake up. What a baby I have.

Usually at this time of year I do a bit of a summary of the year that was (I didn’t last year as I was too sick to get to the blog). I think there is really only one thing to say about 2010 for me. Nina! Last night Martin and I actually tried to think of things that happened last year that weren’t related to her. A few lame things were mentioned (not really worth mentioning again) but for me pretty much everything her. So 2010 was the year that Nina came into our world. I carried her in my stomach for 9 months and she made me sick and uncomfortable and that was before the journey of trying to get her out but she is all worth it. Getting to know her this year has been such a joy over the last 4 months, even if it’s exhausting.

In fact so exhausting that last night was the first New Year’s Eve that I can remember actually being in bed before midnight. Martin and I got some yummy take away from the noodle box, had a candlelit dinner and reflected on the year (Nina kindly went to sleep early enough for us to do this). Then we watched “tomorrow when the war began” and (like a lot of others on the feed it seems) were in bed at about 10.30. At about 2am when Nina woke we said a quick Happy New Year to each other and then went back to sleep. It wasn’t the most exciting New Year’s Eve but it was really, really nice. I think I really needed a break from the hecticness that NYE usually is.

Happy New Year Everyone. I hope you will all be abundantly blessed in the year to come.

Well we survived our first two days without Martin around although she was pretty unsettled late on the second day, I am pretty sure she was feeling that things weren’t quite right. We were very happy when he came home.

The most exciting thing though is that she has started having little swims in the new pool and she really likes. We get very big smiles. She has also discovered her feet. When we take her nappy off they go straight into the mouth and she plays around with them for awhile. I don’t think they are quite as exciting as the hands but pretty good. She sits and stands with help and spends time on her tummy.

It is all so exciting watching her grow.

I wouldn’t say I am feeling very Christmasy today. I guess nothing feels as Christmas should. I am not with my extended family (and I am missing them all), I am not at the beach, I haven’t sung any Christmas carols and Martin has left with his mum. We had a great party last night though. Heaps of food and kids and chaos and a good mix of Alice Springs’s multicultural community and we are relaxing with a quiet one at home today (well as much as that is possible with a newborn).

I feel like I should say something profound about Nina’s first Christmas and all that but I don’t really have anything and anyway to her it’s just like any other day. So Happy Christmas everyone and all the best for the new year.