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.

On Friday Martin and I were in Kmart and we found a pool in the discount section. It was a metre deep with a 450 diametre which is big enough for us to cool down in and will be great for Nina to learn to swim in. We had been thinking about getting one for a few weeks since we saw one at our friend’s place. Anyway, it was discounted to $260 from $380 just for damaged packaging. We thought that was alright so we snapped it up. When we arrived at the counter the woman scanned it and then she said it was $11. I said, “that would be great but it’s not really $11”. So she called her superviser and he came over. He tried to fix but couldn’t so we were told to wait while he called someone. We were waiting and waiting and Nina started crying so I went and asked if it would be much longer. He assured me it wouldn’t. About a minute later he came over and said I could have it for $11. I looked at him and said, “are you serious?” And he said. “well that’s what it is scanning at”. “Okay”, I said. So we paid the $11 and rushed out before they could change their mind. I thought perhaps there was going to be something wrong with but there’s not. We set it up and it’s perfect. The girls are playing in it right now.

My dear, dear friend Carney, who has been living on this block left today. I feel very sad. Carney is truly a one in a million person and her support over this year with Nina has been so great. I’m going to miss her heaps.

Nina has become quite the little chatterbox (just like her mum hey). She truly makes the cutest little sounds ever. Her favourite words include:

a goo
a oo
iiii
ay

Monday 37 degrees, Tuesday 38 degrees, Wednesday 38 degrees.

Today Nina and I lay on the couch for a bit. We listened to music, looked into each others eyes and gave lots and lots of smiles. We studied our hands, played boo and gave lots of kisses (well I gave kisses and Nina opened her mouth on my cheek). We had lots of fun.