Irregular Verbiage

In the hospital, when I was handed my daughter, I was incredibly tired. I was full of adrenalin and I was very concerned about the large amounts of blood continuing to pour out of my wife; I’d be lying if I said that I felt a joyous epiphany at that moment.

Days later and things have changed, there is something indescribable about holding your baby girl as she sleeps in your arms or, even more endearing, looks up at you with her big blue eyes. Katie is so vulnerable and trusting, she can sleep in positions that look amazingly uncomfortable. Sometimes, at the slightest disturbance, she will wake and strenuously demand to be fed. Other times, she seems to sleep through anything. As well as the joy and (surprising to me) calming influence holding Katie causes, in the background there is the knowledge that her existence charges me (and Em!) with a huge responsibility – but it’s a challenge that I’m looking forward to.

I’m sure that there will be tough times ahead but for the moment, while I’m spending my paternity leave with my nuclear family, everything is great in the world.

Our baby girl was born on Sunday (7lb 10oz). The birth was fairly complicated but Katie (as she’s known to her friends) is fit and well. At night she’s sleeping for about 45mins at a time which means our sleep is rather disturbed but, as we’re both on leave, that isn’t too serious. (Em’s mum is here looking after us which makes things easier)

There has been a veritable slew of congratulations and status updates – most of which I haven’t replied to (really sorry!) but I’ve (sometimes literally) had my hands full.

There are now baby photos on my Flickr page and I suspect there will be a number of baby-related Twitter updates (so count that as fair warning if you want to unsubscribe).

If I can’t have a robot butler then I want a Roomba 530 (Luis should be on commission).

Unfortunately, we only seem to be able to get the older models in the UK at the moment and the official UK distributor’s web site isn’t the most confidence inspiring thing in the world so I think I’ll wait for a bit

Hackable robotic hoovers….. woo!

The film we saw was A Mighty Heart – hardly a feel-good film but absorbing and moving. This isn’t the first time we’ve been out recently; as well as coping at work Em came to see Kent Duchaine (who was excellent live) and we also recently saw Run, Fat boy, Run

Things have settled down a bit after the wedding. Em is still very morning sick, 6 months into the pregnancy but she seems to be coping. I’m nearing the end of a project at work and, as always when the end is in sight for a software project, there seem to be lots of rough edges to be smoothed.

I’m enjoying life at the moment – this week saw a few trips to a coffee shop with a friend trying to teach me me cryptic crosswords and one evening found Em and I being taught to fish for mackerel by my parents. New experiences – and that’s always good, especially when it results in fresh fish for supper.

From left to right, Mum, Me and Em – and yes that is the Needles	The sunset was extremely pretty