Guest blogger is Grumpa Neil

Yesterday we saw Ruth and assorted hangers-on. Today we are seeing her again, with fewer hangers-on...

Julie is looking more confident as a mother - but there still seem to be a few intense discussions about "what's happening now?" These parents today seem to have more curiosity about the process - rather than our eternal question - "How did we get into this pickle?"





Being a Grumpa is easy - look! no hands!



Sue was waiting for her turn, but that wasn't going to happen until Ruth got stroppy.

Alright, I relented, and was then put to work on this entry.

Bye for now

Grumpa Neil

Wetting the baby's head

Dear Great Gran,

This afternoon the traveller's from Norfolk returned along with Sam (who had been holidaying with friends) as well as Rohan and Joseph (who had been in Melbourne for Christmas). With all these extended relatives around at once, it seemed the right occasion to open the bubbly!



All in all, it was a big day for Ruth as she was discharged from hospital in the morning (i.e. the midwives have finished their daily visits), we had a friend over for lunch and she also had her second excursion from the house which was also the first excursion by car (shopping trip to the city, which she completely slept through!).

much love,
Brendan

Red Sky at Night

Dear Great Gran,
Happy New Year!
It was a real Monkey Heat day today so we all stayed inside with the cooling turned on and lay around making monkey poses like this one.

Ruth mainly gets to wear clothes (apart from the terry toweling variety) in the middle of the night when the temperature drops a bit.
We have received much advice about what to do with summer babies and washing nappies, but no-one warned us what to do when ash from bushfires land on the nappies hanging out on the Hills Hoist! The ash was from bushfires in Crookwell and Junee which saw the sky blanketed in smoke, ash fall all over town and the sinister red afternoon light. It felt like the January 2003 fires here or Ash Wednesday twenty years before that.
much love
Brendan

P.S.
The photo makes her hair look darker than it is.