First world problems and book baby woes
The bad news: I have to delay my book launch by at least a week. Estimated launch date is now June 11th. The good news: We have warm, dry beds and clothes to wear. I didn’t die in childbirth, and my baby has enough to eat. I’ve encountered one frustration after another in the final stages of preparing the print version Love At The Speed Of Email for publication. The latest stumbling block has been the cover. My printer cannot seem to upload the beautiful cover that my talented designer Kimberly Glyder designed without mangling it. My printer also cannot seem to be bothered to provide...
Read More10 things to remember if your child breaks a bone and you are nowhere near a hospital
How’s that for a light-hearted title? I bet you’re well cued that this is going to be one of those laugh-out-loud posts. Or maybe not. Most of you probably won’t be in the position of having your child break a bone and being thirty hours and an international flight away from good medical care, but if you’re a parent thinking this topic through can’t hurt. Presumably, for example, some of you go camping. So today I’m going to share some of the lessons we learned or put into practice last week when Dominic broke his femur. Some of these things we learned the hard way as events...
Read MoreT’is The Night Before (A Children’s Story)
It’s 8, and Mama Bear gives a yawn She’s very tired, she’s been up since dawn All day Baby Bear needed loving and feeding Up and down he set emotions stampeding She goes to bed, she begins to count sheep One, two, three, four… Mama Bear is asleep It’s 10, and Mama Bear wakes in the dark Drums and cymbals and music, hark! These are sounds she is daily dreading The loud late strains of a Lao wedding She lies in bed, she begins to count sheep One, two, three, fifty… Mama Bear is asleep It’s 12, and Mama Bear wakes in the dark Papa Bear’s snoring sounds not like a lark She tugs...
Read MoreInflection points
Yesterday morning, right after we got up, I did my weekly weigh in. Apart from one ultrasound in Thailand, taking pregnancy vitamins and stepping on the scale every Saturday morning has pretty much been the sum total of my prenatal care. I suspect that my return to Australia tomorrow is likely to mark the inflection point on this issue (though I must say I haven’t minded avoiding some of the tests that sound like they’re a routine part and parcel of the first 28 weeks if you live within, oh, 500km of good medical facilities). After I stepped off the scale and Mike stepped on, it quickly...
Read MoreBack at Home are Mike and I: Jottings on art, parenthood, and home
Well, we’re back from Thailand and we hit the ground running this week. Although, after a full week of looking at this on Koh Tao… And this on Koh Samui… And strolling through resorts… And buying satay off the beach… And dining in lovely seaside restaurants as the full moon rises over the ocean… Well… let’s just say I wouldn’t expect any sympathy from anyone if I tried to complain that we’ve had some re-entry shock with getting back to work. So I shall just say that we’re well and truly back at work. Mike returned to scores of...
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