November 2006 Archives

Sometimes its the ones that we are closest to that hurt us the most. Good luck with the reallocation up north Cousin.

Today is the first anniversary of my mothers passing. Its not something that I talk about much - infact I have hardly spoken about it at all.. so I dont expect to now. Not here. Not now.

Some days are harder then others - today is one of those. Its not good - but I never expected it to be. My mother will always be missed, its such a shame that she wasnt here to meet Romilly.

Today I sent a quick email out to my acquaintances in an effort to ensure that I had their contact details correct.

I have known Kurt for about 13-14 years (as he puts it). In replying to my request for him to confirm his contact details he told me his full name. Yes thats right - odd isnt it. How dare he. Until today I have never known his last name - as silly as that may seem, he has simply been known to me as Kurt. I didnt even think he had a last name, I thought he was like Madonna or Sting. And in fact I refuse to acknowledge his last name and will not be recording it against his entry is my Book of Worthwhile Beings. He is and always will be simply Kurt.

Annabelle has always been quite vocal about sexist advertising and comments from within the community - particularly the ones which adhere to the stereo typical gender roles. You know, mum stays at home, does the shopping, cooks and cleans - sort of thing. I dont normally get as passionate about it as much as Annabelle does and I just accept that thats the way that things are generally 'accepted' in the wider community - even though they may not be accepted within our household.

Well the shoe (or dress) was on the other foot yesterday, we went to our first "Parent's Group" at our local Community Centre. I say "Parent's Group" - as thats what its meant to be. Of course I was the only 'dad' there - mostly due to the fact that I am yet to return back to work. But being the only dad there didnt bother me at all - I expected such. What bothered me was that the group organiser from the community centre did her best to make me feel excluded (in my eyes anyway).

When it came time to go around the room and introduce ourselves and our babies, the event organiser skipped right past me and went from the 'mother' sitting on my right straight to Annabelle who was sitting on my left - like I wasnt even in the room. Do dad's not deserve to be introduced? And then further throughout the day she continued to refer to the group as "mothers" saying things like "Come on Mothers".

Now I know how it feels and it doesnt feel good.. although it didnt stop me from speaking up and adding my bit to the group discussion (nothing generally does) - although I am in two minds about going back next week.

The rest of the 'mothers' all seem to be nice people though and I hope we are able to make some new friends out of the group. Shame about the 'traditional' group leader who is stuck in 1949 though. Im sure her husband takes great delight in having his dinner cooked and feet scrubbed when he gets home from a hard day at the office though.

Romilly is now able to actively bat at and swipe at the toys that hang from her bouncer/rocker. Whilst she doesnt yet have full control of her arms - she is able to take swipes at the toys that hang down in front of her. You can see her looking at one of the three toys - focusing on it - and then taking a determined swipe at it with her right hand - looks like she may be right handed I guess. She then focuses again and takes another swipe at it - pleasing herself if she makes contact with it.. clever little thing..

Last night I discovered Photoshop Actions. I dont really know how I happened to not stumble across them earlier.. over recent years I have taken thousands of pictures from past overseas holidays and never found the time to balance or organise them. Actions are my answer.

Here is a recent snap from New Zealand.

Romilly is now 5 1/2 weeks old. In the last day or so there is been a significant change in her 'alertness'. She is now actively turning her head around looking at and following things - but best of all she now tries to talk back to you by making all sorts of wonderful sounds, smiles and gurgles in response to us talking to and playing with her. Isnt it wonderful being a dad!

Belle has learnt a new and instantaneous way of getting her to sleep by walking into the bathroom with the light off where it is dark.

Soon after Romilly was born we received a hooded bath towel with her name embroidered on it. It was and still is a great gift - except we received it without a card or return address so we dont know who it is from. The Mystery Gift.

Yesterday we caught up with some of other parents from our parenting class - which we honorably titled the "Ultimate Parenting Class". It was good to see them again and finally meet their new babies.. here are some pics from the day.

How can a new born baby know the difference between me sitting and me standing when I am nursing her in my arms. The position of the top half of my body - the part that she is being nursed in doesnt change between my sitting and standing - yet she seems to know the difference.

For the record she prefers it when I am standing.. I dont know why - nor can I ask her why as she cant understand or answer me yet.

Apart from it being 1.38am - what better tine to blog right? Why is it that when one human yawns then everyone else wants to yawn also? We know why this occurs when one vomits - there is a logical reason for that - in pre-historic times if some one vomited then it made you vomit also because it was likely that you had just eaten the same Rex steak and if you saw some one heaving it back up then your body said it should do the same thing, Its logical.

But why the yawning? Whats that all about.. Belle and I cant think of any logical reason why one persons yawn makes everyone else yawn also. Maybe its just the human condition.

I have uploaded and started a photo gallery "Romilly's World". It can be accessed via the menu at shallow.end, or directly via this link here - Romilly's World.

Images are best viewed at a resolution of at least 1024x768. Larger versions of each image may be opened by clicking on each image thumbnail.

Well its been 9 months.. 9 months ago shallow.end went off line, but not its back.. 9 months is an appropriate 'incubation' period and it would therefore be deemed quite appriopriate to consider this first post as the 'rebirth' post as shallow.end is reborn.

Mind you its not the only thing to have been created and born in that 9 month period.. alot has happened and you can expect some 'back posts' to make up for lost time.. the first one will probably be dated 03/10/2006... welcome to the world Ms Romilly Charlotte Norma Gjessing.