Mike's musings

Away for a few days

In Sunningdale, of all places. The place I'm staying feels like a residential care home, but I'll hold off judgement until I've spent a little longer here.

Jo went to pre-school this morning. We were a little worried, of course, and Moo, Mel, Miri and I accompanied her up the hill. She immediately started playing with the toys, sand, plasticine, etc., and didn't even notice when we went. We were, of course, gutted. She's doing 2 sessions a week, and had such a lovely time there today that she's looking forward very much to the next one, tomorrow.

Miri's not been great today: seems that her digestive system is taking a while to get the hang of "solid" foods. Fair enough, and that's as much detail as you want.

I'm addicted to Facebook, which also works on my mobile. I'm trying to avoid the "how many friends have you got" line, but there are lots of little applications you can add. Fun, fun, fun.

Labels: facebook, Jo, miriam, travel

Rugby time

After the debacle of last week's trip down to my parents, we decided to leave early, and got up at 0530. Left around 0605, and got home around 1415. That includes a number of stops, one of which was to get some food in at the supermarket, so it could have been worse. The girls needed feeding and loo breaks, so you can't really blame them.

Unluckily, Miri didn't quite manage the fantastic going down at 1930 that she has been recently, but 2100 isn't too bad. Over the past few days, she's become a real pain about trying to eat the food that you're eating if you're holding her, so we're going to start her on a few solids from tomorrow, probably.

Go Pumas!

And Argentina have just beaten France in the first match of the Rugby World Cup, in France. We love them (the Pumas, that is). What a great ending to a holiday.

Labels: miriam, rugby, travel

Down to Cornwall

(backposting) We noticed today that Miriam has started taking a great interest in the food that other people are eating. This was a big sign for Jo that she was ready to start on solid foods, rather than just breast-milk, so we'll keep an eye on it for Miriam.

The trip down to Cornwall was pretty good, actually, and the cottage lovely. A 20 minute poo stop isn't as bad as it might seem.

Labels: food, miriam

Nightmare drive

(backposting) We had a terrible, terrible drive down to my parents today. We decided to leave after my work had finished and headed off around 1800 after a quick supper for the girls and a bath to settle them down. Jo slept for a little, and then was awake, and Miri really lost it. Despite our stopping twice on the M4, she cried almost non-stop for an hour and a half, and by the time she did quieten down, Jo was wired, and making so much noise that we were worried that she'd wake Miri again.

In the end, I turned up Radio 4 longwave and listened to England beating India in the one-day. Great match, fantastic finish by some up and coming players.

Labels: holiday, Jo, miriam, travel

The girls

What are they up to? Well.

Jo:

• can now dress herself without any help at all
• has now started talking about whether things match or not (pyjamas, etc.)
• is really big into hide and seek. But she'll always hide in the last place you did, and will usually giggle. And if you ask her where she is, she'll tell you...

Miri:

• is now trying hard to lift herself up to a sitting position
• loves sitting up - though she needs help to _stay_ there
• will now raise her arms and call to one of us when she sees us and wants us to come to her
• is one of the loudest humans in the entire universe
• likes watching pictures of Jo on the computer
• loves watching athletics on TV

Labels: Jo, miriam

"Sorry, Miri"

(backposting) Meant to post this about the holiday, but forgot. We were driving along in the car in Cornwall, behind some other traffic. One of the cars in front stopped rather suddenly to turn, to I had to brake quite sharply. From the back, we heard Jo saying "Sorry, Miri". Moo's been using it against me ever since.

• Sunday: 41
• Monday: 27
• Tuesday: 34

My Wii fitness age. Not happy about the 41. 34's still under my RL age, though, so not too bad.

Labels: Jo, miriam, wii

Misc. post

(backposting) Bits and pieces:

• we're starting to look at the legal issues around holding services in SecondLife. Maybe it's because the Anglican church is a little bureaucratic, but there are some really interesting and complicated problems and issues. Personally, I'm quite happy that there are questions to be asked and answered, and not worried about the bureaucratic side: if we can be safe and know we're coming from, we'll be stronger in the future.
• my Wii age was back up to 37, but as I turn 37 next month, I'm less worried about it. Had a nightmare on the bowling tests, as it happens.
• I've been looking at the ERMC summer school programme, which looks interesting. I'm down to take part in a service for only the second occasion in my time on the course. And it's leading a Methodist service. Should be interesting.
• Miri had a nightmare evening last night. Teeth or stomach: we don't know, but she cried almost incessantly for around 3 hours. We ate in front of the TV (in shifts) and then watched Harry Potter DVDs with subtitles on.
• Jo slept all the way through the night without coming in to us, so got 2 stickers on her chart, and 2 for her top. Very pleased (as were we).
• is there something wrong with the freezer in the cat kitchen?

Labels: ERMC, Jo, miriam, miscellaneous, secondlife

Turning over a new...

... baby. Miri's three months and 2 days old today, and turned over from her back onto her front today for the first time. She's been close to it for a while, but this was the first actual event.

Church in the morning (Long Melford), Clare craft fair (where I had a pint of Nethergate's Augustinian while eating some lunch in the grounds of the Augustinian priory. Very fitting.

Up for over an hour during the night trying to get Jo back to sleep. She was adamant that she wanted to sleep in my bed (she'd assumed that I'd moved into the spare room, though I hadn't by that stage), and I was adamant that she wasn't going to. I prevailed, but, as I said, it took an hour.

We'll be holding our first service in the Anglican Cathedral in SecondLife at 8pm UK time, 12noon SecondLife time (PST). You're very welcome to join us.

Labels: church, Jo, miriam, secondlife

Lightning

(backposting) I travelled down to London City Airport this evening to catch a plane to Munich to do an audit. As I headed down past Braintree, it became clear that I was heading into a pretty big storm, and although I didn't get much of the rain, I started counting the lightning flashes. I saw 14 over the next hour and a half or so, but more than that: I actually saw 11 of the actual forks: one right onto a petrol station (which seemed OK). It was brilliant, and wonderful.

When I got there, the plane was 20 minutes delayed, and by the time we set off, it was more like an hour, but we got off, dodged storms across Europe, took quite a lot of turbulence, and made it into Munich airport in time for me to get to the hotel almost dead on midnight. Only one pillow, but the hotel helped out quickly on that when I asked. Took me ages to get to sleep though.

Poor Miri is teething, which means that she's taking a long time to settle, and sometimes will just get upset for no obvious reason. It must be really hard for her, but we've discovered that she loves watching Jo, who also loves singing to her, and that sometimes Jo can calm her down when neither of us can. They're lovely together, and it's great bonding for both of them. At the same time, Jo really gets to know that she's helping us out, which is really good for her.

Labels: family, Jo, miriam

Mooism

"Come on, then, let's go Mrs Madam." Jo talking to one of her dolls, who was supposed to be coming "shopping".

I've discovered that I'm supposed to be doing my assignments a little earlier than I'd expected - for August, rather than September, but that's OK. I do need to get them going, though.

Miri's been difficult for Moo today - very restless - and I feel a bit guilty that she was very good for the hour that I took her and Buster out for a walk. At least Moo had some non-baby time, though she did have to look after a rather awkward Jo.

Lots of travel coming up. Less time with the family, more time for ERMC work. Hmm.

Labels: ERMC, Jo, miriam, Moo, walk

A smiley, chattering monster, Sweden ... and substitutionary atonement

Miri's lots and lots of fun at the moment. She'll spent half and hour or more on my knee or on my tummy, chat, chat, chatting, smiling, looking into my eyes, being lovely, and generally posseting everywhere. It's what being a dad's about, IMHO.

Being a dad is less about having to go to Sweden overnight again next week, unless you count "earning an honest crush" as being part of a dad's role, which you might, I suppose. I'm going to somewhere spelt Linköping, but pronounced "Lingchirping", as close as I can gather. It is ridiculous how foreigners can't even spell their own placenames properly sometimes. I'm not usually prone to luggage-lust (unlike Catherine) but there's a piece of Samsonite luggage which I'm very keen on which I thought I'd have loads of chances to buy before I next went away. Not to be, unluckily.

"But what about substitutionary atonement?" I hear you cry. Well, Keith and I had agreed to meet to have a chat about a piece by Tom Wright in the Church Times a couple of months ago where he rather attacked Jeffry John for being too soft on the doctrine of substitutionary atonement. This is the doctrine that says that Jesus, when he died, took all of our sins on his shoulders, and took the punishment for all of mankind, thereby redeeming us. I've simplified it, and there are different shades to interpretation, but I think that pretty much sums it up. Wright felt that a broadcast by Jeffrey John downplayed significantly the importance of the doctrine, and although I don't have real problems with that view, some of the expressions of the doctrine in Wright's defense went a little too far for me. Keith and I talked over this issue - and atonement in general - in some detail, and strayed into other areas such as spiritual warfare, "Jesus-followers" (a danger, in my view, of the "Exemplar" view of atonement), and the personification of evil. It was great for both of us to do some theology, and also to ground it in our experience, and I'm glad we took the time.

To round things off, my penultimate year report came through from ERMC. This is the very important report which goes to the DDO and the bishop and either recommends that I go through to ordination, or says that I shouldn't. I'm pleased to say that it recommends that I should, and gave what I thought was a very honest view of me, my theology, my spirituality and my personality. It identified some areas that need work, but I knew about those, and was happy to sign it off.

Labels: ERMC, miriam, theology, travel

Reaching (and pooing)

Over the past few days, Miri's started reaching for things - and sometimes getting them, too. She's very smiley and interactive at the moment (when she's not asleep, feeding or crying, obviously), which is great for me, as I get some good non-asleep, non-feeding action - and some crying. She also had a poo in the bath today. With Jo. We played it down somewhat, and I don't think Jo realised, but it turned all of a sudden into a "why don't we have a shower?" experience.

Had a lovely walk with Moo, Miri and Buster over lunch. Lovely until it started raining, obviously, but hey - who cares?

Labels: miriam, walk

Smiles

It's not all bad here. Today's been a fantastic day: Miri (and therefore Moo) slept much better, and although Jo had me up in the night - and at 0500 - I got some sleep later on. It's been a beautiful, sunny day, and Moo and I went for a walk with Buster and Miri during the middle of the day. It all seems _so_ much more manageable with a bit of sleep.

The other thing is something that I meant to mention a few days ago: Miriam is now smiling. I'd forgotten what fun it is when babies start smiling at you, and the joy it brings to one and all.

Last, but far from least, Jo is very funny at the moment. She's asking lots of questions, remembering pretty complicated things from quite a time ago, telling stories and playing lots of imaginary games. And sometimes getting things a bit wrong. I took her for a walk a couple of days ago, and we were going past a barn. In the barn we saw several scarecrows, and Jo piped up: "look, Jesus on a cross!". Well, not really. But she knows about scarecrows - they're in fields. And she knows about Jesus on the cross - that's indoors, so...

Labels: happiness, Jo, miriam

And back... (part 2)

(backposting) Got in to Manchester International Airport around 0900 GMT, had a car booked (with driver) and slept part of the way back. Jo was _very_ pleased to see me - as was I her. Little Miri's now back exclusively on breastmilk, but feeding very frequently (and long). She's also got a cough, and keeps waking up, so Moo is absolutely exhausted.

So, as Kate was out, I took Mac, and Moo, and Jo and Miri out to the pub. We had a good meal, and as we were about to go, Jo started playing up. I held her lower arm, she sat down and twisted. And was clearly immediately in lots of pain. And it didn't seem to go away, and I was pretty sure she wasn't faking it. We let her have a sleep, but it was still there when she woke up after an hour. Off to Queen's Med. They have a great paediatric A&E department, it must be said. Not, I'm very, very pleased to say, a fracture, but a "pulled elbow": a ligament which has twisted out of place. Common, it seems, and it was very, very easily fixed. So, the doctor fixed it, and we're all happy now. Poor Jo.

Miri has started tracking people and objects around. It's just a bit more interaction, and makes it all more real.

Labels: family, hospital, Jo, miriam

In Vegas

Well, just outside, in fact, at the Loews Lake Las Vegas Resort. 10 and a half hour flight, next to some at times rather rowdy Mancs, but not too bad. Watched the OK The Good German, and various bits and bobs, and listened to music on my phone.

The hotel's pretty nice, and there's lovely pool area with seating and drinks service, etc., which I've been taking advantage of. I'd assumed that noone else would be here yet, but there are lots of folks already, which is good. First purchases: factor 20 suncream (though I ended up using someone else's factor 30) and a "this is my lucky hat" baseball cap. The wife of one of the senior guys who's already here thought that it said "this is my funky hat", but I misheard her, thinking she said "this is my f*cky hat", so much hilarity all round.

Phoned Moo when I got in, and she's doing well, though tired. No formula - only breastmilk - for a day and a half now, which is brilliant. I'm trying to be encouraging whilst still giving her a let-out clause if she really needs it.

About to go and do some supper soon, then an early bed. I hope to stay up past 1900 local (0300 home), maybe even 2000, but I think that'll be my lot.

Labels: miriam, Moo, travel, work

SecondLife

(backposting) I did some serious scripting today: it was difficult, partly because there's rather less API documentation available than I'd like, but I got a script done that I was rather pleased with.

Also today - Moo lost it a bit. She's really stressed about the amount of formula that Miriam's taken, particularly as she can't yet give her enough breastmilk. Surely there's something wrong with an hour and a half of feeding from the breast? Under duress (from me), she phoned a helpline, and ended up speaking to Jackie, one of the breastfeeding counsellors who she'd spoken to last week. Lots of support - but I still needed to take Miriam out for an hour this evening to allow Moo a bit of time to herself this evening for some packing.

I'm getting used to walking Buster in the rain - listening to music on headphones (renaissance sacred music is a _great_ counterpoint to the hilarious Goldie Looking Chain (not for the faint of heart or language).

Labels: miriam, secondlife

Boss, health visitor

Today my boss turned up for a meeting. David and another colleague, Dan (who's no longer a long-haired geek, after a shocking haircut!) came along to a meeting with a customer we'd like to make even more important than they currently are. Dan and David headed off to London and Heathrow respectively after the meeting, and I went to meet Chris, and ex-boss with whom I try to chew the fat every 6 months or so.

Also today, the health visitor turned up, with a breast-feeding counsellor. Moo had to stop feeding on the left after she had more problems, but the counsellor was very helpful, and got her going again.

Labels: miriam, work

Lunch in Clare

Went with Moo and Miriam to a new little cafe in Clare, where we had a lovely lunch. Moo had a bit of a bad time feeding this morning, but we got over it. I also decided that I will be going to Las Vegas for a sales and marketing meeting, assuming that all's well. Moo's happy about it, on the same assumption.

Last night, I had a meeting with Holger from ERMC, and Keith (who's my supervisor for the course) to work on the "penultimate report", which goes to my DDO and bishop, and which is central to decisions about my title post - what happens after I'm ordained next year. No surprises, either in the meeting with Keith, or the one later with just Holger.

Labels: miriam, Moo, work

Feeding

8 minutes went well: we hope to try a little longer today.

Introduced my Dad to SecondLife today: he didn't really get it, to be honest.

Oh, and the dog woke us up this morning at 0320. Turns out he was scared because he had hiccups...

Labels: family, miriam, secondlife

Mum and Dad here

My parents have turned up for the weekend and are already being very helpful with Miriam. We hope to reintroduce breast milk tomorrow.

Labels: miriam

London

Visited Infosec Europe 2007 today in Olympia. I was knackered as I'd been up far too much in the night. I also dislike going into London generally, and Olympia's a nightmare to get to from Liverpool Street. And it takes up to an hour and half to get there. Anyway, enough complaining - the show was useful. Made a couple of very useful contacts, got back by 1800. Bought some more baby-feeding things. It's amazing how much stuff you need to have in order to bottle feed. It's pretty much just breasts if you're breastfeeding.

Moo seems to be coping pretty well, though it makes her sad whenever she feeds Miriam, which is understandable.

Labels: family, miriam, Moo, work

Formula

In an attempt to let Moo recover, we're putting Miriam on formula, one day at a time, and getting some special pads to aid healing. We'll see how it goes, but we're very hopeful that we can put her back breastfeeding soon.

Labels: miriam, Moo

Mastitis?

(backposting) Although Miriam's doing better, Moo's having real problems with the breast-feeding, and she also has horribly cracking problems, if you see what I mean (I don't want to be blocked by the link police...). Every feed causes so much pain that she's in tears. Kate and Mac are helping hugely, but it's really hard for all of us.

Oh, and I barbecued tonight, which was great.

Labels: illness, miriam, Moo

Jaundice

Didn't sleep too well, and Jo played up in the morning, but Kate and Mac took her downstairs, and Moo, Miriam and I stayed up and had more sleep. Lots of it. By the time we were up, Jo had headed off to toddler group, and Kate and Mac went to do some shopping in Clare. This left the house quiet for us to try a bath with Miriam - her first. She loved it, and was completely chilled out by the experience.

Moo's breast-feeding, and having some problems with it this time - unlike last - so is needing lots of support, but when the midwife came to visit, she showed a different technique which Moo hadn't used yet this time round, and which helped enormously. That was the good news. The bad news is that Miriam's jaundice hadn't improved enough for the midwives, and they wanted her to have a test to see if she needed treatment. If we lived closer, they'd take a sample and drive it to the hospital, but we're too far away. This meant that the midwife booked us into the SCUBU (Special Care Baby Unit - the first "U" is there to make it easier to pronounce, I think!) for a test, with the possibility that Miriam and Moo might need to stay in. This really wasn't what we needed at all, and although the chances weren't high, they were certainly real - and the reasons could range from standard "breast-feeding jaundice" (minor) through an infection (possibly major) through to liver problems (possible long-term major). And nobody wants to set foot in SCUBU if they can possibly avoid it, believe me.

We left in some trepidation, and I spent some time on the phone to my sister-in-law Nina (who's a GP) and my brother, Jim (who's a paediatric registrar). Both of them were very reassuring, and at least we knew what questions to ask.

I'm pleased to say that Miriam came out well under the levels needing treatment, and we came home tired, but happy. And hugely grateful again to Kate and Mac.

Labels: illness, miriam

6 hours straight

(backposting) Yup, 6 hours uninterrupted. Not enough, obviously, but not too bad, to be honest. Worked today, got stuff done. Cleared some important stuff, actually.

Labels: miriam

Back home with Moo and Miriam

All well, and all home. The paediatric SHO who checked Miriam over before we left wanted a Registrar to check her over as well, but it turned out to be nothing, so we left and got home around 2pm. Jo's been fantastic with Miri (which is how we're shortening Miriam), though she's needing to understand appropriate levels of physicality! She's a little discombobulated, but who wouldn't be, and all in all, we're really happy with her. The next few days are devoted to rest, rest, rest for as many people as possible.

SecondLife

Yesterday, I popped into SecondLife. There, I met my friend Sophianne, and she gave me a fantastic present: a place to call my own. I've been debating whether I want to start renting anywhere in SL : it's a big commitment, particularly as I don't know how much time I can devote to it, and it costs real money, too. Sophianne has gifted me a place of my own in SL, part of a tented community in Koinonia, and has even given me some money to spend. I'm overwhelmed by her generosity. This is a community where land is a basic commodity, and just to be gifted something is very kind. I was also very touched that Arkin has said that when the Anglican cathedral is built, that I should consider it there for me to use whenever I want.

This all coincided with Radio 4's Sunday Service, which came from St Pixels. The online is becoming increasingly important to me from a Christian point of view - consider also the Synchrobloggers - and I'm wondering how to make a sensible, manageable commitment to that. SecondLife alone has had over 1.5 million people logging in over the past 60 days, from a community of 5.5 million: it's a very active place, and there are lots of opportunity for mission - in the broadest sense.

Labels: Jo, miriam, Moo, secondlife

A lovely day

Got up, took Buster for a bit of a walk - he's been struggling with my absence more than Jo - and when I got back, Moo had phoned. She's much better today, and has improved over the course of the day, to the extent that she's hoping to come home tomorrow. Miriam continues to be a star, feeding, weeing and pooing for England - taking out time only to stare blurrily into your eyes and root for milk-bearing nipples (I'm a bit of a disappointment on this score). Jo came in and met her new sister and was excellent, and Kate and Mac were also bowled over.

Labels: Jo, miriam, Moo

Miriam Rose

Our new daughter was born by C-section at 1036 this morning. She weighed 9lb 1oz (4.1kg), and is doing very well. Moo's having a real problem getting over the anaesthetic, and isn't at all well (though in no danger). Hopefully she'll be fine tomorrow, when she's flushed it out of her system.

Labels: miriam