The joy of having a child

I find it amazing at just how much pleasure one can get out of having your own child. First of all there is the amazement and wonder that we are actually able to create these wonderful little things. Then there is the unbelievably overwhelming love that one feels immediately for your own flesh and blood. And of course, there is the complete joy of spending time with this little creature that loves unconditionally and relies completely on you to survive.

And when he laughs... your heart just melts...

You weigh how much?

Its amazing just how focussed us humans are on our weight and weight issues. At least half of the ads you hear or read are about weight loss, dietery suppliments or weird contraptions designed to confuse and possibly injure even the most intelligent yoga instructor. And then the other side of things is the constant fixation with underweight celebs. The infamous Size Zero... wtf?
So half of the time we're told we're too fat, the other half we're too thin. No wonder there are so many confused individuals out there.

Michael is having a weight problem... Now, being my son, he is not so priviledged to have what I like to term a healthy appetite with a slower than required metabolism... The result is that if I do happen to have seconds(thirds?) and don't do some regular exercise, I blow up like Oprah after she's celebrated losing 40kgs... okay, not quite that drastic, but you get the point.

Anyway, Michael wasn't putting on enough weight. So C went on some pills to help the milk factory. That meant he put on 3 times as much as he was supposed to, so C cut back on the pills... This week, he lost weight... Whats up with that. He eats, burps, farts, sh!ts the same amount, but the weight gain is so different. You'd think he'd complain when he was hungry, but nooo, he just chills out and smiles at us.

So, I reckon we go for the too much rather than too little approach. Lets test to see if he has daddy's metabolism, if he does, he's gonna turn into one chubby little boiy!

3 months already

Can you believe it.

Michael is 3 months old!

What an amazing time we're having. He is such an angel and other than the little snorting and sniffling in the early hours, he is basically sleeping through. The little guy hardly cries and has found his smile. It's the cutest thing in the world and melts your heart.

I think the most frustrating thing for me right now is that I am not getting to spend enough time with him... okay well, as much time as I'd like. I mean, I've been missing bath time most evenings cos of work. And then weekends come along and it's more work, hockey matches and some socialising, which is important, but takes away from those sweet moments....

And sweet they are. Sitting there with him in my arms. He stares at his daddy with love (and sometimes confusion) in his eyes. I talk to him and he smiles. Then he drifts off to sleep. It is truly wonderful.

As Jimmy Buffet said "I took a trip on a sailing ship..." but not to Jamaica. Instead we headed south around Cape Point to Simon's Town where we tied up for the night, and then headed out up the East Coast. We first had to round one of the most feared Cape's in the world... Cape Aguhlas where the Indian and Atlantic oceans meet in what is sometimes an incredibly violent encounter. Luckily we timed things perfectly and went in between to rather large cold fronts leaving us with little wind, flat sea's and [mostly] sunny days. It was effing cold tho and even snowed in Plettenberg Bay!!

There were a few interesting moments during our 4 days at sea. On rounding Cape Point we came face to face with the pride of the SA navy, one of the 4 new frigates. They even sent a big helicopter to circle us. We only found out later that we had wandered through their live firing exercise....

We also had some interesting engine troubles. Both engines were getting starved of diesel cos of the fuel filters. Had lots of fun siting on a smoking hot engine, my head ducked down beside it attempting to bleed out some diesel... at night.... on a rolling sea... Murphy you bastard, alwasy showing up at the most inopportune moments.

Anyway, I survived, and luckily so cos I still need to update my life insurance.