December 2004

October was a month of extremes: joy at the arrival of Margaret and frustration at the health problems I developed after she was born. The good news is my blood pressure has been normalizing and I’m coming off my medications slowly. Margaret continues to be wonderful if something of a handful at times, and she’s not even crawling yet!

She now weighs more than 5 kilos (11 lbs.) and is 59 cm (23 ¼ inches) long and has developed a second chin. She got her second set of inoculations already and she was very brave but she cried. I think the doctor doesn’t do too many inoculations because she took a turn at cradling Margaret to comfort her after the shots. Either that or she was overcome by how cute Margaret is.

November was a month of visitors. My family came to see Margaret and to help take care of us. My sister Ann was here for a week and my Dad and step mother were here for more than two weeks. November also included celebrations of John’s 40^th birthday.

Now that we are in December we are preparing for Margaret’s first Christmas. We are going to New Jersey to be with John’s family, none of whom have seen Margaret in here magnificence. They’ve only seen photos and read messages about her. So they’re eager to find out if the reality is anything like the previews.

Here we are in a self-portrait in the reflection of the Manly TAB (a betting shop). The red staircase behind us is part of the library, but it doesn’t go anywhere. I don’t know why. Margaret was so good in the other photos I took that day but I was off-kilter when taking the pictures so we looked like we were standing on a slope. That’s a yawn she’s got there, not a yell.

Last revised: December 2004