Life, lately:

I'm pressing pause for a moment on the backlog of posts I have lined up, in order to spend a second focussed on the now rather than the then.

This handful of pictures is a fair representation of the happy spots in my days lately. School is out for the summer (yes! I have a ridiculously long summer break, which is amazing) and even work has slowed down a little, too. In unoccupied moments, I've been doing lots of spring cleaning, which makes me feel old because I actually feel kind of satisfied and accomplished about it. If that doesn't make me old I don't know what does. I've also been revelling in the freedom to sit up late reading in bed -- reading fun things that I really want to read (though I've paid for it with too many nights of minimum sleep). Relatedly, I have a bunch of little book reviews to share when I can get them removed from brain and transcribed onto page.

I've been relishing getting to know my shiny new nephew, and watching his big sister become suddenly precisely that: a big sister, full of toddler quirks and hilariousness and one-and-a-half-year-old dorkiness. She's super entertaining. I've also enjoyed the laidback vibe of my dad's recent work leave visit, which meant things like going out for coffee or spontaneously eating dinner down by the water on windy dark evenings. And I'm loving getting better acquainted with a bunch of young people from my church at a new Bible study group. Don't worry, Thursday night guys: you are my longtime group and my best (just don't tell anyone else, okay?).

And tomorrow -- tomorrow I get to pick up one of my very best friends from the airport, for what has become a vaguely yearly tradition: a Meaghan weekend!* I realised this week that I have known Meaghan and her sister Carla for fifteen years now, which is basically amazing. The fact that Meaghan still wants to hang out with me after all this time is even amazinger. She is a true friend, full of grace and fun, plus she is hilarious. Our mutual hatred of phone calls means that we have lengthy text conversations and... I think that's a pretty cool way to conduct a long-distance friendship.

*You may visit events from previous Meaghan weekends (plus one Meaghan AND Carla weekend) here, here, here, and here.

4/100 (letter to a tiny pink person)

Dear Seth,

At just three days old (or is it four? I'm not certain how to count these things), you are far and away the youngest person I have ever written to. But you are currently the youngest person that I love, and so it makes sense that I'm scrambling to translate that love into words.

You are my newest nephew. You came into the world with a minimum of fuss, and at the moment you continue in a similar polite vein. You are tiny, but you have big hands (farmer's hands? mechanic's hands? architect's hands? potter's hands?). You look startlingly like your dad, but you are also incredibly you, with a serious, thoughtful mouth, and a forehead with a few tiny crinkles in it. It's as though this new world is a puzzle you're trying to solve, and I guess perhaps it is, and you are.

I think maybe it's your name, Seth -- a manly little man's name, and an ancient one, too -- that has many of us already looking ahead to your future. You're so tiny and new, and I promise that we will let you take all the time you need to grow up; please don't hurry it. But in the meantime, we wonder about who you will become.

"Mitch, Dan, and Seth," said your aunty Andrea, tasting the sound of the three boy cousins' names all together in a group. It sounded good, and I imagined a trio of bold, cheeky young men who might distract the girls at church. Uncle Tain is already talking about how he will fish with you, wrestle you, and watch superhero cartoons with you. I, on the other hand, had this vision of you growing up to be a lovely paradox: an artist -- one who rides motorcycles -- is the picture that leapt into my imagination when I heard your name.

But guess what, Seth? You don't have to be any of these things. You've introduced yourself to us as a tiny bundle who honestly wants little more than to sleep and occasionally eat (though not much). Yet already there's a story about you and its pages are filled with amazing things. Someone better than any of us has written it; we're just here to read along and help you out with some of the words.

Be who you are meant to be, Seth -- whether that's a wrestling cheeky fishing artistic motorcyle rider, or a chef who reads poetry and wants to get his pilot's licence. If you love God and you love the people He made, you will be a wonderful, mighty man, and that is enough and plenty.

Thank you for coming into our world.

Love,

Aunty Dee

Done.

-- well, virtually done, and I feel as happy as my precious little niece looks. Also, allow me to digress for a moment and point out those two teeny baby teeth. I defy you to show me anything cuter.

So yes, uni for the year is basically finished. I say basically because I do have one more essay due in a fortnight, but it's not too long and (I hope) not too difficult, and all the really big papers and deadlines were done and dusted on Friday. It's a nice feeling, and you can tell I've turned my self-editor off for the holidays (or a few days, at least) because there were four 'ands' in that last sentence alone and I'm leaving them there.

That's (almost) that, and my self-imposed short&sweet blog pseudo-hiatus is over, leaving me free to post as much as I want. Of course -- because there's always an of-course -- I now have blogging stage fright and can't remember all the marvellous things I thought I really positively had to tell you.

So while I find my feet again, the floor is yours, friends. What should I chat about? What do you want to know? What do you want to see pictures of? This is my little wooden chest of letters to you all; feel free to demand posts on anything you like.

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Conversations:

Mothercare -- we really do. There are some pretty cool spots around here.

Un -- we'll have to go there!

Lauren -- that's one of the better ones; it was fun to learn more about my camera.

Samantha R -- it requires more forethought than more spontaneous snapshots, doesn't it? Plus you need your tripod handy and all that jazz.

Weekend XXX :: uncle nick

My brother Nick is in town for a week, supposedly to catch up with everyone but really to meet the new little pork chop. On Sunday, we all had a family picnic together, and Nick got to spend some quality time with Abby Victoria. Things went along swimmingly.

And Abby thought the attention was grand -- at least for a little while.

But eventually it was all too much. She Is Not Amused.

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Conversations:

Katie -- I can relate to that, too. So many of my dearest friends are ones I met online. One of them (hello, Ruth!) I met when she lived in far NSW but now we're both south east Queenslanders. It's very cool. Hopefully you, too, will end up with an excellent online buddy right around the corner (and I mean that in the least weird way possible)!

Laura Elizabeth -- I still haven't found The Eagle available ANYWHERE in Australia but I finally caved and ordered it from Amazon UK. I hope it arrives this week! I've lurked a few YouTube clips which of course are all a bit slashy owing to the bromantic nature of the story and I like what I've seen. I hope it's not too terrible!

Jessica -- it's definitely a cool story. It amazes me still, now, four years later! Haha and you're right about the 'present husband' bit. I amended it a little ;).

Mothercare -- she is :)

Rebecca Simon -- yes, it's such an awesome little present from God! I'm amazed how many people I've met long distance who have become friends to keep in touch with throughout all the new seasons of life -- you included!

Bek Axe -- YOU are the seriously cool one.

Adventuring.

Two weeks was a long time to be away from home, but a short time to be with my sister, Andrea, and her precious little family. I'm fumbling around for the right words to aptly summarise two weeks of getting to hang out and chat with a sister I see all too little, and making better and better friends with my first niece and nephew. Amelia and I were already BFFs (sharing a fondness for journals, coloured pencils, and costume jewellery, though at four she already has better taste than me), but Mitchell, now two-and-a-half, took a little more convincing. On the first day, he responded to my anecdote about seeing an owl on a signpost with the blunt shut-down, "That's not exciting." But by the next day, he told me I was his "best best friend" and shouted, "I LOVE you staying here till the baby comes out!"

Which is the real reason behind my visit: to be there as aunt/babysitter when small person no. 3 made his or her arrival. Only said small person was none too quick about arriving and its due date slipped past with nary a peep. We filled in the blanks by exploring the little snowfields town my sister lives in, tripping out for a day to Canberra to see the war memorial and the luscious streets lined with bare-bones winter trees. We had coffee (twice) at our favourite little providore, and both times we managed to get a table right by the open fire. We knitted (well, Andrea did) and read (well, I did), and Sam introduced me to the dorky entertainment that is The Scrapheap Challenge. I laughed over and over again at the amazingly witty things coming out of small niece and nephew's mouths, and we generally tried to ignore the fact that baby no. 3 might not actually arrive before I had to fly home again.

Andrea walked over hill and dale in an attempt to keep moving and possibly nudge baby on into the world, but all seemed useless. It was snug in there; who'd want to face a southern winter anyway, right? But one afternoon, Andrea and I sat down to watch The Little Kidnappers, a movie we'd loved when we were small and which we were hoping would stand the test of time. We weren't five minutes in when Andrea leapt off the couch quite suddenly. It was happening.

Just after midnight, with Amelia and Mitchell sound asleep, my phone rang (I should probably change my ringtone from the Batman theme soon) and Andrea was there, telling me that there is a new little man in the world, and his name is Daniel.

In spite of our complaints, Daniel's timing was perfect. And he is perfect -- already a golden child, so content and snuggly, and looking a lot like his dad. I had five days to enjoy him before I had to fly home, and it was an honour to be able to be there for his first few days of life this side of the womb. Though we never did get to finish watching The Little Kidnappers.

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Conversations:

Laura Elizabeth -- I know, right? Two babies in two months is quite incredible! PS. Thank you for missing me in blogland. I felt all warm and fuzzy :).

Staish -- alas! In the post-trip suitcase weigh-in, the red coat got thrown aside on account of IT WAS TOO HEAVY.

Katie -- thank you!

Cara -- new small people for both of us! Yay!

Amanda -- I'll be posting more at LJ :)

Samantha -- thank you, lovely. Thinking of you today. x

Sorry, do you two know each other?

Abby Victoria, meet my friends. Friends, meet my newest niece. She's one day old in this picture (eleven days old in real life) and at the point of taking this shot she had already claimed a large chunk of my heart for her own. Sorry she couldn't be bothered waking up to chat with you. Less than two weeks old and already too cool for school and out-chilling everyone around her. Sorry guys. Abby, seriously, what a diva.

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Conversations:

Katie -- why does excitement always come in big handfuls instead of nice steady trickles?

Brooke -- Lauren, Brooke wants you to have a hug! Brooke, Lauren returns the hug with thanks!

Samantha R -- you got it, friend.

Rebecca Simon -- she is indeed the perfect child. I mean, you will agree: firstborn children generally are perfect in every way. Aw, I had a hot chocolate this very afternoon. If only you were here to share!

Un -- lol. Glad the trip was [awkward pause] pleasant.

Elisabeth -- thank you!

Abbie -- thank you on all counts! End of semester is a great refining time. Babies, however, are just plain fun.

Big little adventures

So many adventures big and small can happen in the space of one week, and the happiest of all happy adventures in the last seven days was the arrival of a brand new little niece. Yes indeed, she arrived precisely on her due date (my beloved first niece’s fourth birthday!), a chubby little pink bundle of cute who already has her dad’s nose and mouth and hair halfway between the colours of her mama and papa. I am under strict instruction not to share pictures and details until the doting parents have done so themselves (and they are taking their own sweet time about it), so I am sitting on my hands until then. But: A NIECE! A TINY GIRL! A CUTE LITTLE GUMMY PERSON!

That big adventure led to lots of other small adventures, some less fun (driving around the airport a hundred and fifty times waiting on the arrival of a flight that was delayed three hours and fifteen minutes), some extremely fun (my sister Andrea flying up from down south to meet her new niece – and be my first official overnight Housie guest). Owing to the general lack of sleep that seems to accompany the arrival of any new baby, we didn’t do anything very grand – just lots of family catching up, lots of talking, one day in which there were four shopping trips, and lots of baby-hugging – but in spite of that (and the inevitable spilling over of weird emotions, my traditional response to life’s big moments) it was excellent.

It turned into something of a long weekend, too, as Andrea didn’t fly out till Tuesday afternoon, and then I got to catch up with a lovely West-Australian-turned-Territorian friend who was in the city for the week. We chatted while her fifteen-month-old dynamo cherub beamed upon us and impressed us with her sometimes unintelligible but always genius monosyllabic observations of the world.

Today it’s back into the books and an attempt to get my head around Hegel’s philosophy of history, something which really wants to defy a concise single-sentence definition. My tactic when I don’t have a clue about the subjects I’m writing essays for is basically just to immerse myself in the topic until I start to gain some sense of what’s going on. Sometimes it takes ages but eventually I start to get it. Thank you, ITunesU, for giving me access to incredible lecturers in great universities around the world. Ah, I love the internet!

The semester is close to winding down which means the deadline pressure is winding up. At this time of semester, I always find myself wishing there was a more even spread of assignments throughout term. I’d far rather do an assignment a week (dotting the hardcore major projects throughout) than have a bunch due mid-semester, a few here and there, and all the big ones at the very end. I want to learn, not just pass, and I feel sure I’d remember so much more and invest more of myself in each essay if they were spread throughout the semester rather than due in big lump sums. Never mind; deadlines are helpful and oddly inspiring, even if they are unfun.

And this is unrelated to anything else I've said in my post, but who needs context for pretty pictures and creative challenges? I don't. Words to Shoot By.

* * * * *

Conversations:

Bek Axe -- :D

Lauren -- It did want to come out! And 'it' is a she!

Carla & Alastair -- but we were focussing on belly (and the mama didn't want her face photographed that day).

Bethany -- this aunty is enthusiastic about the responsibility of posting pictures ;).

Cara -- and hugs back to you! I hope life is lovely for you way over there <3

Un -- we know that's not true!

Laura Elizabeth -- I promise you I read nothing creeperish in that remark. LOL I love surrounding myself with small children. :D

Staish -- See you tomorrow?

Samantha R -- that little kid already knows the feeling of being mobbed by papparazzi, believe me.

Meaghan -- we must repeat the insanity of something similar to the trail of carnage soon ;).

Could be any day now...

My littlest sister is due to present me with another niece or nephew soon. Her due date is the 12th of May (incidentally, my first niece's fourth birthday) so it could be any time between now and the next couple of weeks. Notice that I am speaking entirely in terminology that designates this future little human being as my niece or nephew, not their son or daughter. I will freely acknowledge that the whole reason my sisters marry and reproduce is to make me the happiest aunty in the world.

No, but seriously -- does that belly not look like the cosiest, cutest little nesting place for a small person to be hanging out? That little splodge might never want to leave.

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Conversations:

Un -- His poses may not be standard, but at least he was posing, for once!

Weekend X :: the new arrival

Part of me finds it fascinating that my last post was all about waiting for a baby to arrive and this very weekend was about welcoming one. But when I wrote my memories for Flashback Friday, I didn't link the two at all.

We were heading southward for a weekend conference and coming within two hours of my sister and brother-in-law's home. My sister was nine months pregnant -- but we are mature and we learn from experience and, since the last baby (otherwise known as The World's Cutest Niece) came a full two weeks after her due date, we weren't expecting any miracles. We only thought it would be a rather cool thing if baby burst into the world while we were somewhat within driving distance.

Well, I am here to tell you that Rather Cool Things do happen.

At five a.m. on the very morning of baby's due date, we got a call from my sister. "It's happening!" And at five p.m. that afternoon, I held my new nephew -- my nephew! -- in my arms when he was just three hours old. It was pretty super.

Now, my sister and her hubby are somewhat internet-shy so I can't post pictures here, but I can tell you some things:

1. His name is Mitchell and he is all-boy already.
2. He weighed the same as his big sister at birth but is actually shorter. It's muscle.
3. He's a wiggle-woo who loves to look at the world and make eye contact (what can I say? Genius springs to mind).
4. His mama is a superwoman.
5. His dad is proudness personified.
6. His big sister (world'scutestniece) is head over heels in love in a way that melts this delirious aunty's heart.

Little ones = super.

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conversations:

Amanda -- I'm so glad you enjoyed it :). I think this post should answer your other questions!

Arny -- Yes, I have a blog. Tada!

Simplythis -- thanks, Ruth. xox

Staish -- I wish I could remember more. Life is pretty adventurous with a family like mine!

Caitlin -- thank you for your congratulations!! Stay tuned for pictures in my next letter :).

Tegan -- haha!! You are so gracious to bestow the title of World's Cutest Nephew until you have one of your own to fight for the crown ;).

Abbie -- alas! I am so sorry to disappoint :D. Hopefully these details fill in a few of the blanks for you :). love!