Tea Party

This weekend is Rafi's first birthday party... it's come around much too soon. We have so much to do to get ready and I am a little bit nervous about getting things done. We're having an English tea party :)

On Sleep

Raf is in bed asleep... which is nice, except Rich is up there lying with him, waiting for me to relieve him of his duties. We co-sleep, which we all love, but we had the goal of having Raf be in his cot for a couple of hours per night so that RIch and I could just have a bit of time in the evenings. This was going quite well - though it didn't happen consistently -but for a couple of weeks we've had quite a bit of regression.

I helped get Raf to sleep tonight, and as I fed him and stroked his hair I remembered how important this is, how his little body collects bodily memories which will remain deeply with him for the rest of his life, and while it can be frustrating at times, and the frequent wake-ups can be difficult, too, it seems much more important to have tenderness and trust incorporated into his corporeal memory, and for his limbs and tissues and hormones - and all the stress that courses through him when he's struggling to get to sleep and stay asleep - to be treated kindly and with patience.

And, as if by magic, Rich is downstairs and Raf is in his cot :)

Look at me GO GO GO!

Oh what a lovely day...

My first father's day! It was such a lovely day with Al and Rafi, after a week of feeling blah - we did some of the things we love to do, whilst also planning Raf's 1st birthday party which is in less than two weeks!!

Let me recount a few of the highlights - Alex taking Raf out of the bed for a few minutes so I could get a few more minutes sleep-in. Usually Raf is left with me - and more often than not recently I will get an unprovoked poke in the eye to wake me up - so that was a bonus this morning.

Two bike rides - one with Al with Raf in the trailer, with me behind drafting and saving at least 15% energy. It all counts at my age...The second one was on my own, around and down by the river, it was beautiful out.

Presents - a cup with an adorable picture of Rafman on the side, a card with Rafman on it - and a book I can read to Rafman about a cat. Lucky me, photograph's hopefully to follow...

We headed out for lunch, stopping in a lovely toy store to buy Raf's main birthday presents, and a few other little items. Lunch was lovely, in a vegan way I like, plus coffee refills, which again at my age I accept in increased volume.

We headed home, pretty tired - and we're happy to have spent the day together! And I never did get near to starting the staining of the deck!

Otter Pond

We've had a lovely weekend, and I think Rich may write a post later! But just a quick video upload. On Friday we headed to the local trail where there's a beautiful pond. I went in for a swim and we popped Raf to play in the mud/sand and in he followed! He loves water. We headed to Sebago Lake on Saturday and he thoroughly enjoyed himself splashing in the water (pics to come soon).

First Father's Day :)

It's Friday, a little early, but Eich is watching the football so we're calling it a father's day weekend. Here's a film I made about Raf and Rich to mark the occasion.

Raf chats to Rich

I'm starting to work on a little film to remember Raf's first year. i was just looking at the footage from the UK and found this little gem.