The baby

Mum's Oma, dad's chosen grandad. My favourite sister gave birth to the first of our next generation, Nova Indigo. She's a knitting pattern baby is what the midwife said, which we all immediately translated to...um, perfection.

Lou was brave and tough. When you're born a girl you always hear about how painful childbirth can be but somehow you glorify it in your head or tell yourself, for you...it will be different.  Well now I've seen childbirth and I know, for me, it won't be different. Lou's muscles were so fatigued after 21 hours of labour they shook with exhaustion. Her limbs were still and her face was set with a clenched jaw and eyes that kept trying to hold back the reality of the hurt. She was tough and strong and resolved and she delivered a perfectly formed, tiny little girl with a rosebud mouth. They call her boo, we call her indigo, Nova is too strong for her yet when she is so tiny.

Not much aunty'ing to be doing at the moment. Nova's just feeding feeding feeding and sleeping, crying, squirming, lots of squirming. and lots of poking out her tongue. Everyone keeps saying she's tasting the air but it looks like she's eaten something gross, got the flavour stuck in her mouth and can't bare it. She pulls faces like the ones mum taught me a while ago to stretch and tone the muscles in my jaw and cheekbones. Seriously, there are exercises for this. Make sure you do them in private.

She is the softest thing I have ever kissed, bar nothing. Her skin is like melted ice cream or sunshine or something less try hardy poetic. IT IS SO SOFT. She likes being scrunched up, I guess like she was in the womb, you'd think she'd want to STRRRrrrrrrettttch out all her limbs but she's way happier when you just hold her like she's a basketball.

She's just so very perfect.

Oma and boo. Yucky hospital photo but I keep forgetting my camera!