A miracle happened in our house last night: Reuben soothed himself off to sleep!

Bennie had been enjoying some time thumping elephants on his activity mat when I took him upstairs as it was getting late for such a little boy. During our nappy changing session I noticed he was rather content, so put him to bed, all wrapped up in his blankets, but still awake. I left him there for a bit while I pottered round the house; then he started whimpering. I returned to the bedroom, administered the dummy and stroked his head; WHAM!! He was out!! Amazing! Admittedly, when he lost grip of the dummy just 30 minutes later, he woke up bright and alert, but the concept of a youngling soothing himself to sleep has been demonstrated and we have hope for the future, even if we have to wait a few months for the proper results!!

Oh yes, and we’ve been getting more smiles!

Update Tuesday pm: Reuben soothed himself off to sleep again this afternoon…

I did it. I’ve heard stories from other mums and laughed when they related the tale, but didn’t contemplate that it might happen to me. We had the pleasure of Peter’s parents visiting this weekend and poor Bennie has been suffering with a bit of wind, so when he was crying in the arms of his Omi, I rocked. For several seconds! I had no babe in my arms, no son to soothe, but my body swayed and my hips gyrated to the melody of, ‘There, there, it’s alright’…!

Our evenings are mostly spent at home these days compared to the days of our youth..! But we had the pleasure of watching a great movie the other night: Stardust.

The premise is simple: a fallen star holds the secret to eternal youth and so is pursued by those with evil intent, but those with a good heart seek to protect her at all costs. The star is a beautiful young lady who captures the heart of a man brave enough to step across The Wall from a world of normalcy to a land of fantasy in Narnia-esque fashion. The story includes witches, pirates, the pursuit of treasure, and the search for a true king. If you’re not starstruck by the movie, the cast itself is bright enough: Peter O’Toole, Michelle Pfeifer, Robert de Niro, Ricky Gervais, Claire Danes, Sienna Miller, Mr Weasley from Harry Potter (!), and an older Dexter Fletcher! All this is wrapped up in the award winning song from Take That, which gets everyones foot tapping!

Peter’s verdict: Fun, with Take That.

My verdict: Delightful escapism!

We’ve had several smiles recently but none captured on film - until now!! Was it the yummy mummy behind the camera that prompted the lips to turn upwards, or does Reuben just like his new T-shirt…?!?

I saw this picture a while back and was saving it to post together with the announcement of Reuben’s birth (it would have been a dead giveaway if I had posted it earlier..!). Immediately after Reuben’s arrival my priorites (and my brain..) kinda went amiss for a little while. Study it carefully, for this image portrays many eternal truths….

That’s what the doctor said Reuben would be, after he wriggled and pushed up when he was placed on his front to have his spine checked out! I think we have what is called, ‘an active baby’…

Reuben had his immunisations yesterday. We know in the long run it will keep him protected, but he screamed a cry I’ve never heard before and I even shed a tear watching him being jabbed in each thigh - there was a tub of Haribo on the nurses desk and I’m sure it must be for the mums as well as the babes.. We had lots of cuddles to make sure Reuben felt secure. In the end, though, we didn’t have to reach for the Infant Calpol as he was just fine, no temperature and no grizzliness all day!

We have our Antenatal group reunion tonight. I don’t really know why it’s called a reunion since the ladies and babes see each other every week anyway!! But we haven’t got all the families together (dads included) since we attended the class sessions back in April; we’re hoping for a photo with everyone in it tonight - I’m taking my hairbrush to make sure I look nice…!! ;o)

There are lots of things in Reuben’s life that he enjoys! He particularly liked the thrilling Wimbledon final last night! Besides that, he likes…

His Baby Bjorn:

His cot:

His dungarees:

And his sleep:

We were watching Jimmy Carr on his ‘Commercial Breakdown’ the other night and were given this little treat:

Although the tagline, Get a girlfriend, implies the activities they’re engaging in aren’t really time well spent, I would suggest the otherwise: that these are talented individuals with a unique skill. Britain’s Got Talent, anyone?!

Reuben was weighed this morning at the clinic, now a hefty 10 lb 4 oz - a whopping 12 ounce weight gain in one week! Soon he’ll be big enough and really really ridiculously good-looking to be a professional male model..!!

It’s obvious to us as Christians that prayer works. Reuben’s birth illustrates this point very well:

As Peter is curate of our church, we as a couple are listed in the church diary as a topic for prayer. When we saw the quarterly prayer diary when it was issued back in March we noticed that the church was asked to pray for us on 9th May; at the time, Peter made a comment that it would be funny if our child was born on that day… As it turns out, it was 9th May that we went into labour and Reuben arrived the following morning! Not just coincidence!

Also, it’s very interesting to look at the statistics of our antenatal class (all the girls have now popped!). Of the eight girls, four (50%) had C-sections, two (25%) were delivered by forceps and/or ventouse, one had to be induced, and we were the only natural birth amongst them! I personally take that to indicate the sovereignty of God over our labour and Reuben’s birth, a child who’s pregnancy was smothered in prayer throughout the nine months. I know the adjective ‘wonderful’ isn’t often applied to childbirth, but that is how we would describe our labour and birth experience! God has blessed us with a little boy, and blessed Peter and I with an experience we will never forget!

These aren’t just coincidences, but instead God-incidents…