Introduces baby Steven...

The family tree continues to grow with the arrival of another great-nephew at 11am this morning. My niece Maria gave birth to Steven Theo, who weighed in at 6lb 13oz. He was originally due to arrive on my wedding day (Maria was convinced that she’d go into labour during the ceremony and give birth at the church!) but instead decided to arrive a little early. It’s been slightly confusing getting used to the fact that he is a boy called Steven, given that Maria’s nickname for her bump was Geraldine! Hopefully I will get to meet him at the weekend.

Busy, busy, busy

I seem to be surrounded by to-do lists. There are to-do lists for the wedding, to-do lists for work, to-do lists for the concerts and everything else that needs to be happening in my life. I’m not sure that things are being ticked off any quicker than they’re being added, but it makes me feel like I’m being more productive. I’d be even more productive if my computer hadn’t decided to stop working this morning, meaning that I can’t access my wedding files at the moment. Fortunately I have them backed up, but need Michael to come fix the computer!

Amazing love

In today’s celebrity-obsessed world, it is reassuring sometimes to be reminded that God loves all of us – from the multi-millionaire pop superstar to the homeless person trying to find somewhere to sleep for the night – we are all important and special in God’s sight. We don’t have to have a perfect body, be exceptionally talented or have lots of money; God’s love isn’t dependent on any of those things. We get things wrong, we turn away and try to find answers elsewhere, but God is always waiting with open arms ready for us to turn back and let Him in.

So much to do, so little time...

There are just under two weeks now left to go until our wedding and from feeling like we were very organised and could relax and wait for the big day, we’re now feeling more like there’s still so many little things left to do. Filling favour boxes, printing place cards, finalising the table plan, checking everything with the suppliers is on track... It’s not helped by our decision to be involved in two concerts – one two days before the wedding (helping out with) and the other four days after the honeymoon (performing and helping out with)– what were we thinking?!

Single-track news

Being sleep deprived doesn’t always prevent insomnia. I’ve been sitting watching BBC News and like many other people was stunned to hear that Michael Jackson has died – what sad news to hear in the early hours of the morning. News of the death of any super-celebrity/public figure always dominates the news reports of course (I remember watching the breaking news about Princess Diana when suffering insomnia that particular night) but I find it odd that all of a sudden there seems to be absolutely nothing else happening in the world – nothing else is even mentioned on the scrolling news feed.

Getting to know you

One of the nicest things about the way I work is being able to get to know the women in my caseload. It can be hard to say goodbye once the postnatal visits are finished, so it is great when women come back again. Looking after previous clients is such a lovely experience: It is an honour to be part of someone’s birth experience once; being able to do so a second time is a real privilege. Looking after previous clients is always a pleasure; it is even more special when it is someone who has also become a friend.

Evolving roles

I’ve now been working in the role of “Development Midwife” for several months and so had a review today to discuss how the new role was fitting into the practice. It went really well; the role seems to have naturally evolved more into admin support and streamlining some of our forms and paperwork. The name “Development Midwife” doesn’t really fit what the job has become so I’m now the “Midwifery Administrator”. I’m still really enjoying it – having a smaller caseload is great – I still get to be at births and be a midwife but the on call demand is less.

The junk room

Having a spare room is great for being able to invite friends over. The only problem is that if a friend ever did drop in unexpectedly and need a place to sleep for the night, it might take some time to find the bed underneath all the clutter that usually lives in the spare room. I’ve decided to make a start on de-cluttering today so that I can get some of the junk cleared out before the wedding. The trouble is, there’s so much junk that despite spending several hours sorting things out, it hardly looks like I’ve done anything.

Summer concert rehearsals

There are just over four weeks to go until the summer concert and we are still learning the choreography for some of the main numbers. Whilst everyone else still has four weeks of rehearsal left, I will be away on honeymoon for the last three rehearsals before we are in the theatre and so having less time for run-throughs than in previous years is even more nerve-racking. I’ve ended up taking my camera to rehearsals to video the steps – being short means I’m usually in the front row which makes it more important for me to know what I’m doing!

Shopping and partying - it's a tough life!

After a busy couple of weeks, it’s been nice to have a fairly relaxing day. Going shopping with Michael in the morning (and picking up our wedding rings!), then it was off to a family friend’s 60th birthday party in the afternoon. I’m not very good at social situations where I don’t really know many people, but we had a very pleasant afternoon. We’re now at the stage when every time we see people we haven’t seen for a while, we realise that the next time we’re likely to see them is at our wedding which is quite exciting really!