A Changed Life

Our baby was born 3 months, 3 days, 21 hours and 3 minutes ago.....and life hasnt been the same since then.

As I was mentioning to a friend - definitions of most things in life have changed - fun now means watching and making the little fellow smile....work means putting him to sleep, or changing his nappy, exercise is walking him around or giving him a bath. To go out these days, one has to think not about the ambience (if restaurant) or genre (if movie) but the presence of a "mother's room" and the length of the movie.....shopping used to be weekend fun, now its like an annual holiday - needs a couple of days of planning :-). Waking up at night was to curse the electricity board or a quick dart to the pee room, now its a part of life (not for me thanks to wifey...). Watching TV was a fun past time - now it has to be done furtively while he sleeps. The mornings used to be lazy - with a newspaper and a cuppa tea on the balcony, now its mostly spent conjuring up the right goo-goos and gagaas. To think that weekends werent about nappies and provisions but actually involved golf and beer....a movie and some fun.....games and late nights.... and all this not too long ago.

If an astrologer had told me just six months ago that a cherubic little 3 month old would hold my wife's and my life to ransom, that our life now would mean ensuring HE is comfortable AND most importantly that we would do all this most willingly, in fact looking forward to each new day.....that astrologer would have gotten what he/she deserved - a considerable thunk on his/her head.

So whats changed - how does one decidely helpless, hapless little being hold two perfectly normal, intelligent humans to ransom - well - I call it the helplessness theory.....his sheer helplessness provokes all forms of sympathy, all kinds of love and overwhelming emotion that tends to overrule the need for you to spend time on yourself........oh yes - then there is the reward......what reward you ask, when you have fresh poo deposited on your brand new t-shirt, when you have smelly vomit on your dress shirt just as you are getting ready to leave home......its that smile - the smile that goes beyond the lips, that transcends the eyes, that rises from deep within and connects at several levels......its like a puppy's welcome - unquestioned, unreserved, absolute love.......just that smile is worth it.