Hairy Mountain Folk

Hard to believe but three years have passed since Phil and I were handed an utterly gorgeous little bundle of squirm called Nina and took our first tentative and terrified steps as parents.
In an appropriate fashion - namely in a house packed to the rafters with toddlers, babies and parents - we celebrated Nina's third birthday this week. Her party was one to remember ... our ears are still ringing after nearly 20 kids and 20 adults somehow managed to cram into our house.
Nina was showered with presents and rather enjoyed being the centre of attention when her Elmer the Patchwork Elephant cake was brought out and everyone sang 'Happy Birthday'.
It was a wonderful day, and a fitting salute to this beautiful, hilarious, precocious, cheeky , loving little girl.

Last time Pam and Keith Robinson saw Nina in the flesh, she was just six months old, while Pascal wasn't even a twinkle in his daddy's eye.
So there was plenty of catching up to do when they visited this time, and all parties made the most of it!
We've had a lovely nearly-four weeks with Pam and Keith staying at Casa Noginson, spoiling Nina and Pascal to within an inch of their lives, and generally making themselves incredibly useful around the house by tackling all those jobs that Phil and I just can't seem to find time to do. The bathroom has finally had the finishing paint touches put on, the lounge room has been repainted, the garden is looking better than ever, and now that they've departed back to the UK, we face the unwelcome prospect of doing the washing up ourselves for the first time in weeks.
Nina loved having her 'gamma and gamma' around, and had them jumping through all sorts of hoops. I'm not sure Keith's legs will ever be the same after running up and down a strip of bubble wrap for Nina's amusement ("Again, Grandad! Again!).
And Pascal was never short of someone to cuddle or feed him, so he was happy as a pig in mud.

Some of you may recall that we went through all sorts of grief over Nina's weight, or lack of it, when she was younger. She was always just hanging on to the bottom of the so-called 'healthy weight curve', barely eating enough to keep a sparrow alive yet somehow still having the energy to run rings around us on an hourly basis.
We don't have that problem with Pascal. In fact, Pascal is never happier than when seated in his high chair or on the floor with some kind of food in his hand. Sandwiches, bread crusts, fruit, cheese, vegetables, rice cakes, egg ... it all goes down without touching the sides, with great lip-smackings of approval.
Despite this consumption (which is currently about twice the volume that Nina consumes, and she's 3 times his age), he's right on average weight. Go figure. He does have those gorgeous little rolls of chub on his legs though, which I just adore.
Meanwhile, Nina still barely eats enough to fill a sparrow but still has the energy of a roomful of grasshoppers.

Pascal is growing so fast... one minute, he's a little wriggly newborn, the next he's a barrel with legs who's already outgrowing clothes his big sister was wearing not so long ago!
He's a better sleeper, and eater, than Nina ever was, although we're still getting nights where the longest stretch of sleep I get is one hour. But even in the wee hours, when I'm cross-eyed with tiredness, he just throws me one of his chubby-cheeked smiles and I melt all over the place.
Pascal's gorgeous babyness and Nina's wonderful exuberance are the perfect balance for the third baby occupying my time - my new book project. In contrast to The Sixth Wave, this book is about death - a bit of a change of subject matter.
I'm exploring the human experience of death from a range of perspectives, and to do that, I'm interviewing people from all over the world to talk about their personal experiences of death. It's inspiring, challenging, rewarding, exhausting and emotionally intense, but I'm incredibly excited about the project and can't wait to share some of the amazing stories and insights I've come across in my research so far.
The book has a publisher (hooray!) so all I have to do is find time in between nappy changes and cuddles to write it. Wish me luck!

There are advantages to having broad shoulders and being a solidly-built Yorkshireman, as Phil has discovered now that he's the daddy to not one, but two little kiddies. Nina, despite weighing well over 10kgs, still loves riding on Daddy's shoulders (and why wouldn't you, when the view is so good!), and now Pascal is discovering the benefits of a broad warm chest, courtesy of our hug-a-bub sling.

... born at 11.15am on Wednesday 9 February, 2011, weighing 3.6 kgs, displaying a healthy vocal ability and already looking as cute as his sister.
And so the Robinson/Nogrady family expands to a happy foursome with the arrival of Pascal. So far, he has proven a champion eater, sleeper and pooper, as most newborns do, but already seems to be showing signs of being a fairly calm little character.
Nina is being a gorgeous big sister, bestowing lots of gentle little kisses on Pascal's sleeping head, and is adjusting really well to having a little baby in the house.
Lots more pics and video to come!

So it has been a very VERY long time since we've added to this blog, and yes, we're very slack, but in our defence, it has been rather a busy time!
Phil has been burning the cerebral candle at both ends, working very hard as a consultant on HotFrog and also working hard on his own project nospuds (www.nospuds.com.au), which is coming along in leaps and bounds.
Bianca has been mothering, baking and travelling around the country talking about The Sixth Wave, and in the meantime, also brewing up another little person (aka Bob the Bump, due around February 13).
And Nina has been gorgeous, which takes a lot of effort. She is growing into a very affectionate, strong-willed, fun-loving, funny and absolutely delightful little individual who continues to charm the pants off both of us.
Anyway, that's about it for the time being but I thought I should probably update this blog before it became totally obsolete.

It's hard to believe, but after nearly 2 years of work, The Sixth Wave is finally published! It isn't due to be released in bookstores until the beginning of April, but I have in my hot little hands one of the first copies off the press. The website is also up at www.sixthwave.org.

Labels: book, The Sixth Wave