So far so good

We've survived the first week without killing the kid - hooray! What a week it's been - full of challenges/cute bits/funny bits.  I thought I'd share some highlights with you all while I have chance.

There's been a lot to get used to for all of us - lack of sleep, learning to breastfeed, learning to eat one handed at the same time as breastfeeding, getting to know each other.  It's been tough, I'm not gonna lie. In fact when people say they really miss this newborn stage I think they are either lying or have totally forgotten what it was really like. Don't get me wrong, I love our little man, but it is tough.  The other day I realised I breastfeed at least 8 times a day for about an hour a time. That's equivalent to the number of hours I used to spend at work each day - except with breastfeeding I don't get weekends off! No wonder so many people give up on breastfeeding.

Though the rough days are a nightmare it's all worth it for the good days. Like last night I went to bed early and got a couple of hours sleep before Josiah's 11:30pm feed. He fed really easily with no fuss, settled down and slept after each feed and even went 3 hours in a row without waking up at one point. And this morning after his 6:30am feed I felt alive enough to actually get out of bed after instead of falling back asleep. While Josiah slept off breakfast I did laundry, tidied the kitchen, had a bath and ate breakfast. We then all curled up in bed for a bit of family time and just hung out and listened to music. I found it so nice spending some time with Josiah doing something other than just feeding him!!

Time with Josiah has taught me a few things about us and God too. I was thinking the other day about how funny it is that Josiah is totally happy with sitting in a poo filled nappy but as soon as you try to change him then he screams. It got me thinking about the fact that we are often quite content with our messed up human nature and when God tries to 'clean us up' we seem to think it's the worst thing ever and that He's doing something bad to us when really it's for our own good.

I was also thinking about how dependant Josiah is on other people. He can't change his own nappy and we'd never expect him to try - that would be crazy.  One of the unique things about Christianity is the idea of grace. Most religions revolve around the basic premise that there is something wrong with us and/or the world and we need to do something (confession, good deeds, mediation etc) in order to fix the problem and/or make up for our mistakes.  The Bible clearly tells us that actually God does not expect us to fix our own mess.  Instead He shows us grace and asks that we simply put our faith in Jesus and depend on Him to do it for us.

To read more about God's grace check out the book of Galatians