You may have guessed from my radio silence that our stunning baby boy arrived safe and well! And he did stun us... 5 weeks before his due date! I'm going to try and not be one of those people who can talk about nothing except their child. That's very difficult at the moment because he's all I focus on 24/7 so I'll try to get it out of my system now!
I've been trying to complete this blog post for 2 months now! Nothing prepares you for your first baby. All the stories, advice and warnings from friends and relatives do nothing to prepare you for reality. Joseph demands my attention permanently even when he's sleeping! If he doesn't get enough sleep during the day then we end up with an evening like yesterday when we couldn't get Mr Crankypants to sleep until we took him out in the car at half past 11. He doesn't like to sleep anywhere except in someone's arms (or his car seat but only if the car's moving!) so typing blogs and other computer related activities is very difficult. He knows how to go to sleep... he just refuses to do it! I now have 4 minutes to publish this blog before he realises I'm not holding him and then kicks up merry hell! But nobody can resist this wee chubby face and teeny hands... I'm loving every minute of being a mum:
Two months ago I decided to take Joseph to the Friday class to meet sensei and our aikido family.
While everyone (understandably if I do say so myself) oohed and ahhed over Joseph, my mum (who came with me since I'd only just started driving again) was keen to stay and watch a class to see what Michael and I have been talking about over the last few years. As I was answering her questions about all things aikido: who goes where in the line? How come sensei picks on that one guy? Who teaches sensei? Why aren't some of the white belts doing that exercise? How come only some people wear the "fancy black trousers"?... I found myself longing to tie on my hakama and join in the class again. In fact I really had to hold myself back from just kicking off my shoes and jumping onto the mat right there and then! I'm sure sensei wouldn't have minded... However a cesarean section is major surgery and I had to wait at least 8 weeks before exercising again. But that didn't stop me trying out some of the Ki techniques on my mum while I was watching! As sensei said, its like sitting an addict in front of their addiction and telling them not to touch it. But, with great effort, I held myself back - I wouldn't want to do myself an injury that would stop me from practising aikido and/or having more children!
What really amazed me was how far everyone had come. I'd missed a grading so my fellow green-belts are different people and the people I'm used to working with, including my husband, have moved on. The brown belts who will be grading for black in the not-too-distant-future demonstrated amazing randori (which delighted my mum as it showed exactly how effective aikido can be against an unstaged attack).
I couldn't wait to get back! I've returned to the Tuesday class now and daddy's in charge of Joseph which not only gives me a break but lets father and son have quality time. We're beginning to get into a routine these days so hopefully I'll be able to pick up this blog again as I find myself trying to remember sensei's teachings and then forgetting them the minute I get home! I might invest in a notebook...
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