Mikus was born on a drizzly night in April, 2005. The labour was fast and furious, 1.5 hours long, complete with a break-neck drive to the hospital and the actual birth in the Accidents and Emergencies department of the Royal Brisbane Hospital.  As it turns out, it seems that the intensity and purpose with which my youngest son came into the world was also an indication of his temperament and purpose as a person!.  In the pic above, Mikus is around 1/2 an hour old.  He was well over 4 kg (about 2 weeks overcooked), and his head was so big it didn't fit the newborn hat we had brought to hospital with us.  So the nurses thoughtfully knotted a "Queensland Health" baby singlet to keep his head warm...

Next morning in hosptial.  A very proud big brother, with his cheek full of jelly beans.

Best place to bathe newborns - the kitchen sink.  Bloody annoying when they grow too long and you have to revert to the standard baby bath.  When Mikus was born, all of the midwives and nurses kept commenting that he looked like an "old soul". "He's been here before!" many of them commented. Their comments come back to me quite often - I sometimes suspect they were right.

The post-feed knockout

Mmm, toast in one hand, baby in the other...

When Mikus was around six weeks old we flew back to Latvia and fairly soon after drove out to a remote country property to celebrate midsummer's eve.  This is one of a series of photos we have taken "breast feeding in exotic locations" - but that's a whole other set of posts ;)