Saturday night, Sunday morning

Last night we drove to our friends' R and G's for dinner. They are among our best friends here, and A's American godparents.
This photo was taken at their parents' Maine lake-house.

It was an excellent evening and we didn't get home until 1.30am.

It was a very nice feeling driving home.... after months of scrabbling to get enough sleep, here we were, recklessly staying out late on a Saturday night.

We transferred a very sleepy baby from carseat to cot, and then went to bed, wishing that we could have a little lie-in (A has been known to sleep until 8.30am.)

But we had to get up bright and early. We're going to a parenting class on Sunday mornings at our church. It's very popular - there are about forty parents there, most of them with a new baby, or pregnant, but some with several children, who evidently feel there's always more to learn.

So far, we've covered the theology of family, and discussed what we think being a good parent means - a rather daunting discussion!

In fact it's fair to say that being a parent is easily the most daunting thing we've ever done - the one you care about the most and really don't want to mess up. Everyone else seems to feel the same way, judging by the fact that they also got up and went out, the morning after the night before.

At least at the moment, the secret to a happy child is pretty simple. Just five meals and 16 hours sleep a day.