A babble of babies

I don't know what the correct collective noun is for babies, but I think "babble" does pretty well! Whatever, the last week has been a good time for babies. Last Saturday my good friend and collaborator on Mater Amabilis, Michele, gave birth to her tenth baby, a beautiful little girl named Maria. Maria's arrival was closely followed by a local friend's long-awaited first baby, born safely after a rough pregnancy and an emergency c-section.

Continuing the baby theme, today I played the flute at the baptism of Jonathan, a very special little boy born with Downs Syndrome. Three-and-a-half years ago I played at the funeral of his sister, who died from cardiomyopathy just before her second birthday. Since then his family have set an extraodinary example of courage and fortitude in the way they coped with this tragedy and a number of other trials. Our whole parish has taken baby Jonathan very much to its heart. Please pray for him on this special day, that he will have a happy and healthy life and will continue to be a source of joy to his family.

And finally, Little Cherub would like to announce that she is now six months old, and very happy about it!

I took her to be weighed in honour of the occasion. She now weighs 13lbs 12oz and is 24½ inches long, making her exactly average ... for a four month old! I think that means she is officially two-thirds of a baby? Petite as she is, she is still chugging happily up her own (small!) curve, and has strength and noise making abilitiy out of proportion to her size.