Raven is asleep on the sofa, grunting contentedly (I hope) every now and then. She's grown a massive 5 centimetres since birth - getting longer and fatter by the day;) She and I went to Leeds on the train on Friday to go to the consulate to get a Danish passport for her - well, to apply for one, anyways. See, we wanted to get a Danish passport all along, but called the consulate in Birmingham numerous times since her birth, but the consul never got back to us. We even sent him a letter and an e-mail, both of which he replied to saying we needed to ring up for the necessary appointment to be made to go see him in person. What a wanker. Anyways, so in the end I rang the alternative vice-consulate in Leeds and he said I could come in the following afternoon, which was Friday. So, with Raven in the papoose we took of. It was 2 2/1 hours and one change of train to get there, 10 minutes walk to the consulate (in the rain), 20 minutes submitting the application, 10 minutes to the train station, 1 hour 45 minutes and one more change of train to get back home. And guess what - my sweet Raven didn't cry once. And she didn't even have a change of nappy that whole trip. Not because I'm a bad and horrid mum, but because the schedule didn't allow for changes. I was planning on doing it on the train, but because it was a bank holiday weekend and Friday, the trains were completely full, and I was lucky to get a seat. Trying to manoeuvre past people in the aisle with a baby strapped to my belly and a changing bag on my back just wasn't happening - but Raven doesn't complain and he bottom wasn't even red when she was finally changed. I did feed her - 2 small feeds, which is a lot less than what she would normally have. I wasn't keeping that from her, but again, we were so crowded and she couldn't really get into a good feeding position, so she just kinda slept instead. But I was so proud and relieved and happy that we were able to make such a trip without any problems. She is truly an easy baby. She sleeps a good 5-7 hours in the night, wakes up for a feed and then sleeps another 2-3 hours. I'm DEFINITELY getting a lot more sleep now than I was when I was pregnant - and yeah, I'm aware that I am blessed to have such an easy baby. Anyways, so the adventure to Leeds was good also because it gave me confidence and made me a lot less nervous about driving to Denmark in a couple of weeks time.

Gosh - can you believe I'm getting married in less than a month. Crazy. My, this Word Co||ection sure has been trough some changes with me. I'm glad I am now co||ecting the words about Adam and my beautiful little Raven. As Carla said, I can have no regrets about any of the roads I chose to travel, as they led me to Adam and gave me Raven. To think how close I was to not volunteer at the shelter the year I met Adam - cos of the logistics, as I had moved from L'boro and couldn't travel by train for the night shifts I was doing. But there you are. Life moves in mysterious ways etc.

I remember seeing Adam peeking at Raven in the cot at the hospital - I'm so glad you managed to get a photo of that, Mette. I let him know the other day as we were out for a walk just how devastated I'd been with his non-reaction at her birth. He was super supportive and helpful, but he seemed completely unimpressed when she was actually there, and I was really upset. When he held her in his arms there was not the slightest bit of emotion to see in his face. I was really, really disappointed. So, although I'd mentioned it sort of in passing earlier, I felt I had to tell him just how upset it had made me. He had even had the cheek to tell me he was tired and that's why he was unable to muster even the slightest display of emotion. I told him to be ashamed that he would even dare to speak of being tired to me after I'd just given birth. I know he was tired - we were all tired - but we were also all elated and that elation gave us the need to smile - to appear happy. Adam didn't. No smile - no happy light in his eyes. Just a non-expression. And it was a massive anticlimax for me - more so than I could ever begin to explain. So, I told him. I told him that at that point - lying in that bed waiting to be allowed to hold my little gorl for what seemed like forever whilst the doctor was suturing, the midwife was unstrapping me, the aneastetist was removing tubes from my veins, I was ready to break up with him - take my daughter and leave him there and then. That's how upset I was. This was the biggest thing I could ever give him, and he looked like he wasn't bothered about the whole thing. And in the afternoon, when he and mum came to pick me up at the hospital, he just went straight to the bags and started packing everything - didn't even go to look at her, to say hi or check that she was alright. Well, we were parked out front where we could only stay for 30 minutes, he explained. You what??? Yeah, so I told him all of that. You know, I still can't even write about it without choking - tears sit close behind my eyes. Tired??? I'd been labouring for 9 days, and hadn't slept for more than 2 hours in any one sitting for those 9 days. I was tired. And did I care about the prospect of a parking ticket? No, I didn't. And saying hello to his newborn baby wasn't gonna change whether we were clamped or not. Anyways, he obviously apologised profusely when he realised how upset it had made me, and I'm glad I did talk to him about it. He needs to be reminded that he must show me how he feels - even when he's tired or in a restricted parking zone - so I don't think he's completely unimpressed by events such as the birth of his first child and the like.

Raven is awake - wants feeding.