Alannah Mai

I was in the delivery room with my wife for over 20+ hours and witnessed this little person being born. I was in awe.... speechless to the point of daydreaming. The nurse pokes me with the blunt end of the scissors to cut her cord, I also needed extra reassurance from her that it will not hurt our precious little new arrival. I cut the cord with hesitation.

Alannah Mai is her name and I remember on that 28th day of September (same birthday as my dad's) last year she did not cry. The nurse handed her over to my wife and their eyes met...just stared quietly at each other before they took her away to be checked. I was ordered to follow her as to prevent that 'Urban Myth' of hospitals swapping new born babies (by mistake of course).

It has now been 7 months and being a father to this bright eyed new person has been a wonder and a joy to me from the start. She is sitting up, crawling in all directions and has a very high pitched scream that she uses to get what she wants. She is to be Christened this Sunday and all arrangements have been made for the day to be as perfect as possible. I wish that we are blessed with good weather and that she is in fine spirits during the days events. Fingers crossed on both hands.

Note: This picture was taken on the day we traded in my bachelor car - a bright red Jeep Wrangler soft-top. It was a well loved car for my wife and I, but with Alannah in the picture - practicality and safety rules the day. Looking at her I think it is more than a fair trade - Alannah is now driving in a brand new shiny (when clean) black Rav4.