Babies and Culture

We want to introduce Caleb at the earliest age to cultural diversity, so we made sure over the past few days that ..


...he got to watch Match of the Day,

he watched/slept through the Last Night of the Proms,

and lastly, but certainly not least, he sat through a marathon session of Pride and Prejudice with his Mammy and Granny.

He told us, in no uncertain terms, that Pride and Prejudice was his favourite, but that we weren't to tell Uncle Calum. 

He also promised me that next year, he would stay awake for at least part of the Last Night of the Proms.

And he vowed that he wouldn't become football obsessed like his uncle. 

Clarification:
All the opinions and words here are his own, and are in no way influenced by Granny. 

Labour Day .... UK Style

Apparently, in the USofA, last Monday was Labour Day (though undoubtedly, it's written Labor Day). Well, I must tell you all that last Monday was most definitely a Labour Day for us here, and by mid afternoon, that labouring had given Catherine and John their first child, and given the Builder and I our first grandchild.

Here's Caleb Finlay James a minute or two after his birth with his already doting daddy.

To say we are all in awe and in love would be understatements.

Here he is wrapped in a blanket that my Mum had knitted. When Catherine was up in Lewis back in January, Mum gave her a blue blanket and a pink one she'd already made. She pretty much knew she would not be here to see her first great-grandchild, but she wanted Catherine to have these blankets. While the blanket is most certainly not as precious as the bundle inside, it is still very precious to Catherine.

Here's our new bundle in the cradle he got from his great auntie Marina. (Emphasis on great as in old. Not as in fab. Noooo, no no, she is our old great auntie. That sounds way older than Granny!)





Uncle Calum made sure to introduce him at the first opportunity to a football and all matters football related.

Those of us who know Calum know that he talks of football matters a lot. I mean incessantly. Caleb gave a perfect demonstration of how we all tend to feel when Calum Stewart is on his 375th footballing fact of the day.

Apologies, son, but this is how it feels to us too. Caleb is speaking for us all ...

No doubt, I shall be inundating y'all with photos of our new gift in future posts. For now, I shall leave you with this thought: 

In July this year, I sat right beside my Mum's bedside as she drew her last breath and passed from this life into eternity.

Just a couple of months later, I sat right beside Catherine's bedside as my grandchild drew his first breath is this world.

Death and life. Life and death. Nothing is meaningless in God's world.