Sparrow Lorelei photo gallery

Sparrow meets Grandma (Sandra, my mother), 30 May - 2 June 2009

My mother Sandra came over to visit on the WA long weekend. So this page is about Sparrow meeting Grandma.

Daddy and Sparrow waiting at the airport for Grandma to arrive.

Yes, she's really real. Grandma arrives and the little baby girl is passed over.

The most important Grandma job: holding the baby. Mum did a lot of other little things around the house while she was here, but this was the best one. It means I can go have a shower, hang out the laundry, do a whole range of things that involve me being out of earshot for extended periods of time. Phew.

Mum has been cooking dinner - delicious vegetarian enchiladas with a waldorf-ish salad - and Sparrow and I have come to investigate now that the little girl has finished her own dinner.

The fragrance of cooking food brought James away from his computer too.

Quiet evenings are our norm now, even with an extra pair of hands. We take turns eating, reading, checking things online, sorting out random things.

Flash version, in an attempt to get something in better focus :-) the colour balance isn't great though.

Sleeping in Grandma's lap.

Grandma says that all the Swains have liked being where the conversation is. Sparrow is no exception. She's enjoying Grandma talking and occasionally singing little bits and pieces to her. Mum pointed out that she definitely does seem to distinguish my voice from other people's. She will now sometimes turn her head a little in the direction of my voice and make food faces when she hears it. Nice to know I've been so prominently associated.

This is probably my favourite photo of the series. Though Sparrow did decide just as the photo was taken to stop smiling and start fretting, unfortunately. She's a fairly calm and pleasant baby most of the time, with a few smiles (though not in response to anything much yet). But she does fret when wind is passing through her in one direction or another, and that seems to happen often.

Just before Mum was due to leave for the airport, we realised we'd not managed to get any three-generations photos with all three of us women in it. So here's our best attempt, at 4:30 am, which is one of Sparrow's regular feed-and-change times as well as just happening to be Mum's departure time. I won't say that any of us look our best -grin-. But anyway, here we present Sparrow Lorelei, daughter of Tamara Rachel, daughter of Sandra May, daughter of Ruth, daughter of Bertha May, daughter of Anne. That's as many generations as I know the lineage of.