And that's really hard to believe, but I keep repeating it to myself, trying to let it sink in: I am the best mother for my son.
Our son.
David Atticus was born at 3:04pm on September 25th in Nairobi. He is perfect, and beautiful.
The past month has gone by in the expected blur: sleep, eat, sleep, eat. Sleep when baby sleeps. Eat when baby eats. Cry when the baby cries.
We are slowly figuring out parenthood; figuring out the balancing act, the breast feeding and diaper changing and the best burping techniques; figuring out that you never really figure it out.
Long nights with little sleep. Long days with many visitors, gifts, snacks, diapers, friends and blessings. A million pictures. A lot of dirty laundry.
Abram is doing great. I love watching him be a dad! He's been so helpful around the house, with me, with the baby, and with figuring out life-things: taking our car to the mechanic, applying for David's passport, making Visible Grace decisions, working out our budget. I'm so blessed by him, and watching him with our son is one of my favourite things about parenthood.
I (Ashby) am doing well, too. Lots of ups and downs- those postpartum hormones are no joke. There are days that I feel like I don't know anything. There are days where I feel like I know what I'm doing, but it doesn't matter, because I'm so tired. There are days where I feel like parenthood is exactly what I expected. And there are days when I feel like I'm on top of things- caught up on laundry, emails and dishes- but this lasts for only a few hours before I'm back to panicked/tired/overwhelmed. You with me? I know I'm not alone here.
My (Ashby's) mom was able to travel to Kenya for the first half of October. We loved having her here! In addition to getting time with her grandson, and helping us with dishes and diapers (thanks mom!), she was able to meet our friends here, and, most importantly, to visit Visible Grace and meet the kids! Glen has been supportive of Ashby and Visible Grace since day one, and it was really wonderful for her to get this opportunity. Allowing Glen to meet the VG kids was a major factor in our decision to have the baby in Nairobi. (I never did get around to my 'where are you having the baby?' blog entry, did I?)
We will be here in Nairobi for a few more days, before heading back to Tanzania. At the moment we are waiting for David's passport --Canadian, by the way-- and then we're out of here! We are so glad we made the decision to have the baby here. The hospital where we delivered was amazing, and we felt that the staff was equipped for anything that might have gone wrong (which, thankfully, didn't.) We were also blessed to have the support of our many friends and 'family' here in Kenya.
AIM ladies threw Ashby a baby shower!
We will be in Tanzania only a few short weeks-- then we are headed to Canada and Oregon! Again for only a few short weeks. We hope to settle at home in Tanzania at the beginning of the year.
What a year it's been! We are so grateful for you, our internet village. From late night pep talks via Facebook, to hand-me-down clothes and blankets that my mom brought over, to donations that made it possible to buy a car- we are ever mindful that we have such an amazing group of people in our lives. Thank you.
