Caid and I still feel like pretty good parents, meaning we haven't had any accidents/emergencies/sicknesses. I have been learning a lot and enjoying even the middle of the night feedings, which don't happen very often anymore as she has been sleeping 11ish-6ish lately! The best part about this second month has been being able to go to Living Stones programs with Ana Sofia: sharing our joy with the kids, and seeing her do so well, surrounded by kids.
I must say, Brazil is a wonderful place to have a baby. Everyone bends over backwards to make sure she (and I) are taken care of--strangers even stop traffic to help me cross the street! We are so grateful for everyone's help and consideration.
Currently on my kindle (best thing ever while breastfeeding!) from the library (I can borrow e-books online from Indiana in Brazil!) is "Surprised by Motherhood" by Lisa-Jo Baker. She is an incredible writer who had her first child in Africa. Here are some of the things she wrote that resonated with me: "Next time I’d do motherhood differently. I’d just revel in the daily, sleep deprived merry-go-round and eat a lot more chocolate cake."
"It is one thing to read about and imagine the birth stories of a hundred other women; it is quite another to witness a brand new being you have pushed out of your own body cough and gasp his way to a first breath as lungs that have never held oxygen before expand for the first time. It is one thing to understand with your head that man was made in his Father God’s image; it is quite another to look into the crinkly eyes of a wailing infant and hear his cries soften as you whisper, “I’m your mama” and you see your own image imprinted over his profile. It is sacred. It is bloody. It is real. It is truth that climbs off the pages of Scripture and leaps alive into your arms when theoretical beliefs in a Creator give way to experiencing the act of creation."
"Mothers may want to find room to breathe, to weep, to panic. But they don’t want it to end---this delivering, shaping, cheering, loving, bringing life into the world. With this boy wrapped in my arms, this flesh and blood and bone that I had grown in my womb, clinging to me, I understood what the God parent feels for me. To die for this love-yes, it made sense."
"I cradled it in my arms—all this new life. the Creator’s Spirit lingered on her skin, in her hair. There was a reverence in the air; she was still so fresh in the making from the passing of His hands to mine. And me—I was so aware of my rough, scuffed self with skin stained from years of living on this silent planet that only stubbornly, in fits and starts, acknowledges its Maker."
Ana and I did a photo shoot for Caid's first Father's Day (Father's day in Brazil is the second Sunday of August), so her "two month video" is in two parts--Caid's Father's day video and her official video;)
Two month video:
