How did a week go by so fast? This time last Sunday, Jason and I were laboring at the hospital with our doula and a nurse in the quiet, dim light of our hospital room, and Henry was steadily making his way out into the world. There have been so many times today when we’ve looked at the clock and said to one another, “A week ago right now, we were…” The day is so clear to me, and I hope never to forget all of the intimate and important details. We both wish that we could bottle up every bit of that memory–of us together, working as a team, and of the anticipation and rhythm and pace with which our family became three instead of two. There isn’t a single thing that we would change about our birthing experience. Hopefully, I’ll be able to better articulate some of the reasons why in a post before long (and before I forget anything significant).

This week has been such a blessing in so many ways, and it’s also been a whirlwind . I look at the clock in moments and can’t believe how a day has gone by. I look at Henry, already growing, and can’t believe that I have a little boy to hold and love and care for now. Our time in the hospital was so wonderful, and our time at home has been equally so. Despite multiple challenges…a lack of sleep, a completely different schedule, Henry’s total dependency on mommy for food, juggling the baby back and forth between two sets of hands, wanting to be ready and available for visitors, me being sick the past few days and of course, healing from delivering a 9 Lb. baby…we’re not doing poorly at all. It was a relief to have grandparents here this weekend who could be extra arms for baby holding, who consoled and lent wisdom and encouraged in all of the right moments, and who graciously cleaned and took care of meals and offered us a nap time, just J and me, last night. I had no idea how much I could or would lean on help when it is offered, but God continues to provide everything we need at every turn; we are reminded again just how faithful a God we serve as we care for the precious babe He has entrusted to us. This little boy is so loved and so covered already–and it is overwhelmingly and amazingly beautiful to have a front row seat as we witness each blessing that comes his (and our) way.

A week in, parenting has humbled us, broken us, shaped us and encouraged us. It has given us a renewed sense of purpose, a heightened desire to work as a team, and a fresh perspective on just how much we need God, each other and the people around us to best provide for and love Henry day by day.

Henry, dear, you were still in my tummy a week ago; now, you have captured our whole world with your BIG presence in our lives. It isn’t that we weren’t taken with you before we knew you, but we are so much more in love with you now than we could have ever imagined possible. Happy 1 week to you, sweet boy. In seven days time, you have become our favorite everything!

Snapshots of another bright day with the peanut:

still taking it all in,

mm