Shhh... I (Amanda) have until Sam wakes up from his morning nap to write this. If this post ends up finishing mid-sentence, well... them's the breaks, as they say.
Two weeks ago Craig wrote a lovely, very well thought out entry about our journey through the adoption process until this point. I really hope you enjoyed it and maybe got to see a little bit of what God has been doing in our lives to bring us and Sam to this point. It is weird to think of what we were doing in the months since he was born before we knew about him; that we were off somewhere doing something and he was waiting for us to come and get him. 'Waiting' has been the word of the year in my opinion. God has taught me a lot about waiting and I'm not entirely sure He won't have to teach me again at some point. It is a very difficult lesson to learn. However, although the waiting for Sam to arrive was very hard, we can definitely see how God's timing was perfect. In Bolivia, December and January are much slower times and we have been graciously given the chance to adjust with Sam without having to worry too much about responsibilities in work and in the church.
But it has definitely been an adjustment. Our lives changed from one day to the next without too much preparation. We knew that things would change, but there was no way to really know how they would change. And the change was quite a shock to my system. Poor Sam arrived from the orphanage quite sick and we were dumped into the deep end with loads of medical visits and medication schedules. We weren't able to learn what was normal for him until things settled down, so for the first three to four days we were flailing a bit. I personally found that very stressful... "Is he eating enough?", "Is he sleeping too much?", "Is he too lethargic?" and "Is he dehydrated?" were questions that wouldn't stop buzzing around my head and Sam got way more sleep those first three to four days than I did. The doctor kind of scared me at the first appointment when she pointed out that if he didn't rehydrate quite substantially he would have to get admitted to the hospital. I was determined that was not going to happen... I strongly, strongly, strongly dislike that place (we're trying not to use the word hate around the wee one... God 'hates' sin, we 'dislike' cauliflower, well Craig does; there is a difference in the strength of those words). However, thankfully once his health settled down, my anxiety settled down and we're all three sleeping fine these days.
That being said, I am always on the lookout for things that are wrong. I am constantly analysing poo consistency and counting the number of wet diapers. I watch for milestones like a hawk. Can he pass things from one hand to another? Are those multiple syllables strung together? Babycentre.co.uk has become the go-to page on my phone (Thanks Louise Trelogan for telling me all about it!), and we are largely trying to get him as fat as possible. Sam is of average height for his age bracket, but he was 1.2 kilos underweight for his height and age. So, we're trying to pile on the calories (in a healthy and controlled way, of course), and it looks like we're succeeding because every time someone else holds him they say how heavy he's gotten. Yay! As my sister said, "Mothers' paranoia has been saving children's lives since the beginning of time," so it's all good.
But we're just generally enjoying our time with him. He is a delightful baby who loves to smile and laugh. He's generally not fussy, though we had a rough time of it yesterday with tiredness from our trip to Santa Cruz and his first tooth coming in. And he sleeps!!!! I think God knew what type of baby I needed to be able to survive. Craig's also becomes this doting Dad... and it's adorable to watch. He goes out to buy baby formula yesterday and comes back with an authentic Winnie the Pooh cuddly toy for Sam. He looks at me and says, "I'm sorry... I just had to buy it." Fine, okay... who can be mad about that? It was so sweet... but I get to be the bad guy who says "No cuddly toys in the bed!" The doctor said no... I'm just doing what the doctor said.
So next week we are going back to work. We had talked about looking for someone to help a couple of mornings of the week to give us a chance to do our jobs as well. I was comfortable with this before he arrived, but now I just look at his cute face and I think, "How am I going to pass him to someone else? He's too cute." So, we're going to try to see how we got on by passing him off between us... I was working part time at the Foundation anyways. I will stay part time, but instead of all mornings, I'll work half mornings and half afternoons. Craig will work a lot more from the house with his sermon preparation and we'll organise discipleship around his nap times, or involve him if appropriate. Weekends will be different as it depends on our specific responsibilities that particular weekend, but we'll work to support and help each other to be able to get work done too. We'll let you know if our current plan is working or if it is a total fail.
Thanks for your understanding about taking the week off last weekend. We decided as we couldn't travel through to La Paz for Christmas like we had intended, we would go to Santa Cruz between Christmas and New Year to buy supplies. And there was Star Wars!!!! I don't think I can recall a time in my life when I've gone to the cinema by myself. This time I was all about going to the cinema by myself... I even got a bit dressed up, ordered myself popcorn; it was great. And I loved the film... I thoroughly enjoyed the experience. It was just so Star Wars. The night before I went Craig and I were discussing who would go first. Craig said, "I guess the code means I need to offer to let you go first." I thought, "What code? Mark Kermode's cinema code of conduct? That's not in there... oh, he means the gentleman's code." I then thought, "Well, the polite thing would be to say something along the lines of, 'It's okay... you can go first.'" What I really said was, "Sure, I'll go first!" I don't think Craig was expecting that. The look on his face was slightly baffled. And I was only too happy to go first. Poor Craig had to wait a whole 24 hours more to see the film. Ha! Sadly, the time in Santa Cruz had a low moment when my wallet got lifted from my purse at the big market. I was holding Sam, had his diaper bag on one shoulder and my handbag on the other and I didn't feel a thing when it got lifted. Craig asked for some money to buy something a little later on, and that was the first time I noticed it was missing. This means that I get to spend Monday trying to get my ID card and driver's license replaced... yay!
Thank you for the personal messages we've received from people recently. We have been very encouraged by all your kind notes and feel very lifted up in prayer by everyone. We wish a very Happy New Year to you all and pray that 2016 is full of God's blessing.
Prayer
- For adjusting to our new schedule with Sam once we go back to work.
- For our appointment with our lawyer on Tuesday as we investigate the next stage in the adoption process.
- For replacing all my cards from my wallet this week.
Praise
- For how well Sam has settled into life with us.
- For the recovery in his health and for his weight gain.
- For a good time as a family in Santa Cruz.
¡Que Dios les bendiga!
Craig & Amanda
Great blog. So chuffed for you guys. God is good.
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