We are only a few days away from boarding our flight home for the summer and school is done. We can't help but feel like we have accomplished something huge. Having a baby changes everything. We love our new lives with Aliyah; however, ever since Nicole's maternity leave ended in March and she returned to full-time work... we have been battling a never-ending and chaotic routine of responsibilities. This blog has not been a
- We can no longer indulge those lazy weekends where we stayed up late and slept in until noon. Aliyah wakes up every morning at 6:00AM ready to eat and then play. We have consequently become those parents who go to bed at 9:00PM so that we can hopefully get enough rest to remain energized in the early mornings.
- Gone are the days that we can spontaneously jump in our car and head out to dinner, a movie, or a friend's house. Typically, it takes longer than 10 minutes just to get out of the door and load everything into the car. We also have to carefully plan out our outings in order to ensure that everything remains Aliyah-friendly. We've declined so many invitations to social gatherings this year simply because the timing of the events did not work well with Aliyah's eating/napping/bedtime routine. Having a "social life" is just not so easy anymore.
- We hardly ever have "downtime" because there are always things that we need to do. We used to get home from work and relax for a little while before tackling supper. Now, we have to start prepping supper the minute we walk into our house so that it can start cooking while we are busy feeding, bathing, & changing Aliyah. We race through her bedtime routine, and then put the final touches on our own supper. After we eat, we have just enough time to clean the house and get ready for the next day before heading to bed.
- Our new role of "parents" has altered how others view us as well. From our friends, we are rarely ever asked, "how are you?"; instead, we are asked, "how is Aliyah?". Even the perspective of Nicole's students changed after Aliyah was born. Nicole received dozens of gifts this year from her students (as she does every year); however, this year none of the gifts were actually for her... they were all for Aliyah.
But we couldn't be happier that life is no longer about just us...
Aliyah's excitement about the world is contagious, even at 6:00AM. We absolutely love taking care of her. She has also helped to augment our ability to work as a team. Together, we are able to watch her grow and change. Further, our intense and unconditional love for her, no matter what, paints such an incredible picture of God's love for us. :)
Now that the year is finally done, our bodies have begun to relax for the first time since March. Coinciding this relaxation came the inevitable colds that we were previously too busy to catch. bleh. We have been doing our best to keep our tired baby awake just long enough to adjust her little body to the new timezone, while balancing tissues and cold medicine at the same time. But it's ok... because we're going home!!Aliyah's excitement about the world is contagious, even at 6:00AM. We absolutely love taking care of her. She has also helped to augment our ability to work as a team. Together, we are able to watch her grow and change. Further, our intense and unconditional love for her, no matter what, paints such an incredible picture of God's love for us. :)
-David, Nicole, & Aliyah
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