¡Feliz Día Papá!

In honor of Father's Day (better late than never, right?), or Día del Padre aquí en Colombia, Peanut proffers praise photographically (why, oh why does that "p" have to sound like an "f"?)...

Pictures of Papi and Peanut: 

Presenting a panorama of precious parenting practically pouring with passion and pizazz. Please pause to partake of the picture parade para a particularly precious person, pastor and parent we call Papi.
 

¡Feliz Día Papá! from Richard Williams on Vimeo.

Loca

It's true, she's crazy.  But we like it.

Loca Dance from Richard Williams on Vimeo.

Marvelous Medellín

I mentioned in my last post that we had been in Medellín.  For those of you who do not know, Richard and I are in love with Medellín.  It is just lovely, nestled in a valley with mountains all around.  The temperature there is basically always in the 60s and 70s, and it is lush and green.  There are lots of great parks, a light rail system public transit with gondolas that take you up the mountain sides, a beautiful (and free) botanical garden, and public art everywhere.  Okay so it also has some gangs and violence problems, but hey...who doesn't? 

Anyway, we all traveled to Medellín last week for a gathering between Winnebago Presbytery (Wisconsin) and Urabá Presbytery (Colombia).  I got a little over-zealous and packed a completely unnecessary piece of long underwear, but I did get to wear long sleeves; it was quite a treat.  We pulled out the 4 things we have with long sleeves for Peanut plus the completely snazzy hat that Diane knitted for us, and we took off.  

Peanut was the absolute star of the meeting with everyone passing her around and offering to hold her.  The Winnebagans brought her a Green Bay Packers rattle (see above photo) and promised to come back and visit her.  The folks from Urabá were thrilled to meet her since they had "met" her when I was there and 6 months pregnant.  Photos abounded.  In fact, few of the photos that follow were taken by our camera...

As Peanut was sicky, we got caught in the clash of even more competing parenting advice:

- the fresh air will do her good!

- cover her up, the breeze will make her sick!

- don't wrap her up so tight, she doesn't like it!

- keep her wrapped tight, they like it!

- you should not keep her in that Bjorn all the time - try different positions!

- keep her upright in the Bjorn, she seems most comfortable that way!

- etc...and yes, they all did end in exclamation points!

At any rate, she is doing better now and has had her initial taste of air travel.  Cartagena in month 1, Medellín in month 2, the United States in month 3...gracious whatever will we do next?  :)

Planes...

Trains...

Trams...

and Gondolas?!

Sicky

So we all just shared our first family cold.  I suppose it is nice to have that milestone behind us, but I would have preferred to keep it at bay until Nora was a little older...or until our pediatrician was back from traveling in Buenos Aires...or until we were actually in Barranquilla instead of traveling in Medellín...but whatever.  It is over now, gracias a Dios.  Not everyone is so lucky.

My friend Kelly has a friend whose son had the same due date as Peanut.  He was born earlier but with no problems and life was good for a while.  Somehow he contracted an intestinal virus and became very, very ill.  He was hospitalized and even died and was resuscitated.  He is still alive (last I knew), but has a hard road of recovery to travel as his intestines heal outside his body.

His parents have to be a wreck.  I stayed up for 3 hours watching Peanut sleep after she stopped breathing for a moment because her nose was stopped up.  We knew where the cold came from (thanks Papi...), and we were still anxious because we didn't know how it was going to affect a 2 month old baby.  Every time she coughed she sounded like she was breaking her lungs, and I just wanted to squeeze her tight and make it all better.  I can't imagine having to feel all that through glass in the ICU.  I have been praying for Berend and his parents every day.

As for us, Richard and I are still coughing and a little snot-filled, but Peanut is all better.  They bounce back fast everyone says.  For Berend's sake, I really hope so.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Some laughs, some smiles - all for the folks back home!

Happy Thanksgiving! from Richard Williams on Vimeo.

We love you all, and are thankful for all you have brought to our lives!

All in the Family

It takes a village.

I was always a believer in the idea that it takes more than just parents to raise a child, but actually having a child has lit that idea up in neon, underlined it and put flashing arrows all the way around it.  We are lucky and privileged to have had visits from Abuelita Kit, Tía Laura, and Nanny and Granddad all since Peanut joined us.

Abuelita Kit (Mamie's mom) came just three days after Peanut came unshelled.  She dealt with post-partum Mama, got to watch the first bath ever, went to the first pediatrician appointment and watched full screams in action with the first vaccination.  She changed diapers and sat at the window for sun time.  She brought down a ton of stuff including the entire stock of Costco's protein bars, some Combos, Cheerwine, baby stuff galore, and she continues to scheme on how to get North Carolina barbecue into the country.  She will be the most surprised when chubbalicious Nut of the now knocks on her door in December.

 Tía Laura saw a pretty sweet snoozer, but one who was definitely putting on the pounds.  She did a ton of changing and holding as well as calming a hyperventilating  Mama who was worried she had scratched her daugher's eye thus partially blinding her for life (the Legume is fine).  She had the chance to see a little bit of Peanut's hometown, but most of the time she just hung out and shnuzzled on the sweetest and best Williams-side-of-the-family niece in existence.  She will get to introduce Peanut to her kids, the nutty cousins when we visit in January.

Nanny and Granddad (Richard's parents) just left this week, and man we were sad to see them go!  Granddad is an expert sleep inducer with a back of steel and arms like springs.  Nanny is a Jane of all trades who did a little of everything, including taking care of Mami and Papi!  They went on Peanut's first voyage (to Cartagena), lived through the ups and downs of a 5-6 week old, and caught the first real smiles being given away.  We even got to spend Nanny's birthday with her.  It was a treat!  They are glad to have  a January visit on the books, but are a little nervous about when they get to see her after that!

 Now it seems real life begins and we are really on our own.  So far we are making it, but dang I enjoyed my village!  Thanks to all of you for taking the time, spending the money, and spreading the love to us and to the newest family nut.

(PS. We look forward to seeing GIT, Libby, Rob and Jean in December as well.  You all are in for quite a treat!)

Warning

Bath water can get too hot when you make it on the stove.

Do not worry. No Peanuts were harmed in the making of this blog post.  

The duck was harmed though, that's for real.

Making Possible the Blue Cocoon

Sometimes God puts people directly in your path.

When I wrote to ask her if she might be willing/interested in coming to Barranquilla to help us with the birth of Peanut, I wasn't sure what she would say.  When we met in February I had confided that I was pregnant (mostly to avoid eating too near any provocative smells), and sparkly eyed she had confided that she was sort of a birth nut.  She was available to talk if I needed to do so, and she wished me well in the coming 7 month journey.  It wasn't much to go on, but, following Ed McMahon's logic, I figured "Heck, if you don't enter, you can't win" and the email shot into cyberspace.

Her response was quick, thoughtful, and lengthy - a preview of all the emails and communications to come.  :)

Susanne is here working with the Mennonite Central Committee for three years, and aside from concerns about whether she would be able to take the time away from her work, she and her family were committed to making this crazy request work...all the way from Bogotá.  So she packed a bag (before we did I think), put it by the front door, and faithfully checked email, text messages and voice mails to see if she needed to hop on a plane.

In her words, "I would love to make it to the birth itself, but if circumstances/timing doesn't work out right...I could bring some recipes and cook a little" and "I'll just be there to clean the toilets and do some laundry for you all."  There may be no one who has undersold themselves quite so impressively.

What we did not know (remember?) is that Susanne is actually a child specialist: birth to age three.  So aside from making it to the hospital by 5pm (plenty of time...) and helping convince Dra. Lucia to let me get on that darn ball to help Peanut turn over, she stayed with us for 4 more days and helped us get our sea legs.  Having eaten together twice and spent a total of 6 hours together previously, Susanne saw more of me than most people ever even wanted to - on the surgical table and afterward as I worked to get the hang of breast feeding and hurt in places I wasn't even aware existed.

Besides cooking some of the best food we have had this whole year, doing the laundry and bringing recipes (we did manage to keep her from attacking the toilet), she stayed up through the night with us to help us figure out the first nights with Peanut.  Susanne helped us remember that Peanut's crying was not a personal attack but rather part of the work she was doing to try and get it together in this new place.  She brought a sense of calm to a household that was feeling more of the storm, and she allowed both of us to hole up in the blue cocoon so that we could sleep, cry, smile, and stare in wonder at this new arrival.

In short, she helped us move from people to parents, and for that Tía Susanne, we can never thank you enough.