Four months so far.

 

Some of our favorite things about having a baby so far…

 

From Kalli:

When he sticks his tongue out super far and looks me in the eyes to show he’s hungry.

Co-sleeping and waking up to find him staring at me, then drifting off to sleep, then waking up to still find him staring at me.

The gulping satisfied noises he makes as he eats.

Me telling him about my plans for our family’s future, and him seeming to listen all ears.

Telling him fairy tales as he looks me right in the eye.

The way he lifts up his legs to toot.

Having him be crying and then me singing him a lullaby makes him stop.

How shocked he looks when he sees something unexpected.

Teasing him by touching his mouth with his binky, tickling him, and playing other baby games.

 

From Jacob:

When he squeaks and looks at me while doing it.

When he smiles, of course.

His curiosity about everything.

He’s happy to just “T out” (put his arms straight out while on his back) and gaze upwards.

How easily he gets surprised.

How cuddly he is.

His fits are cute.

His grabby hands.

Even though he has little control, he wills his hands over to flop down on mine.

He does a decent job of mimicking things like facial expressions.

 

Ryder brings us so much joy.

Meditations on Travel and Motherhood: Traveler’s Guilt

This is a new one for me. I never felt guilt before for traveling. But now with Ryder it’s different. I don’t feel guilt at taking him around everywhere because of lack of stability or anything like that. He’s a baby. All he needs is his mom and dad, milk, and sleep.  I think it might even stretch his mind a little bit, to be held by people who speak different languages, to be exposed to different climates and ways of traveling—carseat, metro, taxi, airplane. But seeing so many family members hold him and love him and then to take him away during the period of life when he will change the most, that’s hard.

My brother Regan with Ryder in Mexico City

Ryder and Grandpa Al

But then I remind myself, even if we lived in the States, we have family in Utah, Iowa, Texas, and Missouri. We couldn’t be around all family, all of the time, even if we weren’t expats. The reality of modern life today is that most people don’t live right next to family these days, because work or school takes them across the nation. We are actually unusual in that we could choose to live where we wanted to in the States, but even then, some family would be missing out. And in some ways, because it’s important to us to see friends and family while we’re in the States, I think we make more of an effort to make that time special than people do who live closer by.

It’s still hard. No one loves my baby like family. Thank goodness for Skype.