As soon as we found out we were pregnant, I told my Mom to start saving for a plane ticket! My Mom got to be there for Avinelle’s birth (only the last 58 min before she was born, she almost missed it!) and a week after and even as we learned that I could only have one person actually with me for Eloise’s birth, we still wanted Mom to come to help with Avinelle and stay with her at night while Andrew was with me. We had to convince my Dad that she should come for a whole month to make it worth it for her trip all the way over here, and we understand that is a LONG time to be away from your spouse and we are SO thankful Mom and Dad made that sacrifice. Let me tell you, not only is it great to have some help but to have your MOM around in an international context after having a newborn and with another child around, it was immensely amazing. Now, the way we scheduled her to book her ticket was planned for 10 days before Eloise’s (supposed) due date. Wellll…. we were way off on her due date (it ended up being July 21), and she was born 10 days early, and Mom booked her ticket for July 19th, so she got there 8 days after she was born. 🤷🏼♀️ Everything was fine, of course, even though Mom wasn’t there as planned. But here is all the things she helped with and how amazing it was! She helped with dishes, cleaning, cooking, work on projects and would let me nap, have some “me” time each day and Avinelle got up every morning to Mom taking care of her so I could sleep. Andrew even made a one week trip to Colorado to surprise his little sister Emily for her wedding during Mom’s stay! 🤗 So Mom helped especially during that time that Andrew was gone. At first Mom took a few days to get over jet lag and I was still recovering of course so we stuck to the apartment mostly. Mom is a mover so after she felt comfortable when she wasn’t helping around home, she would go out for walks in our complex or up the nearby hill or down to the nearest grocery store. And of course we got to talk lots and lots and I had Mom all to myself. ❤️ We discussed many important things, spiritual things, researched stuff when we weren’t sure, had some good laughs and on and on. I got her hooked on a new show during her time here, too lol. We created funny memories and Andrew and I got to see things through my Mom’s eyes and found out about things we never would have thought of, even after living here for a year. The last few days after Andrew returned from the USA, we squeezed in almost ALL the top sightseeing things to do (complete with shopping), then Mom was off again. (she traveled great, too, despite being alone and in a foreign language context the majority of the time)
So, all this to say, THANK YOU MOM! (and Dad for letting her be gone so long 😉) The last month was amazing with you here and living in a foreign land it made it more comfortable having a baby here. Also, I know it was an especially good time for Avinelle and even though Eloise won’t remember, YOU get the memories of being with her the first few weeks of her life.
And to all of you out there considering visiting… COME SEE US! We have space for you here (well not all at once lol) in our apartment and would love to show you our world. We can create our own memories and you can have shared experiences with us and have a deeper understanding what it is like to walk in our shoes!