Feb 24, 2011 | The Parenthood
Great news, dear friends who’ve been anticipating this birth for forty weeks…or at least four or five days…our bonnie little boy finally arrived this morning! After the days and days of waiting, he decided it was time, and made his way into the world…fast!
Contractions started just before 3 am, we left for the hospital just after 4:00, and Baby Boy entered the world at 4:21 — 9 minutes after Mr. Potato Head pulled into the hospital parking lot! My head is still spinning!
I’m looking forward to sharing photos, and a few more details of the wild ride that was this labour story…but for now I need to rest and recover a bit! The baby is a big one — 4.160 kgs (9.17 lbs) — eating well and sleeping sweetly. I am a little dizzy, a little sore and a lot exhausted…but amazed at how quickly this came about. God has been good to us.
Oh, yeah, and his name!
Blake Darrow Collie
Another story that deserves its own blog post. 🙂
Pictures and details coming soon — thank you for the love and congrats in the meantime. And for those of you who prayed for a speedy delivery — WOW, but those were some effective prayers! Thanks!
Love you guys — thanks for hanging in there with me!
xCC
Feb 23, 2011 | An Expat
Wouldn’t tomorrow be a great day to have a baby? Perhaps this wee lad is waiting for tomorrow, so that the Bear and I will each have a birthday on an 18th, and he and his dad will both have birthdays on a 24th. Maybe?!
Anywho.
A little interview of yours truly has popped up at Expat Focus today. What a privilege to get to share a little bit and be introduced to some new folks! I thought you might enjoy the read — it’s a little bit of backstory you may or may not know, with a few thoughts in case you decide to take the leap and live abroad for a while. Did you know I’m thinking about going for a world record?
And bonus, Hero Hubs’ wagtail photo is there, too. Why it’s my favourite, I don’t know, but can I just keep using it until you guys say enough of the wagtail, ya cotton-headed ninnymuggins!?!
Click here if you’d like to skedaddle over to Expat Focus and read the interview. I’d love to know your thoughts! And Mr. Wagtail would, too.
xCC
Feb 23, 2011 | Stories, The Parenthood
Although the world thought Baby Brother’s appearance ought to be in close proximity to the 18th of February, 2011, it rather seems that Baby Brother forgot to check his email, and didn’t get the message.
So we’ve continued to have our cookies, and bake them, too, while we wait for this wee-lad-on-the-way to decide the time is right. As my Mom put it, as many folks put it to her when my brother was two weeks late, When the apple is ripe, it will drop from the tree.
And the Bear paused to consider the profundity of that axiom.
In the meantime, we found an adorable kiddie-sized apron ripe for the picking at a steal of a price at the mall a few days ago.
So we wait, and we bake. {And our happy new apron makes it even more fun!!}
Though it wears a thousand faces, it is all a part of life being created. Stitched together day by day, it is life, and it is good.
xCC
Feb 22, 2011 | Travel..ling Tuesdays
The Hubs got up super-early one morning a couple weeks ago to head down to the beachfront for some peace, quiet, and photo-snapping opportunities. This pregger lady stayed in bed. He came back with what I would classify as some lovely five-star photos. I enjoyed them from the comfort of the couch at a reasonable hour.
And so can you!
Now that’s not to say you shouldn’t get out there and regularly experience a sunrise or two for yourself, but if you’re thirty-seven weeks pregnant and getting up to wee five to seven times a night, I think there’s grace for sleeping a little later than sunrise. Just saying.
There are a couple of beautiful beach spots in and around Gordon’s Bay. HH just headed to the main beachfront that the downtown area sits alongside. I hope you enjoy! I feel like I was there…
Duck, duck… goose!
The New Harbour and our neighbourhood is in the way back background on the far left:
Gordon’s Bay’s Old Harbour is in the background, and the hills of Cape Town leading to Cape Point are on the horizon! (This body of water is called False Bay.)
{The mountain right of centre is Table Mountain.}
I love dis one!
What does the side of this rock look like to you?
{Anybody else see a pokey little puppy?}
My two favourites:
Sometimes it’s worth getting up before the sun, hey? 🙂
Happy Tuesday, friends! Hope you’re having a great week!
xCC
P.S. Still no baby news to speak of…but the day is young!
Feb 21, 2011 | Prayers in Poetry & Prose, Stories, The Good Word
It is another peaceful day in Gordon’s Bay. Wind blowing gentle, sometimes strong. Feeling weak and tired after a little Bear sprang up early like an over-eager alarm clock, I spent much of the morning moving slowly, doing little. High hormones or low blood sugar getting the better of me, at 10:30 I was teary-eyed and promptly sent back to bed by Hero Hubs.
A nap and a read and a lovingly prepared peanut butter and jelly sandwich — the stuff that beautiful days are made of.
A little taste of Pepsi in bed with a Chocolate Chip Cookie Bar, baked by that same wonderful Hubs when I mentioned cookies this morning — love that I can hold in my hands and savour on my tongue.
I am up and the Bear is down for a nap. Ropes clang against masts in the harbour, blinds occasionally clatter with windows in the wind. The wagtails outside remember us sharing crumbs with them weeks ago. One has returned to ask for more and is singing his request in the patio shade. He considers venturing into the dining room through open doors: with seven or eight hops he could be savouring a lonely cheerio a little Bear must’ve dropped from his bowl.
Ann Voskamp’s words find their way across the ocean, to South Africa, to Gordon’s Bay, to my screen, to my heart:
Doesn’t urgency over everything imply that God’s in control of nothing?
My soul continues to learn to rest. To be still and know. To look for the glorious Creator in the bush aflame. In the bird with a song.
Postponement for the best to become possible.
My joy is to smile and to wait.
xCC
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