I am very happy to announce that my husband and I have welcomed our baby girl! She's already been with us for five months so we are more than overdue for an update!
She arrived safely after an eventful 22-hour labour at 41 weeks on 17 October 2019. If you're interested, you can read the birth story here.
We named her Maika and we just adore her.
As you can imagine, it's been an incredibly busy time and big adjustment. I feel like the fog has only recently lifted from those intense newborn days (and long, long nights) and now we are starting to think about getting back into things that we used to do before. We actually watched a movie at home the other day (well, truthfully it was over two nights because I fell asleep halfway through Haha). But it felt quite monumental after months of not sitting down and doing that.
Rather than feeling like these days are quite separate to our time before her (because it is difficult to see much beyond just getting through those early days), we are seeing this wonderful melding of our “former selves” and this new entity in our lives.
We are enjoying bringing her into our own daily rituals – like putting her in the high chair and sitting around the dinner table together – and showing her the world around us. Maika is showing a keen interest in most of what we do, this is all, after all, new to her and it's fascinating to watch her interact with the world around her and learn from her surroundings. She is particularly taken with nature and loves being outside.
Of course, things have been quite different over the past week or two with the rapid spread of COVID-19. We are basically self-isolating at home and only going to the supermarket for food and for walks near our home, and social distancing ourselves as much as possible.
It's a strange and stressful time, and I'll be doing what I can to make the best of it. I'm going to sit down and write some posts, both here and on social media, that I hope will give you some hope, relief and practical approaches to getting through this tough period.
Take care of yourselves, stay healthy and reach out if you need support.
With love,
Jess
This might be the reason you’re unhappy in your relationships
Well, firstly, congratulations! Maika looks adorable, and it’s so heartening to see that she’s already enjoying the outdoors. I can only imagine how much might have changed in life over the past few months, but it made me smile to read about how you’re trying to include her in your old rituals now. Life does seem a little upside down with the latest health crisis, but I think being able to slow down and spend some quality time with ourselves might be one of the silver linings of this situation. Looking forward to your upcoming posts! ?
Thank you so much, Mythreyi! Yes, absolutely agree that these strange times we find ourselves in are an opportunity to slow down, reflect and really consider what is important in our lives. Hope that you are staying well and thank you very much for your readership and support. It’s much appreciated. 🙂
I have missed reading you, Jess. But I also realize I missed you latest posts for lack of information on the subject…
I loved seeing Maika’s smile here and read you’ve been doing OK.
It is now almost the end of self-isolation and the beginning of a world and society that hopefully we’ll succeed in making better.
Take care, you 3!
Xoxoxo
Thank you so much, Jul’! She’s such a smiley and happy baby, and growing oh so fast!
Here in Melbourne we have re-entered a second stage of lockdown. The road to recovery still feels very long, but we are doing everything we can to stay healthy and well, and protect everyone around us.
I hope you are doing well and I too remain hopeful of the future we can create coming out of all of this.
xox