Baby Love

I went this past weekend to stay with Annie and help her out while she recovers from birth.  I arrived Thursday evening and departed Sunday afternoon.  She was doing pretty well, all things considered - tolerating her postpartum recovery! I brought Clara along with me, who also did well on our weekend away.  Although on Friday night, she was sick and not feeling well.  (Fever, crying, barf.)  She was fine by morning and never had any other symptoms of anything (and has continued to be fine since then).   Now I have found out from Rachel that Annie has a low fever, so pray for her speedy recovery and that no one else, especially Nassim, gets sick!  (Rachel has been with Annie since Sunday night and will probably be there until the end of the week.)

I also found out on Monday after Annie's follow up with her midwife that Nassim had already surpassed his birth weight and she got some tips from the lactation consultant that have helped her to be more comfortable.

Nassim is a very cute baby who looks a lot like his daddy.  He is also surprisingly strong!  I don't know if I am just forgetting what newborns are capable of, but he seems stronger than average.  When laying on one's chest he holds his head up and even puts his forearms under him and pushes to hold himself up!  He also does this when being held upright - in that he lifts his head and pushes away with his arms.  It's pretty remarkable!

There was a very sweet moment during our stay where Clara gently pressed her cheek against Nassim's and just stayed that way, very tranquilly, for a few minutes!  (My inspiration for the title of this post.)  She also seemed to think seeing another (smaller?) baby around was quite fun and she was often laughing and smiling toward him.  She also tried to feed him a shoe.

I wish I could have stayed longer with Annie, but I am glad that I could spend the time I did and serve her.  So far, Clara has done quite well on my two car trips to Durham in the past four-or-so weeks, so maybe it will be doable to go again sometime.

I also enjoyed getting to visit with Soumaila who is a very loving daddy.  Poor guy has not stopped working (except weekends) since Nassim was born!  Fortunately, his boss gave him an extra long lunch break on Friday to go home and spend time with his family.  He has a full time position working for Duke University doing landscaping and says he really likes the work.   I also got to observe Soumaila doing his other work: his music.  He was diligently working on it many times on the evenings and the weekend while I was there.  He explained to me his process of creating.  He always begins with the rhythm.  Then he takes it to the studio to have musical instrumentation added.  Then he works on writing the lyrics.  He has sent at least one completed song that I know of to the radio stations in Niger, since coming to the US.  I also learned that he does get some royalty every time one of his songs is played and the money just gets held in an account until he can collect it whenever he is in Niger again.

And here a few more pictures for your viewing pleasure!