The Adventures of the Halstead Fam!

The past 3 weeks have been a blur.  Our little Samuel is slowly but surely growing (8lbs 2oz & 22″ long as of his 3-week appointment this morning!)  and we are slowly but surely figuring out what it is to be parents of a newborn.

You know what it is?  Beautiful.  Unfathomable.  Indescribable.  Exhausting.  And not for the faint of heart.  We’ve called our doctors office with questions and stared quietly at him in the middle of the night to watch his belly rise and fall while he sleeps.  We’ve called and texted our mothers for the reassurance that comes with the words, “Oh, that happened to you when you were a baby, too.”  We’ve smiled and cried together (well, I’ve cried while Stead calmly cares for both of us).  We’ve learned how to bundle Samuel up into his ergo carrier and the stroller for a slow stroll through the neighborhood.  We’ve fallen more and more in love than we ever imagined.

I was sharing with a friend how I thought I knew love on our wedding day.  I thought that what I felt between Stead and I was the deepest love I would ever experience.  And in many ways, it is – our love is deep, strong, committed, caring, patient, and full of adventure.  But this love, the love that comes with being a parent, is different.  It is also deep, strong, committed, caring, patient, and full of adventure, but all in it’s own unique way.  I wish I could describe it, but I am without words.  All I know is that God has once again given me a glimpse of His love for us in the ways I am experiencing love through the connection to someone created in His image.

All that to say, thank you for your thoughts, texts, prayers, packages of diapers & story books, meals, and the love you all have been sending our way.  Our family feels it & we are grateful for our family & our community!

With love,
Sarah, Stead, and Samuel James