First Walk

We could not stay inside anymore. The 3 days since Anna was born the weather had been beautiful (perfect fall like days in the south), and I couldn't take sitting inside while the sun was shining through my windows and I could hear kids playing outside. We needed out! So we took our first walk. 

The plan was to take a walk around 8 am. Perfect time. Kids were in school and the only people out on their porches were the older gentlemen who spoke zero english and ladies tending to their gardens (again, zero english), plus a few little ones half dressed here and there chasing one another with pine cones and sticks. 

We didn't get out until 2:30 in the afternoon. Basically, we're realizing this is how long it takes to get a newborn ready--what, with all the peeing (on herself), pooping (on her new mattress), spitting up (on her clothes and having to change them), and feeding her (OMG, is it really time again?) the afternoon rolls around and the day feels like it's already over. 

As we headed out we saw our first group of neighbors wanting to meet baby Anna. Four women from Nepal were sitting under a tree just talking. It looked like pure bliss and something I want to do every fall day this year. As we came upon them, all four jumped up and ran to the stroller. The only words we could understand were, "she's so big!" So big? She's tiny to us! The ladies continued to marvel at Anna and speak in their own language to themselves while the high school kids who just got off the bus came running up to us. They also just stared at her and exclaimed "she's so cute!" It's so neat how fascinating newborns can be across all cultures. 

We continued our walk knowing that first group wouldn't be the last. A few minutes later we heard screams from across our complex "COACH TRAVIS! JESSICA! BABY!" Two girls from Nepal came running toward us from 400 yards away. They wanted to meet baby Anna too. When they finally came upon us, they looked at her, said "she's so cute!" and ran away happy to have seen Anna even for a few seconds. 

We saw several more of our neighbors on our walk. The last group of neighbors we came across is a family we know well. Their son plays for our soccer team. Even though we couldn't understand his parents, his brother translated for us. He told us that his mother was saying I should be sleeping, not walking. He said in Nepal mothers don't walk at all for a week and babies don't come outside for 12 days! Whelp, in the Nepali culture I've already failed as a mother, ha!... He also said that his mother was saying that Anna needed a shirt to support her head. Agh, strike 2! 

All in all, our first walk was glorious! We got to enjoy the beautiful weather, push around our new baby girl, which is something I have been dreaming about for such a long time, and having our neighbors get so excited about meeting Anna blessed me beyond words.