Charlotte: Two Weeks in this Big World

(Before you get started, I should inform you I don’t really intend to update on Charlotte’s life each week…it just appears to be working out that way for now. We will probably shrink down to once a month after we move home, but for now…you get the weekly updates!)

Charlotte’s second week in this “big world” was just as busy as her first…actually; I believe it was busier (minus the birthing part...).

My Mom celebrated her 45^th birthday on Tuesday, October 12^th here with us in South Africa. So now, Ben, Charlotte, my Mom and I have all celebrated a birth day here in South Africa. I would have liked to have done something a little more fun in celebration; however, Miss Charlotte and I couldn’t really do much at the time. Charlotte did dress up in one of Grandma Darcie’s outfits- which my Mom of course enjoyed! And later in the day we watched a movie together… I know, so exciting, right!? For dinner we ordered food from our favorite Italian restaurant here in SA: Boscos. But the best part, in my opinion, was desert. Thanks to Pam! Pam made up a strawberry shortcake (my Mom’s favorite) and we placed candles on top to cap off the day. Delicious.

Wednesday was an adventurous day for all of us. Ben drove my Mom and Pam out to Pilanesburg for a self-drive safari and Charlotte and I were left alone…just the two of us for the first full day since her birth. If you’re worried about Charlotte and me…you should know they left an ice chest with some breakfast food for us before they left at 6am. Now, this was probably quite difficult for Pam as she had grown accustomed to sleeping in every day until close to 10am. Hehehe! But they somehow managed to make it out of the door…almost on time. And while they hunted for giraffe, lion, elephant, rhino, hippo and more….Charlotte and I had our own share of fun. She showed off her gusty set of lungs for an hour or so before she allowed me to retreat downstairs for the afternoon (and most importantly…lunch!). She “sang” some more for the neighbor’s and me later in the day and at some point she finally allowed me to nap. We were quite happy to see our family return home later that evening. It had been a long and tiring day…but nothing we can’t handle!

As for the safari goers? Their drive was a success and they saw quite a bit- but they were plum-tuckered out. They made the comment: “South Africa just doesn’t maintain their roads, do they?” Nope, they surrrrre don’t! Makes for a bumpy ride to say the least…

Thursday and Friday were spent in more relaxation around the house. And then, all too quickly, the time came to bid farewell Friday afternoon. It was sad to see our company leave, but also good to know that we now have less than two months to go until we are home. It can’t get here fast enough, I’m telling you…. And as I describe our weekend, you will see exactly why…

Charlotte kind of allowed Ben and me to sleep in on Saturday, which was nice. We needed that sleep to be sure! So after a “good” night’s rest, Ben and I cleaned ourselves up, grabbed some breakfast and loaded up the car for our first family outing. We were a bit nervous as we tucked her car seat and diaper bag into the car…thinking, “are we crazy?,” “is she going to cry?,” “what if she is hungry?,” “what if people try to touch her??” Wonderfully, she slept. The entire time. She didn’t cry, didn’t have a “blow-out,” and didn’t wake for even a snack! I was able to transfer her from car seat to baby sling multiple times as we visited three stores. For the most part, I kept her covered with a blanket. I didn’t want people spreading germs onto my baby girl…trying to touch her or breathe on her. First time mom syndrome? Yeah.

By our final store, I was a little more relaxed and left the blanket in the car. Of course our beautiful girl attracted onlookers. Mainly the store clerks. They wanted to see her and coo at her. And call her “fat.” Yes, I know my Baby Girl is bigger than some babies are at her age, but she is still my baby girl and I believe she is the perfect size, of course! Don’t worry, I wasn’t offended. I just smiled and allowed them to chatter about her cute little rolls and sweet sleeping eyes. Then…we returned to our South African abode. Exhausted. It was lunch for us, nap time and an afternoon movie. Ben and I joked about our “afternoon movie.” It’s how we have to do things now- no more late nights of movies, games, etc. (for now at least). Our evenings consist of bath time, and lots of crying and soothing.

Which brings me to Saturday night. Ugh, Saturday night. Charlotte cried, fed, cried, fed, cried, fed from about 8pm until 1:30ish am. She finally slept for a bit and woke again from around 2:50am-4am. Shortly after 4:30am, Charlotte finally zonked out until around 7am…when she cried out for more nourishment. It was at that time Ben realized Molly had not begged us for food as usual…and so he went to feed Molly downstairs while I fed dear Charlotte.

When Ben reached the downstairs he was not greeted by Molly. Instead he was greeted by a living room, bare of our big screen TV and a door that had been broken. Yes, we were burglarized sometime during the night. Thankfully, we didn’t even know it was happening and nobody was hurt. I am guessing Molly must have been downstairs when the bad guys broke in, because we found her in the morning hiding underneath our bed. She was jumpy and clingy for the rest of the day, poor kitty. I didn’t assess the damage until later that afternoon. Why not? Because we had a scheduled photo shoot for Charlotte at our house with a very pricy (and awesome!!) photographer at 10am. I kept my focus on our girl and her pictures… Ben is the one who had to juggle the house, landlords and security, photographer and his ladies (that’s Charlotte, Molly and me!).

So, with the focus on the photo shoot, I put the burglary at the back of my mind. I didn’t even want to think about the fact that my point and shoot camera had been left on our coffee table the night before…

Charlotte continued her fussiness and hungriness throughout the photo shoot, refusing to allow even one photo to be shot until we were an hour and 45 minutes into the shoot (that’s over HALFWAY!!). I’m thinking Charlotte was fighting sleep for one thing and none too happy about being undressed for most of the photos. Plus…she is hitting the age when she is growing more accustomed to being awake during the day (good news for us, but not when it came to this photo shoot!). Fortunately, the photographer was super duper patient and understanding. I on the other hand began to doubt that we would get any photos. But somehow, Vanessa (that’s the photog) worked her magic and managed to get 45 minutes of photographing sweet Charlotte. We didn’t get to vary the background…and I stared longingly at the cute buckets and props we didn’t get to use…but we did get some good shots, I’m sure of it. Vanessa did at least TRY to change up the background…but that’s when Charlotte broke out her lusty cry again. This time I worked my magic….and dressed Charlotte in a plain white onesie for our family photos. For the most part, she was happy. Until we tried to do the Daddy-daughter shots. Oh, Miss Charlotte! Such a Mama’s girl at this age, she is…

Vanessa stayed a bit past our three hour time frame since Charlotte of course started to cooperate when Vanessa began to pack up all of her props and photography gear. After a few more quick family shots, Vanessa left…and I pulled out my Canon camera and took a few shots of my own. I just love photos…

Then it was time for us all to retreat downstairs. For lunch…and for me to assess the damage.

My point and shoot camera was gone. Along with my memory card and Charlotte photos from the weekend. I also discovered the bad guys had taken my brand new carton of juice and a half bottle of marsala cooking wine from our fridge. I guess they were thirsty? Further investigation revealed our Boggle board game left outside on our patio furniture and some office drawers which had apparently been routed through….for them to find nothing. I was quite unhappy to say the least.

Ben and I spent the remainder of our afternoon in shock and thankfulness as we allowed the reality of what had happened to sink in. We also had a few phone calls to make…police, security, landlords… Our Landlords decided it wasn’t necessary to have the lock fixed on our door until Monday. The alarm system would also be activated on Monday. But the estate security promised to have one of their guys spend the night outside our home. Thank the Lord for that!

Sunday was also the day of my mother-in-law’s arrival. Initially, Ben had planned to fly solo to the airport while I fixed dinner. But with a recently burglarized home, no alarm system and a broken door….Charlotte and I instead tagged along.

Just as we were pulling into the airport, I began to go over all of the stinky stuff that has happened to us in the past two months…since we signed our extended contract through December 2009. (Car accident, stolen money from our car when it was returned to us, the burglary…and….) A police man stepped in front of our car and gestured for us to pull over and roll down the window. He told Ben he had ran a stop sign. What? We had not seen a stop sign. He said he was going to fine Ben and asked for some money. I started to cry. I believe I was just mentally, physically and emotionally exhausted at that point. I’m not sure if it was my tears or what…but the police officer eventually decided to let us go…no fine or “cold drink.” Thank You, Jesus!

We greeted “Grandma” Jill- who was VERY happy to meet her granddaughter, Charlotte! And returned back to our South African home. All too ready to return to our KANSAS home…

If you're curious... bath time is showing much improvement. Charlotte loves it so much, she doesn't want to even think about sleep afterwards! I'm continuing to recover from my c-section...and adjusting to all of the joys of motherhood. The nights are exhausting, but I know we are so blessed. And I constantly remind myself to be thankful when I'm up at all hours of the night calming my crying daughter. And I am...I truly am thankful.

So how’s that for Charlotte’s second week? She celebrated Grandma Darcie’s bday, bid her Auntie Pam and a Grandma Darcie farewell, went to a few stores, starred in a photo shoot, survived a burglary and met her Grandma Jill. I’d say that’s one monumental week.

PS) Photos from Charlotte’s photo shoot are to come in about two weeks! Stay tuned!