“It takes a village to raise a child.”
I am learning just how true that statement is, and I’ve been learning it since the day my son was born.
I remember in the very early days, when Caleb was just five days old and I was exhausted, overwhelmed, and feeling like we were completely in over our heads, I was at my doctor’s office and he said some of the most important words I have heard yet as a mother. I told him we had been receiving a lot of help with the baby, particularly from my mother who had been staying overnight to help, and I wondered if this was an okay thing, or if we really needed to be more independent and try to do it all on our own. My doctor, usually a man of very few words and lacking compassion a lot of days, told me of his own experience when his first child was born. He said for the first month of her life, they had overnight help; first, his mother stayed for two weeks, then his mother in law stayed for two weeks. He told me to accept all the help I could get, and said, “don’t you find it odd that the U.S. is one of the only countries where entire families don’t live together?” I have taken his words to heart every single day since, and I have not been afraid to ask for help when we need it. His words carried me through the first few weeks when I felt like a failure of a mother for not being able to do it all on our own.
Now that I am finally getting the swing of things, and feeling like a real mom (at last), I still realize we could never do it on our own, and I am so grateful for the “village” that has been behind us since the day our son was born.
My parents have been our strongest support system and when I say we couldn’t have done it without them… I truly mean it. My mother has dedicated countless hours to helping us in our times of need (which occur a lot), and is madly in love with her grandson. From bringing us dinner, to comforting both the baby and I during our crying sessions, to teaching us to bathe him, to being his babysitter now that I’m back to work, and to everything else in between… my mother has been our rock. My father has been supportive as well and has been understanding of the times my mother needed to be rushed over for a “baby emergency.” He too has spent countless nights having dinner with us and just keeping us company after Jerry goes to work for the evening.
My best friends have not only NOT left my side (even though they aren’t yet parents) but love my child as if he were their own. I wouldn’t want to do life without these people, and I am so grateful that they choose to spend a lot of their nights and weekends hanging out with my son and I, even though there are a million other things they could be doing.
My family and friends who have come to meet Caleb, who brought us dinners because we were exhausted, who watch the baby when we need to get errands done or want to go to book club, who give us advice, who answer our frantic texts with parenting questions, who spend time with us, just to keep us company… we are really so lucky, and so is Caleb to know and love these people.
So many people have done so much for us, and continue to do so much. I am really just grateful, above all else, that Caleb has so many people that love him… that is truly one thing he will never be in short supply of, and one thing you can never have too much of.
Yes, it really does take a village, and man do I love my village!
There are A LOT more people who are special to us too, but I don’t have photos of everyone with Caleb yet!
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