She looked like a vintage pilot here. "Poo bombs away!" I bet she would yell.
Arabella would make a cute aviator, don't you think?
She's certainly flying high since coming home more than two weeks ago, that's for sure. She's adjusting well to life at home, and we're having a ton of fun with her (as you can clearly see...)
We finally found the baby sunglasses. They were too big for her, but they still did the trick. She can't handle being out for too long in the daylight 😎
Looking like a boss...
Belle sat outside in her bouncer while sucking on her soother for a good while. It was a really nice day. She was breathing the fresh air and taking in the sounds of the summer. She even napped for a little bit, too. It was the longest we've seen her enjoy the outdoors.
All of us are slowly coming out of our shells...
Later in the afternoon I managed to convince Kiera to break away and go for a bike ride with me (while my mom graciously agreed to watch Arabella).
"Come on Kiera, let's do something," I pleaded. "We both need to get out more. It's almost the end of the summer!"
Kiera's still finding it difficult to break away or relinquish control, and I've read that those are very common feelings after a long hospital stay. We're both trying to make up for lost time, in a way. But Kiera agreed to get out for a short while, and that was good enough for me.
"It feels good to get out, huh Kiera?" (she's giving us the thumbs up)
As a couple, we need to do more things like this to help strengthen our relationship. We need to bring back some normalcy to our lives as well. We watched the entire spring and summer go by from inside the hospital walls. We put a lot of things on hold throughout this journey, so it's important to remember to take some time out for one another.
Fresh air and exercise work wonders, too...
"Studies have shown that a child's serious illness is one of the most disruptive experiences a couple can go through. For long months parents may not have much time for each other. Perhaps because of the stark contrast with pre-baby times, sometimes couples who were the closest can feel the most painfully distant."
We've been exhausted physically and emotionally for months, there's no doubt about that. I'm not surprised that some couples are completely thrown off balance by such an experience. Luckily Kiera and I talk openly about a lot of things, and that includes misunderstandings. We try really hard not to let resentment lag on, and it has helped us move on from issues quicker.
Communication has definitely been a key factor to overcoming a potential family crisis. We were tested time and time again.
But all of the stress and anxiety in the NICU only seemed to bring us closer together, and we noticed it immediately. We found great strength in one another.
"While for some couples a premature birth may destroy a relationship, for others it makes the relationship stronger. One study found that in the majority of cases, fathers and mothers of premature babies were each other's most vital source of support, sharing the special kind of love that parents have for their child."
I think being sympathetic to each other and talking about our feelings has kept us on the right path. And even though our lives were upside-down, at least they were upside-down together. That's the way we viewed it.
Upside-down or right-side-up, it didn't matter. What mattered was that we always saw eye to eye 😉
❤️
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