Hi friends! Just wanted to pop in briefly from maternity leave to share an update today, because there’s someone very special I’d love for you to meet…
…our sweet Teo!
Our son, Teo (pronounced the Spanish way, “tay-oh”) Elliott Martin, was born on March 16. And for those of you who have been following our story, I’m thankful to report that the epidural that we had been praying might work despite my back issues (I shared a bit about this in my last post) mercifully took hold on the very first try, which meant that both Barclay and I were able to be there together to hear Teo’s first precious cries and welcome him into the world. Goodness…what a moment. ♡
After so many ups and downs this pregnancy, we’re still in awe that our little boy is finally here. He’s perfect and healthy and super-snuggly and outrageously cute…and we feel like the luckiest parents in the world. Truly can’t believe how much we love him and how sweet and natural life together as a family of three already feels. We spend a record amount of time each day just staring at him and soaking up his sweet newborn cuddles and showering his yummy cheeks with a million kisses. And we are loving this opportunity to finally learn how to be parents — even sleep-deprived, sore-in-all-the-places (hellooo, postpartum), often-hilariously-trial-and-erroring-our-way-through-each-new-day and all. This tiny little human has captured our hearts in the biggest of ways, and we are just so happy that he’s ours.
Anyway, I can’t wait to share more updates with you once I’m back from maternity leave. But in the meantime, feel free as always to follow along on Instagram for more behind the scenes updates from our lil’ newborn bubble over here. And thank you again for all of the love and prayers and encouragement you’ve been sending our way these past few weeks especially. We feel it and are sending you back so much love from Barcelona today.
Here are a few pics from these first few weeks together with Teo as a family of three! ♡
Hi, Ali, how gorgeous and wonderful! Please (!) remember that you cannot love your Teo demasiado (too much). I’ve retired as a psychotherapy practitioner and I’ve been doing research into the way our ancestors practiced childcare for hundreds of thousands of years prior to the advent of farming. When an infant or toddler was stressed, an adult would immediately (!) tend to the child. This was our evolved nature. Part of the reason for this is that humans are born developmentally premature compared with other mammals in order to allow our brain to grow much larger. A newborn is virtually helpless by comparison to other species. There is a website with tons of good info created by a Notre Dame prof (Darcia Narvaez) who is an expert in this topic: https://evolvednest.org. This advice, of course, runs counter to the idea that too much care will create a weak and dependent child. Just the opposite is true, and I can attest to that from my experience as a psychotherapist.
Oh I am so so happy for your family!!! I’ve been following you since the dating posts, which helped me immensely. Congrats and enjoy the little one!
What a gorgeous son you have !! God Bless your new family !!
So very sweet!
Congratulations! Such wonderful news and such beautiful photos! Enjoy every minute of it! It goes very fast…
What a little cutie patootie!!! Congrats to you and your Hubby! God Bless your lives and your family now and always!
Congratulations on your beautiful family! (Including the dogs!)
Any way you give birth is the right way as long as the baby is healthy and you feel good about it. And these photographs scream success!!!!
Good work!
Congratulations he’s precious. Enjoy all of it…
So Happy for you! Beautiful pictures of you and your new family of three! Enjoy this precious time with your new baby boy, he is absolutely gorgeous! ? May God continue to bless you all! ? thank you for sharing the pictures
So happy to read Teo arrived safely. Congratulations and best wishes for a happy family life.