An Unintended Christmas Gift

January 3, 2012

We have traveled a long way in the past three weeks—all the way to a new reality. Our world now contains a new person: Archer Burck Zabel.

We arrived in Oakland a week before Christmas, settled into a beautiful apartment by Lake Merritt, and entered a frenzy of get-ready-for-Christmas activity. Wrapping presents, baking Swedish tea ring, making Swedish pancakes, cutting the fondue meat, picking up last-minute presents. Charlie flew in to join us for Christmas Eve and Theo carefully tracked whose turn it was to open a present. We would occasionally catch a glimpse of the new baby as he continued to kick and twist in his mother’s belly.

Despite our tightly-crossed fingers (we did not want him to have a Christmas birthday for his sake), Archer decided Christmas was his day. We made it through the present opening before labor got unbearably serious, and Archer was here by 4:25 p.m. I was lucky enough to be at his birth, an uninhibited, intense and joyful event. I’d forgotten the sweet feeling of holding a baby’s head in the palm of one’s hand.

Now a week later, Archer is a husky eater and a sleepy baby, so sleepy he slept through his first bath, even with Theo’s “thoughtful” ministrations. Theo vacillates between petting, patting, pulling and cooing over his baby brother and ricocheting off the walls. Bob and I have been very, very busy cleaning and cooking and reading stories and taking adventures with Theo. In fact, today was our first full day “off.” But we look forward to being involved again tomorrow.

We have finally put away all of our clothes and books and miscellany and have even joined the YMCA (a ten-minute walk from our apartment), checked out a couple of restaurants in our neighborhood, surveyed the winter flowers, and contacted our West Coast friends. I think we’re good to go for the season.