iMessenger and happy coincidences

Today is 11/11/11 and because this is considered to be an auspicious day that rolls around once a century the world has gone berserk with record numbers of people tying the knot, and making wishes at 11 minutes past 11. I am not a big believer in that sort of stuff, so instead I choose to celebrate the one week anniversary of Monkey #2’s birth. This time last week, I was holding her in my arms for the first time, marveling at how the day had unfolded. Looking at how perfect she is and very thankful that though she was considered preterm she would not have to spend even one night away from me in NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit) as so many preterm newborns do.

One week later and Monkey #2 and I are rocking this mother/daughter relationship. Monkey #1 is happy to have her around and not showing any signs of jealousy (yet!). He’s a bit surprised that she doesn’t have more energy to play with him, but he gets that now and is happy to just shower her in kisses. Big Monkey and I are gelling, making time for both Monkeys and squeezing in a bit of time for ourselves.

Having only been in New York for 2 months, I don’t have a network of people around me to come by and visit or check up on me in person. I kinda miss that, but at the same time it can be overwhelming when dealing with sleepless nights, so it’s been okay. Big Monkey has been a rock, my parents and sister have been in contact  often as well as Big Monkey’s family, so it helps to know that people are thinking of us. Besides posting here, I have been pretty quiet on Facebook and slowly getting through personal emails back to friends and family.

Between moving to New Zealand, back to Canada, then to New Zealand again, then from Christchurch to Auckland and now here to New York, I am use to periods of time where I really enjoy time to myself. It’s kinda like getting reacquainted with myself and discovering my new surroundings. I think with Thanksgiving in the States rolling around in 2 weeks and Christmas shortly after, plus wanting everyone to experience the brilliance that is Monkey #2, I’m starting to feel the need to break from my self-imposed period of introversion. Anyone who knows me, knows its not in my nature to be a loner for the long term.

So I was over the moon when my iPhone bleeped a message from my bestie in New Zealand. Back track to 3 weeks ago. I sent her an email seeing how she was doing as she was pregnant and due mid-November. In the email I was joking that with our track records, we were likely to deliver on the same day. She delivered her 3 babies about a week early each time and I delivered Monkey #1 three and a half weeks early ( I was due December 1). Fast forward to the night after I gave birth, Big Monkey’s dad told us that he thought my bestie had given birth as well. Yep, sure enough we both delivered on December 4th! How cool is that. So back to the bleeping iPhone message, we proceeded to have a conversation via the new iOS5 iMessenger service that let’s you send Multimedia Messages like photos and videos. We sent pictures of our new kiddies and their siblings back and forth. The whole exchange was really good for my soul, and was a reminder that even if I can’t be with my closest friends and family, these little connections are really important to me and I will take them however I can get them.