Baby

I can’t believe my little girl is three months old already. How time flies! She’s really developing her own personality already. She has quite a repertoire of different tones of voice to get her point across—whether she’s sad, or feeling neglected, or hungry. Right now, she’s tired of sitting on her daddy’s knees and begging me, from across the room, to rescue her and give her some attention! She loves to cuddle, but she also likes to sit up straight so she can see around, and be held so she can stand up. She’d love to be able to get around by herself, but isn’t rolling yet. And, she keeps getting fatter and fatter!

Here she is at 2 1/2 months with her oldest brother, Mr. Handy Man. She already loves books and stories. Sleeping on her favorite chair…

enjoying a rare moment of peace with Mr. Imagination…

and a chat with Daddy…

coveting Daddy’s lunch…

and sharing an apple core with Mr. Diligence.

And now, a three months’ picture:

Yes, we’re still here, and this baby is still growing. I was shocked this afternoon to realize that it’s been a month since I posted anything! I do sit down frequently with the computer, but I nearly always have a baby on my lap and forget to get the memory card before I sit down. I am holding baby right now; she’s sleeping very peacefully—but I was able to get someone to fetch the memory cards for me this time! Now, if I don’t suddenly remember something that urgently needs done, hopefully I’ll get a few posts up.

This little girl got to go to church in Kaikoura for the first time when she was 3 1/2 weeks old. Not only was I not up to going away yet, the van had broken down the first Sunday we had her and we didn’t get it back for a few weeks. To go to church the first time, I dressed her in a long white dress my mother-in-law made for Esther, with a matching bonnet.

Four weeks, with James:

Four weeks, and asleep on the couch by herself!

One month, and ready to go to church again! My sister surprised us with a dress to match the one she had made Esther. Esther will cringe when she sees the background of the second picture here—but take note of it. That is the before picture; the wall is to be painted today!

Five weeks, and required to lay on a blanket on the countertop. See that suspicious eye in the second picture? She doesn’t like to be laid down.

Six weeks, with Simon (I’m not sure about that motorcycle):

Six weeks:

Six weeks, off to church again. This time, she wore a dress from a sister in our church, who also gave her the hair bow. We stopped to pick blackberries on our way home, and the expression on her face as she looked out the van window while we waited for the rest of the family to finish picking told it all. This little girl does not like to be away from home! In this first picture, she is being held by Joseph.

Seven weeks:

Helping Simon do school!

With James:

Yes, we have a girl! After six boys in a row, it’s pretty special to have another girl. She arrived last Wednesday evening after a long hard labor. We’ve been thoroughly enjoying having another baby in the house. Everyone wants to hold her as much as possible; she’s hardly been laid down by herself yet for more than a few minutes at a time. I have to make the decision, multiple times a day, as to who gets to hold her. We’re also enjoying having pink clothes in the house; Gayle commented the other day, after hanging out the laundry, how fun it is to hang little girl things! So far, she hasn’t worn very many pink things, because we didn’t have them, but yesterday and today we were given quite a few so she’ll be looking even more girly now.

We don’t have very many pictures yet; we’re enjoying her too much, I guess, to take them. Here are the best of what we do have, though, and I suspect there will be many more coming later!

She’s spending a lot of time sleeping still, although it seems like in the morning she’ll spend a few hours awake and happy. She’s sleeping well at night; last night she slept five hours straight! What a blessing she is.