1 month, 3 weeks, 6 days old--Esther's first Christmas

Christmas with a 7-week-old is kind of boring. My two others were ~10 and 11 months old, respectively, on their own first Christmas. So there was much tearing open of gift wrap to be done, and much laughter and playing with gifts and what-not.

Esther had no clue as to the day. She didn't even really look at her toys.

That skirt I am inordinately proud of myself for. I say at every opportunity that I stayed up until midnight to make it. Because I did. I finished the last of the girls' doll afghans that afternoon and then started in on the skirt, which took a while since I kept having to stop and nurse someone. (Yes, I am tandem-nursing again.) But I really, really wanted her to have something special to wear to church the next day, so I persevered. And it turned out so cute!

1 month, 1 week, 4 days: She's growin'!

I'm kind of slow to catch on sometimes. Esther's usual pattern is to sleep most of one day and be awake most of the next. This past week, though, or at least the last four days or so she's been sleeping every day. It was especially pronounced yesterday & today. So today it finally hits me--growth spurt. D'oh!

My milk production seems to have caught up already. I had to call Linda over once yesterday & again today to get her to nurse because I was getting dangerously close to being engorged. I sure hope Esther doesn't go up a diaper size because of this; we've got an unopened pack of diapers!

I had the most asinine conversation with my husband this morning. He was calling Esther "Esther Rose." I told him I didn't want him calling her that, because Rose was my niece's middle name (she died last year from cancer). Besides, she's already got a nickname. Hadn't he noticed me calling her "Esther-Ro"? He hadn't. Where did "Ro" come from, he wanted to know. Umm, dumbass, her middle name is Rosemary. Sigh. This is the guy who didn't realize Bobbie's birth certificate misspelled her middle name as Catherine (instead of Catharine) and who thought Linda Margaret's middle name was spelled Ann.

Needless to say, I was very careful to make sure he knew it was Esther & not Ester.

This entry's Esther pic:

1 month, 6 days: It is a smile!

She's got a smile that it seems to me
Reminds me of childhood memories
Where everything
Was as fresh as the bright blue sky
Now and then when I see her face
She takes me away to that
special place
And if I stared too long
I'd probably break down and cry

Sorry for the grautitous quoting of a Guns n Roses song, but it lept to mind looking at this picture.
Esther-Ro (as I've taken to calling her) has a smile like her daddy's smile, so small that you have to question if it's really there. But it is.

Now that she has discovered this new way to arrange her muscles, she practices it quite often. Usually it's pointed towards my nipple as part of that Baby Mind Control thing she does so well.

I replaced the batteries in the swing this morning when I brought her downstairs and was rewarded with the sight of her reaching up trying to grab the toys off the mobile.

She is becoming more and more aware of everything. She was smiling at me tonight and staring cross-eyed and trying to grab my nose. It was cute. I just want to curl up around her and hold her and stare at her constantly, but that impacts my sleep quite negatively.

I think it might be worth it, though.