two months

after your bath, january 08

Ella...You are growing up so fast. Already I feel as though we are not as careful with you as we used to be. When we brought you home, we were afraid you would break in a million pieces if we even kissed you too hard. But now....now you are bigger and you seem more sturdy. Who knew that there was such a difference between 6 pounds and 10? At 6 pounds, you seemed to me like a hollow eggshell. I was afraid to try to put your arms in their sleeves because I thought sure they'd break. Your whole head fit inside daddy's hand. Though you are still a tiny little thing, it gives me great pleasure to have to wash inside the little fat rolls on your wrists and legs. We are still careful with you, very careful to be exact, but we are less worried about "breaking" you! We put you in bed with us in the mornings and we are speechless at the sheer length of you. Our preemie is long gone. In her place is a cooing, smiling, chubby baby girl.

Your voice! I do not mean to get so sappy...but your voice is the very sweetest thing I've ever heard. I can tell you have handfuls of laughs that are just waiting to come out. Your little mouth forms an oval and out comes a string of "oooooooooss" and bubbles, too. Your dad and I have both seen you do this many times now...but that doesn't stop us from saying, "Hurry up! Come over here! You have to see this!"
Each new morning is like meeting you for the very first time. You are new and different each day. It is so neat, for lack of a better term, to see your little personality emerging. You will look up at me, when you are just playing around instead of eating, and smile a very sly grin. You will hold that pose for a moment and then play shy and bury your head so no one can see you. I wonder what is going through your head during those times. It seems to me that your most lively and happy time is in the early morning. (Which, if you weren't a clone of your dad, would lead me to believe you were switched at birth! Your parents are the farthest thing from morning people!) I cherish my mornings with you. Your eyes are so bright and clear. You smell like a combination of sweet milk and daddy's cologne from where he holds you before he leaves for work. I look forward to the half hour or so that we spend....playing on our bed in the day's first light. Thank you, baby girl, for how my days begin now.

The craziest thing is...we keep loving you more. We would drive an outsider crazy with our constant "can you believe how great she is?" so we generally try to keep it to just the two of us. It's hard though...because our hearts are simply full to bursting. We love you so incredibly much. You have added so much to our lives and to our love.

having a nap in front of the space heater after a bath, january 08