It's your birthday!

Officially. The date of your birth: February 6!

We're taking you to Cafe on Broadway for a little birthday cupcake/muffin, even though we're having your official birthday party next Saturday at Chick fil A.

I am so excited you are One. You are brilliant. You did the signs for both "please" and "more" tonight on the couch...chocolate pudding is pretty inspiring, apparently. You are so spoiled and get to stay up and watch 30 Rock with us every night while your brother is usually in bed around 8:30. Technically, we get you to sleep while watching, but you usually wake up, ready to party sometime before we're ready to go to bed. Tonight, we played a game where we put a cup on our face and talk into it. You thought it was pretty funny. And you think its funny when I pretend like your hand is hitting my face so hard, it moves it.

And you are in love with your daddy. Every time I say, "Look at this!" to him, you look up and smile to make sure he is.

Still remember those BIG brown eyes looking up at me when they laid you on my tummy minutes after you were born. What an amazing, crazy thing: that that's how humans get here, straight out of other humans. And that you were "someone...a girl..." and now you are Berea, Berea Abigail, the joy of your Father(meaning of Abigail) and a diligent searcher of the Scriptures (Acts 17:11)...ok, well, maybe not yet, but we're pretty sure you're interested.

Joy of your Father

You love to make us laugh. And you love to laugh yourself. Last night, you kept looking away and whipping your head back around to look at daddy in the eyes and when he did it back, you thought it was hilarious.

You clapped your hands "Yay" when I said Yay when we got to Walmart yesterday. First time you put the two together, yourself, I think...the word and the clap.

To fall asleep, you have a ritual of nursing, sitting up, bouncing a little, and then leaning back against me or your Dad and just general flopping around a lot. D-d-d-d-d-d-deh is what you say while you do this.

You have more hair and some curls and I love them. I love rubbing the back of your neck, where those curls are, while you sleep near me.

I think I've completely given up on sleep-training you at least until you're weaned. Looks like its you and me, as long as you need it to be, to fall asleep. Looking forward to many more flopping around sessions...

Tonight I tricked you into falling asleep on the floor. Which, technically, could mean that I tricked you into sleeping by yourself... See, I don't really wanna give up sleeping with you quite yet because...well there's just nothing to say but I'm just used to you--you're a human teddy bear, only a l i v e and all your little kicks and idiosyncrasies while you sleep are quite nice...when I'm ready to sleep...but alas, I am not ready to sleep at 7:30, as you most definitely are. So, tonight, instead of insisting you fall asleep on the bed and then feeling hyper-paranoid every minute after leaving the room that you might fall off AND after laying with you for over 30 minutes, I decided we'd try the floor. I had already created a spot, incidentally, for you to play on earlier, with your blankets. So, I could let you fall asleep there and not worry about you rolling off the bed, I decided. We relocated and I closed the door almost all the way (I think the real culprit to your sleep up to this point in the night had been the light outside the room) and you fell asleep pretty quickly, nursing with both of us laying there. Now, which of us will join whose bed later tonight is yet to be determined.

Milestone #2, or #1 if we're being chronological: On our way to Jay, to pick up Daddy's medicine, You rode in a front-facing carseat! Don't tell the police, though, cause I think you're missing 2 of the 22 pound requirement. You were tickled. And we ate unhealthy Little Debbie 'granola' bars on the way back home from. Though we dreaded the trip, it turned out to be quite lovely for us both--just you and me, fall leaves, and high fructose corn syrup! You laughed at me every time I turned around to look at you. I almost wish I hadn't given you the granola bar, though, just to see how much attention you might pay to the scenery and such.

You also started army-crawling in the tub tonight. Not afraid. You've been army crawling and even a little regular crawling on carpet for awhile, now, but never in the tub. And every chance you get--up against the treadmill, the back of the couch, wherever, you get up on your legs and stand on your feet, while holding on. I believe this is officially "Pulling Up" but it seems like you're more "Pushing Up"... You're very giggly and have like 6 teeth and I'm sorry I always sound in a hurry, I always feel in a hurry these days. Not sure why.

Six Months of Life Post-Utero Today!

You've spent every morning for the past two weeks in the double jogging stroller with your brother and your legs have taken on the color of Maple Syrup. Which goes nice with their 'buttery' texture, as Joanna once said of your skin. Today you are six months. Six months ago, around this time (4pm) we were arriving at the W.W. Hastings hospital, where I agonized for four and a half hours more until you were born at 8:31 p.m. I didn't want to lay down. I didn't want to stand. I wanted to hang my arms around your daddy's neck and die...and then you were on my tummy and looking up at me, scared as I was, and we clung to each other to stay warm. We still do. I just snuck out of the room after nursing you to sleep...usually I succumb to the oxytocin-induced sleep and you provide the one segment of rest for my day, but today, I had so much on my mind, so much to feel like I should do and probably still won't get done, that I snuck away. I have recently wanted to describe the sweetness of sleeping with you--it's so much more than 'convenient' although to avoid questions, that's how I usually describe it. It is possibly the most precious time of my day, having your perfect little body facing mine, between my arm and my bent legs, your legs resting on mine as they will one day dangle from a park bench, and your one arm either playing with your ear or covering your eye or flung behind you, my hand usually tucked under your side...just a glimpse of the rightness of it all..

well, enough of the mushy stuff--daddy's dressing you in your polka-dot sundress I've looked forward to putting on you since Cathy Flack gave it to you--6-9 mos--so we can go celebrate Fowler-style: dinner and soft serve ice cream at Barnett's! Your brother got chocolate for the first time on his six month birthday...sadly, we have slipped you some already in recent visits. "How's that? I don't know where you put bows. She looks 80s." Your dad just carefully placed your first bow in your hair(s) and we'll see how long it lasts...I think you look more 40's. Hopefully we'll get some photos of the whole messy event...

you are all smiles and so squishy and hold-able right now. i just love laying with you a little longer in the mornings and feeling your soft little thighs. so pretty. 0-3 mos are finally fitting ok, but still a little loose, depending on the brand. i love you in just a onesie and socks. yay that summer's coming! i sat and nursed you on the porch yesterday afternoon and i look forward to the rest of the summer's activities with you!

lovely you

just want to let you know i've noticed some things about you...on this 2 month, 2 week birthday of yours...

You have more hair, and it appears to be much darker than your brother's...more like mine than Daddy's.

You look great in bright colors like magenta and orange and lime green. and I love you in polka dots and stripes--not necessarily at the same time, though :) But most of your outfits are chosen quickly and randomly as you are still too small for the majority of your clothes. The last we checked you are 8 pounds and some ounces, and the clothes (and diapers) that fit you best are the ones labeled NB for newborn. But, yay, you're done with "Preemie"!

Your eyes just might be more hazel than brown

You are extremely expressive--you love smiling back and forth and can do it even from a couple feet away--and you make these sweet "Oh"s that start in the back of your throat and then close your eyes and then open them back up wide, along with your mouth as if to say "Now, what are you going to say?" You don't mind playing this game with most people, but I'm kinda proud that when you hear my voice, even if someone else has you, you look for me and find me pretty quickly.

You have a super-cute dimple right under your left eye, really high up...I hope it stays.

I love your little toes and feet. I like to hold your foot while nursing...

You play with your ear while nursing. You cup your fingers around the top.

You're really not that into me talking or singing to you (and definitely not anybody else!) while nursing.

You don't look up much while nursing, until you get pretty full and start getting all smiley and wriggly and content at the same time. Sometimes you just fall asleep smiling for a minute and I LOVE THIS!!!

I love sleeping with your tiny body breathing in time with mine and I think its time we do that now.

A Person's a Person, No Matter How Small

Today, we (you, me, and Anderson) made a trip back to Tahlequah to have you weighed. Your doctor was a bit concerned last time and wanted to make sure you were getting enough to eat. When you were born, you weighed 6.07 pounds and were 17.5" long. Then, by the time we left the hospital, you were down to 5 pounds, 11 oz. And then, last Tuesday, at around 3 weeks, you were back up to 6 pounds, 4 oz and today you were 6 pounds 8 oz!! For a breastfeeding mamma, this is a relief to hear. He said breastfed babies typically take two weeks to regain their birth weight, so you're pretty much on target. Good job, babe! Keep up the good work (by which I mean, eating...which you are currently doing! And you have the hiccups...you get them almost every time I feed you and I have yet to learn if this is preventable or not.
You seem to really love having your eyebrows stroked. You close your eyes and do these little 1-second smiles...
You did not like the trip today...I cannot necessarily assume that once I have you in a car you will succumb to sleep from now on. You cried almost the whole way back home and only stopped momentarily under the following circumstances: gravel roads, "Small Town" by John Cougar Mellencamp (I was desperately hitting Scan), and when I dipped my middle finger in my Diet 7up and let you suck on it for a second. The finger trick worked last Sunday on the way home from church--I let you suck on my middle finger for about 20 minutes, but your dad was driving then, making this much easier.
So far, my favorite outing with you has been Saturday's trip to Broadway Books. We found a seat in the back of the store and I got to read the first three chapters of "The Shack" and drink a (decaf!) Mocha while you nursed. Our first "Girls Day Out," it was. Then we visited Joni's little shop "Oh So Pretty" and sampled perfume and although you were asleep in the carrier, I think you would have really liked the place. Ok, let's go back to bed now...