Easter Sunday

Happy Easter! We hope you enjoy these pictures of Gabriella with our various stuffed bunny friends. Since this weekend has been so cold and rainy, litle Gabi wore this adorable footed Pooh outfit rather than a dress.


Gabriella Christine hiding amid a cluster of bunnies
in her crib on Easter Sunday 2005.

Gabi is lying on the blanket that her great-grandmother Mama Marcia crocheted for her. Isn't it beautiful! It keeps Gabi warm on cold nights.


Gabi and a collection of bunnies


Gabi uses her strong neck and arm muscles
to look at the little bunny.

Even though they are on the other side of the world right now, Lolo and Lola didn't forget Gabriella this Easter. Before leaving town, they left Gabi this Easter basket filled with fun surprises.


Papa and Gabi explore what is in her Easter basket.


Gabriella and Mama play with the bunny-bear.

Updating

A picture of me updating my blog!

My apologies for not keeping Mama and Papa in line to keeping giving you daily updates. They claim to be too busy taking care of me and getting set to sell our house and move to Atlanta, but I know I'm not that much work. So even though I'm the boss, I've decided to go ahead and post an update myself.

This is a picture of me typing this entry. It's probably not my cutest picture, but I just wanted to post something to let you know that we have great plans in the works for pictures today. Today is Easter, and I've requested some special Easter photos to share with you. Also, my umbilical cord finally fell off the other day, so I get to use my bathtub for a real bath today. Just something for you all to look forward to.

Thanks to all my loyal fans for your continued interest in my life. Mama and Papa keep telling me what a pretty baby I am, but it's nice to hear it from some other people (even random anonymous people that I'll probably never meet). Bis nächstes mal!

Spring Break

Last week was Spring Break for my brothers. My dad (Grampa) and my two younger brothers (Uncle Stephen and Uncle Brian) came to visit at the end of the week. Gabriella, meet Uncle Stephen:

Grampa taught Uncle Stephen his favorite way to hold babies. (3/16/2005 and 3/17/2005)

This was the first time Uncle Stephen was able to come see Gabi, so we were glad he chose to spend part of his Spring Break with us. Grampa and the boys had to leave last weekend, but Gramma stayed for an extra week to help take care of little Gabi as well as to assist in getting the house ready to sell. Thus, Gabi spent plenty of time playing with Grampa and her uncles before they left.


Chatting with Grampa (3/17/2005)

Sleeping Beauty with Uncle Brian and with Mama

A Couple Pictures

It's been awhile since I posted some pictures, given all the excitement around our house recently. (We're moving to Atlanta, GA so Michael can go to Emory! Hooray!) I thought I would post a couple pictures just to keep you updated. Last week, I noticed that Gabi's face filled out. She started developing the cute cubby baby cheeks that Lolo is so fond of.


Mama and Gabi in the hallway (3/15/2005)

In this picture, Gabriella is playing on the Pooh quilt that Gramma Jane made for her. She loves to watch as I make her pink bunny and yellow ducky dance in front of her face.


Gabi on her quilt, watching her bunny and ducky (3/14/2005)

Also, I wanted to make mention of Gabi's umbilical cord stump. I think she has a cute little umbilical cord, as it was cut much shorter than the cord on most other babies I have known. The nurses told me to expect it to fall off on its own in 7 to 10 days. It has now been 25 days, and it's still hanging in there. We just make sure to apply alcohol each time we change her diaper, and I suppose it will fall off eventually.


Papa cleaning Gabi's umbilical cord (3/4/2005)

Also of note on that last picture is Gabi's calm face while lying on the changing table. This is most unusual, as diaper changes (with the cold, wet baby wipes and the cold, wet alcohol swab) are her most upsetting times -- second only to bathtime, which she also dislikes.

Godparents

Gabi with Ninang Sylvia and Ninong Edward

Uncle Edward and Aunt Sylvia were finally able to come for a visit the other day, after a couple of weeks of quarantining themselves from our daughter for some upper respiratory infection. We had been waiting for both of them to be able to stop by before we invited them to be Gabi's godparents (in Tagalog, Ninong and Ninang). They were both surprised and excited about the invitation, and, of course, graciously accepted. We look forward to having them be such an important part of our daughter's life. We'll be sure to visit them every time we come back to Little Rock to visit with Lolo and Lola.

The new godparents were almost as excited about getting to hold our little baby as are her grandparents (almost, I say). It's funny how many veteran parents whom we've seen will comment on how tiny our baby is. Having worked in the NICU, I don't think she's all that small (and I'm glad of that). But, as evidenced by her size relative to this 0-3 month outfit she's wearing in the photo, they're probably right in saying that she's a tiny little baby.

We love our tiny little baby!

Baby Wise

There are a number of baby products on the market that seem like a really great idea. Take this carbag, for example, which is like a little sleeping bag with a hole between where the legs go so you can thread the car seat belt through it without taking the baby out of the warm snuggly bag. It sounds like a safe way to buckle up the baby while also keeping him warm. Also, check out the head support pillow set in this picture. It looks like a fabulous idea; it keeps the baby's head from flopping to one side in a most uncomfortable-looking manner when the baby falls asleep.


Gabi sleeping in her swing
with the head support pillows

Unfortunately, I have discovered that a number of these items are actually not safe for the little baby they are made for. If you use these head support pillows in the car seat, then it would put your baby in danger should you be involved in a crash. Because the pillow is not just a headrest but also has a mat that goes behind the baby, all the way down to baby's bottom, the baby can easily slip around rather than stay stationary and secure in the car seat.

Similarly, any warm outerwear that the baby might wear, such as a coat or a swaddling blanket or any other fluffy attire, is not safe to use in a baby car seat. Such warm paraphernalia can be compacted if squished. In the event of a crash, such squishing would certainly occur and then the fluffy outerwear would be compressed, leaving extra air between the baby and the car seat straps. Thus, the baby would not be held in the car seat tightly and could fly out. That severely diminishes the safety rating of the carbag.

There are alternative ways to comfortably and safely prop up your little baby's head and keep your baby warm. First, buckle the baby tightly in the car seat without the head pillows and coats and such. Then, simply roll up two receiving blankets and place them along side the baby's head, or use one rolled receiving blanket curved into a U shape as we did around Gabi's head in this picture. Finally, cover the baby with a blanket or coat or whatever you want after she is securely buckled. Just make sure the blankets and coats are not between the baby and the car seat straps.


Gabi awake in her crib with a rolled receiving blanket around her head

Another thing that is all the rage these days is a book called Baby Wise, which has come highly recommended to me by a number of motherly family and friends. From what I understand, it claims that babies do not need to eat more often than every three hours and you should expect the baby to conform to a schedule (eat-play-sleep in a three-hour cycle). The idea of having a schedule certainly sounds convenient. It would be much easier to plan your day if you knew ahead of time when the baby would need to eat and when the baby would be napping. And in our society, having control of the baby's schedule fits our culture better than being ruled by the baby.

However the medical community (in addition to questioning the creditials of the book's author) has concerns about forcing a schedule upon your baby. Instead, doctors recommend demand feeding your baby, especially if the baby is breastfed. If fed on demand, a newborn will eat every two to three hours (on average) for the first few weeks of life, spacing out the feedings once the mother's milk supply comes in. Whenever the baby goes through a growth spurt, the baby will be hungrier and therefore start to nurse more frequently--as much as every one to two hours. The mother's body will respond to this frequent suckling by producing more milk, and once the mother's milk supply increases enough, the baby will be able to get more milk at one feeding and thus will demand food less often. If you limit your baby to eating only every three hours, how will your body know to make more milk to satisfy your growing baby? If you put your baby on a schedule rather than letting the baby tell the mother when he is hungry, how will you know when the baby has reached a growth spurt or when the mother's milk supply is sufficient for the baby's nutritional needs?

On the other hand, I know some excellent mothers who follow the Baby Wise schedule, and their children do not appear to be suffering from failure to thrive. I suppose that just because this schedule isn't optimal for the baby, it isn't necessarily all that terrible. I also know some mothers who tried to implement the Baby Wise recommendations and had such trouble with it that it just didn't work for them at all. And based on the information I have, I don't think those mothers should feel as if they have failed at anything just because they end up demand feeding. I am demand feeding, and it works perfectly for Gabi and me.

Gabi's Snugli

Papa carrying Gabi in her Snugli

As mentioned previously, baby Gabi is now big enough to ride around in her Snugli carrier. That's not to say that she particularly likes doing so, but she's certainly allowed. She tolerates the Snugli quite well about half the time, which gives Mama and I the unprecedented experience of being able to use both of our hands while still keeping her "pick-me-up" needs satisfied. Here, you see me using both of my hands to fill out some (unforgivably late) thank you notes for baby shower presents.

Of course, Gabi prefers to be carried the old-fashioned way, and she certainly lets us know that. She let me know that for most of Friday night, for example. I was remarking to Melissa that being cute must have been an evolutionary advantage for babies, because otherwise parents might not bother to take care of these little fussbuckets. She replied that pandas apparently have this exact problem in that baby pandas are rather ugly when they are first born. As a result, mama pandas have been known to run away from their little squealing cubs rather than take care of them, compounding the panda's status as an endangered species.

My Girls

Mama and Gabi in the kitchen

Well, I guess you'll say, "What can make me feel this way?" This is a really neat picture of my two girls. It's been two weeks now, and Mama is almost all the way down to her lovely pre-baby size. Gabi is apparently more than 8 pounds now, which means we get to make use of our Snugli (pictures pending). She's getting to be so big already. It's so hard to imagine that she's already gained more than a pound. She is certainly getting heavier for Mama to carry.

Our little daughter absolutely loves to be carried. I think I should have made mention of that in mentioning how she's spoiled for attention. Whenever grandparents come by to play, it's a non-stop hold-a-thon (if such a thing exists). Today, she was like a good book. You just couldn't put her down. Poor baby. She can tell if she's being carried... and whether the person carrying her happens to be standing up... and if the person holding her and standing up is also dancing. She much prefers this last option, by the way.

I don't really have a lot to talk about. I just wanted to show off my two beautiful girls!

A Love for Music

Last week, before Gabi was even one week old, I discovered that Gabi loves music. She was upset, but she wasn't hungry and she had a clean diaper and she didn't seem interested in play time or rocking. In my effort to pacify her, I turned on some music. As soon as the music started to play, Gabriella calmed down. She stopped crying and just listened very intently. We proceeded to dance around the room, listening to the songs.

Whenever Gabi is clean and fed but still fussing, all we have to do is turn on some music and dance with her. It is amazing how well this works, and I also find it amazing that Gabi has already developed a predilection for something, even at such a young age. She is certainly born into a musical family. Mama plays the oboe, piano, and tenor saxophone. Papa plays the piano, guitar, and bass guitar, in addition to being a fantastic singer. Mama and Papa also direct the church youth choir. Gabriella is starting early in her musical career.

Dancing with Papa

It's nice to see her developing an interest in music already. It's also nice to have found something she enjoys that can make her happy whenever nothing else works. Tonight, I ran to the store to grab a few things before the store closed, and in the short while that I was gone, little Gabi woke up hungry. Lolo and Lola were unable to soothe her, so Papa took Gabi, turned on some music, and commenced dancing. This worked so well that she was sleeping by the time I returned! (Yes, we then woke her up to feed her.)

Spoiled for Attention

"Baby baby Gabi Gabi ella ella!"

Our little one has visitors every afternoon, usually in the form of Lolo and Lola, who have a new hobby in coming to see their granddaughter. As you can tell from the last post, Gramma was also here helping for the past few days. In case you've forgotten, these are my parents in the picture. Here you can see them interacting with Gabi in their customary way: My dad holding her in his lap, and my mom talking to her, mostly repeating, "Baby baby Gabi Gabi ella ella!"

I'm amused by this last bit, her redundantly repetitive nickname for our little girl. Apparently, it's a pacifying instinct to talk to babies like that. It's funny to think that people spend their lives researching things which on the surface seem so elementary. That's not to say it isn't intriguing to know why we do what we do, just funny to think about.

Gramma's Visit

My mom came into town for a couple days to help out. She's been cooking and cleaning for us, which has not only allowed us to eat much tastier and healthier food but has also helped us get back into a normal meal-time schedule. She must run to the store two or three times a day for us, as well. We needed groceries and more baby items and some other things to do small house repairs. I used the very last newborn diaper and wipe we had while she was at the store buying diapers and baby wipes for us. In addition, she has an ever-growing list of things to sew for our little baby's room. Her favorite "job," however, is babysitting Gabi.

Gramma watching Gabi sleep	Gramma reading Gabi a book

Even though I love to take care of my daughter, it's nice to be able to take a nap during the day and run necessary errands. Yesterday, I was able to go up to the office to turn in my parking decal and stop the automatic deduction from my paycheck, since I'm not using my parking spot while on maternity leave. On the way home, I bought a couple pieces of much-needed nursing attire. Perhaps tomorrow I will tackle our taxes.


Gramma and Gabi after a bath
It's helpful to have Gramma around even on weekends when Michael is home. Last Saturday, Michael was able to work on an article for a research project he did that was accepted for publication. On Sunday, Gramma watched Gabi in the church's Family Life Center while Michael and I directed the Youth Choir. It was convenient to have her close enough that I could run over to feed her between rehearsal and Mass. Michael's next task will be to study for his exam that was scheduled for the day Gabriella was born.


Three generations of happy girls

Thanks, Mom (now Gramma) for all your assistance! We enjoying having you around, and you are welcome any time.

Gramma has been staying with Lolo and Lola while she's in town. This allows Michael and I some private bonding time with our baby while also allowing Gramma to get a good night's rest so she can watch Gabi the next day while I catch up on sleep. Besides, our house isn't really in order to have guests staying overnight at this point. Gramma has been helping out with organization, too--both by cleaning herself and by rocking or playing with Gabi to give me time to sort through stuff.

Lolo and Lola also housed my parents and Brian when they came to visit for a couple days when Gabi was first born, and they have offered their house again for when my family comes up next week for Match Day. It will be Spring Break for all three of my brothers, so they might all be able to come see Gabi and share in our Match Day celebration. We really appreciate how welcoming Michael's parents have been to my family. Thanks for your hospitality, Lolo and Lola!

"Official" Hospital Photos

In order not to infringe on copyrights, we can't post copies of the "official" photos taken at the hospital, but they're online at the WebNursery:

Gabi's First Fotos

There are four pictures in total. Mama likes the second one the best (pouty lips) and Papa likes the fourth one the best (looking down). It's hard to find pictures we don't like, though.

Bunny Friends

Gabi makes friends with one of our bunnies, Merlin.

Did you know that we have pet bunnies? We have two rabbits, Cody and Merlin. They're both very cute, and they've been getting significantly less attention since the arrival of our little Gabriella. The other day, we decided to introduce our cuter house inhabitants to one another. In this picture, you can see Gabi meeting our opal mini rex, Merlin. ("Opal" is her color and "minirex" is her breed.) We're trying to get the bunnies used to our baby before Easter... (hint, hint).

We have another little rabbit, Cody, who is a siamese-sable Netherland dwarf. ("Siamese-sable" = color, "Netherland dwarf" = breed) He's much more curious and had actually been more forward in introducing himself to our daughter. However, he is also generally a lot faster in addition to being less adept at the "come here" trick you see Merlin performing in this picture. He's not so smart, that little one.

At any rate, our house is a very cute one with a sweet baby and two little rabbits (Merlin is only 5.5 pounds, while Cody is only 2 pounds). I was discussing with my cute wife that our household definitely has a "cute" personality to it. You know, most households do have an overriding characteristic (e.g. formal, sporty, totalitarian...). Ours is apparently "cute," and I can totally live with that.


Baby bunnies playing with their basket.

This picture was taken more than a year ago, when the bunnies were even smaller than they are today. Cody really hasn't changed much, but Merlin definitely looks more like a grown rabbit now. We could really have an entire blog devoted to cute bunny pictures, but, really, it's too late for that now with baby cuteness significantly overshadowing bunny cuteness. Those bunnies are cute, though.

As a postscript, you may wonder why we named our female rabbit, "Merlin" -- clearly a male name. Well, we thought she was a little male minirex until we took her to her first veterinarian appointment. It's apparently sometimes difficult to sex rabbits ("sex rabbits" = being able to tell what gender they are), even for an experienced breeder. At that point, her name was already "Merlin," and we couldn't bring ourselves to call her anything else.

Making faces

Gabi making faces... again.

Gabi has lately taken to making a variety of funny faces. This particular pose isn't one of her usual ones, but I thought it was cute. I'm pretty sure she's thinking about eating and puckering up her lips accordingly. She's quite good at rooting, but we've discovered that it doesn't necessarily mean she's hungry.

In this picture, you can also see she's wearing one of her cute pink bunny onesies that we had to run out and buy because we have so few outfits that fit her at this age. Everyone who bought her clothes very thoughtfully got us the 3-6 month size, knowing that most babies grow out of newborn size very quickly. But our little one is pretty small (only 25th percentile for height and weight), so we needed to have more little bitty clothes to fit her now.

If you look closely, you can also see that we finally got our bedding set. Apparently it has been discontinued, which is a shame, because it's obviously the cutest one (evidenced by the fact that it's the one that we picked out for Gabi). We'll have to show you pictures later.

Conversations with Gabi

Gabi: Mama, know what?
Mama: What, baby?
Gabi: I'm soooo cute!

Here's our sweet baby having a little chat with her Mama. She'd just gotten up that morning and was awake and talking to us. I was previously aware of the fact that little babies make cute little baby noises, but it's really a different experience entirely to hear them every morning when you wake up.

We're planning on teaching little Gabi to be bilingual. Mama is teaching her English, and I'm going to attempt to teach her German. I'm not completely fluent in German, but I feel comfortable enough with it that I think I can keep up with a little baby. These first six months are supposed to be the most critical for helping her figure out which phonoemes belong together.

I think the plan is for each of us to use our language exclusively... at least when talking to her. That way, she can distinguish the two languages early on. When people look at language development in young children, it's often noted that they will mix the two languages, which some view as a sign that they're confused. Really, they usually figure out the difference, even if it's much later in life. Having the distinction be as evident as "I speak to Mama in English and Papa in German" serves to more or less eliminate this problem... or so I've been assured by my psychology-savvy wife.

Aside from the fact that language is just cool, there seem to be so many advantages to bilingualism, that we really want to give our daughter a chance to have those advantages. It's not that we just want her to have better grades in English or that we want her to have a grounding in metalinguistic analysis. Knowing more than one language gives a concrete way of understanding that there is more than one way to view the same concept, and this is a great way for us to give her a fuller understanding of the way the world works. So wish us luck on this enterprise, because it promises to be a unique challenge.

One-Week Birthday

Today, Gabriella is one week old! This morning, she finished eating just after 6:00 AM and decided it was time to be awake for the day. Papa didn't have to get up for another 15 minutes, so Mama let Papa cuddle with her until it was time for him to go to work. It is not recommended for baby to share the bed with parents, because co-sleeping increases the risk for SIDS; but rest assured that Mama was supervising this snuggle time.


Sleeping with Papa

The past couple of days, Gabi has been much more alert, especially in the mornings (begining between 5 and 6 AM when she wakes up to eat and lasting until after her noon-time feeding). She takes a longer nap (or two) in the afternoon and then is awake some in the evenings before settling down for the night sometime about 2:00 AM.

She now lets us know when she is hungry during the day, although she still sleeps well through the night. She usually eats every 2 - 3 hours during the day and every 3 - 4 hours during the night. We are incredibly lucky with our sweet baby's easy-going temperment and sleep-wake cycle. I have been told that most newborns are nocturnal, but Gabriella seems to prefer daytime play time. And added benefit to this is that Gabi will open her eyes when the room is lit with natural light through the windows but not when the lights are turned on, so this way we can see her pretty eyes and play with her more than we could at night.

Before and After

Just for comparison, here's a picture of me (and a hidden Gabi) before delivery alongside a picture of me (with Gabi) after delivery. I'm holding Gabi all bunched up the way she was in utero, although in all the ultrasound pictures she always had her hands in front of her face or above her head.


Before and After

There's a difference in Michael, too, although it isn't as noticeable without his attire. Here's a picture of him in the hospital, proudly showing off his T-shirt with Gabi's footprints and his "I'm a new dad" pin. As soon as we arrived home, he added his "Proud New Dad" hat to the collection. In the rush to the hospital, we forgot to bring things for Papa. Our next labor bag will include items for him (such as pajamas, a change of socks, and this hat) as well as for Mama.


Proud New Dad

You'll probably need to click on the picture to view a larger image so you can see the footprints on the shirt and wording on the hat.

Play Time

Gabi and her little ducky friend

Over the past few days, our little girl has decided she wants to be awake for most of the day. With so much awake time (and with steadily improving motor control), we've gotten the chance to introduce some toys to her. Here our sweet girl is meeting a little duck who came with her Baby Einstein play gym that Lolo and Lola got for her. She has also been playing with another little ducky toy. This one is yellow and jingles. It also has a pullstring attached that makes the ducky wiggle.


Gabi and another ducky friend

I think she likes this toy the best. She looks at it very intently every time we place it in front of her. We really enjoy getting to play with our little girl. At this point, she hasn't yet figured out how to grab the toys herself to play with them. Still, it's super cute to watch her reaction.

Face to Face

"Papa-time" up close.

This morning I woke up and dressed little Gabi up for the day in this cute little onesie/pants outfit, complete with my favorite pink bow (that sounds manly, doesn't it?). After Gabi had some breakfast, she and I had some "Papa-time."

You'll notice that I'm rather close to her face in this picture. That isn't just because she's nice to smell. As you may already know, newborn babies have very limited vision. About 8-15 inches is the about the farthest she can focus--just far enough to make out your face if you're holding her.

Pediatric One Week Check-Up

Today was Gabriella's first visit to the pediatrician's office. The AAP recommends that babies see the pediatrician at 3 to 5 days of life, although apparently formula-fed babies sometimes wait until one week. Gabi is 4 days old today, and she is breastfeeding, so we headed up to the doctor's office for her weight check.


Papa bundled Gabi up after her first visit to the doctor's office

Gabriella was 6 pounds 9 ounces at birth, and her hospital discharge weight was 6 pounds 5 ounces. It is common for babies to lose between 7% and 10% of their body weight in the first few days, but they regain their birth weight by 10 days. Well, Gabriella didn't even lose 7% of her birth weight, and she's already regaining some of that--she weighed in at 6 pounds 7 ounces today. I guess that means that she is eating well! (Not that we were concerned about that, since she meets her daily goals for dirty and wet diapers before noon each day.)

Also, our little girl is quite strong. Even in the hospital, she could already hold her own head up for a second or two. During tummy time at home, she does baby push-ups, and she can lift her head to turn it from one side to the other. She has a kung-fu grip with her grasp reflex, as well. Lolo and Lola like to take advantage of that to do baby exercises with her to move around her arms. It's quite cute.


Gabriella wiggling about

Gabriella doesn't need help moving, though. She is definitely a wiggle worm, just like she was in utero. She is so tiny that even the 0-3 month outfits are a bit big on her right now. (I'm sure she'll grow into them quickly enough.) The other day, we had her in a pants/shirt outfit, and she actually managed to squirm almost completely out of it!

Paparazzi

Our little celebrity staving off the media.

We take a lot of pictures of our baby. Y'all see just the cream of the crop. Anyone would tire of the constant camera flashes, even a sweet little 3-day old. I like this picture because it reminds me of all the shots you get of Hollywood celebrities blocking out the cameras with their hands. I can just hear little Gabi saying "No more pictures please." I can't help it, though. I'm the proud Papa and it's part of my job to take lots of pictures. You might say I'm the... Papa-razzi?

---

Also of note is that the crocheted blanket covering our little celebrity was made for her by her great-grandmother (Mama Marcia). She loves that blanket because it's so warm. (And Mama loves it because it's so colorful!)

Daily Routine

Gabriella is just the perfect little baby. She currently sleeps almost all the time. In fact, she likes to sleep so much, we often have to wake her up to eat! The doctor wants her to eat at least every three hours, so we set our alarm throughout the night to wake us up so that we can wake her up to eat. Papa tries to wake up to the alarm, as his "job" is to wake up Gabi and bring her to me so I can feed her, although sometimes Mama wakes up faster than Papa. After I feed Gabi, I wake up Michael so he can burp her, change her diaper, bundle her up, and lull her back to sleep. It's been working out very well. We have discovered that an evening bath is the most effective way to get her to wake up so she will eat well, at least at that feeding.


After-bath snuggles

According to Lolo (Michael's dad), Michael was also a sleepy infant who had to be awakened to eat. At least we won't have to worry about her sleeping through the night once she's old enough to go longer without eating! According to Michael, Gabi makes the same expressions while she is sleeping and when she is waking up as I do. I guess this little baby is already taking after both of her parents. We are certainly enjoying every moment with her, in case you can't tell by the abundance of pictures.

Brown-Eyed (Blue-Eyed?) Girl

Our sweet baby girl all bundled up in her crib.

So most of our pictures show our little girl sleeping, but you're really missing out if you don't get a chance to see her beautiful eyes. We think they're more of a deep brown, like my eyes, but (at least for now) they also have a striking shade of blue superimposed (like her Mama's eyes). At any rate, I wanted to show off the fact that she has such pretty eyes, and that she does more than just sleep all day.

I am reminded of what Peter Gabriel (huh... Gabriel) once sang:

In your eyes... I see the doorways to a thousand churches

Now that's a compliment. I look in your eyes, and what do I see?
Church doors:

Still, I guess, it's better than, "Your eyes are big and brown."

Also to note in this picture is that she's wearing a cute little bow, as she is whenever I can help it. This is not only to make sure that people know that she's a cute little girl and not a cute little boy (so difficult to tell at 4 days of age), but also because I think it adds an extra layer of cuteness.