+ Way to grow! +
7.5 hours last night, 8 hours the night before. You have definitely adopted a new sleeping habit, and I like it. Not much else is new. You seem to be completely over your sniffles, other than an occasional juicy sneeze. You're starting to demand a little more entertainment, crying if I hold you on my shoulder too long. This morning I sat you on my lap so you could look around, and you instantly stopped crying and started staring at everything. It looks exhausting for you, trying to keep your head somewhat steady. But you just have so many things to look at, what's a girl to do? You really liked looking at Princess this morning. Speaking of Princess, I can't wait until you're old enough to pay her back. She was licking you last night while I was putting your harness on and wouldn't stop. I kept swatting at her, but you were staring at her, and she kept kissing you. I guess so far you're getting along just fine. That's a good thing.

Tomorrow is Grandma Carol's graduation from ASU, so I'm sure we'll have fun with that. Then Saturday you are coming with us to my work picnic. Hundreds of people to meet! Hopefully the other new babies from work will be there, too. That will be a lot of fun.

Keep on growing at work. I'm doing my best to pump more and more milk all the time. I usually send 6 bottles with as close to 3 oz. as possible. Since they're only really giving you 4 a day, maybe 5 if you're really hungry, I want to make sure they're full enough. Anyway, Grandma Laurie will be picking you up again today. Don't listen to anything she says about UofA. She's trying to pervert your little mind. She's like that.

+ Terrific Tuesday +
You are a sleepy baby lately. You allegedly slept for over 4 hours at daycare yesterday. Then, last evening, you slept on me most of the night. I was terrified you wouldn't sleep last night, but I was wrong! You slept for over 7.5 hours again! Nice trend! I think that's, what? Three or four nights in a row? Thank you! I'm guessing this is the flipside of the hungry days last week and before. All that growing is exhausting, I'm sure.

Plus, yesterday you found your hands! Grandma went into school to pick you up, and you were in your crib... batting at the toys on the toy bar above you! They said you've been working on it, and yesterday you did it! I brought you home later, and you swatted and grabbed your Bambi toy last night. Finally! Hopefully you can officially find your thumb now, since you like the pacifiers but you can't manage to keep them in your mouth.

And I forgot to mention that last week, you "tracked" us for the first time. Daddy was sitting next to us, and got up to go get something, and you craned your neck backwards and around my legs to watch him go. Later you did the same thing when I got up and he was holding you. It was pretty cool. You are so amazingly observant now!

(Note to Readers: New photos in Ceili's album, including from Baptism/Mother's Day, and her Easter smile! :-) If you have already accessed it, you should still have access. If you need access and haven't already gotten it, send me an email! Sorry if I take a day or two - or more sometimes - to respond. I have to check email at home, and I often don't get a chance. But I will, I promise!!!)

+ Weblog Central +
Hey look! We're famous. Heh. I'll try not to use the specific, indisputable details of your infancy as fodder for future guilt trips. Really.

Aw, hell. Who am I kidding? Why else am I keeping this blog? :)

+ All kinds of stuff +
This might be a rambling entry, but I haven't done one in a while so it's about time. Heh.

Yesterday was our first Mother's Day together. Furthermore, you were baptised! It was a beautiful day (other than me still being sick). Your grandparents were all there, and your great-grandmother Olney, and a bunch of aunts, uncles and friends. It turned out you were the only one being baptised, and it was so special having you up there with us, and having the congregation pray for our little family. It was an amazing way to spend our first Mother's Day.

You have so far managed to avoid getting sick, though you have quite the runny nose. It's not getting worse - or better - so I'll just keep "squee-gee-ing" it (a/k/a using the "snot-sucker", a/k/a the bulb syringe). Fortunately, we have managed to find a happy way for you to sleep on your back. You apparently are quite comfortable that way. We had a couple of rocky nights the first few nights, but then Saturday night you pulled a fabulous trick and slept for 7.5 hours! What's more: After I fed you, you slept for another 2-ish hours. I say 2-ish because you woke up and pulled another new trick: You entertained yourself quietly in your crib. What a big girl you are already! It was a nice beginning to Mother's Day. Then last night you slept for... almost 8 hours. The last hour you were tossing and turning a bit, so I was awake-ish and waiting for you to wake up. But I see an increase in the sleeping pattern, and I LIKE it! The only drawback is, if you sleep until 4:30 or so, then once I'm up, I'm up. After I feed you and put you back down, it's between 5 and 5:30, so there's really no sense in going back to sleep for a matter of minutes. Ah, well. It's still worth it (though I have to remind my poor aching breasts of that fact at 4:30 in the morning - Ouch!). :-)

You are a smiling fiend now. You laugh at me, and once in a very great while even let out a little almost-laugh sound. You smiled all the way through church yesterday. At the baptism, you were an ANGEL! When Steve Davis, our pastor, held you up for the audience to see, you just looked out at them with wide, beautiful eyes. It was magic. I was so proud of you! You really do like to smile, mostly at me and daddy, and pretty often for Grandma Laurie. She loves to see you smile. You're also having "conversations" with me now. We sat on the couch for 15 or 20 minutes last night, cooing back and forth at each other. You already love to talk. Great.

Also, yesterday when I was giving you my finger to suck on (still your favorite pasttime), I noticed something new in your mouth. There was, and is, a very defined ridge on either side of the top of your mouth where your teeth will come in. That's always been pretty soft in there, and now you can definitely feel the teeth in there. Interestingly, this is only on the top, and don't bottom ones come in first? Anyway, I think in a month or so, we should start seeing some teething action. An early bloomer already, aren't you?

You're definitely trying to soak in everything, everywhere. It's hardly surprising you sleep so much. You're fascinated by an increasing number of things. You were looking at the checked pattern on the pillowcase on the bed while I took your harness off. You even reached out to grab it. Too cute. And finally the Ocean Wonders Aquarium in your crib is interesting to you. You especially like it when the bubbles are on.

What else? I can't think of anything, though I'm sure I will. Today my lovely period appears to be returning. You'll get to share this joy someday. It's one of the few drawbacks to being a girl. But I also know that it's necessary to be able to have the joy of having a child and watching it grow up. It's all worth it for those smiles, little one. I'm just praying it doesn't alter the taste of my milk. You've already been spitting up a little more the last couple of days. I'd hoped (and still hope) it's just a fluke.