What you're like and what we do

 

Amelie,

Before you get any older I should update you on what you're like, and this video is an example of what we do: we hang out with you in a sling a lot, usually with your canine siblings, little Australian Shepherds named (tiny) Tucker, (medium) Maddy and (big) Baxter.  We hike through the Rocky Mountains where it's lush and green, and this video is from the first hike we all took together.

You are an intense little baby, very focused.  We spend a great deal of time nursing, of course, and when you were very new you would glare at me with one eye closed -- you looked like a tiny disgruntled samurai.  You would usually nurse four "rounds" at a time, a round being one session of about 10 or 15 minutes after which you would fall asleep.  Daddy would read to me while we nursed during the first weeks before he went back to work, especially in the middle of the night.  You slept through the night for the first time when you were just 4 days old, and now at 10 weeks you average about 6 hours before nursing half-asleep and then sleeping another 2 or 3 hours.  Our house is very tiny so you share a bedroom with us, and your bed is a little side-car that attaches to our mattress right next to me.  You look like a humongous burrito all swaddled up in your blanket and propped between other blankets so you can't roll over.  You also spend a lot of time sleeping on or next to Daddy, and I am very fond of taking pictures of the two of you.

You are usually in a good mood, so we take advantage of your amiability by dressing you up in adorable and sometimes funny clothes.  You make great faces.  The flower on your headband in this picture became a good friend, and you smile up at it where it hangs now over your changing table.  Your best friend in the world is our ceiling fan.  This morning you woke up, looked glaringly right over Daddy's shoulder, caught sight of the ceiling fan and broke into a grin.

You were particularly distressed the day you said goodbye to Uncle Kelson, who moved to Italy for college when you were two months old.  Uncle Kelson is exactly as much older than you as I am older than him, and I hope very much you two grow to have as strong and loving a relationship as he and I do.  I also hope he teaches you Italian.
A lot of people love you and have come over to hold you, especially your scientist-turned-soccer-referee godfather Geoff. Aunt Sarah and her family also come to visit, and we go down there; Julia especially loves to hold you and play with you, though you sometimes seem almost as big as she is.  Another great friend is Mama Kate, your honorary grandmother, who loves to hold you for long quiet hours (which is wondrous kind for me).When you were 8 weeks old we started going swimming in a warm little baby pool.  It must have reminded you of the bathtub, because we always nurse together in the bathtub, and as soon as you felt the warm water on your skin you started sticking your tongue out like you always do when you're hungry.  There was no one around other than Uncle Bagel your swim teacher, so I nursed you -- and you fell right asleep!

I spend so many hours nursing you every day that I often amuse myself by reading.  You are just now starting to take naps without me having to stay lying down next to you, which is a relief, but it is also very relaxing to watch you breathe.  You are so beautiful you look like you're made of porcelain, and I often spend long periods of time softly tracing your cheek with my fingertips.  You smell good too.