two months

On Sunday, Nell turned two months old.

At her dr. appointment the next day, she weighed in at 13 lbs, 10 oz, measuring 23.5 inches long.

She's already outgrown some of her 0-3 month clothes, this girl!

I've been working on a post of her "birth story."  One of these days, hopefully soon, I'll finish it.

Dear Ellen,

In the past few weeks your personality has been showing more and more, and we love it.  You are a wonderful little person.  

You smile so much, big smiles the involve your whole body, as your tummy tightens and your arms and legs flail with happiness.  

Sometimes when you are at your happiest, and I'm singing to you or kissing you or making silly faces, you suck in your breath in a quick, high-pitched little sound that I think might be your precursor to laughing.  All the happy, talkative sounds you make are so delightful to hear.  Sometimes you and I "talk" for a long time, and I smile at you so much my face hurts.

You are, I think, what people call an "easy baby."  Sure, you have your fussy moments and your sad moments, and occasionally you scream inconsolably (which makes your Mom really sad), but mostly you are a happy girl.  Even the things you used to scream for, like baths and diaper changes and having your clothes put on or taken off, you've grown to like.  You are a good sleeper, too, for which I am very grateful.  You wake me up about twice a night because you're hungry, but then you usually go right back to sleep (which means I get to, too).

Once, you slept for eight and a half hours -- right through the night!  It hasn't happened again yet, but it was enough to give me hope that someday soon you'll be sleeping through the night on a more regular basis.  You usually need a little help falling asleep, but that's ok... when you get a little older we'll see if you can learn to soothe yourself to sleep.

You are a very curious baby, as I suppose all babies are.  You are becoming a champ at holding your head up while you fix your steady gaze on all the interesting things you see.





I started working again around the time you were a month old, teaching lessons to my violin students.  Fortunately, it's very part-time work, especially in the summer when some people are always on vacation.  But you've been great; you sit in your swing and sleep or watch the lessons.  If you get fussy your Dad comes and gets you, but usually you're just fine.  You're so cooperative that I hope we're not taking advantage of your easy-going personality at all by having you sit in on these lessons... they probably do keep you from having a "normal" nap schedule sometimes.

I'm sure your Dad and I would love you just as much if you screamed like a banshee all day, refused to sleep at night, and didn't spend so much time smiling and cooing, but we are sure glad that you seem to be so generally happy -- not just for our sakes, but also for yours.  We love seeing you happy.

If people got to pick their babies, and I had my choice of a hundred thousand babies, I would have picked you.

Lovelovelove,

Mom