A growing baby

It is amazing that Avonlea Jane is almost a month old. We can't believe how quickly the time has passed. She has gotten so much bigger in the last week. You would think that seeing her every day we wouldn't be able to notice it as much, but her fingernails and her birthmark offer a good way to see how much she is growing. She is also much more expressive by the day, and her facial features are becoming more defined. We have yet to measure her, but she is considerably longer. We wish that she would get a little wider though so we can finally fit her into her cloth diapers.

We swear that she is two different babies, in that she looks completely different awake than she does asleep. When she is asleep, she resembles the two of us, but awake she is the likeness of Uncle Jeff as a baby. Jeff is quite handsome, so we certainly don't mind, but it is something else to go through so much effort and have a baby that doesn't look like you.

So many people had told us that we would be surprised at how even though our baby would be dependent on us, she would be so independent of us. It couldn't be more true. We are constantly surprised at how even from day one, she had clear likes and dislikes and she has been able to express her emotions.

This last week was our first week with just the two of us and the baby, and we were very fortunate to have visitors every night who brought us dinner. We cannot say thank you enough for this, as it allowed us to get a lot more done around the house when not worrying about how to feed ourselves. While we didn't get a picture of everyone who came over (sorry Bridget, Anna, and Brandy), everyone was thrilled to meet the baby.

(Brett)

(Joe and Carolyn)

(Mary Valentine)

(Michele)

(Gail)

Everyone has been interested to know how sleeping has been going. Well, as you can see from this napping photo above, it is going very well. While it is different every night when Avonlea Jane falls asleep (10 pm; 12 am; 2 am), once she is asleep it lasts for 4-5 solid hours. After that she nurses once or twice more before waking up for the day, but she just latches on, and Mommy can go back to sleep while she is nursing.

The cats are getting more and more used to Avonlea Jane by the day. In the photos below, Avonlea Jane is about to get her diaper changed on the couch. You can see that Mabel likes to be close to her, but not too close.