An Eye for Beauty

Ella to Moses:
You are so beautiful I could just look at you all day!

Ella to Me (5 minutes later, after a trip to the bathroom, with a piece of toilet paper in her hand):
Daddy, this piece of toilet paper is really beautiful!

That's all true.

Perspective

Ella's pretty tall, huh?

Only 11 Months to Do Your Christmas Shopping...

...And Happy 1 Month Birthday, Moses!

He's beginning to smile!
He's still yawning and sleeping a lot but also awake and happy a lot, a lot, a lot. Time flies when you've got two kids in the house...and when you're having so much fun!

See some Mo' pictures at Flickr

Spoiled

We are closing out Week 3 of Life with Moses, and we have to say, it’s great! Yes, we’re a bit sleepy, and chances are good that at least two of us (Mo + someone else) are covered in spit-up at any given moment… but if that’s all we’ve got to complain about, we are pretty darn lucky. In fact, the 5 of us are feeling positively awash with gratitude these days.

For example, we are thankful for... (Don’t worry, this is not a substitute for thank-you cards- our mothers taught us better than that!)

Our families! Grammie and Poppi and Uncle B got more than they bargained for when they showed up for Christmas! Thanks for coming, and staying, and cooking, and cleaning, and playing, and taking the 2-4am Mo shift followed closely by the 6-8am Ella shift. Then, as if we weren’t spoiled enough, Steve and Marlyn arrived to feed us even more and play grocery store at 6am with a very chipper toddler. And, of course, we also appreciate all of the warm thoughts from the rest of our families who haven’t yet trekked to Durham.

Our friends, who have filled up our email inboxes, our voicemail (sorry, but as you know, we just don’t answer the phone so much… at least now we have an excuse!), and our refrigerator these past few weeks. Thanks for the visits, the free babysitting (especially Josh and Rachel’s midnight visit so the Harrises could some see brand-new Moses!), and the tasty food.

Anna (who helped us welcome Ella into the world), who drove all the way from DC at 4am for what turned out not to be labor after all… sorry for the false alarm! Don’t worry, Moses says he’ll still be your special buddy even though you didn’t get to catch him.

Sharon, my original badass natural childbirth inspiration, who spent her Christmas night at the hospital helping us keep our cool as Moses made his appearance. We just always feel better when Sharon’s around, and Zach didn’t have to cut the cord. (Note: I’ve been trying to think of a way to include a Moses' birth story on this blog, but just can’t do it without including lots of things that some of our gentle readers simply don’t want to hear about. But if you want to hear more about the adventure of Mo’s wondrous, intense, fabulously unmedicated birth, you know where to find us.) As if that weren’t enough, Sharon was also nice enough to have a baby just one week after us, so we can look forward to the dynamic cousin duo of Moses and Judah (look out, NC, something tells me they’re going to be trouble!).

Ella, who has welcomed little Moses with grace and love, and hasn’t minded sharing the spotlight one bit. She thinks his world revolves around her (which will be true eventually once the one-track-milk-mind expands a bit)- every time he cries, she says “He wants me! He’s saying ELLA!” and every time he smiles she says, “He’s dreaming about me!”

And, of course, Moses, who is just such a nice little guy we can’t believe it. Aside from being absolutely adorable and snuggly, he’s quite agreeable, and is happy to hang out, sleep, and eat without fussing much at all.

Whew! Lots of love going on around here. Come by and soak it in!

And check in on some more new pictures here

First Time Big Sister

Having a first time big sister in the house is an awful lot like having first time parents in the house. We see a lot of our old selves in the way Ella worries on Moses. And the way we've changed is highlighted by Ella's adorable behaviors.
When Moses makes a little peep from his bassinet Ella races over and announces he needs to be picked up. We leave him until he gets loud and would you believe that sometimes he falls back asleep. Who knew?
When Moses moves his mouth in the slightest Ella announces that he must be hungry--immediately. We wait until it is time to eat. Sometimes he stops fussing and waits happily until it is time to eat. Who knew?
When Moses is sitting in his chair or his bassinet or his co-sleeper Ella just sits around and stares at him. We let him be.
Every chance she gets, Ella volunteers to hold Moses--sometimes putting off the important things in life like using the bathroom and taking naps.
Again, we're glad to let him be.
And he's doing incredibly. He's happy, healthy, eating, sleeping, well loved and snuggled.

Ella, we're in awe of your love, thoughtfulness, and worry--and we totally get it. We love being second time parents rather than first timers and we love watching you obsess like we did with you. I guess we taught you well. Thanks for being such an awesome big sister so far. Moses is a lucky little guy.

Who does he look like?

Here is Ella trying to look like Moses.

Here's Ella at a few weeks old.

And here's Moses at 1 week old. I think a strong case can be made that these two are related and that Moses looks a lot like his big sister. Lucky guy!