(6 months)

well, the last 4 months of my iphoto is still in limbo somewhere (until i rope my brother aaron into spending a bit of his thanksgiving helping me track those pictures down), so this is a photo of itty bitty ruby, when she was just about 2 months old.

i remember wondering if i could possibly love another baby the way i love my first one. tonight as i sat playing with ruby i was so so happy she was a part of our little world. today she is six months old!i want to plead with her to slow down and stop getting big already! i feel like she is already outgrowing the baby stage. as much as i can't say that i love waking up at all hours and being a one woman feeding machine, i do also simultaneously love so many of the moments that make this stage exhausting. i love snuggling in the middle of the night (even if i am falling asleep), her tiny hand on me as she nurses, the way that she has to express everything through laughter and tears because she can't talk yet. such a fleeting season, and i am trying to soak it up.

this afternoon my two daughters were on nap strikes. i went in multiple times (big mistake by the way), and every time i went in to check on them, my girls were wide awake. m was facing ruby laughing and saying silly things (which of course she can't even hear because her implants are off when she naps) and ruby, all swaddled up, had turned her head to face m and was giggling. yes, giggling. every time i went in these two were a.keeping each other wide awake during naptime and b. egging each other on towards more laughter. i desperately needed them to sleep so i could reach my work deadline (which i did by the skin of my teeth and no thanks to daughters #1 and #2), but they were so cute, giggling away at each other. it made my heart melt a little.

ruby's smile is infectious, and so is her sweet spirit. she has a stubborn streak-as does her big sister. she can scream at the top of her lungs for hours (i'm not being dramatic. really. hours. middle of the night hours-which is the worst!) and oh, does she love to snuggle with her mama. she is kind of intense for being so young. she gives m a run for her money when it comes to personality, and that is saying a lot.

and so 6 months in our family is changed for the better. we laugh more. we sleep less. i grow impatient more quickly, and shower a lot less frequently. but of course, at the end of the day, we love more deeply with this new baby in the house.