8 weeks! Our quest...

8 weeks, really?

Well, we've spent much of this eighth week trying to capture our daughter's smile on film. Wow... either she'd get deadly serious the moment the camera came out (after smiling, smiling, smiling) or every shot would be blurry. We have some hilarious shots from the process.

Most of the time our daughter becomes intensely serious when the camera comes out. Exhibit A:



Aww... was hard to pick which serious shot out of this series to post! Will have to update facebook, I guess. Isn't that outfit cute?! I forget who gave us the penguin onesie; feel free to pipe up if it was you! But THANKS! Sooo cute. It was icy one day here and actually snowy the next so she had to wear the penguin! That was that! And I so hoped to capture penguin plus smile, but... not in that photo shoot, no siree! Before we move on to other exhibits from our eighth week quest, what is it with the similarity in appearance between babies and old men? Not all the time, surely, but frequently Caroline takes on a facial expression that is seriously "old man"; Kevin is even convinced she does a Dick Cheney impersonation. SCARY. Haven't captured that on film either. But that's just fine. And now her hair... it is fuzzy and sticks out every which way... Kevin labeled it "Old Man Hair". Yup, basically. What's up with that?!

So, we tried and tried and we got closer and closer... some attempts from along the way...

nowhere near a smile, but a sweet picture, no?


This series is hilarious too! Must update facebook...


umm... seriously, gorgeous smiles all around the time this picture was taken, this is... entertaining...


cute, but... not really a smile.



Here it looks like she's messing with us, no?

Finally, today, as we landed solidly at 8 weeks... we did it! Though these still don't capture the beautiful radiance we're blessed with so much more frequently these days.




Kevin thinks this looks fake, but hey, it's real! And he caught it!! Yay, daddy!

She's doing GREAT. It feels like the crying is calming a bit, or at least as if there is more range to her vocalizations now. There are quiet cries and squawks and various other degrees of verbal self-expression. As opposed to just 0- quiet alert or 12- red faced and screaming. She is awake more often, but sleeping well, frequently, and sleeping a bit longer too, when she sleeps. She has taken to making little clicking sounds with her mouth, often when being changed. It is adorable. Changing time (formerly a miserable experience for her) has become delightful most times. She watches the colorful decoration hanging from the ceiling as it spins round and round. She makes faces at us, smiles at us, makes happy noises. She lets us (especially Kevin- who always asks her nicely for her permission first) bring up her knees repeatedly to help move the gas out. Good stuff.

Katherine, finally in this eighth week I started the journal. I'm leaving room for Kevin to journal too. It is beside the glider and I'm trying to feed more there, and write while she eats. I've captured some birth memories in this precious gift you gave us, thank you!

Biggest news here, perhaps, is that Caroline got a new dresser this week. We ordered one off Craig's List, but discovered, too late, that it reaked of smoke. Blech. Katherine and mom made valiant efforts to eliminate the odor, and it is better, but... not gone. And I really don't like my baby's clothes smelling like smoke, especially considering neither of us smoke. We found a great deal on-line on a new dresser and used some of her gift money to get it. Such a relief. Kev is hard at work assembling it. When the nursery is finally all together, we'll post pics, I promise. Twill be awhile though. We're much closer. Soon to be even closer.

Anyone interested in a smokey five drawer dresser? Name your price!

The baby though? She is NOT for sale! So in love with her am I... are we... SO in love.