Ladies.

All is quite well here! I just thought I'd use the next few minutes to write a brief update.

First, Josephine. She is a sweet, short, immensely chubby bundle of momma-fed delight. Sure, she cries periodically, but nothing we can't handle. :o) Bill asked me tonight if I thought Josephine was "crankier" than Eleanor. Good question, because she does have a "cranky" breakdown around 8 pm every night. (Incidentally, this is a few minutes after we've put a very cranky Eleanor to bed.) But I told Bill, I don't think she is nearly as cranky as Eleanor was. I think Josephine is just way more needy. Don't get me wrong, we've had easy, good babies. But, Josephine loves to be held for hours, engaged constantly, bathed slowly, etc. (Eleanor cries were more along the lines of, "My tummy hurts. Soothe me. Put. Me. Down.")

Anyway, so Josephine, when she gets through her witching hour, sleeps beautifully. She wakes to eat once at night - around 2 am. And, given her size, I am waiting on her dropping that feeding fairly soon. But, I am in only a small rush, as nighttime is one of the few times I focus all of my energy on her, and I love that.

As for her daytime behavior, she is extremely alert when awake. Unlike Eleanor as a newborn, she doesn't drift in and out of sleep. She has hours of smiling, exploring awake time, followed by very regular naps. (Up at 7, nap at 9.30, up at 11, nap at 1, up at 5, bed at 9.) She has started to make delightful cooing noises, along with her grunts and whinnies. She makes funny faces and she loves to follow people around the room and, when she makes eye contact, she cracks us up with her surprised expression!

Second, crazy old Eleanor. There is no funnier child on all of Earth. She is very beautiful, like a tiny pixie. She is incredibly smart and can be so very sweet. When she wants to be. But, sometimes she screams, hits, tantrums, throws things, and is full of frustration and spite. She goes so quickly back and forth between emotions, just like her mom. :o) In fact, if she gets really mad at me, she starts to hit and almost always stops herself and gives me a kiss instead. But, I am no angel - it's hard for me not to laugh though when your tiny flitting fairy child sticks her fat feet on the kitchen table and ignores you when you tell her to take her feet down. Or, without even looking up from her art, she quietly says "Nope." Or she gives you the world's biggest smile and pulls foot two over the edge onto the table. (But, I'll tell you now, she almost never puts the feet down.)

She now knows I'd guess a million words. Haha, not quite, but close! Every new word brings us one step closer to her saying what she wants rather than wigging out 30 times day. Learning "help please" has really cut down on the freak outs at our house. Thank goodness.

And, how is Eleanor with Josephine now that the new has worn off? AWESOME! She insists on kissing the baby goodnight. She loves to hug the baby. She has less interest in trying fruitlessly to care for her (although she will often narrate what she thinks the baby needs, "pa-ee" (pacifier), "poop" (new diaper), "burp," "nap," etc.) than egging her from babyhood to childhood. Eleanor likes to read with her arms around the baby while I prop Josephine up. She shows her pictures in books, while Josephine sits happily in a half nelson. She tries to feed her whatever she's eating or show her how the toys work.

So, all in all, things are lovely here. (If only the weather would get on the stick.) I still get SUPER stressed out. But, when it's 10 pm and I am about to go to bed and everyone is happy and healthy, I can't help but realize how wonderful I have it!