the wee one

i've posted hardly any pictures of little miss leah on this here blog, poor girl. it's kind of sad, she's so deserving! she is a tiny package of giant smiles and love. she's such a pretty baby too and we still can't figure out where she came from. beth is her daddy to a tee, hyde is my brothers to a tee and this one is... definitely her own. so different from the other two, but she is gorgeous. i may be biased.

a mellow one (probably because she has to be with all the other noise going on), she is content to lay on the floor most of the time and play with her toys and just sort take everything around her in. particularly her busy brother and sister who never.stop.going. sometimes she'll get tired of it and want to be held and she'll cry out a little bit then, so i'll grab her and let her get a look at the craziness of the day from my point of view. in these cases she sort of just becomes an extra appendage - i've somehow managed to learn how to do most things i'd normally do with two arms, with a babe in one of them. i think that just comes with motherhood for most.

she sleeps really well and has let us know that her sweet spot is her tummy. she is also... duh, duh, duh... a thumb sucker. a new venture for us. the paci has been forgone for the thumb. though it's handy, i'm still not sure how i feel about a permanent pacifier. i've heard lots of stories. but it gets her to sleep in seconds most days and that's really nothing any parent of a baby ought to complain about. right?

her eyes are starting to change too... still not sure what they'll be yet, but i think she's headed toward brown. she's also lost a lot of hair on top but as it starts to grow back it looks like it will be similar in color to beth's.

beth loves to love on her and hold her and kiss her. she tries so hard to cheer her up when leah's crying by bringing her various stuffed animals and singing songs to her and whispering "it's okay leah, you're okay, i'm right here" and even though it never works, i love that beth has naturally fallen into that big sister/care taker role. sometimes i let leah cry just so i can watch this sweet interaction take place. not really. but it is sweet. hyde, as one might imagine, could really care less that she's joined our family. sometimes when she's crying he'll say "mom... baby..." and that about sums it up. occasionally he'll grace her with a kiss or two, but it's not as often as i wish it were. it's funny how different beth and hyde have both reacted to her. it's love all around, but one certainly likes to show it more than the other.

if leah holds true to her current personality, she will undoubtedly provide me some relief from the first two treasures in my life. she has such a joy about her and with her easy going personality, she has already brought some balance to the family. 3 months, i know... hard to call that now. but she's been such a good baby and a blessing to me - innately, i think she'll always be that way. so much love that i have for this little babe.

from just a couple days ago while the other two were asleep: