Ninja Night

So, Estelle (a.k.a. Elsie, Este, Ginger) is such a sweet little baby. She's sleeping well with a feed at 3 am and 6 am and usually goes right back to sleep. She pretty much sleeps all day, with a couple 30-45 minute "awake times" where she actually has her eyes open. She LOVES to have her diaper off and loves to pee with her diaper off (we're going to try that "natural infant hygiene" thing someday where you "potty train" an infant). She doesn't do anything too exciting but she's starting to focus on us and interact a little more. The only thing she has been consistently focusing on since her birth is her own reflection in the mirror (her diaper changing spot is in front of the mirror). When people meet her, they comment on her long fingers, how small she is (she looks big in the pics, but she's pretty petite), and how much she looks like me (Aja). She's getting to be a great nurser and has finally started getting some fat. She sits very still when I am playing the piano with her on my lap and when I am reading to Camden. She's very very soft and hardly ever cries, even in the 6-9 pm witching hours. We are so lucky and so loving this baby. We included her cross-eyed and sneeze pictures for your enjoyment.


Aniston is doing much better in her attitude towards school. For awhile, she was coming home disgusted with the whole thing, but she's come around. I think the baby has helped her spirits remarkably. She loves Elsie SO much and always holds her and sings to her and tells her how "gorgeous" she is. I let Elsie snuggle with Aniston in bed while I get Camden into bed, and they both love that. Last night she said, "If shes gets sad, you just put her fingers in her mouth and sing her some songs". I think catching on to the whole reading thing has helped her a lot too. School is a lot more interesting because she can spend the downtime reading stuff around the class and writing sentences and stuff (I'm amazed by her spelling... she figures out some weird words. She also spells some words very weird). The teachers also have her helping out the other kids who are a little behind and as you can all guess, bossy Aniston thinks that's the cat's pajamas. We're very happy to have the "old Aniston" back. She's still our favorite dramatic, sassy girl, but without the major grumpiness.

Camden has had some hard times, from feeling really left out for the first few weeks of the new babe, to doing fabulously for a few weeks, espeially in the potty training department, to really take some steps bak the last few days and being pretty obstinante (which entails him "telling me off" with his hands on his lack of hips). We still think he's about the nicest 3 year old boy ever and adore him infinately, but we've also recognized he has some major psychological issues in the "elimination" department. He also jabbers constantly during the day when its just me, the baby and him. He also can ONLY use prepositional pronouns. For example, he was quoting the Bob the Builder motto, but said it like this, "Can US fix it, YES! Us can." Its always, "Me going downsatirs. Me going to put on my clothes, etc." Its humorous and disturbing at the same time. Despite his grammatical confusion, he's nailed down his colors, most of his numbers, and some of his letters. He also memorizes the books we read to him at night which is the cutest thing ever to hve him quote them to us. He LOVES the Cars movie and anything associated with Lightning McQueen. Jonah and I just can't get enough of him--he really is such a dear child.

Oh, and he had a super fun birthday on January 25th. We took his friends Hadley and Kellin, as well as the Little Guys (his twin 2-yr-old cousins) and his cousin Eliza to Fiesta Fun to ride the Kiddie Go Karts and then to Burger Kings. We had a big dinner party that night with the Looslis and my mom and her family and he loved all his presents and his cake and I think he had a really great time. I miss im being two because it was a fun year with him, and I'm nervous about the "terrible threes" (Aniston's third year was a little rough), but I'm sure he'll do fine.

Finally, Jonah's big project is going well and they are almost done with framing. I'm working through the HUGE pile of office work that's accumulated during the last four weeks, but its actually not so bad. Three kids is a LOT more than two, and I don't go out much, but that's okay by me. I kind of like being a home body. Thanks to eveyone for the kind notes and cards celebrating the birth! Can't wait to see you all soon.