10 weeks old

Averie is 10 weeks old today. I can't believe how fast those ten weeks have flown by. It seems like everyday she is doing something new and it already makes me sad to think about her growing up. Here are some things she can do at 10 weeks:

- Holds her head up steadily for long periods of time.

- Scrunches to try to sit up when you lay her flat on her back. She loves to be held in a sitting position so she can see what is going on (nosy like her mama!)

- Is about 1/3 of the way to rolling over from her tummy to her back. She hates tummy time but if she could just get 1/2 way over from her stomach she would have the whole rolling over thing down.

- Sleeps around 11 straight through the night and goes to sleep in her crib by herself at bedtime

- Does not take long naps during the day. She will sleep for about 45 minutes at a time a couple of times during the day.

- Loves to smile and is trying to talk to us. I swear the other day she looked right at Eli and said "Hey da-da". We almost fell out in the floor.

- Hates quiet. She does great during the loud parts of church but as soon as prayer time hits she is squirmy and fussy. She also screamed the entire time we tried to take her to the library.

- Is generally a great baby. She loves her swing, pack n play, carseat, bouncy seat, crib, bumbo, snugly carrier, and boppy. As long as her tummy is full she will cooperate with anything we subject her to. She usually sleeps the whole time we are in the car.

- Is starting to love bathtime. She will sit patiently in her tub in the kitchen sink while we scrub her down and then loves to have her lotion rubbed on her when we are dressing her.

- Loves to be sung to. Poor thing - I have a horrible, horrible voice - but nonetheless she will calm down from a screaming fit when I sing to her.

- Has more clothes and shoes than she could ever possibly wear.

- Has some powerful lungs, which I am so grateful for because so many babies have to be hooked up to machines to breathe for them. When she is upset she will let you know it. We went to see Nana at work a few weeks ago (Social Services of all places) and she threw such a huge fit there were social workers coming out of the wood work to check on her... When she is tired she does this cry that is so forceful no sound comes out. It is funny to watch cause she looks like a mime.

My favorite time with her is first thing in the morning when she wakes me up. I go into her nursery singing "Good Morning to You" and she smiles the biggest smile and grins and coos at me. I used to hate waking up and now it has become the best part of the day.

I never imagined how overwhelming my love for her would be. I tear up just thinking about it and how precious she is to me. I feel so lucky that God chose us to be her parents and even on her worst day when she is screaming and fussy I just thank Him for giving us such a healthy and perfect child. I also never knew the worry I would feel about being her mother either. I worry about everything, whether or not we are making the right choices and decisions and if I'm doing the right things for her to help her learn and grow. I know there are a lot of idiots out there who raise children but there are also a lot of messed up adults and it seems a lot of the problems stem from how they were brought up. I feel like we have this wonderful, precious, innocent gift that we have to protect and watch over and the decisions we make will influence her for the rest of her life. I feel I owe her the best and I just want to do right by her. I never fully understood what an awesome responsibility it is to be a parent. I think about my life 10 weeks ago before she was born into that warm, sunny delivery room and I know now that something had been missing until that moment she arrived. I really can't imagine life without her now. I love you baby girl!