Hailey's First Month-Plus

As of yesterday, this little pip-squeak is now 6 weeks young!  But when I mentioned to Mama Eva that it seems way longer than that, even she agrees.  Surely she's older than 6 weeks?

And now I will let the cat out of the bag.  I have made the decision to stop my weekends of Saturday's Color and Watercolor Sunday posts on Facebook, which means I'll no longer be doing the monthly posts here...after November.  The end of November will mark 3 full years of those posts, with no breaks.  It's time for me to stop...

...and replace them with, guess what ????????????????  HAHAHA!

I'll have to figure out how I'll do/name them but it's important for me to keep a monthly (?) record of Hailey's growth here on In Soul.  I've already shown her birth announcement, followed by her scary first-week saga in the hospital.

Since then....

Opa Jaap celebrated his 66th birthday on 26 September when Hailey turned 2 weeks old.

Three generations:  grandparents, father and daughter.

Two weeks later, at age one month...

we babysat Hailey (for 10 hours!) while Mama and Papa were at an important wedding.

OMG!  How can she be so cute (and Hailey, too, HA)!!

When she's in her crib awake, she becomes best friends forever (BFF) with Llama and Nijntje.

At this age, she's getting a 100 ml bottle every 2-3 hours during the day.

Oma Astrid is the one who gets the bottles ready.  Oma Ginnie does the feeding.

After a week of antibiotics in the hospital, Hailey still has severe cramping after feeding.

Who knows how long it will take before her gut is "normalized."

In the meantime, we love her through it all...until she falls asleep.

Lullabye and good night, Little Angel.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

When Mama and Papa returned that night, it occurred to me to offer another babysitting stint the following week when they could be alone for the evening...their first time since Hailey's birth and before Eva's parents arrived back from vacation this week.  They both immediately took us up on the offer...which was this past Saturday, at 5 weeks old.

Goody-goody gumdrops for us all!

Since you've already met Llama, look how close they've become.  

When you start blowing bubbles, you know for sure you're BFF (left-center).

BTW, I understand babies don't really see in focus or full color till around 5 months.

Don't you wonder what she sees?

It was precious of Oma Astrid to zoom in on our hands.

One is 73 years young; the other is 5 weeks old!

If these hands could talk!

Then it was time for our first book of the evening...a Rainbow Fish story, translated into Dutch.

Mama and Papa have been doing this since coming home from the hospital.  Don't you love it!

One book down and the omas are hungry (too early for Hailey).

Saturday night at Pumpkin Creek is peanuts night for us, which we brought with us, yes.

But I think Oma Astrid just about fainted when I offered one to Hailey (left images).

OMG.  If we can't take a joke, right?!  :D

All peanuts are gone and it's time for another book...this time about bunny-rabbits.

Look how Oma Astrid caught the furrowed brow...

because Hailey couldn't understand a word of what/how Oma Ginnie was reading????

See?!?  She doesn't have a clue what I'm saying because I don't have a clue.  HAHAHA!
Actually, it's a fun book, translated into Dutch, about guessing how much I love you.
One day maybe she'll help me read it to her in perfect Dutch.
(We already have a deal:  I'll teach her English and she'll teach me Dutch.)

Bottle time.  Cramping.  Nighty-night.
And before we knew it, Mama and papa were home (4 hours this time).

Are we in love or what!
(special thanks to Oma Astrid for all her pics!)

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Totally changing the subject, Astrid and I are flying back to America next Wednesday for a week, October 31 - November 7.  SIL Peggy's memorial service is on Saturday, November 3rd.  Her death is the "beginning" of the trail that will now follow, truth be known.  It's important for me to recognize this moment with my other sibs, since we're at that age.  We will all take it as it comes, pondering these things in our heart....