Sleep, glorious sleep!

I'm hesitant to even think this out loud, much less type it... so please, go find something wood to touch before you read any more...

We had a very sleepless Saturday - Miss P wouldn't stay down for naps longer than a half-hour. Even the nice looooong walk Minka and I took her on didn't do much; Pauline was having way too much fun staring up at the trees. But, when we finally got her to go to sleep, she stayed down. And stayed down. Until sometime around 4 AM. Quick feeding and then back to bed until 6:30 or so. Sunday was the same - no big naps, but a long night's sleep. Monday, though, she took a big mid-day nap, as she often does during the week, and so I figured we wouldn't get so lucky last night. Ha! She slept until 4-ish, then came back to bed with Tim until I had to get up anyway; she napped on the couch until almost 7. I won't say anything more for fear of losing this awesome karma, but my is it good!!!!!

Let's see, what else is new with our gorgeous little one? She's getting more and more comfortable with the bath, which is great; we're still coping with her tendency towards rogue peeing (I thought this was more of a problem with little boys, but our girl just loves to pee as soon as you take off her diaper) (Mommy's new trick with wet diapers that aren't poopy: Open the new diaper and put it under her, then slip off the old one and instantly press the new one up to her tummy; adjust and fasten. Anyone with a son who's reading this must be laughing their heads off. It doesn't spray us, it just wets her changing pads and whatever she's wearing.) She's still very active, and now also very vocal. She loves to have conversations with us, practising different vowel sounds and now some consonants, too. And in general, she's a very happy little girl. I think she'll be even happier when she can move herself around; given how well she holds her head up and pushes out with her legs when she's on her tummy, that might be sooner than we thought. She's getting better and better at grabbing things and moving them, though doesn't seem to have much preference yet for what she grabs. With one exception: she loves to take hold of the chain around my neck where I (still) wear my wedding rings. She likes to grab the rings, especially when she's nursing.

The wonderful reddish hair Pauline was born with has almost completely fallen out; she has baby fuzz now, with just a mullet-like fringe at the back and a whorl in the middle of her head. We're not sure what color it will be when it comes back in, maybe a reddish-brown. We also have no idea what color her eyes will end up. They haven't really changed since she lost the newborn blue - they're a crazy color that I could best describe as hazelish gray. There are hints of green, gray, blue, and brown, though not much brown; the predominant color changes depending on what she's wearing. I keep trying to take pictures of her eyes to capture the color... they're simply lovely, and so reflective, they remind me of hematite.

Tim's been chugging along getting us ready for the movers to come next Monday. I cannot believe it's only 2 and a half weeks before we get on the plane! Please pray for us (and our fellow passengers) on Friday the 26th; this is going to be such a monster trip. We just hope Pauline gives us some rest on the flights.