First Word

Ok, this is ridiculous and we have never experienced this with our other 2 girls, but three of us were in the room as Esther was playing on her mat with the animals on it. James and I heard Rory talking to her, saying "Say lion Esther, say zebra Esther, etc." I kid you not, by the 3rd time Rory said "Say zebra Esther", we heard this zeeeebra out of our little monkey. We all looked at each other, shocked, thinking we had misheard. So, Rory, in all her 6 and a half year old wisdom, decided not to leave it to interpretation and continued with, "Say zebra Esther" and out squeaks this little zeeeebra!!!! Oh my goodness! Rory squealed, James and I looked at each other and my mind went instantly to this after school special I saw in junior high where this African American girl living in the ghetto was a genius and she had to fight her way out of poverty to get into college and I then blurted out, we have a ghetto genius!! I know it's dumb, but holy cow, she said Zebra for goodness sakes!!! I know I should be disappointed since it wasn't mama or dada, but to be honest I'm impressed to the point of awe that our little 2 month old is this tuned in, especially to her ever caring, always bouncing, blondie big sister! Little things....first words.....big blessings in small packages....

Two Months Old

Esther Marley is 2 months old today. She's 22 inches and over 10 pounds, a petite version of a former identity. To celebrate this special day, we visited the pediatrician for the required pokings (please see Something Unexpected for more info). Two months is big for us. We're pot committed (poker term) and we have gone "all in" (another poker term) and then some. She is now smiling and cooing. She does this little cry when she's not done being goo-gooed over and wants you to look back at her. She is adored by her two older sisters and has everyone she meets in awe over her curly hair and gorgeous skin tone. Her eyes bear into my soul and I can see hers in their reflection. She has an old southern womanness about her, deep, touching, knowing. It's intense and our journey as of yet makes me wonder how I got picked to enjoy something so wonderful.
Another blessing arrived today in the form of a super duty umbrella stroller. We are now covered for all stages of her stroller needs and both people who provided the strollers have no idea how they truly blessed our family-THANK YOU!
Esther's currently in a post-immunization tylenol sleep and I'm letting her sleep through a scheduled feeding in the name of restoring her poor little needle invaded body! Normally though she's clockwork on the feedings, taking a full 4 ounces, sometimes more if needed. She is also sleeping through the night. A statement I don't want to write lightly for fear I will jinx it, but Babywise seems to have once again come through for our newest little one.
We will be scheduling post-placement visits with the agency and I will be gathering more pictures and another letter for the birth mom as well. Adoption is like living in heaven and on earth at the same time. So much is surreal and blessings are so very real while at the same time the reality of the paperwork, social workers, birth mom, etc weigh on my heart and mind. I pray for her birth mom whenever I think of her or tell our story.
May her heart and mind be at peace tonight as she says goodnight to our baby girl. I have to say goodnight as well for the reality of painful shots has just awoken and Queen Esther is telling her dad all about it and I don't want to miss it:)
Night night all....