Two Cents: Christmas

Esther has been doing great!! We can hardly believe that more than four months have gone by already. Everyone says that the time flies and it truly does. It's funny in some ways it seems so new and foreign to have a baby, in others it seems as though she has always been here. Esther and Wes are getting along well, though we are mildly worried that there may be talks of them unionizing. We know that Wes has been talking to Esther about how we starve him and it seems like they may be commiserating now. It remains to be seen if they will try to form a union or simply stage some protests. Esther loves to eat and so does Wes so we're fairly confident it will not be a hunger strike.

In mid-December Esther played the part of the baby Jesus in Trinity Covenant Church's Christmas program. There were four performances in all and she did great. She seemed to really enjoy herself too, maybe a star has been born (hehe...for those who may not know Esther means Star).

Esther weighed 14lbs 2oz and was 25 inches at her four month check-up. Since then she has gone through a bit of a growth spurt so we're not sure of her length, but she weighs around 15 lbs. As of now she has dad's wonderful blue eyes, mom's smile, mom's long fingers and limbs. Matt speculates that she will be taller than him by age 3.

She has perfected her smile and LOVES to "flirt" with people she sees, whether at church, the grocery store, mall, etc. As soon as she makes eye contact you can see this little twinkle in her eye and then she breaks into a big smile. It seems Carey's communication skills have been passed on as well, Esther talks a lot (not quite constantly, but almost) and we know that it's only a matter of time before the "Why mommy? Why daddy?" questions start.

Our best Christmas present this year was Esther's first completely unassisted roll over, on Christmas day while daddy was playing with her she rolled over from her tummy to her back with no help. Since then she has rolled from her back to her tummy as well but she prefers starting on her tummy. She also has been doing an early version of the army crawl skooching around on her belly in her bassinet as well as on the floor.

All in all the time is flying, Esther is doing wonderfully and mom and dad are getting a little more sleep each night. Matt began a new job with a banking software firm as a finance manager. He loves the job and people he works with and feels like this will be another great experience for him. Carey returned to work briefly and is now staying home full-time with Esther. She also has been doing some freelance marketing work for a few companies in the area. The adjusting continues but it gets a little easier each day! We'll try to be a bit more regular with the updates but for now here are a few pictures of our itty bitty one. Enjoy!

Esther as Baby Jesus: