Month 1

Well, we are at 5 weeks now actually but Greta, you are a second child so I'm afraid these details don't get dealt with as speedily as they did when your big sister was born. Don't feel slighted my love, its not because we aren't excited about you. We are amazed every day by you and at by just how much love there is to go around in our little family. Violet is always saying "what a wonderful family" and "we are so lucky".

We are having so much fun with these girls. Greta started smiling just before she turned one month. We weren't sure it was really smiling at first but she quickly convinced us by smiling more often and when she was being smiled at. She is also trying to mimic other facial expressions. It makes our hearts sing when she smiles, it is so perfect and innocent. She currently only smiles at the faces in our household, other faces are for studying at this point.

Violet has only become more enamored with Greta as time has gone on. She hugs and kisses her constantly and talks to her all the time. Mom and Dad are no longer the focus of her attention when she first wakes up, its all about baby sister.

Greta and Violet are also good at sharing. They are currently sharing their first cold. Violet brought it home from preschool last week and quickly gave her sister a dose. So far, neither are suffering too badly, they have runny noses and coughs that I hope will be gone soon. Greta is not sleeping so well with the congestion. I was a little panicked at first when I realized (in the middle of the night) that our 4 week old was getting a cold but so far she is showing that she is tough and game for getting her immune system kick started early.

Violet is really becoming a creative gal which she is really showing in her independent playtime/quiet time that she has instead of a nap.  She usually chooses to do a craft or colour or to have tea parties and conversations with her animals during that time. The other day she appeared from quiet time with 2 small paper bags that she has turned into puppets. Her drawings were adorable, one was a nice monster and one was mean. She also created a leaf collection in an old journal by collecting a big pile of leaves and gluing them into the book - oh boy what a mess! She was so pleased with herself and so proud of her creation, it was worth the clean up. She also loves to make up oh so silly songs which she sings constantly. Its mostly hilarious but it is a challenge to get her to stop singing long enough to eat meals with us and have a conversation.

Her most recent creation that kind of blew us away was a book. She took a notebook and drew about 30 pictures, mostly people who I would say resemble the little miss and mister characters from the books that Violet adores. On some pages she drew letters or symbols to represent letters. When she finished quiet time she presented the book to me and proceeded to walk me through the story page by page. This piece of artwork is a keeper!

Greta has had her on month check up and it turns out that she is quite accomplished in gaining weight. She is now 10.5 pounds - 2 pounds heavier than her birth weight - and is gaining an average of 2 ounces per day. The human body is an amazing thing.  She is obviously a good eater. She is not just getting round but long and has outgrown the length of her first set of clothes already.

More pics and videos have been added to our fall/winter 2010 album.