The Photo Gallery, part IV

Having the day off from work, I took the opportunity to have a bit of a photo shoot with Addie this afternoon, the results of which you shall see shortly.

We had a meeting with a woman from an organization called Parents as Teachers today. The basic premise of this organization is that learning begins far before children start school, and that it's a responsibility (and a joy) of the parents to ensure the proper development in your child, intellectually, physically, and everything else. Anyway, Addie is pretty much right on track as to where she should be at this point in her life, which is always good.

The baby is beginning to smile considerably more, and now apparently in response to us and not just because. Before, she would just sort of get a contented smile on her face after feeding or while sleeping, but these weren't done with open eyes. Now she's actually looking at us and smiling, and I'm pretty sure that I got the first one. If people could see us when Addie smiles, I'm sure they'd get a kick out of it. Her smiling sets of a chain reaction where the parents act just about as giddy and goofy as possible, which leads to more smiling, which leads to more giddiness and goofiness, and so on. I'm not sure if Addie's subsequent smiles are because she realizes that we're excited and are encouraging her behavior, or if she's just smiling because we look so darn silly.

Addie's eyes, which were a dark gray when she was born (which is normal) are beginning to turn a rather deep blue, like mine. It seems she's got her mom's eye shape and her dad's eyeballs (or eye color, if you wish).

Addie has also began to vocalize more. Just this morning she began making new sounds that we hadn't heard before, ones which were much more 'specialized,' for lack of a better word, than her previous sounds. And they were really cute, too, which means more parental goofiness and, specifically, more squealing from Ame.

I don't know that there is much more to add other than the pictures, so here you go.



"Hey mom! What's a gal got to do to get a drink around here?"



"How big was that fish? It was HUUUGE!"



"Aaaaayyyaaaaaahhhhh!"



Always a fashion-conscious baby, Addie pauses during the photo shoot to ensure that her hair looks acceptable.



And, finally, the whole baby:



I lied. That wasn't the last picture. We also have a few pictures that Shana, our doula, took a couple days after the baby was born. (She has her own miniature studio in her basement.) So, even more pictures: