Our little girl is just over 12 weeks and filling out her rolls a little bit more every day. We're still adjusting to our new sleep schedule (Lillie Foulé is, too, it seems) but a flexible work schedule for Abdoulaye and a long maternity leave for me are making it all doable. I'm thankful to be settled in Hyattsville for a spell after a number of trips along the East Coast and grateful for our warm home on snowy days like today.
I've been looking back at blogposts from my time in Mali - including ones from when Abdoulaye and I were dating - and I can't help but shake my head at all that's happened in the past few years. I wake up in the morning to this little cinnamon roll who is smiling at me with her gummy grin and I feel this swelling of my heart. Don't get me wrong, her fussy spells - and she definitely has them! - can be exhausting and draining. But when she snuggles her head into the crook of my left arm or sees me smiling at her and then smiles back at me and sometimes gives me a laugh, I get a boost and a little baby high.
In the past few days, Lillie Foulé has started to grab onto things with some real force - her little fingers curling tightly around toy rings or, when it's within reach, my poor hair. She's still sleeping in her bunny bed/co-sleeper and not loving the crib but at least she's sleeping! Bath times are a highlight of the day as Abdoulaye gets the lint out of her crevices and I smile on as he goes through the parts of the body in Susu.
As I write, LF is waking up from a long nap. Her little hands are stretching up and over her head and she's figuring out how to stick her fingers in her mouth with her eyes shut and little toes kicking out of the bottom of her blanket. If there's one thing EVERY parent says to me, it's that these moments don't last forever and to cherish them while they're here. I'm going to give my butterfly baby a snuggle and do just that.
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| sweet headband from Grandmother Shellnutt |
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| rolls for days |
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