how to melt a new mother's heart

On 16 January 2007, Lydia smiled. She has been smiling in her sleep since birth, but this smile was when she was awake. She did it a couple of times right then, but then the last 10 days or so passed and she seemed to "forget" how to smile. I even spent the last 3-4 days smiling at her pretty much the whole time she was awake, in hopes that she would imitate me, but nothing happened. Until today. I was holding her in my arms and smiling at her like usual, and she smiled back! And it was an even bigger smile than on the 16th. Then she did it a few more times right in a row. I was so excited and happy that I almost cried. :D But then shortly after that she got tired and I had to lay her down for her nap. lol :P

We've just yesterday started using cloth diapers. We are using Fuzzi Bunz and so far we like them. I can hardly tell that they are wet until I take out the (sopping wet) insert... the inside of the diaper just feels warm and very slightly damp. I haven't yet washed a load of them, I'll probably do that first thing in the morning... hopefully I will still like them after they come out of the dryer. :p

I got on a small sewing kick the past few weeks in between our travels (a local trip while the power was out for days and an out of state trip for a funeral), and sewed up a coat with a zip-in panel so that when I wear Lydia in a carrier, the coat will fit around both of us. I also sewed a baby carrier, and a nursing dress. I was getting SO tired of wearing two-piece outfits and I love the dress. Next I need to hopefully finally finish the last two sheets for Lydia's crib, sew up some cloth wipes, and then I'll probably inventory the rest of my fabric before starting more projects (baby clothes and nursing clothes).

Hubby's job is still going fine. He has a new district manager now who is MUCH better than the last one. The last one gave him a very unfavorable annual review but it means very little, b/c the new DM has seen what hubby does and how he works. Sometime this year we're probably moving with his job again, but as to where we don't quite know yet. I also am still working at home intermittently at LiveOps. Opportunities within that venture keep coming my way and I am glad that I didn't give up on it a while back when I was feeling burned out. I haven't worked a lot lately b/c of the travelling and power outages, but will probably start up again this weekend. Lydia's starting to get into a little routine so I can somewhat plan when to work.

Not a whole lot else is going on. I'm just waiting on 1 more W2 and then we can do our taxes. With Lydia's birth last month, we should be able to get an even bigger refund than normal. Like hubby's bonus a few months ago, we have plans for some of the money, but most of it will go into savings.

Otherwise everything is going fine. I'm still loving motherhood. :) I had my postpartum checkup on Monday and my tear healed well. We also weighed Lydia there too and she is 9 lbs 7 oz. Growing slowly, but growing. :)