My big girl!

Yesterday Jocelyn turned 2 weeks old. It has been both the longest and shortest two weeks of my life. One thing I learned is that this parenting business is hard. And it's really unfair that there is no state requirement for paternity leave. Mike was able to take a week of vacation, and then his mom came down for a week. But it turns out that those 6 weeks of paid maternity leave really do seem to be medically necessary to recover from the labor and delivery process. So Mom needs Dad around more so that she can recover.

But that's not what this post is about. This post is about my darling Jocelyn Piper. I really need to be more prepared with pictures and whatnot, but I'm not. I'm a new mom - sue me!

She has grown SO much in these past 2 weeks. Okay, so she's technically just about at her birth weight (but a whole inch longer!). My point is that she has developed. She makes the BEST faces! Her eyes have been open and alert since day 1, and she has always been expressive, but it's getting to be more and more.

She just stares at things. Absolutely fixated! One of her favorite spots is her changing pad (I know - weird kid doesn't mind having her diaper changed). When she is on her changing pad she just stares at this spot on the wall. She even makes not-quite-coo and laugh sounds at it. I have no idea what is there, but she sure seems to LOVE it. Also, she is getting to where she can identify voices and looks towards them. If I speak from across the room, she turns her head to look for me. It's really awesome.

My little monkey is also starting to imitate faces. She and her dad have a game where they stick their tongues out at one another. It's adorable! Also, she and grandma started to play a game where Grandma would say 'ooh ooh ooh' and Jocelyn would make little "O" faces with her lips. ADORABLE!

She is also super strong already. In tummy time (which, incidentally, she hates for some reason), she kicks her legs and already can scoot herself forward a bit. She can also hold her head up at 45 deg. She does the same when she's on my chest (which is probably her favorite place to sleep, unfortunately). She can hold it up for a while, too, and even look around / decide where she wants to put it. Sure, this leads to a lot of nose-diving into my neck to start to root, but it's cute that she has some small amount of control already.

She's going to be a thumb-sucker. We are trying to get her on a pacifier so she can use it instead of her thumb, with the thinking that the pacifier can eventually be taken away (don't want her to be one of those kids who still sucks her thumb in high school!), but it's pretty tough. She's not really very coordinated yet, so she mostly sucks on her hand or arm (and so hard sometimes - she even gave herself a hickey on her arm!). But occasionally she gets her thumb in there and had seriously the cutest, quietest suck on it. You can barely see her little chin moving. ADORABLE!

My favorite thing that she does - and she has done this since birth - is grunt. It is seriously the cutest noise a tiny human can make. She does it when she's awake and happy, when she's asleep and shifting positions, when she's stretching, when she's annoyed - she does it a lot :-P. But it cracks me up every time! I am such a sucker for it.

She also makes lots of less cute noises - she's a good cryer, that's for sure! She has a bunch of them, ranging from the pathetic whimper (which tugs at my heart strings) to the full-on wail to the blood-curdling scream. I am trying to learn how to identify what they mean, but she goes through the whole cycle with each crying spell (if it goes on long enough, and on a gassy day or during a fussy time, it does). And if you are lucky enough to be in her presence when it happens, you might get to see her melt down face. This is a face, I believe, she gets from me (I see a WHOLE lot of my own face in her melt down face). It does not mean anything positive, but it's really flippin' cute. I can't help but be at least a little bit amused when melt down face is coming.

Speaking of being a good cryer, she's demonstrating that skill right now. Her Dad is rocking her right now, which has been great. But I better be on deck as a back up soon. This not-even-ten-pound bundle can wear us both out!