Newborn

Elli is curled up on my lap sleeping her baby days away.  She is 2 days away from being 4 months old.  She has been rolling over for a while now and can sit up by herself for at least 10 seconds.  She  smiles and laughs now.  I look down at this cute little girl and realize she is quickly outgrowing being my baby.  Soon, but never soon enough it seems, I will be holding another precious newborn in my arms.  Until then all I can think about is how fast she is growing.  Soon she will be just like Michael. 

Soon Elli will hide my kitchen utensils.  Kick the walls when I put her down for naps.  Ask for 50 'nanas' a day, and I'll reluctantly give her 5.  Soon she will throw my contact case at me when I'm in the shower, then flush the toilet until the water is burning hot, and sometimes rip off her clothes and jump in.  She'll throw toys in the toilet.  She will find every roll or toilet paper and kleenex box and rip everything to shreds.  She will discover a love for hiding things.  She will discover saying the word 'dada' thousands of times a day will sometimes mean mom will drive the 30 miles to his work so she can see him during lunch.

Some of these things I hope she learns, others I can do without.  Okay, all of them I can do without, but I love when Michael does them so I will love when she does them too.  Either way, she is no longer a newborn, and hasn't been since she rolled over almost two months ago.  Or since she stopped sleeping 16+ hours a day.  Or learned to respond to her name.  Or started spinning herself around on her tummy. 

People have asked me lately when we are going to have another baby.  Most of them are joking because they think we were crazy to have these two so close together, but I think some are genuinely curious (they probably think we are crazy too).  The answer to that question honestly hurts me a little bit.  I already want another baby.  Josh does too, although he wishes Elli would sleep better first.  At the time being we can't have another baby, but we would in a heartbeat (well I guess 9 months worth of heartbeats).  There is a lot of laughing and tons of smiles around here all day, and I would love to have another one to join in.  Until then I'll try to hold on to my baby girl as long as possible.