Sundry Thoughts

• Grace has been really great with her new little sister-- super affectionate and interested and loving.  Sometimes a little too affectionate, actually...  She tries to be gentle, but she is an almost-3-year-old after all and doesn't quite get it.  Boy, is she devoted to Violet, though.  Our days have been filled with a constant refrain of "I want to kiss her little cheek" and "Where is my tiny sister?" and "Where is her little ear?" and "Where is her OTHER little ear?"
• I am working on Violet's birth story and will post it soon, in case you're the sort of person who likes that kind of thing.  I most definitely am that sort of person, by the way; birth stories are some sort of intersection of feminine experience and rubbernecking that are compelling to me.
• Have I mentioned what a profound relief it is to not be pregnant anymore?  Good heavens, it is nice. By way of illustration, in my last month or two of pregnancy I was growing more and more convinced that our mattress was in imminent need of replacement.  Now, however, it seems just fine!
• We sometimes call Violet our little chicken baby because if you hold her upright on your chest when she is in the mood to eat, she will bob her head up and down on your shoulder in a manner quite reminiscent of a chicken pecking the ground for food.  "Bawk, bawk, bawk..."
• At other times, we call Violet our little piglet baby because she snorts.  She often snorts when she cries, and it is a little funny to hear her pitiful newborn wails interspersed with porcine snorts.  She also sometimes snorts when she is seriously, excitedly ready to eat and is bobbing her head from side to side trying to latch on.  Violet has had some nasal congestion since she was born (one whole week ago) and that seems to be the source of her pigginess. 
• Today is the last day of 2008.  How did that happen?!  Our New Year's Eve plans involve diaper changes and midnight nursing sessions, I guess.  Maybe I'll sneak in a glass of wine between feedings...  It is pretty amazing to reflect on 2008 and all the changes that the year has seen: selling a house, buying a new house, getting pregnant, a cross-country move, and going from a family of 3 to a family of 4.  It's been a year of change and goodbyes and adjustment, but also a year of immense blessings.