Anne Geddes makes it look easy.

 
So, I tried to put my niece on a pumpkin.

There are several reasons why it did not work.
1. She hated it.
2. little babies love being warm almost as much as they love being swaddled. Pumpkins aren't warm.
3. the pumpkin was not perfectly smooth, even though I put a napkin on it. which you can totally see.
4. I really needed a bigger pumpkin. Like one of those blue-ribbon-winning-oh-my-goodness-that's-a-big-pumpkin.  She was securely on there, but she wasn't able to rest on it and be happy.
5. Did I mention that babies love being warm?

I knew all of this going in, but the pumpkin was so creamy and lovely, and I just couldn't help hoping that there would be this magical Anne Geddes-like moment where I could capture her looking unutterably cute.
Anyway, we got a good laugh out of it. I still kind of love these pictures because of how they completely don't work.

We got her off of there pretty quick and snuggled her in cozy black velvet.  She was much happier.

The pictures I took on the black velvet have this odd, dreamy quality that I always love when I find it.  Even when she was momentarily upset and screaming her lungs out, there was just this passion to her movements.  Newborns are so awkward, ungainly, squashy, oddly proportioned, and yet absolutely perfect.

Never has anyone looked or felt so completely, completely alive as a newborn.

Cousin Cate

Grace has been the center of attention of our family circle for the past 8 days.  She flutters her little hand, and we all coo.  She squinches up her face and three cameras come out.
But she is not the only petite grand-baby.

Catherine has pudged up a bit, and is all cute dimples and big blue eyes. She loves kicking her legs about, probably strengthening them for crawling in a couple of months.

A few days ago, Sarah and Catherine came over for a visit, and we got to compare the two babes up close.  Catherine seems so tiny, but compared to Grace, she really is bigger.  It's fun to see the similarities and differences.

These kids crack me up.  I'm sure they'll be friends...eventually. : )

Baby Love in the Afternoon

I must admit, I love having a baby within ridiculously easy reach of my camera.  It makes capturing all the details of her deliciously possible, on a practically daily basis.
It means I can wait for the right light to come through the window and pick up the tiny hairs that dust her skin and make her luxuriously soft.

She basically naps, poops, is coaxed into eating, naps, naps, makes languid hand gestures with her long little fingers, and naps some more. And keeps her parents up nights, all while barely opening her eyes.
She has the world on a string and doesn't even know it.

I know babies can't smile yet, but it makes it all the more wonderful to me that I caught that expression on her face.

Happy Sunday,
Joanna

PS. I took the picture of her ear because Rachel is especially in love with her tiny ears.

Grace Under Pressure

I have a darling, diminutive new niece.  At 6 lbs, 3 oz, she manages to have beaten Catherine's birth weight by 5 ounces.  However, Communio, currently tipping the scales at over 20 lbs, weighs more than both his baby cousins combined.

Her name is Grace Calixta Bond.
Unfortunately, I have totally missed my chance to greet my sister saying "Hail Rachel, full of Grace!"  However, I have a new favorite corny joke.  It goes like this:

Q. What do you call Rachel in labor?
A. Grace under Pressure.

I crack myself up.
enough chatter.  I know you just clicked on the link to ogle pictures of Grace in all her tiny beauty.  Let the ogling begin.