Laughter, Tears and Ordinary Days

We returned from our Easter break trip to lots and lots of rain. Baby Anne seems to be beginning the teething process (though it does seem early for one of our kids) and there has been lots of crying (from her and from her sisters who are tired of hearing her cry). Meg's large cast came off yesterday and the pins came out of her finger. Now she's a little sore and constantly worried about injuring the finger again. She felt much safer in that large cast. All this to say, it's been a tough transition back.

However, we've had a few highpoints. We fed Baby Anne rice cereal for the first time. As you can see, she was very excited at the beginning of the process (excuse the blurry photos--it is very difficult to feed and photograph at the same time).

But upon trying her first bite, she was no longer sure this was such a good idea.

It's also been fun watching Baby Anne working very hard on rolling from her back to her stomach (she's had the stomach to back move down since she was about 10 weeks old). Her laugh is getting louder and fuller. Her sisters have become quite good at making her laugh. Last night Meg would run towards her making a bird-like sound and Baby Anne would laugh and laugh. This move was repeated about twenty times.

I've been working on relaxing when Meg and Clare are around Baby Anne. I am always so worried that they won't be gentle enough or that they will get distracted and fall on her. The truth is that they are pretty good with her and Baby Anne loves it when her big sisters pay attention to her.

So we are trying to enjoy the small things during this slightly challenging week. Babies laughing. Fingers healing. Oh, and a lovely tea party with Nicole yesterday in the midst of the rain. As I write these things, I've decided it has been a pretty good week after all.