All I seem to do is take pictures now!

I can't decide if I like these first two better with the landscape or portrait orrientation. She was laying down, so really this is the right orrientation, but they kind of look better vertically... so I don't know!



Yes... she's smiling... sort of. This is the best I have managed to catch so far, but she gives lots and lots of smiles when I don't have the camera in my hands. The problem is getting a good picture of her smiling when she is far enough away for my camera to focus properly!

Rebecca is officially three weeks old today, and in the past couple of days she's started reaching ahead, and moving her legs behind, almost like she's trying to crawl. She'd get a lot further if she could actually hold her head up, but at the moment the most she can do with her head is to lift it long enough to turn it one way or the other, or to plant her face straight down... and then she just stays in said position for a while while moving her arms and legs like she's crawling still. Yesterday I noticed she's starting to reach for things that are above her as well, such as this little stuffed flower thing we have attached to her bassinet, and the puppy/music toy thing we were given which is currently attached to her car seat. She's also starting to hold on to things if she's given them, though she doesn't actually *play* with them yet.

We're working on figuring out how to appease my dog, who seems to believe that we should get up with her at night. Last night she didn't bark at all (or we didn't hear her because we were so tired from the night before), but the night before I think I was up with her every hour for about six hours. That didn't really make for much of a restful night. Rebecca kept waking up because I was up so many times as well, so she got a lot of feedings that night!! Hopefully Cinders doesn't keep this barking thing up, but the first bark she makes after bed time is going to put her in the garage for the night, so I don't think she'll be too pleased with the results if she does decide to bark again! We took her for two walks, played with her, and tried to give her some extra attention yesterday, so maybe at least one or two walks a day, plus some play time will keep her happy enough not to bark at night.

Our baby birds are about ready to go, seeing as they are almost seven weeks old now. I just need to take a picture of them, and then send the message out. I think we should be able to get $5 a piece for them... I hope! They're worth $13 in the pet store, so I imagine $5 is a bargain. We ended up losing one of them-- I think it got sick or something, because its breathing started to sound really odd. Then, the day after we moved it to a new cage, we found it laying on the floor of the cage. So far, however, the other four babies are in perfect health. The parents keep laying new eggs, which, since we haven't got a nest in their cage at the moment, are not going to be hatching. We don't want baby birds before Christmas! Maybe we'll let them raise another brood of chicks in a few months, but for now, I prefer the beeping and occasional singing of the creatures.

I'm trying to decide when (and where) to put up the Christmas tree. I'm thinking we'll wait a couple of weeks, especially since we haven't much to put under it. Only presents from my parents, and I'm not really sure we're going to have much more to put under it than that. I suppose gifts from Justin's family. The biggest problem, though, is figuring out where in our livingroom. I'd kind of like it to be visible through a window, but the best location for that is occupied by my piano, and there is absolutely no way that I'm moving the piano just to put a tree there, and moving it back after the tree is down again! Anyway, it's what, 23 days to Christmas? Something like that. So, I've still got some time to figure it out.