April snow brings what?

Newborns aren't supposed to be expressive, except when it comes to sounds. Smiles and other facial expressions are usually attributed to, umm, gas. But we swear that Elaine is making all sorts of interesting faces at us. She smiles all the time. And she does so many other things with her face that we have yet to label. Sure, she can't really control her arms, legs, or neck very well yet. I swear that after a good meal or staring at a light for a few minutes, the girl really starts to beam with the biggest smile. She even responds to sight and sound with smiles. Particularly, she likes to hear her mom's voice and look at lights and things with contrast. When her diaper is being changed, she looks at the quilt hanging on the wall and smiles and stares at it with an expression of awe.

Meredith has been bummed out as the weather has been really cold and snowy this week. She's been unable to play in her sandbox and outside with her friends. We got a couple inches of snow on Wednesday in a nice Minnesota April snowstorm.

Earlier today, Meredith had her first swimming lesson. We've been going swimming with her at the YWCA for a while now, but this was fer first experience in a class. She was pretty excited by the lesson, but had a hard time adjusting to the fact that it only entailed a 30 minute structured class and that she couldn't stay in the pool and do whatever she wanted. Meredith was also confused because a number of friends at preschool have swimming lessons after preschool and Meredith thought it was strange we would have swimming lessons on a Saturday morning and not in conjunction with school.

Elaine is a good eater and sleeper. At her doctor's appointment at 13 days old she was 7 pounds, 6 ounces--up nearly a half pound from her birth weight. She's been out in public on a few occassions this week. I forget how much attention newborns garner from strangers. The number one statement is "she's so tiny." Yes, she is.

On Wednesday, the whole family tagged along to Meredith's music class (during the snow). Elaine was showed off. Meredith got to try a violin and a cello. She handled the bow quite well. Maybe in a few years Elaine will get to take this music class.