JUNE 22nd - SIX MONTHS OLD TODAY!

Oh my goodness me! Today our baby Nesser-Van-Loo-Hoo is a half year old. Can you believe it? We can't!

My mother is clearly unimpressed when I lament how huge my daughter is, and usually says, "Yes? So?" or, "Your sister-in-law would only take 2T sized clothes because her babies were so big." But Mom, your babies all started out at 10 lbs. Vanessa has tripled her size in six months. Normal babies triple their size in 12 months. And true, she's only in size 18 month clothes now, but remember when we had to run out and buy her preemie clothes when we first got her home? I swear if we try we can hear her growing.

This surely explains why I've been homebound, hanging around the living room looking like an African tribeswoman, boobs out, perpetually nursing. Everyone said, "Newborns nurse every 3 hours." Yeah: right! Try every sixty minutes! In the words of our pediatrian, "I've never seen anything like this in all my years in practice."

Of course I am referring to the break-neck growth spurt of the first three months. Once upon a time, Vanessa weighed 6 lbs. 12 oz. and I was worried that her skin was hanging off her. Not so worried about that any more, really.

We see Nessa is quite social and has a great sense of humor. She laughs and laughs at Milo wrastling his toys and at a balloon we bat around. She is especially tickled when that balloon bonks her in the head. Vanny is also pretty physical. She continues to use her monkey toes to grip surfaces and uses both monkey feet to pinch me until I bruise or nab her toys. Her hands are always busy - from Day 1 - swirling, stroking, grasping, conducting... what is she doing with them? Maybe she'll be a massage therapist one day.

I think she may have her Daddy's fast metabolism because when she starts nursing her head turns red and breaks out in sweat - firing up that digestion furnace, maybe. Granny Ernestine told me a baby's body isn't big enough to discharge excess heat, so their heads sweat. I guess Van's head has the most surface area of her body...

Looking back, this first six months has sailed by and also felt like an eternity. It's really fun getting to know this Vanessa. She clearly was born with her personality fully intact, and every week we understand more and more.