Thirdborn

Our little blessing. In so many ways. Our struggles to get her here were well worth the wait and we can say that from the absolute bottom of our hearts. Odell is a treasure to have in our home and is just cherished from head to toe by all her family members.
Every morning she wakes up gurgling and cooing. She'll lay there doing so for as long as it takes to get the other two ready for the day and sometimes it's a while before I get in her room to get her changed for the day. The second I come into view her little eyes squint up with a bright smile and her entire body starts flailing with excitement. She continues to gurgle and coo while I change her out of her pajamas and into some clean clothes, occasionally grabbing her toes and trying to gnaw on them a bit or attempting to roll over on the changing pad (she's getting to be a real pro at that, it's about time!!) so she can better grab at the wipes and diapers. After I nurse her (still clinging on after 7 months, but I unfortunately I don't think I'm going to last much longer, not being able to pump at school has put a damper in my supply ever since Christmas- I'm taking medication so I can cling on at least until flu season is over and out and we'll see where we are after that), she eats a heaping bowl of rice cereal with applesauce. She LOVES eating "real" food. I put her in her high chair, which is still too big for her, and she sits there and kicks her legs back and forth until I get her bib on and get her ready- by then she's about hyperventilating with heavy breathing and smacking lips waiting for that spoon to go from the bowl to her mouth. The rest of the morning is followed with lots of gabbing (another new talent she's picked up), lots of rolling back and forth and back and forth on the floor, and a nap. She puts up with almost everything Linus and Chl-...no, just Linus....throws at her (unfortunately I don't mean that metaphorically so much...). When I get home from work, she gets nursed again, rolls some more, gabs some more, eats some more, sits happily in our laps when we read books to the kids and read scriptures with them before bed, and goes to sleep with them around 7 p.m. And sleeps through the night with no problems. Angel baby.
Things I love about Odell:

• I love it when I hold her close and she puts her hands on my face. She doesn't really squeeze or grab, she just wants to feel my face. She stares at me intently and goos and gabbles sometimes, but I just love it. I will miss that when she's older.
  
• She's figured out how to make her "d" sound now and she sounds so cute when she starts babbling with "da-da-da-da-da". She loves to make herself known when we're sitting at the dinner table and she's in her high chair.
  
• She really likes music. I used think that was just parents being overzealous when they said their babies liked to listen to music, because my other two could really care less until they were about 18 monts old if music was on or not, but Odell just smiles and kicks around when I have music on (more so than usual). And she loves it when I sing. She will stop what she's doing and just stare at me, then flash me a HUGE smile and coo at me loudly, encouraging me on. I've actually sung to her before bed, which I haven't done as much with me other two. It brings a nice spirit to our home.
  
• Sometimes she doesn't go to sleep right away and will cry for a little while, but if I catch her right as she's about to fall asleep, I sneak in her room, wrap her up in her blankets and rock her to sleep in my arms with the lights off. I cherish every moment of just holding her sleeping body in my arms and listening to her breathing and watch her dim, cuddled up form in my lap.
• She is so ticklish. On her tummy, under her arms, on her legs, on her toes and feet, she just giggles and giggles. It really is hard to resist sometimes.
  

I have to say that I already miss her being a newborn. Like way more than the other two. It's harder to spend as much time with her as I did the other two while they were that age. And you know how the squeeky wheel gets the greese? Well she never squeeks...so sometimes I put her to bed at the end of the day and go...oh, hi Odell...I barely remember getting you out of bed this morning, where did the time go?? But we are extremely blessed and extremely grateful to have her in our home at all. This girl is going to move mountains one day and I'm so glad to be a part of it.