First Trip to Buffalo

Maggie had her first trip to Buffalo this week. She had a good time meeting a lot of her extended family members on Jared's side, and even got to tour the campus of Roberts Wesleyan College. In addition to all of that, she had her first kiss! Ian, the 2-year-old son of Jared's best friend, showered her with many kisses, despite his mother's attempts to encourage him to "just kiss baby Maggie's toes." She also received many kisses from her cousins - see the photo above!

Grandparents, cousins, and kisses: it was a busy week for Miss Maggie! Now she is back home, sleeping off the excitement in her crib.

Church!

Like all new babies, people "ooh" and "aah" over Maggie everywhere she goes. Most of the time, she is fast asleep and unaware of the attention she is receiving. One particular place that this holds true is at church every Sunday morning. Since there are not a lot of babies in our church, Maggie has captured the hearts of most people in our congregation. You might think that most of these people would be women, but you would be wrong. Just this morning, two male ushers got so wrapped up watching Maggie through the back window that they forgot to make their entrance into church and ended up having to speed-walk down the aisle to find their place!

After church is over, we head up to Sunday School. I head into the youth room with Jared to help him teach his lesson to the teens. Maggie, however, prefers to attend the adult class next door, where she is passed from person to person, assisting each one with his or her "baby fix." Sunday mornings are a fun time for all of us, and I find it amusing that my 7-week-old attends the adult Sunday School class, while I attend the high school class. As soon as she can talk, I fully expect her to start quizzing her father on Bible trivia. :)

"I Feel Pretty!"

Maggie has a little "baby's first year" calendar with little stickers to mark certain occasions, such as "first smile", "first coo", etc. One of the stickers is "first fancy outfit", which we are happy to finally be able to use! This week, Maggie got dressed up twice, once to try on her great-great grandmother's christening gown and once for her Daddy's birthday. We are hoping the christening gown will fit when she is baptized on November 15th, but if not, at least she was able to wear it once and get some pictures taken. It was a good week for being fancy!

Shots

Maggie had a doctor's appointment this morning. She got weighed (a whopping 10 pounds already!), measured (21 inches), and poked and prodded, and all was very going well. The doctor commented on how strong she is and how healthy she seems to be. She laid there on the doctor's table, happily looking around, and even smiling once or twice.

Then in came the nurse with the shot. Jared held Maggie's hand, and as she looked at him with complete and utter trust, she was suddenly jabbed with the needle and let out a howl. Let's just say that there were many tears shed, and not all of them were Maggie's.

All in all, it was a good appointment, and we are happy that Maggie seems to be growing healthy and strong. The only downside: our next appointment is coming up in a few weeks, and Maggie will not be given one shot...she will be given several. We better bring the Kleenex.

Smiles!

Within the past two days, Maggie seems to have suddenly become much more alert and aware of the world around her. She has also started to smile every time we make ourselves look like idiots and stick our tongues out at her. Here is a photo of Jared and Maggie having a grand old time!

"Help! Who are these people?!"

Literary Baby

Being the daughter of a librarian, it is probably fair to say that Maggie will not lack for good stories during her growing up years. So far, we are off to a good start. Maggie attended her first Baby Lapsit storytime yesterday, and although she slept through the entire thing (she is only a month old, after all), she "listened" to several nursery rhymes, songs, and a reading of The Little Red Hen.

However, while the The Little Red Hen is intriguing (will the hen ever receive any help from her friends?), Maggie is no stranger to a good mystery. She has already listened to snippets of an Agatha Christie novel and a Louise Penny mystery, among others. In addition to that, her daddy reads her one of the Psalms every night before bed.

Right now, all Maggie really knows is the sound of our voices, and has no idea whether we are reading great works of literature or not. However, I look forward to the day when she, like so many children who are exposed to good books, says excitedly, "I want another story!"