A month old already...

Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting;
The Soul that rises with us, our life's Star,
Hath had elsewhere its setting
And cometh from afar;
Not in entire forgetfulness,
And not in utter nakedness,
But trailing clouds of glory do we come
From God, who is our home:
Heaven lies about us in our infancy! *

How is it that our sweet newborn baby is already four weeks old?

Her birth came halfway between Winter Solstice and Spring Equinox, just as the daylight became noticeably longer. As she grows we are beginning to discover her personality.  Her favorite hold is on daddy's arm like a football. She likes floating in the bath with mommy. Being a fourth child, she has no small warm up cry, only fidgeting and then full on wails to be heard over the din of her siblings. True to form she stepped up nursing to meet her three week growth spurt and now her shirts barely cover the roundness of her tummy. And like the longer days, her very blue eyes are open more to the world around her (just not in this picture).

She has grown into her name even though we often still call her Pretzel . We were shy to tell anyone the name we had chosen for her. It was still new to us because we had only discovered it the day before she was born. Since she came on Groundhog's Day/ Candlemas, I think it was only fitting that she had a Gaelic name. Zybeal is a version of Isabel, which is Hebrew, Spanish or English in origin, meaning consecrated or devoted to God. So in the end, we succeeded in finding a name that is Hebrew and passes for Irish and fits most of the other guidelines I blogged about previously. But we also succeeded again, ahem, in naming our kid something most people will mispronounce. So for that reason, we call her Zibby and that seems easy enough.

Another blessing to come from having Zibby is the blossoming of a lifetime bond between her and Selah. The oldest will hold the youngest anytime, in fact, even when you are enjoying holding the youngest and don't need relief. They are almost 9 years apart and though they won't be close playmates, their mutual admiration grows. These are the lessons of having a baby I am so glad to witness.

*by William Wordsworth from his Ode on Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood