Lola Fern at 5 days old

My baby will be 6 months old in a few days. It's been a crazy half of a year. It's insane how much a baby changes in that short amount of time. And me? I'm different too. I'm learning to love being at home. I try to find joy everyday in doing the things that seem mundane. Being with this little angel everyday is priceless.

A few things I hope I never forget about Lola as a newborn:
She loved to be held and cuddled close. A few nights she even slept on daddy's chest.
She was born with perfect, unbelievably soft skin. In fact only the first picture is edited.
She was so sleepy and content. I don't remember hearing her cry once while we were in the hospital. Maybe a whimper if she was hungry. Phil bragged to my grandparents that she was the best baby that NEVER cries. Of course she eventually learned how to use her lungs to full capacity, but usually only if she was really hungry. And she sure loved to eat!
See her legs in the last picture? I know she must have done that a lot in the womb too. The labor & delivery nurse commented about her foot being bent from doing it. (It quickly straightened out.)
We loved bringing her home. I felt like I just knew how to take care of her, although I'm not saying those early weeks were easy. While pregnant I was constantly reading to know what was going on, but with a new baby I didn't feel panicked that I didn't know the perfect way to bathe her etc. like some books had me imagine I would.
It was such a surreal feeling to meet her and think "So here you are! You're the one who was in there." Yet, she seemed familiar too. It still amazes me that she grew inside of me. In fact it gets crazier as time goes by to imagine her in my belly!

These pictures were taken by my sister Kate just a couple of days after we got home from the hospital. Thanks Kate! She had never done newborn pictures before. Lola may look peaceful in these pictures, and she did sleep almost the whole time (when was she not sleeping back them?) but it was a lot of work! I was hovering over her the whole time in a robe holding a heater. Getting a sleeping baby into cute positions is difficult, all the while trying to keeping her little bum covered. Speaking of which she may have peed and pooped on every one of those cute blankets.