Frances Dolli Beatrix

This is belated, Francie. And not because I haven't thought about recording your birth story or posting pictures of you, but because since you were born I have been soaking you in, breathing in your smell, kissing your face, your hands, your feet all day long. I've been holding you and your brother as much as I can and I haven't wanted to do much else.
On the day you were born I left your brother with Grandma while Daddy and I went to the hospital. We sat in a room. We had some tests done. Daddy put on a white paper suit that made him look like the stay-puffed marshmallow man and I laughed and shook while we walked to the operating room.
I was scared. My first experience with birth left me traumatized, but after having you I feel healed and whole.
You were born after ten minutes. Beautiful. Pink. Nine pounds, 2 ounces. 20 inches long. The scale at first said you were 4 pounds and the nurses had to weigh you several times to get what they felt was an accurate weight. They put you on my chest. You didn't cry. Such soft and gentle contentment. I kissed your face and I cried. I felt joy and relief and wonder.
Two hours after you were born the nurses took you to the newborn intensive care unit. I was on excessive doses of pain medication and I was devastated. Your blood sugar was 2 mg under the accepted limit. I begged them not to take you. I cried all day. Each time a person walked past our door or I heard the squeaking wheels of a plastic incubator I hoped without reason that it was you coming back to me.
Every moment with you since has been a blessing.
You are almost seven months old now.
You are amazing.
You love to look at faces. You smile constantly and enjoy making eye contact with strangers. You love to laugh with your brother. He rubs your head. He kisses you goodnight. He calls you "bobo." He shares his much loved blankets with you. He makes sure you're snugly in your car seat and refuses to leave the house without you. He loves you. You have long fuzzy hair, just like Flynn did at this age and the softest skin, gray eyes and the sweetest disposition of any young child I have ever encountered. You rarely cry or fuss. Every morning when I see your face I am filled with excitement and joy. You are held and loved constantly and you deserve every good thing that comes your way because you are simply stunning, Frances Dolli Beatrix Barton. You are named from three beautiful women and I have felt from the moment you were born that I am the luckiest person in the world to experience your life with you-- my amazing, happy, sweet, delightful, wonderful daughter.