Resemblences

For the first three weeks of Reese's life, we couldn't figure out who she looked like. She has the most perfect round face and head that looks nothing like anyone in our immediate family. She also makes faces that don't look like anyone. She has a particular face that means she is peeing which is hysterical; she'll purse her lips into a perfect O and bug her eyes; we know that fter her lips go back to normal, it is time to change her diaper. The second picture reveals this tell-tale peeing expression.

At first, I thought Reese resembled the shrunken head guy from the end of Beetlejuice (where Michael Keaton is in the waiting room of the afterlife), especially when she is filling her Pampers. But, I just looked up still images from the movie and let's just say that Reese is much cuter.

But, last week, she made a few faces that - ever so briefly -- reminded me of my mother. Yesterday, Jack, Reese and I went down to my sister's and mom's to play in their yard and swim in their pools (a kind of last hurrah to summer) and I asked my mom if she had any baby pictures. She has one (!). Lo and behold, it was like looking at my daughter. So, I feel like I gave birth to my husband with Jack and now my mom with Reese. Genetics are amazing. My mother's head is, like Reese's, perfectly round, as is her face. While I haven't been able to capture a photo yet that looks like my mom, I have no doubt I will soon enough.

And Baby Makes 4

Reese Emily Kingston was born at 2:10 PM (after a glorious three pushes and 10 minutes) on Friday, July 24. She has the honor of sharing her birthday with my older brother, Chris, and has the names of both great and great-great grandmothers. She also came into the world not five days before the hottest ever recorded day in Seattle and hottest week ever in Seattle.

These pictures reflect her most common activity; the hat photo (taken before the heat wave) is her first day in the world (when it was a mere 80 degrees); the one with the bear (and my baby blanket) is around day three; the last with the blue shirt is two days after the 103 record-breaking day. Note the need for less and less covering. So much for swaddling.

She doesn't look like anyone quite yet, though she does make some remarkable Ed-like faces, including an amazing sneer that would rival Elvis. When she sleeps, she makes a sound that isn't quite human. When I heard it in the car, I thought it was the car, but Jack noted that "Reese sounds like a creaking door." And she does. If and when I can, I will record it to play back in a future haunted house similiation.

All is going well. We're feeling blessed and lucky and in love.