Let's face it, the only thing little about this sister is the fact that she has a big brother. Weighing in at just under 20 pounds at 4 1/2 months, she is almost the same size Silas was on his first birthday. All the more for us to snuggle and kiss :)
She was the star of the show over Christmas, playing dress up with her cousin Abbie, and looking darling in all her jewels.
Similar to her big brother, this little sweetheart lights up for her Daddy.
Her bright smile comes without effort and is extremely contagious.
Unlike her big brother, she is only tolerating of the pacifier and spends a good part of her awake time figuring out which fingers will be her favorite.
Jewel is a lot like her momma. She is most content to be interacting or snuggling. She is easily pleased and is mostly just delighted to see that she is making those around her happy. Her best sleeping happens in the crook of an arm, and she does not like being alone. I can remember as a kid loving to fall asleep with my door open to the sound of my parents and their friends talking in the kitchen. Last weekend we had three families over for dinner. There were 8 kids between the ages of 2 and 4 sprinting up and down the stairs, having pillow fights, melt downs, and the usual verbal confrontations. Jewel slept through the entire show, in the evening hours which is usually her most difficult time to nap.
Silas absolutely loves her. He is very gentle and loving with her. The best is watching him kiss her. He says "kiss, kiss" as he puckers up and tries to plant one directly on her lips while she is bobbing her head all around. He always gets the giggles and has several slobbery attempts before finally making his target.
Jordan squeezes her and cuddles her every night when he gets home. Jewel gets so excited to see him, she shows it with her whole body. She kicks her legs, waves her arms and belly laughs at him. He calls her his "chunky monkey", which I am trying to get rid of. We are going to have to have some serious talks about why dads do not call their daughters "chunky monkey", even if it is done in love.
She is my total delight. She has just started waking up happy in the mornings, instead of crying for breakfast. So I first hear her talking and cooing over the monitor. When I go in to get her she has the brightest and biggest smile on her face. I pick her up and she immediately nuzzles her face into my neck. When Silas was a baby, I would sing to him as I rocked him to sleep at night. If I sing to Jewel, she instantly picks up her head and opens her eyes and looks right at me, as if to say "Oh, we're still talking? Yay, I have more to say, too." Once she is starting to doze off, I put her in her crib. The transition is always tricky, but last week I tucked a little blanket with silk on the edges into her hand. She clenched it and put it up to her face. Many of you know, it wasn't until after my mom removed the silk from my baby blanket that I finally slowed down with the thumb sucking. I still love the feeling of silk in my fingers. It is so fun to share attributes with her, especially since everyone comments on how much she looks like Silas and Jordan.
So we've decided, she's a keeper :)
Silas rode all the way to the elementary school down the road from our house. We played and chased and soaked up every last ray of light before returning home. 
I am still attempting the back breaking work of putting Jewel into the baby bjorn. I feel like age wise I still want her next to me instead of in the stroller, but seriously she is just too big for this thing and between the bjorn and the infant car seat I am doing serious damage to my body. We need to get one of the ergo baby carriers... a much better design!
Here is the little man in action. We are counting down, 8 days until he is 3. Unbelievable. 
