what's up weekly. (Ophelia's first bath!)

Hello, friends!

This week was pretty normal and lowkey.  Ophelia turned eight weeks old (EIGHT WEEKS OLD ALREADY!) and celebrated with a growth spurt - she spent the entire day completely passed out sleeping (I had to get her up every couple of hours to eat, but even then she stayed asleep and just ate while she slept).  Then the next day, she spent the whole day awake and eating nonstop.  Now seems like a good time to start having heart-to-heart conversations with her about learning moderation.

Oh well.  At least she looks adorable while she binges.

For such a little person, she sure does take up a lot of our bed.

She had her first bath (kind of) on Sunday before church.  (And yes, we actually went to church!!  Hallelujah!)  I don't like to bathe my babies very often - they don't get all that dirty, and their skin and hair can get dried out so easily.  Plus, it's winter, and they have such a hard time regulating their internal temperature, so I didn't want to make her cold and wet.  And to top it off, because she was born in the water, she didn't come out with that weird smell and film on her.  She came out clean!  So I hadn't really needed to bathe her before now.

But she started getting that yellow newborn buildup around her eyebrows, and her hair was looking greasy, so it was time.  However, I still didn't really want to get her whole body cold and wet, so I just left her clothes on and oil cleansed her head.  I gently rubbed argan oil into her skin and hair, let it sit a minute, then I washed it out with a bit more argan oil and some water.  Her skin was so soft and clean, and it hadn't been stripped with soap.  I think oil cleansing might be the way I go for baby baths from here on out!

"Do't just stand there taking pictures, Daddy.  RESCUE ME from whatever this is."

After she was clean and dry, I changed her into a clean outfit for church, and she promptly conked out.  Getting bathed is exhausting work.

And in yet more milestone news, she started social smiling ALL. THE. TIME. this week.  Good gravy, it melts my heart.

And I'm not the only one who's smitten.

Okay, okay.  I do realize I have other kids.  So here's what some of the others were up to:

Rocco continues to fall asleep on the floor during Story Club.

I played a round of Go Fish with Lissy, and Todd has been playing Bananagrams with the big kids - they haven't beaten him yet, but they do give him a run for his money.

Penelope continues to bake, and this time she brought Juni along on the adventure to make banana bread.  They had a ton of fun, and the bread turned out great!  (And sidenote: younger kids are so lucky - the big kids do all the things with them that I never do with toddlers!)

Juni rocked her swimming suit. (Or, her "soup," as she calls it.)

And last but not least, Todd got me a Berkey water filter for Valentine's Day, so I'll be working on setting that up today.  I have wanted one of these for a really long time.  I'm such an unsexy valentine, but I'd much rather get bling for my house than pretty much anything else.  Plus, this way, I know that if SHTF, I can even filter water from the nearby creek, so it's pretty AND prudent.  Just the way I like things.

And now, to go embrace our Friday!  We got our schoolwork done a little early this week, so break starts today!  We're off all next week as well.  The boys have eye doctor appointments this afternoon, which are long overdue because of all the covid and masking ridiculousness, so I'm inordinately excited for this.  They both need new glasses like you wouldn't believe.  Later in the month the girls have appointments, and I should probably schedule myself one as well, seeing as how my lenses are currently held in with superglue.  Our glasses are in such rough shape.  Prepare yourself for plenty of celebratory photos when we finally get them all replaced.

Anyway.  Let's bring on the weekend!