Gray Elizabeth Sykes

April 27, 2010...

The day our lives changed forever! SHE arrived at 8:45pm (6lbs, 12oz and 20.75 in) after many years of waiting, many months of growing and many hours of laboring. We are so in love with our baby girl and feel incredibly blessed that we were chosen to be her parents. God is so good!

The past 6 weeks have been a blur to us both, which gave me the idea that we should be documenting as much as we can to remember this special time. And with so much of our family away, I want to make sure that they are able to share in all of the fun!

Things I love about Gray at 6 weeks:

• She smiles! At first she only smiled as she was drifting off to sleep, but now she smiles all of the time. She is especially sweet when she wakes up in the morning (before she realizes she is hungry). I have tried to get this on video, but I cannot seem to capture just how adorable it is! The rest of the time, she smiles whenever she is spoken to and she has the cutest crooked smile you have ever seen. And like her Daddy, her ears shift up a fraction when she smiles!
  
  
• She holds her head up - and has done this since she was about a week old. Her control has definitely improved and it is pretty cute to look down at her when she is in her carrier to see her looking up at me!
  
• She follows you with her eyes. Again, she has done this practically since birth, but she is doing this more and more frequently and at greater distances.
  
• She has a temper! It is cute now, but in a few years I have a feeling that I will be paid back for all of the grief I gave my own mother. When Gray is hungry, she does not like to wait... This is a"Britt" trait that Gray gets from myself and her Papa Britt and many generations before us I am sure!
  
• She has her Daddy's brown eyes! I know that brown eyes are a dominant trait and that most of the population of the world have brown eyes, but this is not the case in my family. My dad, mom brother and I all have blue eyes, so brown eyes are a rarity to us. Plus, her brown eyes make her look even more like her Daddy!
  
• She has long, skinny fingers and toes - this she gets from me! I love that I can see both of us in her!
  
• She has lost the hair on the top of her head and her Daddy says she has her Uncle JoJo's hairline... But where the hair used to be, she has a tiny layer of fuzz coming in. We cannot wait to see if she is a blonde or a brunette!
  
• She is a good sleeper - thank goodness, because I am too! She goes to sleep sometime around 10:30pm and does not wake up until 6:30am. She started sleeping 6 hours at night around 4 weeks and has gradually increased to sleeping 8 hours on her own. Let's hope she keeps this up!
  
• She is a girl! I am so blessed to have a happy, healthy baby, but I am so excited to have a baby girl and all that it entails! It is so much fun to dress her in all of the cute clothes that I wish would come in my size. Let's hope that fuzz on the top of her head grows quickly so she can wear the clips that I bought her!
  
• She is OURS! I have always wanted a child - especially since finding the perfect person with which to raise a child. And now that we have our baby girl, life feels complete!
  

I am so lucky to be Gray's mommy and I am so happy to be able to share her with you!