This picture was taken when Tess was about five days old. Grandpa Jalbuena was incredibly helpful around the house, taking the stick and squeak out of the door to Tess' bedroom (although Tess is still sleeping in the same room as her Mom and Dad as of July 5, 2004, she'll be moving downstairs in the next month or two). Grandpa also helped us solve the Mystery of the Snapped-Off Air Conditioner Knob with some ingenuity and a drill bit. In the meantime, Grandma Jalbuena let Mom and Dad sleep in some mornings, which took the edge off those long nights. Thanks!

In these pictures, Tess is about two weeks old. When Noah was her age, he didn't like to be on his belly, but Tess seems to be ok with it, although the back is preferable, and on a parent's shoulder is the real sweet spot. You can see Noah is already interested in teaching his baby sister about the world, which thankfully includes sugar.

These sleepy-time pictures are from the end of May, 2004, when Grandma Nana, aka Mama San, aka M. Cook (see, M could be Mom or Margaret -- useful ambiguity; or would that simply be biguity?) visited. Oh, that was so helpful -- as with the earlier visit from the other side of the family, Grandma Nana's caretaking in the early mornings allowed us to snooze so happily. In the meantime, G.N. managed to get the biggest call-and-response "conversation" from Tess yet; something she was really good at with Noah, too.

This is where we found Tess, in the bushes next to the Astilbe. She was vegetatively propogated using a bit of Willow Tea and some good compost. "Oh, that would have been nice," replies Tracy.

This photo is from a trip to Chillicothe in the second week of June 2004, when Tess turned five weeks old. It took a few days, but when Uncle Tony warmed up to Tess, he really warmed up to Tess, holding both her body and her gaze on the couch.

These pictures were taken on July 5, 2004, which is Tess' two-month birthday. James sung to Tess for almost a half-hour before she got bored, with Noah getting into the act here toward the end, helping James to sing "Down by the Bay" (Have you ever seen a dog shaped like a log? Have you ever seen a cat wearing a hat? Have you ever seen a tree bent down on one knee?). During this song, Tess started "singing" back, making noises rhythmically. This week, Tess has really started working at vocalizing back -- but she's not entirely sure how to get a noise out. She sees us making noises by moving our mouths, so she moves her mouth but hasn't figured out yet that she needs to buzz her vocal chords. Very cute. Oddly enough, she has no trouble doing that when it comes to crying! No, really she's a pretty happy baby, crying when she needs something but otherwise being quite chirpy.

Hmmm. Is Tess going to need to compete with Noah for attention in this family?

Tess is listening to "Hush, Little Baby" very intently.