Selah's 6 weeks!

It's so fun having a newborn around again. It's been even more fun this time because of how much the other kids are enjoying her. You'd think that the seventh baby would be put in a bouncy seat and left to fend for herself, but just the opposite is true. I believe she is held more than any of the kids before her. I constantly have her older siblings coming up and asking to hold her. Funny thing is... they never seem to want to hold her when she's crying. It's usually when she's sleeping or content that they ask to pick her up. The change of movement usually sends her out of the blissful content state and she'll end up crying within a few minutes and then they set down a crying baby. I've had to conquer that dilemma in my mind and realize that their interest in holding baby Selah is worth the extra effort on my part.

The fact is, it has paid off. The kids have improved in their holding and soothing techniques. The girls accomplish it a bit better than the boys, but each has their own style. Ellie does a wonderful knee-bending bounce thing while standing up. Grace likes to sit and rock her from side to side. The boys... well, they do the best they can :) Each one is going to have great parenting skills someday.

Another thing I've had to come face to face with is the idea of my fragile newborn being carried around by a little person that hardly weighs 20 pounds more than she does. It's the old "take a deep breath and relax" technique that allows me to hand her to Ellie or Grace. They both are proud that they can hold Selah "while standing" and would prefer that I hand her over that way. The first few times were nerve-wracking and filled with "Be careful!", "Gentle, please!", and "Hold her head!", but they've proven to be excellent little mommies and I have very little inhibitions about it now. (Except when they try dancing with her or walking through their brothers'nerf basketball competitions).

Selah has a pink "storkbite" birth mark right in the middle of her forehead. She also has one on her right eyelid that is less noticeable. Most of the kids were born with this birthmark on the back of their neck. It's called a storkbite because, well, that is where the "stork" is said to have bit them to carry them to their new home. This type of birthmark fades as they get older and seems less noticeable at times. My mom claims that I had one in the same spot when I was born and would turn beet red when I cried. Anyhow, I can remember seeing birthmarks on other people's babies and feeling sorry for the parents in some way. It's funny that I don't feel the same way about Selah. I don't know how I'd feel if it were a different type of birthmark, but I kind of like it. It sets her apart a little bit and makes her special. Weird, I know, but maybe that's how all parents feel, even those with handicaps. I'm thinking that it's just the people on the outside of the family that make the parents feel uncomfortable or embarassed about it. I believe that our society cares too much about what other people think and not enough about what God's opinion is. There are many times (maybe most of the time) when Jesus cast off the "opinion shackles" of the crowd and did what was right in his Father's sight. A lesson that affects every area of life and is still sinking into my soul... (excerpt from Deep Thoughts by Amy Larson :)