I know that babies don’t start talking until much later in life, but Daphne is really starting to get this down.

She spends a lot of time awake now, and likes to spend that time looking up at her mom and cooing and talking.

Jared and I have been spending a lot of time looking at her, and using one word “Hi” anytime we are talking to her when she is awake. She has started to learn to mimic the motion of the mouth, and she has a pretty convincing hi now. We are going to work on Hello.

I know that it’s not by the book, but Jared and I are chalking her first word up as hi spoken on 30 April, 2007. Call me crazy, but I’m just a devoted mamma. You’d have to be in my position to understand.

While Eli was here, he started to interact with “cousin Daphne” a lot more. He saw me calling her gorgeous once, and he picked up the phrase “Hello Gorgeous.”

When we were riding in the car just as they were about to leave, she was crying. He turned to her and said “Hello gorgeous, give me five.” It was truly adorable!

My sister and her husband came to visit with their darling 2 year old Eli. As one of our activities, we decided to head off to the Oregon Zoo to see some of the animals. Of course, Daphne came with us. Eli was impressed by the goats and the elephants. I had a great time walking around with them. Daphne sat in her Moby wrap the whole time just looking around and sleeping. It was an awful lot of walking though, and my body wasn’t use to it. I’m starting to feel like I am getting into better and better shape every day as I do more and go out and see more.

It was a blast at the zoo.

I have heard before that there is nothing more incredible than the smile of a newborn. Daphne is learning to smile now. She’s got it down, and she smiles a little more every day. Certain things are sure to make her smile like getting her attention and saying hello to her. She also smiles when I blow kisses at her or make my lips sound like a motor. This perfect little form of communication can’t help but melt my heart. I’m trying to capture it on film, but it is a little hard. Patience, I know…

Daphne smiles!

I have been smiling at her for a while, and she was able to mimic some basic facial expressions like opening up my mouth. However, she started to smile three days ago. It is so exciting for me because it is so adorable!!!!!! This is a big milestone for me, and I’m really enjoying it.