First of many...

My Baby Bea is one month old.

Everyone is right, the time just flies by--I cannot believe this tiny creature is already a month old. She changes every day, and she is positively amazing. Some things from her first month that I want to remember forever:

• Her "wake-up" faces. In the process of coming back to consciousness this child runs through every possible facial expression in her repertoire. My favorite I have dubbed "the Turtle Face", and it has hints of Elmer Fudd to it as well, and is always coupled with a solid grunt. It's so ridiculous, Mommy absolutely loves it.
• Her gorgeous, bright shiny blue eyes. I know, I know, they all start out blue, and hers may very well change color later. You know what? All the more reason to commit these early months of baby blues to memory. When she stares at me or her daddy and blinks those big beauties, I fall in love with her even more.
• Watching her little jaw flex and eyelashes flutter while she nurses.
• Her big toe. That's it, just...her big toe.
• Her three sounds--the grunt, the squealy baby elephant noise, and the almost-cry-almost-talky "aah!" sound, which she's only done a few times and surprises her as much as me every time she does it.
• When she plays trombone with her pacifier.
• How she's thisclose to smiling....
• The way she has absolutely no idea what to think about bath time.
• How Mommy ran around all morning of her first Vols game, looking for an outfit small enough to wear, and when I couldn't find one, how I raided Hobby Lobby to make sure she at least has a cute orange hair bow (or three...)
• How she hates 1) the moment you put on a clean diaper, 2) going to sleep in the bassinet, and 3) the Pooties (poor gassy baby).
• Her little pear belly and how she finally is putting on that baby chub after being SO little for SO long.
• Chillin' on the couch in the Boppy with Mommy and Daddy, watching her first Disney Movie, Tangled (although, I'm pretty sure Mommy and Daddy actually watched more than she did).
• How, if I've been asleep and Daddy has her downstairs, or if I've gone to run an errand and come home, my heart leaps out of my chest the moment I see her again.
• Her myriad of nicknames: Baby Bea, Jellie Bean, Bean, Noodle, Peanut (and when I'm really excited about her, "Peanutty Goodness").
• How in the morning, when I first pick her up, I sing, "It's the Baby Bea Morning Show, starring Ellie Bea!"
• And, finally, how her daddy and I cannot imagine loving anything more.

Yup. That's my Baby Bea.