She's feeling proud because she slept last night for five and a half consequtive hours. This may not sound like much, but putting 6 hours between nursing is an accomplishment for Fiona.

Several people have asked how we get Fiona to sleep. Well, we don't. She just falls asleep when she's sleepy. Typically, she yawns and says "UGH!" This is followed by some always evolving rituals:

Fiona is pictured with her favorite blanket, a wonderful pastel rectangle hand-knit by our next door neighbor, Molly. We swaddle her with it, as demonstrated by John. Then we offer her a pacifier and walk around for a few minutes. She typically begins to fall asleep while we're walking. I usually use this time to re-fill a hot water bottle that is placed under her in the bassinet (a fabulous one loaned by friends Luz and Jason; their daughter Sofia slept in it when she was a baby- obviously Fiona is going to outgrow it soon and then I don't know what we'll do- but that's a subject for later) and then we turn on the ipod to a repeated recording of falling rain. This swaddling, another soft blanket tucked over her and white noise create womb-like conditions within which Fiona tends to peacefully sleep. As she drifts off she promptly spits out the pacifier. When it lands directly under her lip as in the included photo, we know it's going to be a good rest.