A belly button!
I was incredibly excited to see it, not only because it means no more worries about accidentally knocking the stump off (like I did her poor sister's after just one week), but because it now gives me license to give her real baths, instead of just wipe-downs, and opens up a whole new array of fashion possibilities.
We've been mainly limiting Amelia to gowns and loose-fitting sleepers up to this point, to avoid irritation of the healing stump. Somehow, we managed to loosen it up anyway a couple of days ago, which led to a bit of bleeding, but now that it has finally fallen off completely, everything looks good, and I no longer have to worry. I can fit her with pants and onesies galore now, and, as you can see above, I promptly put some on. We've had this cute little pink number set aside since just before Mia came home.
Once I had her all dressed up, I had to figure out how to pose her to get pictures. Abby volunteered to hold her, and I obliged.
Mia didn't look too excited to be put down, at first...
... but she soon settled in, despite both Abby's and Michael's frequent intrusions on her personal space.
A little later, I laid Mia down in her bouncy seat and got out the camera again, in the hope of getting a better shot of the outfit itself.
I was a little annoyed to see that the pretty pink shade was still getting washed out by the flash, so I started focusing on her face, instead.
I even brought out the big lens. However, once I got so up close and personal, I was perturbed by the harshness of the lighting on Mia's complexion.
So, for the first time in a long while, I went off auto and turned off the flash. Of course, it then became difficult to get a crystal-clear focus, since Mia was moving a bit and there wasn't a whole lot of natural light coming in at around 6:00 in the evening.
My options were limited, especially since I'm such an amateur when it comes to working with light, to begin with. This is what happened when I tried to increase the shutter speed, even after maxing out the ISO.
After that, I went back down to a shutter speed of around 13, and just tried to hold the camera very steady while timing my shots with brief moments of (approximate) stillness.
And may the dress-up begin in earnest from this point forward...
Congratulations on your brand-new belly button, Mia! Contrary to what your sister believes, Mommy and Daddy did not "cut off your belly button." It was always there, just waiting to be revealed.
