Day 16: Personal Entry - Four Months

Someone said to me recently that, "God is indeed so good to us, in our humanity, to let us enjoy and experience a baby, which seems like a little piece of heaven."

I loved that. A little piece of heaven. It's so true.

Four months already! She is growing so fast. I find myself trying hard to keep up with all her new skills and habits that I find myself thinking back a few weeks and realizing that she hasn't done such-and-such in weeks... she's out grown it! Like her sweet coos and goos.. they are rare now that she can raspberry and squeal.

She is also getting much more coordinated in her fine motor skills and can grab her toys when they are in front of her. She is also much more tolerant of tummy time but still hasn't rolled over. She tries, but can't quite get that arm tucked. I'll confess, I don't give her as much floor time as I probably should..I'm a baby holder and I enjoy having her with me or on me. Her gross motor muscles continue to stronger, she can stand with our help for a good amount of time (and really enjoys it) and can sit up without much support for balance (but still needs some help, she's still pretty tippy if you just try to sit her on the floor or something.. which is to be expected at her age).

We finally captured the pouty lip! She really doesn't cry all that often, so it's hard to catch. She did go through a phase recently where she cried when other people held her. It was hard to pinpoint why since sometimes she knew them and sometimes she didn't. I think it had to do with how suddenly they took her from me and if she was getting hungry or tired. She seems to be mostly over it though, or we're just more cautious. In the video below, she had woken up upset and after confirming that nothing was really wrong with her we took advantage of the moment to capture her cute little cry (it isn't great quality, but you get the idea).

She's going to hate me for this someday.. but here's another clip of her just after she woke up one morning at my parent's house. She used to just pout her lips out when she ahem was working on something. Then she started sticking her tongue out like this, just when she did her business, but then she thought it was good fun and did it non-stop for a few days. Now she's got her tongue back in though and she's just doing raspberries and bubbles.

At four months she is 16.5 pounds and 25.5 inches long. She wears clothes sized anywhere from 3-6 months to 9 months, depending on the brand (some Carters has labeled 9 month clothes as 16.5 lbs -20 lbs)! Although we can still (barely) snap her newborn diapers, we are putting them away. Four months is three months longer than we expected to use them and they have paid for themselves three times over. Although I'll miss the convenience of all-in-ones, it's nice to graduate to more absorbency and room.

Along with newborn diapers, we have said goodbye to most 3 month clothes (which were summery anyway, so good timing there) and she's outgrown a few pairs of shoes. We've also said good bye to the startle reflex (for the most part) and thus the 'praise Jesus' and other amusing hand gestures.

I know this post is getting video dense, but I took this one today and had to share it too. She LOVES the mirror. There is always a cute baby smiling back at her and she loves to talk to her.

Our social butterfly will smile at just about anyone. Tonight I took her to a OBCW class and carried her in sleeping. When she woke up and looked around to see all those faces, you'd think she had died and gone to heaven. Everywhere she looked there was another face to smile at and she was so ticked pink (literally) to see so many faces. Melts my heart :).

And now... for the barrage of pictures.

Hopefully this isn't crossing a line. I just had to capture those leg ROLLS!
I already get comments about how I need to put some clothes on her
because in her 1 month pictures I only had her in a diaper. ;)

This is her favorite 'I'm getting tired/hungry' pose with the headband removal

The THUMB!
Actually, she's not really committed to the thumb, she switches it up
enough that I'm not as worried about it.

Like sometimes it's the fingers, and sometimes the fist, and sometimes as much of her hand as she can fit.

Baby feet!

This was an accident, but I should probably do this more often (on purpose) to cut back on the pictures

Photog in training (in the mirror)

She LOVES standing up!

There's that cute baby again.

One of our favorite outfits that we'll probably be outgrowing soon

Another favorite

What are those awesome round things? I must try to eat them!

Meeting Mr. Doodle, my parents' pretty rooster

Out for a walk

Telling a great story

There's that cute baby again! She loves her tummy time mirror :)

Picking apples.. she was a big help ;)