4 Months

4 Months old and our little squish is such a mover. She wants to crawl so badly, she can occasionally get her knees under her but can't actually coordinate them to move. She can really go on her belly though, it's not unusual for us to put her down at one end of her play space and find her on the other a minute later. While we don't see any teeth popping out yet, she's chewing on anything and everything that she can get in her mouth. Her hands, our hands, her toys, her clothes, my boob, my braided pigtails, anything she can gnaw on with those super strong gums. She can allllmost sit up on her own, you can watch her mind trying to work out gravity and the act of balance.

She really found her feet at 15 weeks and since then she hasn't wanted to let them go. She's been trying to get them for awhile but I think she had to wait for her legs to get long enough to reach around her fluffy cloth butt. She has such long legs for a little one, while she can wear a 3-6 month in pants and shirts, we've had to switch out all her jammies with feet for 6-9 months. To our absolute delight, she's started to laugh over the past month, this deep, belly giggle that just melts my heart right into a puddle.

She loves kisses from her mama, watching her kitties, grabbing her daddy's nose.

She raises her eyebrow and smiles with her mouth wide open when she roots in her sleep.

She's curious, tenacious, stubborn, full of joy and wonder.

Towards the end of three months, she started to hit the 4 month sleep regression, which seems improperly named to me since it's a permanent change in how her brain processes sleep. Prior to this, most babies experience only deep sleep, which is one of the reasons they can sleep anywhere. Around 4 months their brains begin to change and they start to experience a more adult sleep pattern - light sleep, deep sleep, light sleep - the natural sleep cycle. This leads to a whole lot of wake ups and some serious cranky babies and parents, but she doesn't seem to be too bad. There were maybe three days where she was waking up at night crying, she really values her sleep and has no more desire to be awake at 3am than we do, but she's been doing fairly well since. We really love co-sleeping with her, it's a true sanity saver for our family and I don't know how we'd get such good sleep without it. Feeling her breathe is the only way I know how to sleep now.

3 Months!

My sweet girl is 3 months old! She's officially out of her newborn diapers *sniff* and is getting so big. She mastered, as in not just a one off, rolling front to back at 9 weeks and rolling back to front at 12 weeks. She can scoot all over her playmat on her tummy and loves the new jumperoo we just bought her. She instinctively knew how to spin the toys and she talks to herself while she plays with them, processing her world. She's such a happy baby. 

As of right now, her likes include being outside, bath time, her fingers, books, boobie, and melting her parent's hearts. Her dislikes include naps, being put down, having to wear clothes and artificial boobies. She looks at me like I'm absolutely crazy when we offer her a bottle or pacifier. Surely, bottles can't actually be for eating, no, they must be for chewing or grabbing or throwing on the floor, but definitely not for eating.

It's Time for Dodger Baseball

Summer is here and it's baseball season! Baseball is a pretty big part of our lives, it makes up the bulk of E's summer work schedule and he's a huge fan as well. We used to have season tickets to the Dodgers for several years until E ended up working all the games. Baby A is going to grow up around a lot of sports and sports production, the only reason she hasn't already visited her daddy at work is her lack of immunities. Since I'm so allergic, we've been working hard with her pediatrician to try and find her latex free vaccines and until we get that sorted out, we're staying away from most crowds. Until then, A and I will be enjoying the games at home! 

Rockin' and Rollin'

I can't believe it but baby A is officially on the roll! We haven't been doing a lot of dedicated tummy time, most of it has been her hanging out on my chest, but we did just recently start putting her on her mat since she's beginning to be more aware of her toys. She especially likes these plastic rings my mom found from when I was a baby and they proved to be the perfect incentive for rolling and scooting.

She's been scooting on her belly since 8 weeks and can manage some serious distance when she wants something but the rolling just happened yesterday. She was hanging out on her mat, studying her rings when she just decided to go over. Then she did it again, and again, and again later when E got home. Of course the only video I could get was her rolling off the side of the mat, but it still counts. 

Of course I was hoping she'd stay stationary a bit longer, a stationary baby is much easier to keep track of when you want to say go pee or grab something to drink, but it's clear that nothing is going to keep this baby down. Holding her head up at birth, rolling over at 9 weeks, what's next, college??

When your best friend has four legs...

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Happy 5th Birthday Milou!

Today is Milou's 5th birthday! She has proven to be such a wonderful big fur sister to baby A. She watches over her while she's sleeping, comes over to see what's wrong when she cries, and if A is ever on the floor, Milou has to come over to clean her feet and ears. She adores her.

I feel pretty rotten that Milou has been out of her classes for so long, we had to stop going when I got too big to move around easily and now with baby A here, we haven't been able to go back yet. I'm still not sure if it's even possible to manage her classes with a baby, but if there's any way to do it I intend to find a way to make it work. Milou is such a good girl and I know she's really missing the exercise and interaction. Hopefully I can get her back into at least one of them as a birthday gift.

Caught a Smile

Caught one of the sweetest smiles on camera. Baby A has been smiling since between 4 and 5 weeks and each one just melts my heart. I can't get enough of this amazing little person!

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Happy 1 Month to My Sweet Love

Somehow, incredibly, baby A is already a month old. I have no idea how this happened, I still can't believe we were pregnant in the first place, and she's already getting so big. This little girl is the center of our world and we are so in love. After hearing everyone talk I expected motherhood to be more challenging, breast feeding trouble, baby blues, colic and crying, but instead it feels like we are two pieces of the same whole. I'm so happy it seems ridiculous. When she wakes up at night to eat and looks at me with those deep eyes I'm so happy to see her that I don't feel tired. She's a champion nurser, breast feeding is coming so naturally to us, and when the sleepiness hits in the afternoon, we curl up together on the couch and nap where I can feel her breathe and smell the top of her sweet head. She's been in cloth diapers for about two weeks now and those are working out brilliantly, no blow outs and E has been taking care of the laundry which is super simple. Life is good. 

 

At one month old, Baby A...

Likes:
- Left Boobie
- "Other" Boobie
- Sleeping on Boobie
- Being in Mama's arms
- Pulling mama's hair
- Sleeping in
- Napping with mama
- Being swaddled
- Bouncing on the yoga ball with daddy

Dislikes: 
- Gas. This is the devil.
- Being put down
- Mama going pee
- Mama eating with both hands 
- The car seat
- Being out of mama's arms

Basically, this baby is always happy in my arms and since I'm happy with her in my arms and never want to put her down, we'll just go on cuddling and snuggling for the rest of forever.