4 month time warp

Where did they go? What happened? I turned around this morning and I had a 4 month old! Everyone talks about how "time flies when you're having fun", and how fast kids grow, and all that good stuff. Truly, though, that concept never really meant much until I had a baby of my own. Now I find myself thinking "Damn, time really does fly!, and yes, they grow so fast!" There is no way to describe it until you are living it.

Her 4 month appointment isn't until later this month, so I don't have stats yet. I can, however, fill in the exciting little things she's been doing. Besides, that's more entertaining than just how much my big-cheeked-baby weighs.

Laughing! She LOVES to smile, and coo, and when something catches her just right she laughs! I think she'll have a deep belly laugh, from the way it sounds now. Her Daddy is the best at making her laugh. Of course, I can understand that - we all laugh at him, too :)

COOing! Oh Lord, if her vocal tendencies are a foreshadowing of what is to come... Pat will have 20,000 more words a day to deal with! lol. She makes all kinds of sounds and squeals.

The Wiggles! No, not a weird TV show, here! The past week or so I've seen a huge difference in her tummy movement. Yikes! She pushes herself WAY up to look around, and just a few nights ago started moving herself around 90degrees circular. When she starts to get antsy her legs come up underneath her, although they don't do her any good yet. Thank God! I keep telling her "none of that nonsense for a LONG time!"

Play Time! She loves interaction, whether with toys or people. Darn those hands that keep pushing the toy away from her mouth, her ultimate goal in life at the moment. We play "Sit Up, Lay Back" with a pillow, which she gets a kick out of since she loves to "sit" up. Cousin Sara also likes Bella to play this game, and we caught her the other day helping Baby play. Uh-Oh! She pulled on her saying "up" and then when I had averted that crisis by helping, Sara pushes on Bella's head saying "lay back!" But Bella is very relaxed with Sara around, and enjoys whatever Sara wants to show her.

Sleeping! Any parent knows that this is the single most important part of infancy - how they are sleeping! She does pretty well at night, getting slowly better at nap time. The landmark this week is that she has moved out of the swing! The swing has worked really really well; however, seeing as though they don't make papasan swings for 1st graders, we knew we would have to transfer her out of it. My little "mover-shaker" is doing great.

Yes, the balloon is stuck to her head with static. Ah, the things we subject our children to... like 6th grade girls. And I have no idea why this picture uploaded so much bigger than the others.

She loves her Daddy time, loud crowds, people, music, dancing, the outdoors (is this my daughter or what?!). She has quite a temper, but cries less and less, with more and more smiles. There are no words that can describe the kind of joy that one experiences watching their baby.

It's been an amazing and blessed 4 months!