Four Months

Baby girl!

You're four months old today!  Oh, how strong you're getting.  Your head control gets better every day.  You can track people and things like crazy now.  You've transitioned out of the bassinet into the crib (sniff, sniff).  But, your crib is right by my side of the bed, so you're still close by.  :-)  You'll eventually share a room with Poodle, but for now, you're close to me.  And, you still spend the nights tucked in next to me.  Why?  Because I like it that way!  You're such a snuggle bug!  You'll eventually sleep all by your big girl self, but I'm not giving up snuggling with my little baby quite yet.

You are sitting up quite well in the Bumbo now.  We didn't have this brilliant little contraption when Poodle and Toot were babies...  but it's just great.  And when someone steadies your hands, you like to push up to a standing position with your legs.

Your naps are so-so some days.  I can tell that you would love to have a real schedule, but with two older siblings, that isn't all that possible.  We try, but there's only so much we can do when the others have to be out of the house for school events.  Thus, your naps tend to be in short bursts, which isn't all that great for you.  But we do have days of great naps also.  And no matter what, you're so sweet about it all.

Oh, how you love your Tooter and your Poodle.  They are the best in the world to you.  Just about every morning starts with snuggles in the bed when you wake up.  They adore you too.  Tooter has taken to calling you sweetie a whole lot of the time.

You are pushing up on your arms better and better, and are "rolling over" when you do that.  It's not an intentional roll-over - more of an accidental force of being off-balance.  But you do get yourself on your back at times, and you don't really like that position if no one is around!

You can sometimes get that passie in your mouth by yourself, if it's in your hand in just the right position.  But you still like to suck on your fingers.  We try to discourage that, but at the same time, we don't worry too much about it.

You're grabbing things now, as well as purposefully reaching for things.  You've even begun to almost reach for people!  You love grabbing hair.  Oh, how you love to grab hair.  :-)  You'll give big, open mouthed, slobbery kisses - and I love those so much!  You kiss just how Tooter kissed when he was a baby.  So sweet!

You love to laugh, and it seems that you smile all the time.  You fuss when you're tired or hungry, and that's about it.  You are our joy!!!

We love you!!!

The Kind of Friend I Want to Be

A sweet mom friend of mine recently gave me a very cool thank-you happy for helping her with the Fall Party for our homeschool group.  Who else but another living-the-crazy-life mom could know how appreciated a bar of chocolate and a pair of fuzzy socks can be?

And this got me to thinking.  My last post was a little depressing, I'll admit.  We all have Those Days, but this one just got to me more than usual.  And, I guess I wanted to vent with the hopes that I'd get some encouragement to soldier on.

And I did.  Praise God for who He has put in my life!

Back to what got me to thinking.  We have all kinds of friends in our lives, yes?  And we need all of them - so I'm not saying that any one kind is better than the other.  But I tell you what...  I hope that I can be a chocolate-bar-and-warm-fuzzy-socks type of friend more often.  The kind of friend who wraps you up with understanding and commiseration and encouragement and a little dose of realistic thinking, all the while she/he is praying for you and lifting you up.  That's the kind of friend I want to be to more people.  No judgement.  Just humor and encouragement and some eyes-up talk!

Chocolate and warm fuzzy socks.  Instant smile maker.

Tooter's Speech

I've talked before about how Tooter doesn't speak/listen/comprehend at his age level.  But I know that is sort of a broad thing to say that doesn't necessarily explain our position with him.  It doesn't explain the difficulties that we have with a 4 year old boy (in physical stature) who sometimes relates to us at a younger age level.  His behavior is directly related to his communication skills at times, but that's really hard to explain to people who see a single situation and really don't know anything about us.

Here's an example.  He still relies on a pacifier to help him sleep.  It helps him get back to sleep after scratching episodes in the middle of the night, and I just don't feel guilty about letting him still use one.  HowEVER, he does need to learn to do without it, or it's going to cause issues with his teeth alignment.  So, today, I told him that he is going to need to learn to take his nap with no passie.  (Grammar police, please stand down for a moment).  He tells me, "No Mommy, I need to take a nap with yes passie".

Entry in the Cutest Things Kids Say contest, you say?  Yeah....  it is sort of cute.  Except that I know that he is generally not "getting" what I just said.  It's not just cute talk.  Ahhhh...  I have dreams of having that wonderful personality that allows me to just relax and not worry about things like this.  So I can just let it go and know that this will work itself out.  So I can ignore those people who get judgmental about the behavior issues we have with him, when we're just doing the best we can with the situation at hand.

Blugh.  I think I'm using the blog to vent today.  Lucky you.  :-)  It has been one of Those Days.  Hmmm.  Maybe I just need a Yes Passie of my own.

Three Months Session

Some photos from Lollypop's portrait session!  Family et al, I took all of these, so just let me know which ones you would like and what size you want them in, and I'll have them printed!  It's no problem - the photographer cut me a great deal.  ;-)  Just send me an email.

And a quick CONGRATULATIONS to the Foster family!!!  I'm so glad baby Fiona is here!

And this last one is not a "real" portrait-portrait.  But I sure do love it.  She was such a good girl for me the day we did these!  (And, yes, I do mean day.  It took a lot of short sessions.  But, I was at home with two other, um, helpers.  ;-)  Who still needed to be schooled and fed and put to nap and all those other things that happen during a day).  Sweet Lollypop did such a beautiful job!

For a Giggle

I'm spending today working on getting Lollypop's in-a-dress-studio-portrait 3 month photos today.  This isn't the money shot, but it's so funny...  It just makes me laugh!  Who doesn't love a big gummy grin from a baby?