Princess, you're almost half a year old! I keep thinking back to this time last year when you were still a teeny tiny little thing in my tummy and only a handful of people knew you existed. I would imagine what my life would be like a year from then and try to picture life with you here. I didn't even know if you were a little boy or girl yet. But you're here now and it's so much better than I could have ever imagined! Life has new purpose and meaning and I've experienced a deep level of love and joy that I didn't know was possible. People always say you don't know how deep you can love until you have a child of your own, and there is really no way to prepare yourself for the truth of that. I love you so much it can sometimes make me physically ache!
You're getting so biggie! At your 4 month well visit you were almost 15 lbs and are finally measuring over the 50th percentile on growth charts. I've started to take you out of your carseat when running errands because it's just so heavy with you in it now! Plus, you prefer to be carried anyways. I am so grateful to your Aunt Sarah for lending me her Ergo!
You give me this look (above) a lot. This is your serious face. You are super observant and prefer to spend your time looking around and taking in the world. You are curious and serious and I think (totally mommy-biased) that you're really intelligent. After a couple of different big events filled with lots of family and people time, I'm starting to think you may be an introvert. People seem to overwhelm and drain you quickly. It takes you a bit of time to recover from trips and family time.
However, you do save a lot of giggles and smiles for mommy and daddy. You think it's hilarious whenever you're on your changing mat or when I put you on our bed and sing to you and lean over and "fall" on to your belly. You laugh and laugh and I do it over and over again until it wears me out. I usually sing a version of Skiddy-Mer-Rink-A-Dink-A-Dink, Skiddy-Mer-Rink-A-Doo, or Baa Baa Black Sheep to get you to smile and laugh.
You're sitting up pretty well on your own now! I'm so proud of each milestone you achieve and am glad for you because you so want more independence. You will still randomly nose-dive after sitting up on your own for a while so I still sit near you while we practice sitting up, but you've got some impressive endurance and strength.
You are sitting up in the bath now and you splash and splash and it's adorable. I love watching you learn new things and experience new things like playing in the tub! You also have discovered the bathwater duck thermometer and try to catch and eat it.
Putting objects in your mouth is definitely a marker of this month. You've pretty much abandoned chewing on your hand in favor of picking up anything in sight and putting it in your mouth. Which makes sense because you are teething! In fact, you have a tooth! It popped up one afternoon! Teething is no fun, it's made you have some rough days and nights. You love to suck on the bottom of cold La Croix cans and have practiced sipping small amounts of water from a baby cup. You also really enjoy grabbing onto puckered lips and noses. Which is adorable, but can be dangerous because you have razor sharp nails that grow at an incredible rate. BUT, mommy is finally more confident when it comes to trimming your nails! Yay!
You are sleeping much better and mommy and daddy are SO, so, so, soooooo grateful! You wake up about once a night now around 1 am and then are up for the day between 5 and 6. We wake up and play for about an hour and a half and then you go down for a long nap (about 2 hours - again, thank you!) and mommy is able to get a nap in too! You're pretty cute when I go in to rescue you from your crib, you arch up and look at me and then smile and I LOVE it! You can move all over your crib now and it's always a surprise to discover which direction you're facing in the morning. You're going to be so happy when you can crawl.
You still love the jumperoo and are using it to jump, jump, JUMP, more and more. You can spin yourself around in it now too. We've hung a bunch of baby links and teething toys from the top parts and you really enjoy that.
Oh, baby girl. I love you so much and am so glad you're my baby! Each month is better than the last (especially now that we are sleeping a bit better!!) and I still wake up every day with excitement that this is my real life and you're here! Love, love, love, LOVE you Olivia Jane!!!
