4 months

Oh my! Our precious girl is 4 months old?! Time is flying. I am astonished daily by all the new things she can do - and starting to dread mobility, which I know is just around the corner. Eeek. This is such a sweet time. Eliza is a happy, cooing baby who still just lies where I put her and doesn't get into trouble. She is my little companion.

She takes her fingers now, and rejects the passy more and more (a good thing…sort of). Sleeps 12 hours a night. Atta girl! She talks to us eagerly, puts everything in her mouth and is ready to explore the world around her.

At about 3.5 months she started turning the pages of the Cat in the Hat, which I have to say was pretty impressive. She gets very excited about Thing One and Thing Two when they come on the scene (but can we talk for a second about what a creepster the Cat is? Or how appalling it is that the negligent mother just leaves these kids by themselves with the goldfish in charge? Seriously - go back and read it). She's giggling, suddenly ticklish, and continues to be unbelievably STRONG! Our small but mighty little one.

Our little doll baby is finally growing some hair (hard to see - it is blond and about a half an inch long right now). She has grown so attached to us both. My favorite thing in the world is going to get her out of her crib first thing in the morning - huge, excited smiles - and how her face lights up when Daddy comes home from work. We are pretty attached to her too. I spend all day trying to get her to take good naps and go down for the night without a fuss, but as soon as she's asleep for the night I have the indescribable urge to go and hold her. I don't. But I want to.

Here's the exception. So, most of the time, little miss sleeps in her crib. We've been working on sleep training (really the only un-fun part of month 4 - it involves teaching them to self-soothe) and we're making some pretty good strides. But every once in awhile, she successfully fights the nap, passes out mid-meal, and sneaks her nap in on me. Ask me if I put her in her crib when this happens.

Our days continue to be filled with firsts (frequently captured on the iPhone). Like her first rice cereal:

Her first teeth, which may be a few months away yet but we are well into the fun chewing on everything, drooling, fussing phase.

Some days, it's a losing battle against the drool.

Sitting up by herself - though she's been a "supported sitter" for awhile now.

And last week, her first trip to the park - the weather got cooler for a day or two, but we are sadly back into triple digits:

(she liked it, until we bumped into naptime. Thus, the lip came out in full force).

I am so thankful for every inch of her, and in awe of the little personality she is developing. And I so, so love being her mama. Happy 4 months, little E!