4 Months old; 7-23-10

Amelia turned 4 months old the end of last week.  She is growing and changing so fast!  We go next week for her 4 month check-up so I will post then how much she weighs and her length.  Amelia will now roll over almost all the way.  She will get her leg over and lean her shoulder but not quite all the way yet.  She loves to talk and loves music.  Any toys that make music or when Dan or I sing to her she just is captivated.  Her new favorite toy is a group of flowers that have textured petals.  When she grabs the petals it will play a song and the flowers light up!  Amelia is now taking a nice 1 - 1 1/2 hour nap in the morning and a great 2 hour nap in the afternoons.  She has also discovered that she can stand up (with us holding her steady)- but she just loves to stand.  We are getting her a jumperoo this weekend at our local consignment sale and we are hoping she will love it.  She has not quite found her feet yet- although just yesterday she grabbed both of her legs just below her knees.  In the evenings, she loves to go outside!  We usually take a walk around our neighborhood or play with our dogs in the backyard.  Amelia is just fascinated watching the dogs run around playing fetch.

Amelia just loves her Daddy.  If I am feeding her right when he gets home from work or first thing in the morning, as soon as she hears his voice she will stop eating and turn her head to look at him with a huge grin on her face.  As he greets her with a kiss and talks to her, she will smile and coo for a minute before I can convince her to finish eating.  Our new favorite sound- hearing Amelia laugh.

I am going to have to get more creative with the pictures with the bear.  Amelia will just not sit still in her crib or propped up in the glider.  It took two days to get some good pictures this time.

The final product was worth all the difficulty.  I finally got a sweet smile :)

Day one- started off in the crib like the past several times.  Amelia would wriggle around so much I could never get a good picture.

So I tried propping her up with the bear in the glider rocker . . . and this is what happened.

So I moved her to the floor . . . hoping that laying on her back would be better. Not so much at first- she kept grabbing the paper- I think she liked the crinkly sound it made.

 Finally I caught a smile :)

 

Serious baby

On to day two- I'm really hoping for a big grin with the bear and the sign.  Is that too much to ask an active 4 month old?

I love her little feet up in the air here

She may look innocent

Finally! We are on a roll now!

or so I thought . . .

Amelia is so much fun- I love my sweet baby girl so much and praise God for this amazing blessing!  I treasure these special moments and memories . . . she is growing up so fast.

The Saga of the Rubber Duckey

This bath started out regular enough for Rubber Duckey. He loved when Amelia kicked her legs and made the water slosh all around.

Rubber Duckey loved when Amelia would grab him and drop him back in the water.

He was always placed on Amelia's belly and heard the song "Rubber Duckey, You're the One".  His favorite part was then they danced him around in the air and put him up to Amelia's face for a kiss.

Ohh how Rubber Duckey loved Amelia until . . .

What happened next can only be described as tragic. He was getting closer to her mouth.

That's when it happened.  Amelia grabbed Rubber Duckey and went in for the kill.

A quick good-bye snuggle . . .

and it was all over!

Yummy! Boy that Rubber Duckey tasted good :)

I hope I can "enjoy" Rubber Duckey at every bath!

Business trip tag-a-longs

This past weekend Dan had to go on business to an office about 45 minutes north of Nashville, TN.  Amelia and I decided to tag along and enjoy the hotel :)  Amelia did great in the car on this trip- sleeping some of the way there and back (about  3hrs each way).  While Daddy was working Amelia and I went to the local mall and hung out in our hotel room. 

This is a picture of Dan and my things for the 4 day weekend . . .

and now Amelia's things for the trip . . . that doesn't include her car seat or stroller.

My sweet 3 1/2 month old in one of my many favorite outfits :)

Amelia and I loved napping in the big king sized bed.  Amelia looked so small in that huge bed.

At home we don't sleep or nap with Amelia in our bed.  But since Daddy was working all weekend it was so sweet to snuggle with Amelia for her naps.

Daddy was able to join us for some fun in the pool! I had been having a hard time finding swim diapers that would fit Amelia. All the ones I could find started at babies that were 16lbs.  In a last effort I went to the Toys R Us  on our trip and found a small reusable swim diaper that was for babies 13lbs to16 or 18lbs I believe. It's a little big on Amelia but it worked with the adorable swim suit pulled up over it.

Swimming is hard work for a little girl . . . so we rested in the lounge chair.

Check out the wild curly hair :)

Amelia just looks so adorable in hats!

What a great little get-away!

4th of July Fun

The past couple of years Dan and I have tried different fireworks displays around our area and have been disappointed.  Although last year at Stone Mountain was awesome, the displays we have been to around the Chattanooga area were nothing in comparison to what we both grew up with in Florida. This year we decided to try Pops in the Park- a evening in Coolidge park complete with an orchestra and of course fireworks.  We set up our chairs right on the Walnut street bridge and awaited the fireworks.  Amelia was captivated by all the people.  She didn't get scared or startled at all at the fireworks. This was her expression throughout the whole 10-15 minute show . . .

It was a great fireworks show . . .  just not long enough in our opinions :)

The next evening, on the 4th, we decided to go to see Toy Story 3 at a local Drive-In Theatre.  It ended up being sold out so we returned home to set off our own fireworks in the driveway.  We were in for a real treat though- a neighbor just a road up from us had some incredible fireworks.  Their "show" was better than the one we saw at Pops in the Park!  Next year we plan to just enjoy the festivities of our neighbors :)  Sparklers are a must for 4th of July- Amelia was just in awe of the lights and sounds.

We also spent some time checking out a new trail in our area.  There is a land trust up on Lookout Mountain that is only open 2 Saturdays a month with a trail to a big waterfall- we are hoping to see that one soon. But, they just opened the Nickajack trail year round so we thought we would check it out.

What a beautiful trail through the woods! It is open to hikers, mountain biking and horseback riding.  I usually prefer trails that follow along a creek or end up at a waterfall- but this was a pretty trail. We did a 5 mile round-trip and we were exhausted!  Of course, Dan had to show off what bib Amelia was wearing that day. Amelia loves to ride face out now in the Bjorn- she is so curious!