4 Months

 Four months. Four months!!! I can't believe it's been 4 months since this baby girl joined our family. I was home from work today with our Emme because she came down with her first flu yesterday! It broke my heart to see her so uncomfortable. But today, we're giving thanks because her fever is gone and she seems happier with each passing minute. 

 This little one has been changing lots lately. For starters, she officially sleeps in her own room now. Last week we decided to try out the crib for the entire night, and she did great. She woke up once to feed at 4:30. The next night, she did the same. And the rest of the week (with the exception of last night when she was sick) she slept through the ENTIRE night! Two mornings I even had to wake her up at 6:30 to eat. Woo hoo!!!!

 Emmerson also started daycare officially on 9-23. She went for one day and then was home for most of the week because her brother came down with the previously mentioned flu bug. More on that later... it was a LONG week. Thankfully Oma and Grampie came to the rescue and took on the kiddos for the majority of the week while they were home. 

 Emme continues to be the sweetest and easiest baby imaginable. She's had a few random episodes of that "stranger danger" phase where she'll freak out when someone new says hi to her. But other than that, she rarely cries much at all. 

 She drinks 5 ounce bottles every 2-3 hours. I am making JUST enough to keep up with her each day and I hope I'll continue to because this girl loves her bottles! She has officially doubled her birth weight and is weighing in at just under 14 pounds. She's been in size 2 diapers for a month and is officially wearing 6 months clothing. I had to pack away lots of her cute 3 month outfits this past weekend. 

 Emme's hair continues to fall out all day every day. I predict there will be no more by next month's pictures. We'll see. She has lots of fine baby hairs growing underneath that look more like Donovan's blonder hair. We make up for the hair loss with extra large headbands. Ha! 

 Our little peanut has her hands in her mouth 24-7. I'm pretty sure the teething process has begun. I remember Donovan did this for months before his first tooth actually broke through. 

 Emmerson loves sitting up with support now. She is so alert and loves to watch everything around her. She laughs when Donovan does silly things or when Molly runs by her quickly when we're out in the yard. 

 She studies everything. Like, how she's staring at her hands in this picture. She's already so observant.

And oh, the drool! Lots and lots of it all day, every day. 

Our Emmerson Grace, 

This month you have made us laugh so much and you have made me fall in love with you even more deeply. I love that your tiny, little toes are ticklish and how you have the sweetest voice when you babble to yourself in the mornings. Thank you for brightening our days. You make our family so complete. We love you precious girl!

xoxo,

Mommy

smiles & toes

smiles

& toes

This is what we've been up to lately. Donovan has discovered his feet and he just won't let go of them.

They have become his very favorite toy of all.

His Daddy took him in for his belated 4 month well baby visit to the doctor yesterday. He's 27 inches and 15.10 pounds. Which put him in the 93% for height but only about 50% for weight. I can't say enough about how fun this month has been. Donovan "sings" alllllllll day and allllllll night. His voice just cracks us up. He also squeals in delight... LOUDLY!

Love, love, love our baby boy!

I am 99% certain...

that Dustin and I have created the cutest human being to ever grace this Earth...

Just sayin'

More of the same...

So I think I underestimated the recovery part of this journey. I'm not sure if it's from medication or what. I guess some of it's to be expected. The last time I was recovering I was dealing with a 7 pounder. Carrying a 16 pounder up and down the stairs and to and from play mat to swing to jumperoo is no walk in the park. I'm exhausted physically and emotionally.

Understandably, I have spent a whole lot of time napping lately. (Thank God for my mom who's been here to hold down everything else in my absence from typical motherly/wifely duties.) But I've been developing some super bad habits along the way... See pictures below.

Donovan has been having some odd changes in his sleeping pattern of late. Our bedtime rituals remain the same: bath time, change and lotion from Daddy, nursing from Mom and off to dreamland... and peace and quiet pretty much throughout the night. But the last few nights, when dreamland is supposed to begin, Donovan wakes up screaming about every 20 minutes for the next hour or two. We've tried both sides of the spectrum: letting him cry it out and spoiling him with rocking and cuddling to soothe his sad little tantrums. Nothing has been working! We're convinced that he must be ready for a tooth to break through. But in the mean time this break in our routine is not pretty!

I'm blaming this on the fact that I can't just pop in and out of bed like I usually do, but lately I've been scooping up my little bear and taking him to our bed to snuggle. This has been the one and only way that I've been able to extend his sleep, and ours for that matter. I can already see you shaking your head at me. I know it's bad, but with the current circumstances it's the only way I can comfortably get by.

I sure hope as I am feeling better and have the energy to go back and forth, back and forth between rooms again that I can nip this one in the bud. If not, I am putting in a call to Super Nanny immediately!

More sleepless nights have created lazy days around here too. I haven't left the house since surgery day and it is driving me insane! I'm not allowed to lift anything and so toting Donovan around in his car seat to and fro is out of the question. I need to come up with a solution and quick because I am so stir crazy!

On the cup half full side, I get to enjoy my boys being lazy with me.

Today we lounged in the sun drenched guest room reading quietly while Donovan was trying to get his Daddy's attention.

Looking at these pictures makes me smile. I love these boys!

Half full or maybe even two thirds, I would say.

Now off to get some more zzzzzz's. Wish me luck.

Random

These pictures are all just random snap shots... but before I forget about these mini milestones I wanted to post the things that have been making me smile lately.

The last few weeks Donovan LOVES to be in the standing position. He always tries to pull himself up when you're holding him and if you hold him in the standing position he looks so proud of himself.

Don't mind that I'm nursing my main man in this picture... Dustin snapped this to show Molly's latest hang out place. Every night before Donovan is going to bed, Molly sneaks in and lays behind the glider. Then, when Donovan's finished eating, and I put him down in his crib, Molly gets up and walks out of the room right next to me. Poor Molls has been so neglected lately. She loves Donovan and is always close by him. She's the best dog! (Just extremely neglected as of late) Does any one else suffer from ignoring your doggie guilt? Our whole world revolved around Molls just a few short months ago... my, how things have changed.

And we finally got a picture of what I had mentioned in little man's 4 month post. I LOVE that he always has his tiny hand on our faces when we hold him lately. It is so sweet! He laughs when I kiss or "zerbert" his hand or he'll just fall asleep brushing it through my hair or across my cheek.

He does it to Daddy too.

And this is D's favorite hang out spot these days. My talented Momma made this wrap for me. I think it's a lot more comfortable than the Baby Bjorn and it saves my arms from having to rock this ever growing boy.

And finally just a random picture of when Grammie was here. Dustin had been going through all of his old clothes in our big spring cleaning of the closets phase. He even put one of his shirts on Dono and Molls.

Sometimes I think we're probably the weirdest family ever... but I love us that way.

4 Months

4 months old! How can it be? I can't believe our precious boy is already 4 months old! A friend of mine told me recently, "If you can get to 4 months... you've made it!" I have to agree whole heartedly. I wish I could freeze time right now. Donovan is so sweet and unbelievably cuddly and I'm already dreading the times that he'll push away longing to crawl or walk on his own. For now, he is content just snuggling in his Momma's arms and I am trying to soak up every single minute.

He's changed so much since last month. As you can see by these pictures he smiles ALL the time. He laughs a lot more too. Sometimes he'll crack up for no reason at all. But most of the time he's squealing and giggling when his mommy and daddy tickle him or try to nibble on his neck. He babbles all of the time now. We have woken up many mornings to him talking away over the monitor. Like you can see in the pictures in my last post, he looks right at his little giraffe and babbles on and on. It's probably my favorite thing!

But I can't just have one favorite thing.... there's so much more. When Dustin and I hold him, he loves to put his hand up and touch our faces. I'll have to get a picture of him doing this soon. It comforts him when he's crying or soothes him as he is falling asleep. A lot of times he'll look up at me and then just slowly brush his little hand through my hair. There's nothing better!

Donovan has become so much better at using his hands. He grabs all of his toys from his activity mat and pulls on them. I was driving in the car this afternoon and I heard a weird noise coming from the back seat. I realized he was pulling on this little toy that dangles from the top of his car seat. When he pulls on it and let's go, it vibrates. I laughed just listening to him doing it over and over again. Every day he does something new that amazes me. He's officially rolling over. He rolled over last week from his back to his tummy. I'm so bad about tummy time so it was only natural that he'd roll this way first (even though it's backwards according to traditional milestones.) But just a few days later he rolled from tummy to back and today every time I put him on his tummy he rolled right over.

I just asked Dustin what else I'm forgetting and he said, "I don't know... he's just so much fun right now!" I agree. We are sooooo in love with our baby boy.

Here he is at months 1, 2, 3, & 4.

Chunkier, more smiley, and now almost completely bald! Ha!

Click on the picture to enlarge. For some reason I can't resize it any larger.

Joy

Today I am loving my adorable little man.

Here are some snapshots of the bitty things that make my heart melt each day.

tasty fingers

kissable little toes

sweet cheeks, smart eyes

round belly & drool covered fists

chatting with his giraffe buddy before nap time

Love, love, love this baby boy!