4 months

The book The Happiest Baby On The Block says that the first three months of a baby's life is more like a fourth trimester. What the author means is that the first three months the baby behaves the same as he/she did in utero (eat, sleep, poop, fuss, wants to feel snug). After that the baby's personality begins to blossom and get more interactive and fun. Boy, or in our case, girl was he right. This past month has been so full of all kinds of interaction that I'll have to start blogging more often just to keep up!! 

 Blakelyn has discovered her hands. 

Whoa a left hand. 

 Not in the sense of what her hands can do, but in the sense that she can self sooth by sucking her fingers! She used to take a pacifier (and still does from time to time), but now that she has her fingers, we rarely ever need to get a pacifier. Blakelyn doen't just suck any fingers, well actually yes any fingers will do, but she is inclined to her left hand middle and ring fingers. Does that mean we may have a lefty in our midst? 

 We have noticed all along that Blakelyn likes to nap with her arms up or out, more like cheerleading moves than restful slumber. 

(Not going to lie, she does look like Austin Powers in this one)

 We usually let her nap however she wants to during the day and swaddle her only at night (and when she needs to calm down for a nap). 

Fighting to fall asleep, literally. You can see her fist, left hook.

 One morning I went in to get her and noticed Blakelyn's left hand peeking out the top of the swaddle. She had a big smile on her face as if she was saying "look what I did mom!!!" By the time I got the camera the excitement had passed and her expression was more of a "buzz kill, you took too long, I'm done." 

Since birth we haven't had to use the baby monitor since Blakelyn's room is across from ours and that her "voice" is loud enough to catch our attention. She has also slept in her own room since birth since she is a loud sleeper and often grunts throughout the night. One night I heard Blakelyn grunting exta loudly at 3:30a. Loudly enough that I wanted to check on her, but as soon as I got dressed, she stopped. That morning when I went in to get her, I found this: 

Left arm free!!

 So that's what she was doing at 3:30a! Since then we have not swaddled her and haven't heard any grunting. I guess she never liked sleeping swaddled! 

 Stats from her 4 month checkup: 

 Weight: 12.3 lbs. (25th percentile) 

Height: 25.25 inches. (90th percentile) 

Head circumference: 

 Her check up went well. Blakelyn was calm when we got there and through most of the appointment. However, when she got pricked for her immunizations... She noticed something hurt. Her eyes shot wide, she paused for a second, then began whaling! No fear a few minutes later she was calm and fell asleep. Way to take it like a WOman, Blakelyn! 

Here's some random pictures taken this month:

Went for a walk on a rather chilly evening with our snow bear:

 Cute outfit:

 Giggling with the baby in the mirror:

Not rolling over yet, but so close... 

Valentine's Day outfit:

You can't really see it, but I sewed ruffles on the back side... I didn't get a picture of the back because...

She had a massive blowout that had to be changed. 

So this was her "punishment."  

Laundry needed to be done and this is all I could find that was girly and romantic.

We went to Nashville for my niece's, Caroline, 2nd Birthday.

Blakelyn, Caroline, Claire

Caroline is saying "shhh" to Blakelyn to calm her down.  

We laid Claire and Blakelyn out next to each other...

Blakelyn is longer, but they are both 12lbs!!

Yep, 10 weeks age difference... Claire sure is solid!

Finally, the official 4 month photo shoot:

This is the nursing chair, I guess she has grown accustomed to the association.

4 months, still not interested in the ball.

Leaning towards Sofia being an interest... or just falling over.

Yep, just falling over.  

Blakelyn has begun crunching which leads to trunk movement and squirming.

She makes this position a lot.

Crunch:

Our little moth.  Always finding a light to look at.

"I'm over this mom!"

Month 3 Beginnings

Blakelyn's personality is beginning to show.  According to the books, the first three months of a baby's life are considered "the fourth trimester" where you can only expect a child to eat, sleep, poop, fuss.  I have heard that around the fourth month is when it begins to get fun. So her 4 month blog post should be much more fun! 

Stats (unofficial):

weight: 12 lbs

height: 25 inches

sleep: 9pm-7am (roughly)

This month I began going to the YMCA since Blakelyn had to be 8 weeks old before we could go.  Going to the Y has become part of our daily schedule and we both enjoy a schedule.  As I mentioned Blakelyn is beginning to show her personality: she will coo back and forth with us, she will gaze at her hand (when it comes into her field of vision), and is beginning to realize that she can suck on more than just a pacifier.  But again, it is all just a beginning to.

On to pictures:

Her facial expressions are beginning to show from this:

To this in a split second:

Perhaps we have a tea drinker:

For her 3rd month photo shoot we snapped a countless amount of pictures only because her facial expressions changed so rapidly.  I'll spare you the hundred or so we took...

The whales on the curtains in her room are quite fascinating to look at:

(do notice that she is not buckled in the bouncer...)

Gummy smile:

"What I'm 3 months old!":

The lonely chair:

"You can put the ball near me, but I will only bat it away... hey do you know there are whales on the curtains":

"Not to sure about this pink bear invading my space":

"Yep, nope, definitely not enough space for the two of us":

The "big thing" we did this month was to go to Nashville to meet a new family member, 

Elizabeth Claire Homlar

Blakelyn and Claire:

Funny how much bigger Blakelyn is compared to a real newborn.  

Amazing what a 10 week difference makes!

A better look at Claire's face:

All the cousins:

Claire, Caroline, Blakelyn

Even Lily got in on the picture taking:

Hand Sucker

Now that Blakelyn is about to turn 3 months... I suppose I should update what she did during her second month...  

Since she is growing so fast I had forgotten to get a photo shoot of her in newborn clothing (that she maybe wore for 2 weeks).  So at 1.5 months I decided to cram her back into newborn clothing and take some pictures. 

Newborn clothing photo shoot (revisited):

chillin' on the pink bear:

this is the outfit I bought when I found out I was pregnant with a little girl!

 gummy laugh:

 This is as stretched out as her legs could get:

notice that she is beginning to bald

Sophia looks delicious enough to eat:

My favorite tie dyed onesie.

 This picture kind of creeps me out.  Between the funky balding, the low pulled neckline, and wanting to eat Sophia... This shows just how small the onesie had gotten.

I now know that I will need to have a photo shoot every time I put Blakelyn into a cute outfit.

Therefore...

Kind of leery about what mom is going to do:

Yep, tummy time for a photo shoot.  Just had to show off the cute ruffles.

Every girl loves pearls! (and cloth diapers!)

Cute sneeze:

And finally her official 2 month photo shoot:

We have a hand sucker, not thumb, her whole hand:

Big yawn on her bear:

Sporting her vaccine war wounds, three gender neutral yellow circus Band-Aids.

Perhaps I can bring our cute hello kitty girly Band-Aids next time.

We weren't in Hunstville for Blakelyn's first month photo shoot and I wanted to get the "watch me grow" series that everyone else does.  So we'll have to "Watch Her Grow" from two months on.

In the glider by her lonesome:

So I added Sophia, but Sophia was too small:

So I added the homemade ball sewn by Grandma JJ, but Blakelyn was bored:

I added the clown made by Great Grandma Grammy, and Blakelyn chatted it up:

But Blakelyn was bigger than all the rest, so I added the big pink bear, and Blakelyn was back to sucking her hand. 

Close Up:

I originally intended Blakelyn to be sitting next to the big pink bear, but the bear is bigger than I expected.

Christmas

I can't believe I didn't get around to posting about Christmas... well I guess there is a reason I forgot... I'd like to forget it. 

We went to Atlanta for Christmas to celebrate with my family.  Blakelyn was 6 weeks old at the time and it was our first long trip with her.  We had traveled to Birmingham (2 hours) when she was 4 weeks old.  That was the trip that we realized what we needed and what we could do without.  A kind of "test run" for traveling with her. We figured traveling to Atlanta would not be as stressful since we "had figured out how to do so."  HA!  The traveling aspect wasn't too bad, we realized Blakelyn travels best in the morning (she is sleeping or at least chill in the mornings).  However, as soon as we stepped into my parents house... Blakelyn began wailing FOR THE ENTIRE VISIT THERE!!

Looking back we assumed she was going through a growth spurt, but at the time we were about to go crazy.  She nursed just about every hour, fussed when anyone held her (including us), barely napped, and woke up a lot during the night.  The only time she was pleasant was when she was asleep or a few rare moments in the morning.  

We didn't get too many pictures since we were preoccupied... but what we got were these:

 Asleep while traveling:

A little worried about a diaper change:

I think I might be ok here:

Our little quasi happy content elf:

(yes, I'll say what your thinking)

Picture with mom:

and one with dad:

While our gremlin slept, I played with my new iPad:

Devil horns! or some kind of animal!

I've been decapitated!

I think this one is suppose to pick up on heat sensing... does this mean my hands have no circulation...

 And to sum up our Christmas (notice how angry Blakelyn is in this picture)

We had to get one family picture, even if we were tired and gritting "just take the freaking picture."