FOUR Months!

That's right! Our baby girl turned four months on October 8th...wow! And...by the way...she is sitting up in her boppy pillow for this photo! My big girl.

All about Ashley:
*The girls has got some pipes! She LOVES to squeal and is constantly babbling and shrieking. Especially when she gets tired. And, I mean ear-piercing shrieks! Her big sister also would do the same thing, but Ashley does this ALL the time. Even when getting burped at 5:30am:) Although, Lacy can still make the exact same sounds, we know this because she has decided to join in for a duet most times Ashley gets going.

*If she is not squealing, she is cooing in the most hilarious way. She sounds as if she has completely lost her voice, making VERY hoarse cooing sounds. Just so funny.

*90% of the time she wakes up happy and either cooing, but usually...squealing! Even first thing in the morning, through the monitor I am JOLTED awake from a squealing happy baby.

*She started social smiling at 4 weeks and by one month was smiling all the time.

*She was completely an explosive pooper, and even for her experienced diaper changing mommy-she stumped her and even relied on Lacy's help for a couple changes!(many times Eddy had to help) Happy to say, I think we are past the worst. Lacy is 3 years old and never pooped in the bath tub, Ashley had done it twice before 3 months:)

*At 8 weeks she started purposely reaching for toys and she has great control of her hands. She loves her little gym on the floor and grabs and shakes and sucks on all the toys.

*She smiles a LOT for her family, but is beginning to have stranger anxiety, something Lacy never had.

*She was NOT a good car traveler as a newborn, and I was so happy to have a DVD player in our van for Lacy, as I had to make an hour stop in the middle of our HOUR drive home to feed Ashley!(Since would take me a while to load up, traffic, and then poof two hours were up!)Now, she's a champ!

*She is so patient and only if SUPER hungry will she fall apart.

*She LOVES her big sister.

*She laughed for the first time September 6th at 12wks before bath time when her grandparents were visiting from Montana. But, I have only gotten the beginning of giggles since.

*By 12 weeks she was definitely holding her head up and by 13 weeks we had her forward facing in the Bjorn.

*She's rolling side-to-side, but has not officially rolled over yet.

*She loves her bath and as SOON as the water begins, she smiles and wiggles all over. She also loves the song 'Tub Town' that Lacy and I sing to her every night in the bath. And she gets so excited she fails about, which in turn, makes for lots of splashes. She gets so excited on nights where her big sis joins her in the tub!

*I love when I read her books and she is sitting on my lap, she puts each of her little hands on top of mine and holds tightly while I read her the little board books. Every time.

*Daily routine as of this day. Bath at 4:30pm. Nurse from 5-6pm(my favorite time of the day-I nurse her in our bedroom and quietly watch tv). Sleeps from 6pm-5 or 6am. If 5am, eats and then usually sleeps until 8 or a little later. First nap a little under 2 hours after waking that is normally around 2 and 1/2 hours. The afternoon nap has not quite developed. SO, sometimes she takes 2, half-hour naps. A couple times she has slept for an hour or more that brought her close enough to wait to sleep until bed time routine. She is eating 4 or 5 times in a 24 hour period.

*Going to sleep. She has been such a wonderful sleeper from the start. I will never forget bringing her home from the hospital, nursing her, swaddling her, laying her down awake and she drifted off to sleep..and STAYED asleep for so long. SO different from the first time around! As the weeks went on, we only had to tweak her sleeping slightly. If her pacifier fell out while she was going to sleep, she would fuss and I would pop it in one more time and out she went. Also, at 1/2hr mark at naps, she often would wake. So, we did some extinction sleep training, which has been quite easy overall and smooth. Her sleep is progressing quite like text book I suppose. Now I am able to put her down awake and that's that. Except the afternoon nap, she does put herself to sleep, but mostly not for very long. So, not quite there, but I am sure very soon it will be!

*Just last night for the first time, I put Ashley down unswaddled. Cold turkey. Up until now, each time I put her to sleep I would swaddle her and put her down awake and she would just coo and happily squeal herself to sleep. I read a lot about parents easing their babies out of a swaddle slowly(like an arm at a time) and even get special blankets to transition. But, I thought since she has mastered soothing herself to sleep, she might be fine and it was worth trying cold turkey and saving us a lot of 'hoop jumping'. I wanted to let her try...and NO problem! Except for the afternoon, where she did wake at the 1/2 hr mark and was done. But...overall I take it as a success.

*So obviously, while she was swaddled her arms were down and at her side. Every time I've checked on her since she's been 'free', her arms are up and above her head....TOUCH DOWN! :)

That's all this mommy can think of as of now. And as every mom says, but I truly mean it from the bottom of my heart...as tired and as hard as it is to keep up with all I have to do with my two girls, I just wish I could slow down time and relish in this beautiful stage a while longer. I do appreciate my two tiny blessings and love them deeper than I could have ever imagined. And trust me, I imagined since I was three years old. It's a deep, deep love. I am one blessed momma.