Emily is 4 Months

This is getting ridiculous. Four months? It can't be true! Time is flying by so quickly I feel as though I just want to grab onto the minutes ticking by and try and slow time down! No matter how much I want to admit it, my sweet Emily is now four months old. I hate saying it because it seems so old to me. Although the first weeks in a baby's life are so hard, I like knowing that I have an itty bitty peanut of a baby. I certainly can't say that about Emily these days.

So much of an awareness explosion happened this month. She just seems to be so happy in her own little environment these days. She watches everyone move throughout the house, she is sleeping so well, she's eating really well, and she is inching up on some physical milestones that will really change her appearance from a newborn to a full fledged baby baby.

Emily has been laughing most of this month. Sheis laughing and smiling at most everything we throw her way- even when we aren't trying to make her laugh. I was talking sternly to one of the kids the other day and I looked down at her and she was smiling in my arms thinking I was hilarious! What? I was just yelling at your brother and sister and that is funny to you? She really is understanding that Damien and I are her Daddy and Mommy. She will see me and start kicking her legs in excitement and if someone is holding her and she sees me- she will lean forward in the hopes that I will take her from them. Emily also seems to hold this little special smile for her Daddy first thing in the morning. Emily and I smile together in bed in the groggy first hours of the morning- but when Daddy says hi, she kind of throws her neck back in pure bliss and gives him the best smile ever. I love it! She had her four month check up this month and she is growing like a champ. She now weighs 17 pounds (over 95%) and is 25 inches long (80%). This is what all of my kids have done in terms of growth. Slow and steady for the first two months and then they shoot up and gain/grow. The doctor said she was really healthy and was pleased to confirm that the VCU was negative- clearing her of any further testing and or risks associated with her hospitalization last August.

Overall, Emily is a very good baby. Thank you God- because if my fourth had colic or was difficult, I would be in some serious trouble. This month Emily made some big trips. She went to Disneyland and also went to Seattle to visit my family. She continues to have her siblings by their heartstrings as they think EVERYTHING she does is the cutest thing ever. Some of her nicknames right now are Emilini (Matthew refers to her using this name), Emmy, Sweet baby, Emilino, Embo, and Emilina. I know- we're crazy. Her beautiful blue eyes are so breathtaking and we still don't have an official 'color' of hair as she doesn't have that much of it yet. She has loved reaching out and grabbing things this month and can play for long chunks of time by herself. At night she is waking to eat anywhere from three to five hours at a time. Napwise, Emily rocks and will take naps as long as two to three hours long. She is great in the car and puts up with our ridiculously busy schedule. One of my favorite things to watch her do is play with her hands. She'll be on her back and bring them midline and thinks they are so cool. She moves her fingers in slow motion and just lays there mesmorized! Emily has started teething and is drooling a lot. Poor thing. I do love her big gummy mouth and am not looking forward to seeing teeth in there . . . yet.

There are a few cute things I want to remember about my four month old Emily. The first is that she is currently scared to look in the mirror. I will be holding her in front of me and talking to her in the mirror and all of the sudden she will break into hysterical crying like she is scared do death. I don't know why she does this but I think it is kinda cute. Not that she gets scared- but that the reflection of Mommy and Emily in the mirror scares her. How silly! Maybe she sees me and gets confused that I am in the mirror and not with her? Who knows! The second thing I love is that Emily does what we call, Big Lip. When she gets sad or mad, she doesn't just cry. She sticks out her bottom lip so far and wiggles back and forth a little until she can work out a little whimper. It is so cute! In fact, now all the kids do Big Lip. So funny.

In closing, Emily's fourth month was amazing. Someone asked me the other day how old she was and I told them four months. Then they said, 'I bet you wish time would go by more quickly. It will be so much easier when you don't have to hold her all day'. The truth is- I want time to slow down. Is my life crazy right now? Oh yeah. Am I busier than I have ever been in my whole life? For sure! But these days are so precious and I will never get them back. I have changed my shirt three times today (no joke)- not because I want to be more fashion forward- but because I have been spit up on all day long. Someday, I am sure I will be able to wear one shirt all day long and keep it clean. The 'clean shirt days' are coming and until I get there, I am going to enjoy holding this little sweetheart who is just waiting for me to change my shirt so she can spit up on me again.