Life's a Beach: Four Months!

4 months! We're in the thick of it. We are past the newborn sleepy phase and the super super fussy phase. We got past the 12 week mark where you think things are going to start to get easier, but never really do phase and now were are at month 4. The "I want to move phase."

Annabelle started rolling over a few weeks ago. She can go both ways, but doesn't go from her belly to back as much and was getting really mad on her belly. This changed within the last day. She is finally content being on her belly, pushing up into cobra and lifting her head high in the air for long periods of time. Prior to rolling we swaddled her for sleeping. After she learned to roll over, we had to stop the swaddle. This was a hard transition -- anyone who has been around sleeping babies knows of their flailing arms every time they wake/transition to the next sleep cycle. Swaddling keeps them from doing that -- so they seamlessly move from one sleep cycle to the next. Well, Miss Annabelle always hated the swaddle, but would give in. And then her super baby strength coupled with her determination to roll over made it quite clear that we would swaddle no more. And so we have had to help her move from one sleep cycle to the next without feeding her/without a ton of intervention. She was (is) up a lot and it was (is) not easy on Mama! (or Daddy because he has to field the between feedings/rock her back to sleep). It has been three weeks and not a whole lot of consecutive hours of sleep happening! However, last night she gave me a gift - she slept 7:30 to 3am! and then until 6am. (What changed? The belly -- she is finally content to sleep on her belly. Thank goodness!) 24 hours ago I was wondering how I will ever manage to go back to work/drive my hour commute/and use my brain in a useful attorney-like way with so little sleep. If she sleeps like she did last night, I will be able to do it!

Annabelle is grabbing and pulling everything (hair! earrings! necklaces!) she can get her hands on. When on her belly, she is turning herself in a circle so she is always in the action. She is also pushing herself backwards and sliding across the wood floor. She is also already trying to pull her knees up under herself... oh boy! If she's on the Henry track, she'll be crawling in no time. Let's hope she gives us a little more of a breather than her older brother!

We went to the doctor on her 4 month bday. Stats:
Weight: 15lbs, 15oz
Length: 25 inches

Dr. said she's perfect, just need to get her sleeping more at night! (Easier said than done, Doc. Unless he's offering to come over and help out!) She got her 2nd round of vaccines which brought on a mild fever, but was back to her old smiley self in a day.

Annabelle's big brother continues to make her smile the biggest, laugh the hardest, and engages with her on a level we can't. Her head whips around whenever she hears his voice and always want to be near him. Henry continues to love his "baby sister" and want to squeeze her head. (yes, head, not hand) When Annabelle starts really moving, he better watch out!

"Hey baby sister.."

Bam!

Big brother Henry is also doing great. His 3rd birthday is right around the corner. It seems like just yesterday we were painting his room getting ready for Baby Beach! Oh the things we didn't know and the blissful ignorance that we had! What a crazy almost 3 years -- and to think, just 2 more before our first born enters kindergarten?

We celebrated the 4th of July at home this year. It had only been week after getting home from Cali and Mama got super sick, so we decided not to head up to the Crystal Lake this year. We did go to a parade and celebrated Daddy's birthday when Mama got enough energy back to make a cake with Henry!

The parade!

"Happy Birthday, Daddy!"

We also went to the lake last week to visit Grammie at the cottage on the big lake! Daddy got a whole week to himself! It was also his annual Phish weekend with Brian, so heading to the lake was perfect -- Mama had another set of hands to help with the kids! We missed Daddy, but Henry had a BLAST! We built sand castles and ran up and down the beach and by the end of the week the water had warmed up enough to swim! (even for Mama!) Next year will be even more fun with two kids in the water!

Building sand castles

Jumping in the waves with Aunt Jackie

Eating ice cream at the whippy dip!

No pictures of Annabelle at the lake -- I know I know, Mama only has two hands and she was often napping up at the cottage!

After being at Lake Michigan we headed back to Grammie's for a day and enjoyed some family time with the cousins! It was great to have almost the whole family together!