Weight: 14 pounds, 14.5 ounces (76th percentile)
Length: 26.14 inches (97th percentile)
Head circumference: 42.3 cm/16.65 inches (82nd percentile)

The pediatrician said she has great head and trunk strength and was impressed with her ability and willingness to bear weight with her legs. At four months, our sweet girl is just a delight to be around. You merely have to make eye contact and smile at her and she’ll do a whole-body smile in return, wiggling around with delight. She can sometimes roll from her tummy onto her back, though it may be more luck than skill at this point. She remains a champion nighttime sleeper, usually doing a solid eight hours (Mama thanks you, Anna!). Still not much luck with naps; if I wear her in the carrier I can sometimes get an hour, otherwise it’s 20 minutes or so. I’m happy to report we have had some forward progress in the bottle department and she’s taken an ounce or so three times in the past two weeks! Next up will be working on replacing a full feeding with the bottle.

The four month pictures!

I’ve mentioned my friend Leanne and her Tiny Toppers hat shop. She made this bear hat as a gift for Anna and I’m so excited that it fits now! I put it on her this weekend and just had to take some pictures.

We had a wonderful family weekend. There was time with Daddy, to read:

And to watch videos of oneself:

We took pictures of the kids in their Halloween costumes. You have to wait to see those until closer to the holiday, but it did involve some bribery with a cupcake on Max’s part. Here he is enjoying his reward. I don’t know why he’s not wearing pants, it’s a two-year-old thing.

We got a car seat to have in Jeff’s car, Max tested it out:

Looking cool:

So I saw this cute idea online where you cut two holes in a pumpkin, put your baby in, and the baby’s legs stick out the holes. So we got a giant pumpkin when we went to the farm, and Jeff dutifully carved out holes of the appropriate size and location. Then we went to put Anna in and realized we’d failed to plan adequately for the process of getting her legs in said holes…and unless we could bend them forward from the knee, it wasn’t going to happen. Oh well, the best laid plans and all that. So I figured we might as well just set her in it and take some pictures anyway, can’t pass up the opportunity for a baby in a pumpkin photo! This first photo is cracking me up, she is clearly not so sure about Mom’s harebrained scheme:

Okay, maybe it’s not so bad after all:

Big brother and Chester join the fun:

Max wanted Chester to touch Anna.

Telling Anna “Chester touched your head!”

I don’t know if I’ve mentioned it on here, but I’ve had to cut out dairy for Anna’s sake. I’ll try it again in a couple months and see if it goes over any better, but for now I am dairy-free. I’ve found decent substitutes for milk and ice cream, but I have yet to find a good fake cheese. Ah well, it’s worth it for her sake.

Max continues to crack us up. The other day he was watching a “Blue’s Clues” show on the computer while my mom was taking care of him. She went into the kitchen to put something away and after a minute Max said, “My Blue’s Clues show is all funny!” Mom came over to look and sure enough, there were odd symbols on the screen. She remarked, “Well, that’s weird, how did that happen?” to herself more than anything. Max said, “I just sort of pushed that button right there” and pointed to the keyboard.

Sleep is calling me, so I’ll share pictures and be off to bed!

Trying Daddy’s shoes on Chester bear:

Big boy!

Anna tried out the Bumbo seat at Angel and Eric’s house Sunday. We’ll have to dig ours out, she seemed to like it:

Love Emmeline checking me out from the corner of this shot:

Of course big brother had to get in on the Bumbo action also:

I saved some of Max’s clothes for Anna, including the jammies below.  Here she is:

And Max in the same outfit:

That baby boy now:

Mama snuggles!

We have a mini session scheduled with Justine at our other favorite farm next weekend, I’m really hoping the weather cooperates for that as well. Speaking of the fabulous Justine, here is our sneak peek from last weekend’s family photo session. I love them and can’t wait for the rest!

Farm fun:

Investigating the rocks:

Just chillin’ in the pumpkins, looking cute:

Showing his tickets for the train. He handed them to the farmer who drove the tractor and then said, “I gave the tickets to that guy. I’m a big help.”

Trying to push the wheelbarrow. He actually did get it to move a bit, which was pretty impressive considering how heavy it was.

Max said he wanted “A really little pumpkin” so this is what he picked:

Giving Anna a kiss:

Not a completely accurate measurement, since his feet are a ways from the wall

Poor Max took a tumble Saturday and ended up with a fat lip. It has to hurt, the tooth went into the lip and cut it and it’s all swollen and bruised. He cried for a few minutes and then rallied and hasn’t complained about it at all. If it were me, I’d be demanding to eat only ice cream, but he’s had cereal and an apple without protest, so hopefully it’s not bothering him too much. He started gymnastics again this weekend and had a good time. The way he talks now is just so cute! The other day I asked him if he wanted salmon sticks or a waffle for lunch. He replied: “Well, I think salmon sticks are a good idea.” Earlier this week he wasn’t feeling well and my mom took him to the pediatrician (thankfully just a run of the mill virus). As they were walking out he turned to her and asked, “So, what did she say?”

Anna may be headed for a growth spurt, her awesome nighttime sleeping is still good but definitely not the really long stretches we were getting. I told her she should stretch it out again since it’s a fair trade for only taking 25 minute naps much of the time. She was a champion model yesterday for Justine and I am chomping at the bit to see the pictures!

Speaking of pictures, here are some from our week.

Rest assured that Anna still has feet. I just chopped them them off visually in this shot, but it’s too cute not to share:

I love this outfit! Grandma Helen got it for her before she was born.

My sister-in-law Leah is a very talented knitter. She made this adorable dress and bloomers for Anna and I am so excited that it fits now!

I had a vision of a cute pic of the kids together, but Anna wasn’t interested in looking at me. Oh well, they’re still cute:

Playing in the brown boxes with Chester bear:

If you look at his left side you can see the swollen lip:

Max got a hand stamp at gymnastics yesterday, and then took a rare nap that afternoon. He must have been resting his cheek on his hand, because there was a perfect copy of the stamp there when he woke up. Of course we had to get a picture: