Happy 4th monthday!!

Amalia, in my sleep deprived condition, I almost forgot it's your official 4th monthday!! You are four months today, congratulations on graduating from the fourth trimester!! We made it. I hate to say it my dear, but it was touch and go for awhile there.

oh don't look so surprised, you know what I'm talking about.

But this month you have started to come into your own. We did so much great stuff, and you are really developing your own wonderful personality.
Very much like with your brother, I was reluctant to call the hours-long screamfests colic. And very much like your brother, you grew out of them at about 4 months, hmm, go figure. Don't get me wrong, you still wail like a banshee every now and again, and in fact last night your father got a taste of the awesome power of Amalia. But these episodes are really just that, short brief intervals of crying when it's bed time or nap time, and you've lost your pacifier, and it is so much easier than the rage baby we had a few weeks and months ago. We are still using the reflux medicine, because even though you are so much more pleasant now, it still definitely bothers you and you revert to your screaming back arching self when I forget to dose you (bad job mama). I don't think it was a magic bullet or anything because even after we started giving you the medicine, you would still cry a good deal of the time, and that has just slowly diminished with time alone.
But baby, look at you now!


You are so happy and laughy and smiley, it's awesome. Even while you are so sick and miserable, you can sneeze a face full of snot and in the next second smile this giant gorgeous smile. This makes me completely relax about the kind of temperament you are going to have. If you can be cheerful and not breathe, then you are going to be just fine. Maybe it was all those months of being uncomfortable for who knows what reason, and you are just so relieved to be done with it that you are in a super good mood? What ever it is, I'll take it (and should probably try to feel the same!)
You love watching everything around you, especially your brother. You watch him where ever he goes, and smile at him and laugh. He of course laps this up and will do things just to entertain you. It's really wonderful to see that you guys are already starting to have your own relationship separate from your father and me.
We are so much more mobile now that we have our hot new stroller. We go to the park almost every day, and the store is one of your favorite places these days. You look at all the crazy colors and then pass out with out much ado. And mama can be smug and thrifty by not using gas to get to the store!


We hung out with our friends from California and baby O. showed you how to mix it up Cali style. We got to go to the cottage post labor day and it was so beautiful up there, we have to do it again soon!

Pow right in the eye!

Our dr. appointment this month showed how much you are growing. You've come a long way from the string bean you were when you were born. You are still very long, but since then you've filled out those chubby cheeks and your thighs have more rolls than a toilet paper factory! I love each an every one of them and could spend hours just kissing your little neck chub. In terms of milestones, your are pretty good at holding your head up without support, you still hate tummy time, so are a little weak in the upper body- gotta blast those peck lady! And have yet to roll over, sit up or play fetch. But you can follow things with your eyes 180 degrees, you grab for things, you can put your pacifier in and out of your mouth (pulling it out is easier, so sometimes you get enraged when you can't get it back in) you also "found" your fingers and enjoy sucking and chomping on those too. And you are SO chatty. You will garble and blabble for hours. Sleep during the day is still short and sporadic, but at night you are an angel and only wake up to eat once or twice(unless you have a cold and can't breathe, but still nothing too terrible) and fall instantly back to sleep when you're done. Twice I've even had to feed you in your sleep because I was going to explode. That was great.
Speaking of eating, you are still a champion nurser. And I know mothers are not supposed to admit this, but for the longest time I didn't feel that "nursing magic", that serene bonding adoration while you quietly happily nursed. These first few months were hard. The first few weeks were REALLY hard. Of course, I never minded, but would often complain, and it felt more like a fulfilling a duty rather than a pleasure. But now, I will sometimes look down at you while you are filling up your greedy belly, smacking your lips, and nuzzling in a deep as you can, and I want to squeeze you so tight it frightens me! I get that crazed clench-jawed look that Domi gets when he wants to tackle the twins, and sometime just have to squinch you. What can I say, you've grown on me. It's wonderful.

I can't believe how quickly these past four months have gone. I am so glad I get to spend the next two at home with you guys too. I know it will go at lightening speed, but I'm going to cherish every minute.
Love,
Mama