4 Months Old!

Our baby girl turned 4 months old today, April 7th, 2011! She is still growing strong and healthy weighing in at 14 lbs. 14 oz. at her 4 month check-up! She smiles and squeals all the time! My poor kid... perhaps if I talked to her in a normal-range voice, she would do the same back to me. But I guess I squeal and squeak to her so those are the sounds she mimics back to me. I just love it! She gets so excited sometimes that she starts flapping her arms and kicking her feet. And the look on her face tells me she is just bursting with things to tell me! Part of me can't wait to have her talk, the other part of me wants her to stay a baby as long as possible.

She wakes up so happy in the mornings and from all of her naps (a trait she gets from her daddy, not me)! I love waking up in the morning (even if it is 0600) to her sweet giggles and noises. And at nap time... well, she is just precious and so excited to see me. I remember as a kid asking Mom, "Can it be my turn to go get [child's name] up from their nap?" I loved being able to go pick my sibling up out of the crib when they woke up. They were always so happy to see someone! Now that we have a baby, I get to be the one to go get her up from her naps... every time! This is a part of life that makes me sad to have Jerry miss but to help make up for it, I have taken the laptop in the bedroom (while Jerry is on skype) countless times so he can see her get up in the mornings... watch her little wake-up stretch and of course give BIG smiles! She loves to talk to her Daddy on skype and definitely knows who he is! Since I have the laptop on and out nearly all the time, Piper knows to look at the screen to see if Daddy's there. Just melts my heart! When I get her up from her nap and bring her out to feed her, she finds the laptop and (if need be) strains her head way around to make sure she can see it... she'll study if for a few seconds and if there is no movement or sounds, she'll get ready to eat. We talk about Daddy all the time and pray for him together constantly. I can't wait to have Jerry see her in person! In the meantime, I'm SO grateful for skype... he gets to see her at least twice a day and on his days off, even more! He has given her a new nick name: Cheeks! I think it's quite fitting:-)

Piper seems to have changed so much since her 3 month update. She is still not completely rolling over yet. But I'm confident that will be a task she masters in a matter of days. She's now to the point when she's on her back that she pushes up with her heels and rocks back and forth... essentially leaving just her head and heels touching the floor... makes me laugh! She likes to "help me" help her out of the car seat, crib, floor, etc. by lifting her head about 2-3 inches off of whatever surface she's on. It's so cute because she's got this strained look on her face when she's doing it. Her head control is getting better and better with each passing day as well. She loves her new Bumbo chair I got her as well as a nearly-new ExerSaucer a friend from church just gave us! Piper has always been quite social and does not like to miss out on any action so the Bumbo is a great solution to have her watch me do things in the kitchen, put on my makeup, or even work out. She's got her little domain with plenty of toys around her and it seems to keep her quite happy! As for the ExerSaucer, the info packet says you can put children in it starting at 4 months, but I can see that she might benefit from it a little more as she gets a little older. I put a soft blanket behind her back to she didn't flop around so much and it seemed to help. There are just so many toys and colors and things to look at that it almost seems a little overwhelming at the moment. But again, I'm sure she'll be sitting up on her own in the next couple months and it will be a little better for that age.

Piper uses her little hands and reaches out for nearly everything these days! She loves her little Merry Monkey gym as it has all sorts of toys hanging from it. When I first got it for her, she would just look at all of the toys but now she's gotten to where she can pull them off! Lovely! She also finds her little "tummy time" mat quite entertaining as well since she can reach and grab and eat her toys as much as she wants:-) I love it when she reaches up to touch my face and chin... so precious! I don't know how it's possible, but her little fingers and hands can have the tightest grip on things! And boy can she pinch! I know she doesn't mean to, but I've got to be careful sometimes since she seems to reach and grab with such intensity!

I guess I'll close with her 3 month pictures I had taken last month... they finally arrived and I LOVE them hanging up on my wall! When we moved into this house nearly three years ago, I dreamed about making one of the rooms a nursery and hanging up baby pictures on the wall. My dream has come true! I love the look of the hallway now since our little Piper Cub's pictures are hanging up! Thank you Jesus for answering our prayers and giving us such a special baby girl!

Well... I actually have a video too... so here are some more giggles and squeals from our Cheeks! I guess I should have fixed her hoodie. Poor girl! It seems to be ridin' up a little high!