Four months have flown

Last week I took Alex to her 4 month appointment.  As I'm sitting in the doctors office, it hit me.  Has it already been 4 months since I had her?  It seems like it all just happened.  Mark and I went to dinner, came home, and 6 hours of labor later, little miss Alexis was born.  Yes, I realize I was very lucky for my first to go so quickly.  In any case, I've gotten to reflect all the milestones that have already happened in her short little life and how quickly it seems to be going.

First of all she has formed more and more of a personality.  She's no longer this cute little lump that does nothing but eat, sleep, and poop.  Granted, she doesn't do ALL that much more now, but the times in between are a lot more interesting.  The first thing I remember of course is the first time I got a genuine smile, not that I'm gassy smile.  I know it was genuine because I made a funny face and her little eyes lit up and I got this big toothless grin.

The she started babbling, kicking those chubby little legs and interacting more with us.  Next came the rolling.  1 day before she was 3 months old we were having tummy time.  She rolled from her stomach to her back.  I was so excited I yelped, she cried, and didn't roll over for another 3 weeks.  I guess I scared the roll out of her.  That was probably a bit of a traumatic moment for her :).  Alas, she did begin rolling but from her back to her stomach.  Who knew, she wanted to be more advanced.  Look mom, I don't need to do this falling over and rolling thing, I'm going to do the hard one first!

Alex right after she rolled over, look at me!

Now she's giggling, which is hilarious!  She has the deep belly giggle that makes you laugh every time you hear it.  She's also sleeping 12-13 hours at  night (9-10 hours at a time) most of the time which took lots of work and tears, but more on that later. Her latest "thing" is babbling as she's falling asleep.  In the few minutes I hold her before she goes down for a nap or bed, she lays there with her nook in her mouth, sleepily babbling to her hearts content  She is a finger sucker and puts any toys, appendages and anything else she can get her grabby little paws on in her mouth.  Her favorite being her feet followed by a close second as many fingers and she can shove in her mouth as possible, I think she's done 8.

Just a couple of days ago we got her an exer-saucer and it took all of 10 min for her to figure it out and love it.  Now she's a jumping bean and goes crazy in that thing.  I'm just happy because I got it at Once Upon a Child for almost half the price of what they go for in great condition.  Only one sad flower on it doesn't stay up anymore, but she doesn't care, and in fact it's one of her favorite things to hold on to.  It lights up and plays music every time she bounces.  She's still a bit small so we have a pillow under her feet because otherwise they wouldn't touch the ground.  I have a small glimpse into the future with this one.  I have a sneaking suspicion that she's going to be an active one.  I can see her running before ever crawling, jumping on and off everything, and using those little legs to get into mischief.  It all started in the belly when I would literally watch her do somersaults in my stomach and the constant kicking, oy!  I never had to worry about decreased fetal movement.  I think at one point I was hoping for a hour where she wasn't playing soccer with my insides.

Fast forward to today.  She is a hearty 13.4 oz, and 24 1/2 inches.  She's pretty much average in all stats.  38% for weight, 50% for height, and 49% for her head (here's hoping she doesn't get Mark's giant head, because she WOULD look like a bobble head :)) She is a happy, healthy and opinionated little girl.  Who knew something so little could be so vocal and believe me, she lets you know what she wants. She's a talker, like her mama, a potential lefty, like her papa, and a wonderful combination of both of us.  I love seeing more of us in her every day, and am trying to enjoy this whirlwind of babyhood because I know it ends all too soon!