4 (and a half) Month Video Blog

Sorry it has taken us so long to get these posted. Jane is now 4.5 months. We just had her 4 month appt. (at 4.5 months) and she weighed 14lbs. 14oz. which puts her in the 74th percentile for her weight, was 27.5 inches long making her off the charts tall, and I don't remember the measurements for her head circumference but it was the 75th percentile.

Jane is growing up so fast and we are enjoying her more and more each day! I'm pretty sure I tell her everyday that I want to have 10 of her. That will probably change when we have our 2nd and he or she is nothing like Jane but I really could have 20 if they were all this easy.

Jane sleeps from 9pm to 9am. She still pretty much keeps with her eat, wake, sleep schedule all day long. She eats now at 9am, 12pm, 3pm, 6pm and 9pm (on most days). 5 oz. 5 times a day= 25 oz. a day. We haven't yet started solids and at this point don't plan on starting them for a while. We plan to "try" baby led weaning but I've learned alot over the past few months that just because you think something is a good idea in theory it doesn't mean it always pans out in real life (i.e. breastfeeding).

Here are a few of our favorite videos over the past few weeks...

She rolls over!

Mean, mean Daddy.

Jane loves her new shoes!

Her new trick!

Cousin Cadence

My sister Ashleigh and her husband Chris are at Duke for 2 days learning to take care of their new foster son who is in the NICU so we are keeping my niece Cadence. Cadence has waited for Jane for SO long and talks about her all the time so it's been so fun to see her interact with Jane over the past 2 days while waiting for "her baby."

We've had lots of fun painting our toenails and fingernails, making cupcakes and reading books. Last night after I put Jane to bed, Cadence and I read some books and one of them was "Brown Bear, Brown Bear."

I'm not sure that she had read it before but she did a pretty good retelling today to Jane. I LOVE that at the end she says, "Little," to someone (either Jane or Slang) because I call any little baby or animal "Little." She's heard it alot these past couple days. ;)

A quarter of a year...

It's pretty amazing that we've managed to keep a little person alive for a quarter of a year. Everyday I seem to be learning more and more about myself and Jane. It's great to look back and see what a difference can happen in 3 months. I remember being so upset for the first month and a half of Jane's life that I didn't feel bonded to her, that I was sad other people could console her just the same if not better than I could. I didn't realize that it isn't always an instant love or maybe bond would be a better word, especially with a first baby. Everything is so new and she's her own little person. I had to learn her and she had to learn me, added to the fact that everything is so new and scary. I will always have a special bond with Jane since she is my first and we got to learn this whole thing together but I'm interested to see how much more enjoyable the second will be (from the beginning) since I've already "learned the ropes."

We are lovin' life right now with Jane. She has such a fun personality and LOVES to hear herself talk these days. She's eating 5-6oz. every 3-4 hours during the day- so she eats 5x a day. Somehow, not by any of our doing, she has put herself on the Babywise eat, wake, sleep schedule. She wakes up around 7:30am every morning, eats, is up for about an hour and a half and then goes back to sleep until around 10:30 or 11am when she gets up and eats again. This is pretty much our day until she goes to bed around 9 or 9:30pm. She's SO easy going though. If we need to go to the grocery store or church or small group, etc. she has NO problem whatsoever sleeping in her carseat or in our arms.

We had her 3 month pictures made today and they are precious!

Big day yesterday!

We also got Jane's ear pierced yesterday! She only cried for a few seconds. They're so sweet!

This was before we left. I love this little sweater.

So oblivious to what's about to happen. We felt a little bad at this point.

Not too sure.

Oh she really didn't like that.

And she's better and they're super cute!

Right after I posted the blog about her almost laughing we caught her actually laughing! Here's the video!

She laughs!

...but we didn't catch it on camera yet. :( Jane laughed for the first time this past Saturday, 9/6/09 (for my records :) at her Aunt Cara! Rob was at work and I was in the other room but I definitely heard it. The sweetest little giggle! I ran in to videotape but she unfortunately didn't do it again and hasn't since! Here's the video I did get.

9 weeks

...makes Jane a big girl!

2 Months Old!

This picture was taken a month ago but I LOVE it!

Jane is 2 months old today and we are more in love everyday! I feel so privileged to be a mom. Really. I remember thinking that I would never be a mom. I've always known that I wanted children but it seemed so surreal like maybe I wasn't good enough or didn't deserve it or it was something that was unattainable. Now that I am a mom I'm shocked that there are people in this world who could birth a baby and then raise one and still not believe that there is a God.

That a baby can be inside someone one second

...in water

...not breathing

and be outside in the world the next

...breathing

...thriving

...it's absolutely mind-blowing.

I emailed a friend the other day and was telling him how much I enjoyed being a mom. I summed it up by saying that I feel like it's Christmas morning everyday! In fact, some mornings when I hear her in the monitor I smile even before I open my eyes.

I love that Jane wakes up SO happy in the mornings! She never wakes up crying, she's always talking and cooing in the monitor. We try to hurry in and get her while she's still happy so that she doesn't think she's supposed to cry in her crib for us to come and get her. Two days this past week I've gone in to get her in the mornings and found her like this. It's normal for her to be out of her wedge, she's a scooter. However, we have no idea how she ended up perpendicular to the wedge. Hilarious.

Those nightmares of the first 2 weeks are gone now and we are just being able to enjoy Jane. She is sleeping at least 8 hours at night which is awesome! She normally goes down around 10pm and gets up about 7am. She is eating 5 oz. 5 times a day since she doesn't get up in the night anymore (usually). Yesterday we had an appt. and she was 22 7/8 in. long and 11lbs. 6 oz. 50th percentile for weight and 75th for height. Basically she's long and skinny. Tomorrow is her 2 month appt. and her first shots. We are definitely not looking forward to that.

Jane loves to sing! Every time I sing to her she gets this serious look on her face and coos and sings right along with me. After singing a little line she smiles SO big and flails her little arms like she's so proud of herself. I think she's mocking me. Obviously when you sing it's hard to smile and then when I finish I smile really big and talk to her. She must think this is what happens when you sing. Precious! We haven't gotten that on video yet. Another thing Jane loves is to be held up above your head. When doing that you're sure to get a smile almost every time. We also just found out that she loves the swing! I put her in it the other night for the first time to put some clothes up in her room and I turned around to find that she was asleep. So glad to know that there's something that will almost always keep her occupied for at least a few minutes. She however does NOT like tummy time. I try it at least once a day but she pretty much screams the whole time.

We tried to get a video of her smiling when I held her up above my head. I was explaining to her that we were getting this video for the grandparents but this is what she wanted to give them instead...