4 Month pictures

4 Months

Don't you hate it when people have a baby, and then that's all they talk about on their blog? I know, it's so annoying.

But, until Josh and I start doing things again, Meili is the only one in the house doing anything noteworthy. (And by that I mean that she ages by 1 month every month.)

Her new favorite trick is standing. You wouldn't know it by the picture, but she usually smiles when she's standing.

These pictures were taken on Valentine's Day. I was trying to take a cute picture to send Josh for Valentine's Day, and she honestly wasn't being very cooperative.

She's still loving sucking all over her hands.

This next picture is called, "Daddy Dressed Me Today." (Notice the pink polka dot socks) Someday I will recreate the other little ensemble he had her in the other day.

When I questioned him about it, he said that she picked out the socks herself. And the onesie and pants match, because the onesie has deer on it, and you shoot the deer when you're wearing camo pants.

This is her new toy. As you can tell, she's still a little small-hence, the pillow behind her back supporting her. She really just doesn't know what to think about it at this point, and definitely doesn't understand that she can stand up in it.

Look at that face!!!! How can you not love that?

And to quote Brian Regan, "How do I get that goodness in me?" (She gets pretty frustrated in the toy, because she can't figure out how to get any of it in her mouth. The first time we put her in she just started sucking on the seat.)

Whoa! Deer in Headlights!

At her doctor's appointment on Thursday, she weighed 12 lbs. 12 oz. (31st percentile) and was 25 inches long (90th percentile) which means that she is still gaining one pound and one inch every month. The doctor said that she must be putting forth all her energy into getting tall, and that's why she's still skinny. He said that she'll have the perfect build to be a track athlete. (And Daddy smiled from ear to ear.)

She had her first experience with rice cereal last night and she was not interested at all. (She's usually not interested in eating period, so a spoon just means that she has more control over not letting it in her mouth.) Other milestones... she is getting better at grabbing things, still hasn't figured out rolling from back to tummy, and yesterday, I heard her first fully legitimate laugh! This last week, we also survived our first (of many, I'm sure) ear infections.

...And the very best news about being 4 months old... Meili's blocked tear duct seems to have cleared up. (By the way, I am knocking on every piece of wood in our house right now.) We haven't wiped goobers out of her eye in over a WEEK (and anyone who has known Meili, knows why that is such an accomplishment in our house.) YEA!!!

3 Months

It's days like today that make me happy that I have something (or someone) to help me gain a little perspective, remind me what's important, and to make me smile.

When I see your face

There's not a thing that I would change

Cause you're amazing

Just the way you are

And when you smile,

The whole world stops and stares for awhile

Cause girl you're amazing

Just the way you are

Every time I hear that song it reminds me of my little baby girl-even though I know she is not what it was intended to be about.

At 3 months, she is still as smiley as ever, she is trying desperately to sit up on her own, and roll from back to tummy, and we finally figured out naps!!!! Every day, in every way this little girl is trying to teach me patience and someday she just might get me there. I struggled with naps for about a month straight, and one day I just put her in her crib after I rocked her for a little and she took a 45 minute nap. From then on, I just kept doing the same thing, and now she is awake for 1 1/2 hours, then she sleeps for 1 1/2 hours all day long. Meili also found her hands in the last month or so, and she thinks they are the tastiest treat ever!-much to Daddy's dismay. She also figured out how to drool, and is practicing to enter the world's first ever drooling contest-she is quite gifted I must say! And Daddy's favorite new trick is that she has started talking-the two of them have quite deep conversations nowadays.

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Josh said that all he wanted for his birthday this year was a beautiful baby girl. And since that was already taken care of, I at least put her in her Yankees onesie, and emailed him a card while he was at work. He said that it made his day! (Then I took back all of the other presents I got him.) Jk! :)
See, he's obviously super excited about all of his presents. I really just wanted to point out that I wrapped all of his presents in baby bags with pink tissue paper because we have an excess of them right now. For his birthday he worked, then we went to Ruby Tuesday to watch the National Championship game, and then we played with his birthday present-the beautiful baby girl to be exact. Happy Birthday old man!!!

And a random side note...
Even though this picture is so beautiful of me, I just had to add it, because this is my new favorite activity (that I have to give up, for the sake of better napping routines.) I used to like naps, but now I feel so lucky to be able to take one every morning with Meili-what could be better! But now it's time to say "So long good friend!"

Meili's Blessing

We had Meili's blessing on Sunday the 2nd. (and I was having some fun with my new camera) It was very nice. I was nervous that she would poop in her dress, or cry through the blessing because she was tired and hungry. I was also nervous that Josh would accidentally say that her name is Bubba (because that's his nickname for her right now.) Luckily, none of those things happened. She was crying right before the actual blessing, but I think she liked all the attention from 10 men all at the same time. (Hopefully that will wear off before she's a teenager.) She was such a trooper all day long! My made her dress and I really like how it turned out. Thank you Mom!

Thank you to everyone who came to support her. I'm sure someday it will mean a lot to her, but right now, she doesn't know the difference. But it did mean a lot to Josh and I. After the blessing we had lunch at our house.

Amy and Chalisse

Alex being force-fed Jake's jalapeno jelly.

Greg, Jake, (and it seems like Alex wasn't a fan of the jelly.)

Liz, Devin and Chris

Kennedy and Bethany

Josh's mom MaryElizabeth with Josh

Andrea and Kyle

Audrey, Chloe, Ryan, and Gigi

My dad, Sara, and Nick

Emily and Dave

Our little sweetheart and my mom

Josh and I with our little sweetheart.

Merry Christmas!

We had a very good Christmas, and of course, my goal was to take more and better pictures, and of course-as always-I failed. So here are some of the pictures that we did get. I love the holidays because I love spending time with family. But it always seems like we never get to spend enough time with them. We spent Christmas Eve and Christmas morning with my family and then Christmas Day and the next day with Josh's family. Every Christmas Eve since I was young, we've spent with my Aunt Ruth and her family, but I didn't get any pictures of that.

Here is my mom on Christmas morning with the best Christmas present ever!

Chloe and Audrey

Josh and the best Christmas present ever!

Meili on her first Christmas, she's just ecstatic about all her Christmas presents-can't you tell? She was one spoiled girl this year, and she won't even remember. In Josh's family they said that the younger the child, the more spoiled they were this year-so you can just imagine!

Chloe and Audrey modeling their new princess dresses that my mom made for them (with Jesse of course.)

Gigi smiled like this once for a picture and we all laughed and pointed at her, so she thought it was so funny, and made the same face for every picture after that.

Then we spent Christmas day and the day after that with Josh's family.

Here is Josh's mom with the best Christmas present ever!

James and Grayce, who we found out are expecting their first boy in May and we are so excited!

Kyle

Josh's family has a tradition to play Bingo every year around this time. So on the 26th, we held the annual Bingo game. The beauty of the game is that whoever wins gets to pick a white elephant present. Most of the presents are recycled every year, and we add a couple new ones each year. There have been some pretty priceless memories at these Bingo parties.

The kids are usually lucky enough to get presents that they actually like. So here is Bren with a Mickey Mouse puzzle.

James with a clown light switch that has been part of the family far longer than I have.

Jensen with a President Obama chia pet. It actually said on the box "Hail to the chi-chi-chi- chief!"

Jared with the princess dress he has always wanted.

Jensen with an 8th place trophy that Jared got when he was in scouts.

And Chalisse with a rubber chicken. I told Josh, "It's amazing because I won probably five times, and we still went home with just a car load of crap!" Merry Christmas!