Happy 4 Months, Baby Girl

Today, Anneliese turned four months old. It’s amazing how time moves so quickly! It seems like just last week, she was this floppy newborn, but now she’s a whole separate person! She can even stand up if we balance her. She’s got sturdy little legs for sure. Not floppy anymore.

She gives the sweetest expressions, and I fall in love with her all the time.

She has also been practicing her grasping at every chance she gets. She holds on to the guy’s patches when he picks her up, my hoodie strings, my hair…

Which of course means she’s getting better at playing with her toys. She loves to hold her Sophie giraffe, turning it in her hands and trying to aim it into her mouth. She also holds on to her “sleepy sheep” and mouths its face.

Zora has been very good about leaving Anneliese’s toys alone. Before Anneliese was born, now and then, Zora would sneak into A’s toy basket and come out proudly with a stuffed animal or a teething toy and didn’t seem to understand why we kept saying she couldn’t have them. Now she gets it.

What a sweet dog!

Anneliese has become much more interested in books over the last month. She loves to look at the pictures, hear the inflection in our voices as we read, and watch us turn the pages. (I turn the pages more slowly than I normally would, because she seems to enjoy the motion and tracking the page with her eyes.)

Her daddy usually picks out books about airplanes to read to her, though he also enjoys Goodnight Moon.

Anneliese loves holding on to her legs and feet, which sometimes makes diaper changes a bit interesting. But it sure is adorable.

She likes to snuggle, especially when she’s sleepy. I love when she sighs and rests her head against me!

Anneliese loves to stand up and look around. She grips the floor with her toes when we hold her up like this – love it!

I think she’s the most beautiful child I’ve ever seen… but maybe that’s just me.

This month, we finally got back together with our doula, Coleen. It was great to have lunch with her, chat, catch up, and watch her with Anneliese. She’s really an important person in our family, and I’m excited that we’ll get to see her more over the next few years.

Anneliese’s personality is blossoming lately. I know she is understanding so much more that’s going on around her, and she’s trying to figure out how to communicate with us. She babbles and has conversations with us, and sounds absolutely adorable when she says “laalaalaalaa.” A couple times she woke up from an afternoon nap “singing” rather than whimpering. It’s wonderful to hear our girl so happy!

It’s so pleasant being a family!

Happy 4 months, baby girl!

I have videos from the last month too, but suppose I might put them in a different post. This is definitely telling me something though… I need to write updates on my girl more often, so they don’t have to each have 100 pictures in them!