Nadia's Bathtime Mohawk

Look how much she's grown - she now is taller than the back of the tub - compare to the early bath pics and she's soo much longer!

I don't think she's really impressed with my beauty salon skills.

Uncle Jordan came to visit last weekend and fed Nadia oatmeal.

It's been a great week - Nadia is talking more and rolling less. She hasn't rolled over either way in a couple of weeks - she'll go 3/4 of the way, pause for a long time and then give up. We try to lure her over with toys, but she decides they aren't worth the extra effort to go on over. She is making noises and coos pretty much constantly when we're home just us. When she's out or with other people she is much more quiet. She enjoys watching the Olympics (or anything she can get her eyes on on tv, it doesn't matter what's on - it's so intriguing!) She had her first shower today which she loved. She laughed and smiled the whole time.

This blog post is in honor of Nana and Granddaddy's being able to check it from their house for the first time in a long time... a major celebration! We can't wait to visit next weekend!

Check-up

We had our four month check-up today with the pediatrician. Nadia is growing and progressing well. She now weighs 13 lbs 12 oz which is the 50 percentile for weight. She is 25 3/4 inches long which is the 75 percentile. The pediatrician said he's never seen such an active and moving 4 month old - that she's rolling and turning, etc with the activity level of a 5 month old. She got an oral vaccine and two shots but handled them well with just a few tears. He said to go ahead and start other cereals and baby food as we want to and hilariously enough told us just to feed her whatever vegetables we were growing in our garden! HAHA - like we have a garden??? It made us laugh as we definitely don't have a garden to run out back and get some vegetables from, and when we explained that, he said well just get some from your neighbors.. which was also a funny statement b/c none of our neighbors have gardens either! We'll be buying our veggies at the grocery store and making our baby food (which I thought was earthy-mom enough)! I'm sure there'll be some Gerber jars mixed in there too when things get busy.

In somewhat worrisome news comes that we are now in the process of being referred to the pediatric neurosurgeon at the Medical College of Georgia's Children's Hospital for an assessment of her noggin. Since she was about 3 weeks old she's had a flat spot on her right side which we all think is just caused by laying on one side more than the other, but since it was spotted (more than 2 months ago) we've also been very diligent to make her lay on the other side in hopes that it would correct itself. It has not, so we are going to the neurosurgeons just to make sure that it's nothing more serious with a plate in the head. Our doctor said he thinks 99% that they won't do anything and won't be concerned about it, but it's because of that other 1% that he doesn't want to have not had it checked. Be praying that her little head will just round out on its own very very soon. We can visibally see an improvement, but not a complete resolution to the problem. We don't have an appointment yet, apparently it's very hard to get in with them, but will keep you posted as we get more details.

4 Months Old!

Nadia is starting to sit up unassisted. She will support herself when sitting in our lap and can sit pretty steadily on the couch.

With Buster Bear at 4 months!

Her latest favorite position - on her side. She rolled over 360 degrees on Feb. 16 - she went from back to tummy and then over the rest of the way tummy to back! She hasn't done it since, but she gets really close with her side laying and will throw her arm or leg or both over to get to a toy. Once she learns to get her shoulder out of the way, we'll have quite the mover on our hands!

Sitting with Buster in the rocking chair!

Nadia's first Valentine's Day!

She is definitely in the midst of a big growing spurt. She has been eating every 2 1/2 hours for the last two days (this includes all through the day and night!). Because I had a packed evening schedule at church tonight that didn't allow for any inbetween feedings, Nadia had her first bottle of formula ever in the nursery, and the nursery workers said she drank it all quickly without any indication she even noticed the difference. Tomorrow we go to the pediatrician for her 4 month check up and shots.

Snow Day!

Our Snowman Family - Snowdaddy, Snowmommy and Snowbaby! As the snow was melting it got wet enough to pack. We snapped these pics just before Snowdaddy rolled down the hill and landed in the road in pieces.
Sweet girl! She loves those fingers!
Flying with Daddy!
Laughing - this is pretty much how she looks most all of time! Such a happy girl!

Winter Wonderland!

Nadia's first snow! We got 6 inches last night! Andy ran out and made a snowman and then we ran out and took a few pictures last night. It's a good thing because while the snow kept falling, everything this morning was way too dry to make even a good snowball. Everything was beautiful covered in the first snow we've had to stick since we moved to Augusta. We were just in the process of making plans to go to where we could see some snow when the forecast said Augusta... I was skeptical b/c it hasn't happened every other time they've predicted it. But this is the perfect amount, for the perfect length of time for me... Andy wishes it would hang around for a while, but I think Nadia's with me... a little goes a long way!

"Burr... it's cold! Good thing I have my snow boots, a hat and the giant coat from our Michigan relatives to keep me warm!" Nadia

Touching the snow! It's cold!

Andy's Awesome Snow Angel

Making the snow angel

Flex Time, Holding Things and One Happy Baby!

Nadia's first pair of blue jeans!

Getting ready to crawl (not really, but she's getting there!)

My two favorite people sharing happy grins!

Having lunch with Mommy and Daddy at work. This week my flex time hours started, so I am now working from home on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings and Friday afternoons. That means my office hours are all day Mondays, Tues and Wed afternoons and Friday mornings - you really can't beat that! We still have Thursdays completely off! So this week we went in a little early to have lunch with Andy Tues and Wed before starting work for the day! It's a great arrangement for us all and makes me one happy mommy to get to be with my girl more every day!

Tummy time has a whole new meaning these days - it includes all kinds of play that didn't use to be possible on her tummy. She is still not rolling just all the time, but she does do it when she wants to from time to time. She's figured out how to balance herself on one arm so that she can play with the other. Today she was propping her head on one hand mimicking the pose Andy was making at the time.

She now loves to play peek-a-boo! She laughs and grins whenever we "find" her.

She's holding toys so well these days! She can even throw this ball when she sets her mind to - so we have to watch out!

We have a new set of animal puppets. Larry the Lion and Zippy Zebra bring out all kinds of happy sounds. She likes to reach up and grab their hands and hold onto them.

Look at her holding that soft block! She also found her hands this past week for really the first time. She clasps them together in front of her and just feels her fingers over and over. It looks so prim and proper when she does it!

She loves to go flying on our knees! While this face has a hint of fear to it, trust me that she loves it in small doses!

Cereal remains a fun part of every night's routine, but it's completely altered our night time sleeping patterns... and I'm not sure if it's for the better. Lately she's ready to get up for the day at 5:15 AM which is a little earlier than Mom and Dad would prefer. Today she's been having a major growth spurt wanting to eat every couple of hours and that started last night with 8:00 pm, 12:00 am, 3:00 am, 5:00 am and 8:00 am feedings... then today she decided she didn't need a nap after 9:00 AM until 5:00 PM. So I don't know if I can fully blame it on the cereal, but we hope things settle back into a routine with her sleeping and eating soon.

Hard to believe it's been 17 weeks of total joy but that's really the only way to describe it - late night feedings, early mornings and poop explosions included - pure joy!

First Cereal!

Check out those gorgeous baby blues!

Nadia's first taste of rice cereal! She loved it and was sad when her one tablespoon sized serving was gone. She ate it up with great interest. It's so hard to believe we're already to eating with a spoon, but she's getting hungry in the middle of the night so we thought we'd try it.

Her latest new games include peekaboo, scooting, laughing at herself in the mirror, rolling over, and putting everything in her mouth. She's lifting her feet up when laying on her back and prefers her fist to her paci. She loves baby dolls, sound toys, Old MacDonald and will listen intently and watch as we read her books. Bathtime is still a nightly favorite. She loves Baby Einstein DVDs and will laugh along in the car. She's getting steadier sitting up with help and will even try to take a few steps moving one foot in front of the other when you hold her upright.