I can’t believe my little girl is 4 months.  It seems like time keeps flying by faster and faster.  Can’t she just stay small forever?...  We are loving every minute we are blessed to have with her.  She brings so much joy into our lives and we can’t even imagine life now without her.  Yes we do have our stressful times, but all-in-all she is an amazing little girl and we love her to death!

Looking at Mommy, refusing to smile

Her best buddy Apollo joining the photo shoot

                It is amazing how much she continues to change month after month.  I keep expecting the changes to slow down as she gets older, but I am pretty sure she is still in full force changing every day.  And I love it!  We had our 4 month check-up the day before she turned 4 months and the doctor said she is doing great.  According to their stats she is 14lbs 12oz (85^th percentile, though if we went by the 15lbs. 6oz she weighed on our home scale, she would probably be a much higher percentile), 25.75 inches (95^th percentile), and her head is 42cm (75^th percentile).  The doctor even said she is ready for solid foods if we are ready to start them with her.  However, we are going to pass on this for now due to a family history of many allergies.  She is doing fine just on mommy’s milk and unless that changes the plan is to exclusively breastfeed until she is 6 months. (which is technically the new recommended age to start solids anyway)

One of her new favorite games is to play superbaby 

She is getting so big.  I feel like every so often Ben and I will look at the other who is holding her and just be in awe at how much bigger she looks in our arms.  One cute time was when Ben was feeding her a bottle for the first time in a while and he was amazed at how much bigger she was as he was feeding her; she was much different than the last time he had fed her over a month before.

Sometimes this is one of the only ways she can hang out with Daddy while he studies

                She is developing quite the little personality.  Most of the time she is such a happy baby and she is quite the entertainer when she gets going with all her crazy noises.  She has definitely discovered her voice this month!  We hear lots of growls and squeals and giggles pretty much daily.  One of her favorite things to laugh at is the puppies when they start fighting and going at each other or when one of us pesters Apollo to get him going.  She loves it and we do too because her giggles are so stinking cute!

She loves it when Apollo gets on the floor to play with her

                This month was another month full of firsts. As I said before she is giggling a lot and that really got into full force this month.  She also loves to grab at your face when you are holding her, which can sometimes mean lots of finger prints on my glasses. J  She has sat in her high-chair like a big girl while we eat dinner this month and she does great.  She gets to chew on toys for now, but before we know it she will be eating with us too!  She has begun grasping for toys a lot more and spins round and round in her jumperoo.  We also began using cloth diapers with her this month and she has done great with them and mommy loves them too! 

She has already taken quite the interest in reading books.

Jumperoo time

We love our evening walks and so does Alethea

Her very first cloth diaper, a Zinnia colored BumGenius 4.0!

Hamming it up in her high-chair

On her very first picnic at Wannamaker park

This month has marked an increase in mobility too.  She is now rolling from her tummy to her back in both directions as well as from her back to her belly in both directions.  It is quite funny to walk away for a sec and return to find that she has rolled from the middle of the floor off her blanket and gotten herself stuck right up against the bottom of the couch.  (She hasn’t quite figured out how easy it is to just roll herself away from something that’s in the way.)  Mobility has also meant crazy sleeping positions too because she no longer just stays on her belly to sleep for naps.  It is quite the entertainment for mommy so far.

Another big first is that she is now putting herself to sleep.  This is a huge step for us because getting her to go to sleep has always been quite the struggle.  Thankfully this month we have discovered that it is actually much easier to just let her do it herself.  I was really worried to try this because I was quite ready to let her cry it out yet.  However, it turns out that she cries a heck of a lot less (often times not at all) putting herself to sleep than she does when we try to get her to go to sleep with our help.  (My mom said I was the same way and just wanted to be left in the crib to talk myself to sleep.)  As a result, both mommy and Alethea are much happier for naps and bedtime.  Putting her to sleep is no longer a dread, and she does great!  Now if we could only get her to get back to her 2hr napping days.  Many days lately she is too excited to get up and only sleeps for 30-40minutes.  Thankfully she wakes up happy and squealing most of the time, but mommy still doesn’t get a whole lot done during naps anymore.

"Hi mommy, I'm ready to play!"

                Two super fun firsts happened this month with regards to water.  We definitely have a little water baby on our hands.  She has been going to the pool at our friends the Smith’s house every Thursday and she loves it. (Plus she loves hanging out with her buddies Molly, Sarah, Adley, and Eli.)  And we also took our first beach trip this month while my cousins were in town.  She absolutely loved the ocean and got quite the kick out of the waves crashing into her.

She loves the water as you can see 

and now we have a raft that she scoots around in too

She walked all over downtown Charleston with her Uncle Lee

Loving being with her buddy, cousin Emily

The beach!

She is a regular old beach bum :-)

                This month has been marked by many fun events too.  We got to go to work and see Ben get promoted to Lieutenant Junior Grade.  She did great and everyone enjoyed meeting her.  And yet another wedding occurred.  She wore her garnet dress to go see her Gaggie and Jerald get married.  We were also blessed by a visit from Mamaw and Papaw as well as Uncle Cody and Justine.  She loved handing out with them and enjoying lots of family time for a few days.

The captain held her while I put on Ben's new Lieutenant bars 

Really getting into the book with Papaw

Making faces with Mamaw in the mirror

Chilling with Aunt Justine and Uncle Cody

4 generations of Lenoras...not the best picture of the rest, but I love her face

She was a chatterbox at the pre-wedding lunch

A pre-wedding kiss from her Gaggie, the bride-to-be!

                I could probably keep going on and on, but for now that is a little peek into the fun we have had in her 4^th month of life.

3 months old!

                Has it really been 3 months already?!  Time flies when you are having fun!  This month has been a blast.  Alethea has developed quite the personality and we are enjoying every second we get to spend with her.  She has begun to realize just how fun it is to vocalize.  Lately she has a ton to say and we are loving this, especially since she doesn’t tend to scream as much to let us know she is upset, but instead just changes the tone of her babble.  Our ears are thanking her for that!  Praise God her gas has finally seemed to settle down and hopefully dairy eating is in the near future more me again. 

                Big changes have happened this month.  She has officially learned to roll over on purpose when has been fun to see her work at and we are so thankful that Daddy has finally been able to see her do it.  She has begun sleeping amazing.  Most nights she goes to sleep between 8:30 and 9pm and sleeps until 5 or 6am, gets up and eats and then goes back to sleep until 8:30 or 9am.  Even some nights she will sleep in until 8 or 8:30 without waking up at all.  She is developing into quite the sleeper.  Yay!

My sleeping cutie!

                This month has also marked changes in our ability to go out and about.  She is becoming more of a fan of her carseat the older she gets and the more she has been able to entertain herself.  Her discovery of how yummy her hands are and as well as her frog blanket have been our salvation in the car.  It is so nice to have a happy baby in the back seat probably 75% of the time. J

                Her physical growth has seemed to level off this month too.  She ended the month at 14lbs 3.2oz and about 24.5inches long.  She isn’t chunking it up quite as much as she once was, though she still does love to eat. J 

                This month also marked a lot of fun events and visitors.  She got to go to her first wedding and see her cousin Bryant get married to his beautiful bride Jenny.  It was a whirlwind weekend, but she did great.  Family also came to stay with us for a week and so she got to spend lots of time with Mamaw, Papaw, Granpeg, and Grandaddy.  It was so much fun to see her interact with them and wonderful that she finally got to meet Granpeg and Grandaddy. J  This month also marked her first Easter and my first Mothers day since she arrived.  Both were very fun celebrations to share with such a sweet little girl.  Oh and we celebrated her baby dedication at church too!

Loving her Granpeg and Grandaddy

With Papaw 

Snuggles with Mamaw

Happy Mommy's Day!

 Her very first Easter basket from Mamaw and Papaw!

The day we publicly make a promise to raise her to know her Savior 

and hopefully make the decision to trust in Him some day

                We discovered two fun things for Mommy and Alethea to do during the day too.  Our B.O.B. stroller arrived in the mail this month and so we have been able to go out for runs together.  She still only lasts for about 1.5 miles with me, but I will take what I can get for now.  Plus we purchased an Infantino Flip carrier that she absolutely loves and we have been able to go on many walks together.

Smiles! 

Time for a run!

                What a fun month we have had and we are looking forward to enjoying many more as we watch her grow!

My Very First Mommy's Day

Wow!  It's kinda crazy still to think that I am a mom now, but it was super special to celebrate it with my sweet little girl and wonderful husband this past Sunday.  I wasn't really expecting anything since she is still so little and obviously has no idea what the day is all about, and I had simply requested one thing, not to cook.

Well Ben had other ideas, still simple, but sweet.  He got up before me and said he had to go "run" which I didn't realize meant that he had to go run to the store.  When he got back he surprised me with beautiful flowers to celebrate my first Mommy's day.  That would have been enough for me but then, when Alethea woke up, I walked into her room to find a card with Mommy written on the envelope.  Super cute!  And then I thought all was over and, when we got in the van to head to church, I found another flower and a sweet card from Ben for my first Mommy's day that he had written a very special note inside.  Let's just say I was feeling quite special. :-)

Lovely flowers from the hubby

My cards...

...so special!

On the inside I don't know if you can read it, but Ben wrote it as if it was from Alethea 

and it says that she would like Subway for her next feeding :-)

Then we went to church and had a wonderful Mommy's day service.  They did a neat presentation that pointed out the scriptural importance of moms and had all the dad's read a segment of it.  Plus they made us all feel special by handing out a single rose to all the moms as we left the service.

My pretty rose

After church, I didn't want to cook, but I also didn't want to go out to eat because with Alethea and especially with not eating dairy, going out can often be more of chore and not really relaxing.  So instead we went coupon shopping at Walgreen's and then picked up Moe's on the way home.  YUM!  And then we spent the rest of the day hanging out and relaxing at home.  Definitely a perfect first Mommy's Day!

Mommy's day photo shoot...

...with my beautiful little girl.

2 months already!

                Wow! It is crazy just how much Alethea can change in just one month.  This month has been marked by a lot of changes.  One big change is that Mommy (and therefore Alethea) have given up any foods containing any traces of dairy.  Due to all of Alethea’s problems with gas, I decided to give up dairy to see if that would help, especially since her daddy has so many issues with milk products.  To help with the gas, we also bought an exercise ball and that has been a God-send.  It seems to bounce that gas right out and she actually often falls asleep when we bounce on it, yay! The gas has definitely improved and hopefully eventually I will be able to begin eating the yogurt, cheese, milkshakes, pizza and more that I am dying to eat!

Look how much she has grown already!

                Another revolutionary change that we made this month was we began having Alethea nap on her tummy.  This has been amazing!  She went from not being able to sleep unless held and usually for only 45 minutes at the most, to now she regularly takes naps anywhere from 1.5 hours to 3 hours long.  Let’s just say I was a bit excited about that!  It made it so I finally felt like there was a bit of normalcy back in my life since Alethea arrived.  I was finally able to do things around the house as well as take time to enjoy relaxing.  I am definitely glad this milestone arrived this month and I honestly think it helps with her gas too.

 Our cute little tummy napper

                She has continued to grow like crazy this month.  At her 2 month check-up she weighed 12lbs. 15oz. and was 23.75 inches long.  She has already gained 5 pounds and 3.25 inches since birth and she has filled out so much to where she looks so different already.  This month she has begun smiling a ton; every morning I get her up she is so full of smiles and cute faces.  She is also kicking and moving around so much and developing a ton of strength.  She rolled over for the first time this month from belly to back too!  This month she has started to track people closely when they walk around the room.  She discovered that sleeping in the bouncy in the bathtub while Mommy showers is fun.  We also discovered that the key to her enjoying time in the car seat is getting good naps, but also using a pacifier to help calm her down if we have to travel too close to nap/eating time (hallelujah).  This month marked the beginning of sleeping through the night (5+ hours) and by the end of the month she was regularly only eating once after she went to bed between 845 and 9pm and only eating 5 times a day in total.  She also went to church for the first time this month and did great!  I could go on and on about all the milestones this month but these are just to name a few.

This still cracks me up!

1

This is one of my faves 

Yay for finally getting back to church!

                My little girl is growing up way to fast and I am enjoying every minute of it!

She rolled over!

1 month down

Alethea’s arrival into this world was slightly later than we were expecting and things took a bit longer for her to arrive once labor started, but we are so thankful for such a sweet blessing in our lives.  Her first month was a world-wind of firsts.  It was crazy to have another little person living with us at home and every little thing that she did was so stinkin’ cute.

So glad she finally arrived!

What a special blessing!

For the first week home Ben’s mom was here to help us out and then for her next two weeks of life my mom was in town to help.  That was an amazing blessing which also made for quite the shock for us when they left.  We realized that she was so used to being held while sleeping during the day that she didn’t want to be put down when she slept during the day once it was just me at home with her all day. Plus the day before my mom left her crazy gas problems began.  It was an adjustment at first, but that first week with just the three of us was a blast.

Grandma came to visit

And Mamaw too!

She has grown so much this month.  She was born at 7lbs. 15oz., 8 lbs. 10oz. by 2.5 weeks and by the end of this month she was over 10lbs.  Plus she just seems to grow longer and longer each day.  It’s crazy and so much fun to watch her sprout!  She is getting used to tummy time and has way more head control than we thought she would have.  She loves to be swaddled, but absolutely refuses to have her hands in the swaddle.  She lost her cord stump finally at 2.5 weeks so she got her first real bath and LOVED it!  She started smiling in response to people at 3 weeks, the day my mom left.  She went to her first party when we went to celebrate my cousin Bryant’s upcoming wedding with family.  She absolutely hates her carseat.  She is a pro at nursing and is actually quite the oinker.  These are a few of the firsts and fun things we have learned about her this month and we are excited to continue learning more and more!

Hanging out with Mommy

 Bath time!

 Loving her daddy!

 Smiles!

 Tummy time!

On her 1 month birthday!