4 Months & Growing!

Wow, 4 months. I can't believe I'm already typing this! In fact, we've been having so much fun with our little "big girl" that I haven't posted an entry for 2 weeks! And we've had some big things happen in the last 2 weeks. I do have a good excuse, though. I have been having issues with my laptop lately and last week it completely crapped out. Knowing close to nothing about computer maintenance, I just figured my computer was a gonner and was figuring out how I was going to buy a new one. As a last resort, I asked Kate's husband, Ron, to look at it. With a couple hours of hard work, he was able to find 12 viruses and get rid of them all. Yikes! No worries, though, I now have an anti-virus program doing for me what I should have been doing all along. It's amazing how well my computer is running now! I am guessing this is what it should have been like all along :)

The biggest news is that Autumn is officially rolling over (and over, and over, and over). This happened on March 31. I had her on the floor on her play gym and I was working. She was trying so hard to roll herself over and making lots of noise doing so. After about an hour of trying, she finally flipped over. I was so proud! She rolled over one more time before Jeremy came home and then Hailey came over to see for herself. Once Hailey and I got down on the floor with her, she became a pro! The funny thing was that we made her do it so many times, she wore herself out. She would get half-way there and find her thumb and stop completely. I tried to get the first day of rolling over so many times, and the below video was my best attempt. Now, though, she's rolling over without any delays. It has quickly become her favorite hobby and she tries it whenever we lay her down (as a side note, I am finally getting some real use out of the sleep positioner!).

I believe that this burst in activity has also led to helping her sleep through the night. For about a week now, we have been putting her down to sleep at about 8 and she is sleeping through the night! She has been waking up anywhere between 730 and 8am and there are no complaints from me! The flipside to that is that she completely wears herself out and tends to get fussier than normal, especially at bedtime.

Last weekend, Aunt Kate gave us another photoshoot for Autumn. I am absolutely in love with the results. My sister is truly an amazing photographer and I'm so lucky to have her! The idea began with a really cute hat that my mom bought for Autumn:

The above picture was taken in my living room and I knew that Kate could do a much better job... And boy did she ever deliver!

Kate also mentioned that she had some fake fur and the wheels started turning in my head. I realized that we didn't have any naked baby on fur pictures so I asked Kate if she'd take a couple of those... I am absolutely certain that we'll be able to embarrass Autumn with this one in the future. Just wait till she starts dating!

Oh, I just can't get enough of this smile...
At the end of the photoshoot, my little girl was so pooped! I was holding her in my arms and stroking her cheek, and Kate snapped this shot. I literally teared up when I saw it. I think it's such a beautiful picture!
Autumn turned 4 months exactly last Monday. We celebrated by taking Autumn to her 4 month doctor's appointment on Tuesday, haha. She weighed in at 14lb 8oz and is now 24 1/2 inches long, both in the 52nd percentile. Our pediatritian was very impressed with her chubby rolls and her big ol' smiles. She was also impressed with her rolling over and said that she's advanced developmentally (I wouldn't expect anything less!). We also discussed starting solids at 6 months which I am secretly really excited for! I keep going by all of the fun baby foods at HEB and wanting to buy them. I actually put some in my basket a couple weeks ago because they were on sale, but put them back when I realized how silly I was being. 2 weeks before our next appointment, I get to start her on cereal and oatmeal. That week just happens to be the week that we are all going to be in Leakey for our annual vacation so that is one more thing that I get to look forward to! I'm glad because I'll be able to devote more time to it, instead of hurrying through the motions while trying to get work done. Unfortunately we had to get 4 more shots which was no fun at all.

On the work front, my friend Tenley is now coming over 3 times a week to help me with Autumn while I work. I absolutely love having her here, as I know that she loves Autumn almost as much as I do. She plays with her, sings to her, takes her on walks and reads to her (among other things!), all of which I would be doing if I didn't have that pesky work thing to deal with!

And finally, we drove to Bryan to celebrate Easter with my family today! We had a wonderful time and stuffed our faces. Autumn got passed around to many people and was completely pooped when we got home. The drive was filled with bluebonnets which inspired me to change the header for this blog. It also made me realize that I need to figure out a way to get Autumn in a field to snap the obligatory Texas Bluebonnet and Child picture. Since she's not actually sitting up yet by herself, we may have to do a little photoshopping fun. I'm not sure I want to go lay her out in a field of weeds...

By the way, thanks Auntie E for our new bunny slippers! They're really warm and they are adorable!