The Simple Life: Four months

4 months! We survived the infamous "fourth trimester" and are out on the other side. Truth be told, Abby is such an easy going baby that it wasn't much of a sweat either. She is definitely coming into her own. With each month that passes, more and more of her personality is starting to emerge. Lately it seems that both Ellie and Abby are starting to really enjoy each other. Ellie of course has always been aware of Abby, but when I lay them next to each other you can see the admiration on both sides. Ellie *loves* it when Abby touches her, lays next to her, sits on top of her, etc. She is quite the novelty to Ellie. When she's not being pounced on, Abby enjoys being next to Ellie too. I have a feeling they are going to be quite the pair when Abby comes of age.

We had her 4 month doctor's appointment yesterday and she is in the 99.5th percentile for height! She is also in the 96th percentile for her head size and around the 50th percentile for weight. She is definetly starting to chub out and is getting the "grandma" arms and chubby thights. She is losing all of her baby hair and so far it looks like she's going to have the same slow-growing hair that Ellie has. I do think it will be much lighter than Ellie's (probably more like mine) which will go well with her blue eyes that are still not changing color. She can roll over from her stomach to her back but hasn't mastered rolling in the other direction yet. She has discovered her toes and will put her feet in her mouth whenever possible. It's easiest when she's not wearing her diaper so diaper changes are starting to get challenging. The other day she gave us her first real belly laugh. So cute! She doesn't laugh very often but we can always get a good chuckle if we blow raspberries on her belly. She has been drooling a TON which is new for me because Ellie never seemed to be much of a drooler. She can soak an entire onesie in the time it takes for us to eat dinner. Perhaps she is working on her first tooth. I am nervous about her getting her teeth and biting me while nursing. I never had that problem with Ellie because by the time she got her first tooth, she had stopped nursing so it wasn't ever an issue. I'm hoping Abby is kind to her mother in that regard. I realized the other day that it has been a long time since we've offered her a bottle so we tried this morning and she was NOT pleased! We stuck to it though and she eventually took one once she got hungry enough. I was afraid I had waited too long and she was going to become one of those babies that refuses the bottle. Thank goodness she gave in. Mama needs some time off!

She is sleeping pretty well and she has adapted a nap schedule as best as she can with our busy schedule. She is getting up 1-2 times per night and takes pretty consistent naps. She has grown accustomed to being on the go and takes a lot of short naps in between and in her car seat. I'm not sure what were going to do when she gets too big for her travel car seat and can no longer nap in the car. Gulp. Guess we'll cross that bridge when we get there! We bought her a mini crib and have it set up in our room now. It is super crowded with all the furniture (looking at it gives me a minor panic attack) but I don't want her getting used to sleeping in our bed and having her accustomed to her own bed will make it easier to sleep train her. It's really cute and I'm considering getting one for Ellie and just using it as the converted twin bed. Then they'll have matching beds for when they share a room. :)

Here are her 4 month stats:
Weight: 14lb 4oz
Height: 27" (99.5 percentile!)
Head Circumference: 43.20cm

This past weekend was Mother's Day and we took the girls up to Chico for the weekend. It was our first road trip with both of them. Abby did great and slept the majority of the way in both directions. I had expected that Ellie would have a hard time being strapped in the car seat for so long, so I had dutifully created a busy bag for the car. It was really fun to pick out special new things for her to play with and special forbidden snacks. She did surprisingly well and when she started to get ancy about 3/4 of the way, we finally broke out the iPad and let her watch Super Why (her favorite!). She had a blast playing with her cousins Taylor and Ryan and getting to visit with Grandma and Grandpa. It was the first time that Abby got to meet a lot of her Jauregui family and it was fun to show her off. We took them to Caper Acres which was a playground that Tom loved as a child and it was so much fun. The park has a fairytale theme and each structure is designed after a different fairytale story. Tom really enjoyed seeing Ellie have fun and it brought back a lot of happy memories for him.

Summer is right around the corner and we are busy planning our summer travel. Baby Camino is almost here and we are excited to go visit. We may be totally insane, but we decided to drive instead of fly. It just seemed like too much hassle with two lap children, car seats, suitcases, stroller, etc., so we are going to give it a try. We are hoping that if we drive in the middle of the night it won't be too painful. Ellie is going to be two in two months and we are thinking of taking her to the Railroad Museum in Sacramento. She is obsessed with trains and I remember really liking it as a kid. More fun memories ahead!