Happy baby

Abrie's new thing is standing up against something and holding on to it. Wouldn't you know the little stinker can actually stand there for a good while?! Dan called me out from the kitchen last week only to find her standing against the couch and him saying "Ta Da!" with this proud look on his face. She's too cute.

She's got some eczema going on on her back. I'm going to have to get that Gentle Naturals eczema cream at the store. That one always worked just as well for Faith as Maddie's prescription did when they both were babies.

Little woman's been sleeping at night from 7pm-7:30am the next morning (and I get no sleep from 3am on due to horrible pain! But, hey, if that's the worst of it, I'll take it!). And that is because I wake her up at 7:30am, otherwise she might even sleep later. The few times that she has gotten up in the night within the past month have been because she was sick at the end of July, and on the nights that I only put her in a onesie. I swear this prompts her to get cold then once she wriggles out from underneath her blanket, and then proceeds to roll over and can't get back to bed so I feed her on those nights at about 4am at her wake-up call. When I put her in a blanket sleeper, she sleeps like a little lamb all curled up in the top left corner of her crib. 

My precious girl.

4 months old!

My sweet girl is 4 months old.

As of yesterday!

Doctor's appointment was today though, and if we thought Faith was a peanut, Abrie is then like a little seedling. She is a whopping 12 lbs, 10 oz and 23 3/4 inches long. 

At 4 months, Maddie was 16 lbs even and 24 1/2 inches long. And, Faith was 12 lbs, 13 oz and 23 inches long. So, Abrie is 2 oz lighter than Faith and a little bit taller. I love all three of my girls just the way that they are!

The doctor was impressed with how strong Abrie is. She was wanting to roll every which way off of the mat. And, of course she had her shots and hated every second of it. Her big sisters were in tears that people were hurting their girl ("why hurt Beeba Show, Momma?"-- Faith), and they have been super curious about her little bandages and wanting her to be OK. 

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I have found that with Abrie, this baby stage from her newborn-ness throughout her infancy is my most favorite time. I am sure I will continue to say that every stage with her is my favorite, as every day with my girls is my favorite for me. But, I am just loving her infancy. I wish it didn't have to go so darn quickly, as I have always wished with both Maddie and Faith.

I will admit though that the first few months have never been my most favorite of stages. Those first few months have always been so hard for me: I've always loved every second, but maybe not necessarily enjoyed every second. I AM enjoying every single second with my Breeze. The awesome moments and the frustrating moments, and every single moment in between. I know how incredibly fleeting these moments with my three are, and especially when they're babies like Abrielle, and I am holding on to them with everything I've got. 

I love my little girl. My four month old Breeze. 

A lot of firsts

In a span of a week, Abrielle has had a lot of firsts:

She went into the baby pool the other day for the first time without screaming! She actually played in the water for a good 20-30 minutes with her sisters. Of course, Maddie and Faith thought it was the coolest thing ever to see Abrie in her little baby boat!

She had her first taste of rice cereal last week, and just loved it. She's been eating it pretty much once a day every day, except for the days when I totally forget to give it to her. I swear I have become so darn forgetful since having had baby girl. But, again, Maddie and Faith think it is the coolest thing to see Abrie doing what they think are "big kid" things these days, and LOVE to help feed her. It's the neatest thing to have them involved with it all. I'll probably keep her on just the rice for a good while, and then slowly start the oatmeal and all the fruits and vegetables which will make big sisters' day!

Abrie also has been swinging in the bucket swings at the park. She looks absolutely precious in them! It's as though she shouldn't be old enough to do these 'big kid' things. And, she absolutely loves it too. She smiles and talks while she's swinging back and forth, and of course Maddie and Faith want her in the middle of them so that she is next to BOTH of them (that is the argument half the time-- "I want Abrie next to ME!"). 

The Show also has now mastered rolling from her back to her stomach; the little devil! Stomach to back has been going on officially since 5 weeks, even though she's been turning from her side to her stomach since she was a mere 2 days old. It's crazy. But, now the little woman can roll every which way, and she scoots along the floor on her back. She looks like a little vacuum cleaner!

The inner beast was in there somewhere!

Abrie's devilish side has awoken!

Her newest things:

She absolutely HATES, and I mean HATES being in her stinkin' car seat and having to be in the car. Even 5-minute drives down to Giant are scream fests. It's quite comical to turn around to see the back seat and see Faith singing to Abrie, and Maddie sitting there with her fingers plugging her ears. If you ask either one of them a question, you get a "Huh?? Huh??" because they can't hear over the screaming. And, when I say screaming.. I mean Abrie does the hold-your-breath-so-Daddy-worries-you're-having-an-aneurism type screaming.

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She is doing log rolls every which way these days, and its costly price? Her naps. This little woman will NOT sleep on her back; she hates her arms and legs flailing around. And, so this will have to be something she learns slowly and I honestly forget when Maddie and Faith would comfortably sleep in whatever position-- be it stomach or back. In the meantime though, it's a tenuous process of switching her constantly back to her stomach, and so her naps have been much shorter. 

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The girl is too precious though. She and her big sisters grow more and more attached and bonded with each passing day. The C. and the big B. just love how she is now talking "like an owl (or 'hoot hoot')" to them, and Faith is constantly squeezing her. They were more than overly excited when Abrie had a Tbsp. of rice cereal this morning, as this has been something they have been looking forward to since the day they both learned there would be a new baby. They are constantly stacking Gerber baby jars in the baby aisle of Giant and trying to persuade us to buy the ones that look tasty for Abrie. Ha. So, it will be fun for them as she progresses slowly through everything over the next month or two. 

Maddie and Faith both started rice cereal at exactly their 4-month appointment, but Abrie seemed quite ready, and she definitely was. She absolutely loved it. She kept putting her fist into her mouth and then licking off the excess rice, and Maddie loved cleaning her up with her bib while Faith kept giving her the trademark head rubs!

Our resident owl

Abrie talks like a "hoot hoot" (according to her loving Beebster!). Maddie and Faith think it's the coolest thing when she talks like this to them.

I love seeing the way she purses her little lips when she talks to us-- it's those little subtle things that I love re-living again.

Oh, the Breezy woman

Abrie has decided lately that she loves to roll over when she's supposed to be sleeping. It's so funny because this is the time that both Madison and Faith had JUST started rolling from their stomach to their back (3 1/2 months old), and Abrie has had this down pat since the extremely young age of 5 weeks. I'll never get over how young she was when she first started doing this!

Anyway, it made for an interesting night last night. Thank goodness Dan was actually off last night, and here to help. We would take turns going to flip her back over to her stomach when she would flip to her back and flail around since she doesn't like to sleep this way. I'm sure she'll figure it out soon though that she can sleep any which way now, just as her big sissy's learned as well. 

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Little woman laughed for the first time yesterday, and she did it at something I was doing!! I LOVE it. Dan's been having her so very close to laughter for weeks now, and he always thinks it's funny that it's as though she is "stuck" and can't quite figure out how to belt out a good ol' laugh. She's too cute. I'm hoping we get more and more big laughs out of her now!

She's also in love with her fists, her feet, and her thumb. But, especially those fists. She will drool all over them forever. Speaking of drool, the little lady drools and drools and drools some more. 

She also now sticks out her bottom lip when she is scared or upset, just as I remember her big cousin Ella always did. It's absolutely adorable. I caught her doing it today when I was taking pictures of Dan and his three little girls. It was right before she started crying, and it's the cutest bottom lip I've ever seen (top picture). 

Browsing around

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE when they're this age and you go in to check on them napping, and you see them "browsing around" (what I like to call it!). It's absolutely precious.

I also love that my Breeze has the skirted eggshell going on! Not to mention, the sweet little patch of hair amidst the baldness in the back;)

I love this little girl!

Typical Breezy day

Abrie's 'schedule' is quite consistent these days, and has been since only a few weeks old.

She wakes up almost on the dot at 7:30am. Some nights she sleeps through the night (since 12 weeks) and others she is up at around 3:30am for a middle-of-the-night snack. Big sisters get the go-ahead that they can be loud and give their Beeba/Breezer their trademark kisses or, in Faith's case, head rubs. She eats, plays with her barnyards (the barnyard play gym) while I give big sisters their breakfast and then dress them, plays with Momma, and reads books on the deck before heading for a nap by 9am at the latest. 

I have just enough time to quickly take a shower and fix my hair (need to get a seriously short haircut because my hair is falling out at its fastest rate ever due to always being back wet since I have NO time to blow dry and then take the 30,000 minutes required to straighten my obscenely thick hair), clean up, and read the big girls a book or two before Abrie is up by 10am. She eats, and we go out and do our thing for the morning whether it be go for a walk, the playground, library, or a close-by errand that has to be finished. She always falls asleep by 11:30am or so while we're out and about, and I transfer her to her crib when we're back from being outside. I get the big girls their lunches, and Abrie is usually up by 12:15pm or so and ready to eat. 

She eats, and continues with the nap that she started earlier. She naps until 3pm or a little earlier, but if she is not up by 3pm, I do get her up to eat. I would have never done that with Maddie or Faith, but she comes with us on all of their excursions so I always have to make sure she has eaten well. She hangs out by the pool (or wherever we end up going in the afternoon) and naps again at about 4:30pm. 

She is up by 5:15pm at the very latest, eats dinner on my lap with us at the table (although of course she only watches and doesn't eat!), has her nightly bath at about 6pm, and can barely ever make it past 6:30pm. 

A typical Breezy day!!

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I swear breastfeeding poses its challenges whether you are on your first baby or your third. It keeps you on your toes! 

This little woman will REFUSE-- absolutely refuse-- to eat at times. On Thursday she refused two feedings in a row, and it worries me to no end. It's as though I am torturing her, and yet I am only offering her what I always thought was supposed to be a source of comfort. I hope it's somehow connected to her hives, because at least there would be an explanation then to it. Thankfully, she's had a good eating day today!