Lillian - 4 Months

Below: Lillian in the grass at her Nana and Papa's in College Station Memorial Day weekend.

Below: Cousin Jackson and Lillian enjoy the shade.
Below: A spectator at Daddy's triathlon this month - not her first race to watch, but her first tri!

Below: Michael before starting the race and me with Lillian in the Moby.

Lillian is now 4 months old. I look at her newborn pictures and the Lillian that couldn't hold toys or laugh or find her hands feels miles away. The development that is happening at this stage is remarkable. Every day it seems that Lillian is acquiring or perfecting a new skill that Michael and I wonder at!

Click on the images below to enjoy some videos of L from this past month.

"Screetch"

This is what I call "grumpin'" where L just sort of pouts it out, but isn't crying.

In the last month Lillian...

• Found her feet. She started watching as her feet flexed in her car seat; then, intentionally kicking things; then putting her feet together to 'grab' things. Now she brings those little feet up to her hands and holds onto her toes or heels.
• Rolled from back to tummy! Last month she'd done some good tummy to back rollovers, but this month we go both ways.
• Began her 'baby crunches' where she lifts her head when you pick her up to 'help you' or when she's laying down and doesn't want to be.
• Puts everything into her mouth. She's getting toys there more often, a good portion of her fingers are in there these days (though she does favor her thumb and pointer finger with one on each side of her mouth) and she's especially drooly.
• ...She still has love for her paci though. She likes it as her 'cue' for bedtime though we can take it out before we lay her down, but we also use it during the day she gets fussy or starts yelling at inappropriate times. Communion anyone?
• Loves 'standing' and putting weight on her legs. She will tolerate sitting if she's in a good mood, but certainly doesn't like it as much.
• Still looooves some talking whether you're listening or not and she's certainly letting out some high pitched noises these days.
• Giggles! It's still short and more like a series of a couple fast "ha" "ha" cough type noises, but it sure is cute!

Below: Lillian with her Ninny giving her the biggest grins! LOVE!!!

• Tries to get her knees up under her and scoot - this has only happened a few times so far and happened the week before she turned 4 months, so we'll see what this coming month holds in that regard.
• Still loves baths which have become one of my favorite times of day. She smiles and smiles as we prep the water, she LOVES the squeaky little rubber ducky and she doesn't even cry as we pull her out of the water into the air to dry her off. She's great until we start to put her clothes on.... haha
• Started smiling if you raise her up in the air above your head, but she likes to do it slowly still. Fast seems to freak her out.

From the battleground of sleep (or not sleeping as the case may be), this month has been a challenging one.

• We tried to begin moving Lillian's bedtime from 10:30 ish, toward 8:30, but no matter how gradually we did this we usually spent around 2 hours of fussing and fighting before any sleep was had. She would wake up about an hour after going to sleep and want her paci put back in (at the least).
• Lillian left the days of sleeping 4 to 5 hours the first part of the night like she was doing between 2 and 3 months and returned to nights of eating every 2 and 3 hours. Thinking this might be tied to the two weeks I returned to the office and a change in her schedule, we tried to ride it out, but as we neared 4 months we had a series of nights where she was up literally once every hour and I slept on the floor in her room. Desperate, we visited the pediatrician who suggested we try feeding her every 2 to 2 1/2 hours throughout the day to see if that improved things. As Lillian turns four months we are still experimenting with this to see what happens!
• Some tears were shed by both of us over naps this month, but she is finally napping in her crib - occasionally on her side, occassionally propped up on the Boppy under close supervison, but always listening to music, swaddled with her blanket/bear.

At her 4 month appointment Lillian weighed 12.7 (in the 25th percentile), was a little over 26 inches long (in the 90th percentile) and was still wearing a lot of her 3 month sized clothes with the real challenge being the length... everything is big in the waist! :) People most comment on her pretty blue eyes and her CHEEKS! They are pretty squishably delicious!

Lillian - 3 Months...and she' s got something to say!

Well it's obvious I'm a little behind on Lillian's 3 Month posting, but things have been pretty busy here at the Anderson house to say the least!

May 12th Lillian turned 3 Months old and the books and a couple online sites will argue she's becoming an infant and is no longer a newborn - this feels so true when I think about all the skills you take for granted that we've watched her acquire this past month. The most noticeable thing is how much more she is 'talking'! She will willingly have a conversation with anyone that will join her at the changing table, the elephant or monkey on her play gym (but not the lion b/c he doesn't jingle or sing, he's just stuffed), and with any other variety of toy and person when she's awake.

Click on the image below to watch the video made on the day L turned '3 months'.

We took quite a few trip this past month as well - three road trips to be exact - including her first. What can I say, when Lillian starts something new, she goes big! For the most part she did pretty well in the car with a little bit of frustration as she started to get tired at the end of each three hour cycle and we only had a few blowouts... diaper blowouts that is.

Our first trip was a road trip to College Station so that Lillian could meet her Opa (my grandpa). We went for the weekend and stayed with Ninny and Opa, but also spent time with Nana (Michael's mom), her Aunt Sara, and Aunt Ashley and cousin Jackson.

Below: In College Station - Lillian all snuggled up with Opa.

Below: In College Station - Lillian gets her first 'real' bath in Ninny's kitchen sink.

Below: Ninny dries off L on the kitchen counter - she loved it!

Below: In College Station - Cousins! Our nephew Jackson holding L's hand. So sweet!

The next weekend road trip was for a sadder occasion - to bury my dad outside of Huntsville - where Lillian was a complete angel resting outside under some trees in a camping chair while we dug dad's grave. It was warm, she wore a pink sunhat that was still a little too big for her and she just loved looking up at the contrast between tree tops and sky and watching us work. She was so sweet and brought joy on what was otherwise a sad day.

And the last road trip was to attend a wedding in San Antonio for my cousin Brynna and to attend a memorial 'party' of sorts in honor of dad. My only request was that she sleep through the wedding ceremony and she did - she did really well that whole weekend and got to meet a lot of family that she hadn't met before!

Below: In San Antonio - at La Fogata with my mom.... whose grandma name is newly up in the air.

Below: In San Antonio - At Uncle Dale's house with Kat making Lillian laugh.

Below: In San Antonio - with my Uncle Fran (my dad's brother) and Alexandra.

Below: In San Antonio - with uncle Levi.


Pic Below: Natasha, Lillian and Michael at the wedding which was held at Sunset Ridge (that's where Michael and I were married!) Look at us, coming full circle with our little family of 3 now!

Pic Below: My brother Marcus, mom with Lillian and me.

In other news this month...

• Lillian has rolled over a couple of times, though she doesn't do it consistently since sometimes she can't seem to bend her arm in toward her body for the direction she wants to roll. These are front to back rolls.


• She is VERY talkative, very smiley, and better and better with her hands.


• At night she's still hovering around a later bedtime, 10 or 11pm, but my goal this month is to start getting to an earlier time and to get her into her crib and out of our room.


• She’s still a swing-napper and that’s the habit we’ll be trying to break this month as well. Yikes!


• Her 0-3 month clothes still fit and she seems long and skinny to me though I don’t know how much she weighs since we won’t have a 3 month appt.


• She still looks like daddy according to the majority of the people that weigh in, but I still see some of my baby pictures in her.


• Bath time is still one of her favorite times and she’s even happy as you pull her out to dry her off, while you put lotion on and while you diaper her. She crashes a little bit when you try to put her PJs on, but she perks back up after it’s done.


• Lillian loves a paci and seems to care less if it falls out now after she falls asleep which is nice.


• We have 'trained' her to know her 'calm down cues' and if this child melts down usually all it takes is a swaddle, a paci, and turning her on her right side to quiet her up. She likes a vigorous bounce in this position at times she's really upset. She's not as big a fan of the rocking.


• L still loves walks too - if you can get past the cry she may give you while being strapped into the car seat she'll just stare and stare looking around on the walk and usually be asleep before it's all said and done!

This has been a great month as we learn more of what makes her happy, calms her down, etc. We feel like we know what she needs a little better than before, which is great b/c that helps us get out and about still with confidence.

Also, at the 12 week mark of Lillian's life I returned to work for two weeks, during which time I gave my notice, and soon I'll be working part time in a new job while staying at home with Lillian. We are so incredibly thankful that this lifestyle change is an option for us! A combination of Nana, Ninny and Opa, and our good friend Megan from church, provided care for Lillian while I went to the office. We were so thankful that Lillian has people that love her that were able to spend time helping us with this transition.

We are really settling into life as our little family now and it's so funny... like, this is the life I said I wanted and here it is. A home, a little white dog, Michael as my husband, and our beautiful little daughter the start to the family I'd always hoped I'd have. God is so good.