Julia Rose at 4 months old

My goodness she is growing.  Like, so fast.  It is really unbelievable and Rose has turned into the smiliest, sweetest little baby ever.  She is soooo sociable and just lights up whenever anyone (but okay, especially me or Paul or Clara) makes eye contact with her.  As long as we talk directly to her and smile at her and engage her, she will sit or lay where she is and just smile right back with her huge open mouth, full face, 1000-watt gummy smile. 

Rose is super close to sleeping through the night.  I put her down most nights between 5:30 and 6:00 (she set that schedule and has a hard time lasting much past 6:00 p.m.) and three times this past week she didn't wake up until 5:00 a.m., which is amazing.  I'm trying not to jinx us but if this keeps up she may be officially sleeping through the night without any sleep training, which would be miraculous.

Rose had her 4 month well-child checkup with our wonderful pediatrician, Dr. Rogers, who we will be sad to leave with our move.  She is healthy and strong (Dr. Rogers was especially impressed with how much strength she has in her legs - she can easily stand up just holding onto my thumbs for balance support and stability) and weighed in at 15 lbs 12 ounces, so she is almost up to 16 pounds and is in the 81st percentile for weight.  Her height measurement was sort of off because she was super squirmy and kept kicking and arching all over the place (I seriously wondered whether she already recognized the doctor's office and knew that shots were coming) but the nurse told us 2 feet which is the 32nd percentile for height, but Dr. Rogers said that she thought that Rose is probably a little bit longer than that because her weight, head circumference and height have consistently been in the 70th to 80th percentiles and this one height reading just didn't seem accurate.

Rose has really good neck strength and stability and can do little pushups to look around and bat at things near her if she really wants to.  This past week she succeeded in rolling from  her tummy to her back, something she has been working towards for a couple of weeks now.  She did it twice, about 5 minutes apart, the first day, then twice again the next morning when Paul was home to see, and then I finally got a video of her 5th time rolling over (I kept not having my camera handy the first few times) on the third day.  She has done it a bunch  more times since then, but just tummy to back, although we can tell that she is working really hard to go from her back to her tummy because she keeps doing crunches and rocking back and forth, clearly trying to figure out how it works.  It is fascinating to see her solve problems because when she wants to roll over from tummy to back she tucks her arms right underneath her then sort of walks her legs up until her bum is sticking in the air, then lets her bum fall to one side so that the momentum can sort of pull her over.  Here is the video, which is way too long but I couldn't cut the first 2 and a half minutes where she is exercising her facial expressions while I am talking to her in a super embarrassing voice.  If you just want to watch her roll just skip to the last 20 seconds.

Rose Rolls Over from Amy Nash on Vimeo.

Rosie's favorite toy is her jumparoo.  It lights up and plays music but what she really loves is that she can bounce in it.  Her very favorite thing these days is when Clara dances or jumps in front of her and Rose can jump at the same time.  It is basically the best entertainment in the world for all of us.  We never had a jumparoo with Clara because she liked the swing and would play in there but this has been a lifesaver with Rose since she will only use the swing for taking naps (she is still taking all of her naps in the swing and I know she could probably do them in the crib no problem since she goes down so easily at night in her crib but with Clara being crazy loud during the day I find that it is just easier to let Rose nap in the swing which sort of helps her nap a little bit longer and better even when Clara is running up and down the hall). 

Rose in the Jumparoo from Amy Nash on Vimeo.

Rose also does well in the bumpo except that her little thighs are getting so chubby that she keeps getting stuck in it when I go to pull her out and I have to wiggle the thing off her bum.  But she is working on getting her strength and balance to actually sit on her own (still a little ways off, I think, but she is definitely working towards it) so we won't have to rely on the bumpo for much longer.

Rose does pretty well at church considering that she hardly naps on Sunday mornings.  Clara would always just fall asleep in her carseat and snooze through most of the three hour block but Rose is alert through all of sacrament meeting and most of Sunday School usually.  The past couple of Sundays Paul has taken her to Priesthood with him.  Mostly she is content to take a bottle and just people watch so it isn't really too bad that she doesn't sleep much those mornings. And she sure looks cute in her church dresses.

A couple of weeks ago I set the jumparoo outside and got the bubbles out for Clara, who was blowing them for Rose.  They were being so cute together and I ran inside for like 10 seconds for something and came back out to find Clara rubbing bubble solution in Rose's hair for a shampoo.  Rose didn't seem to mind a bit (thank goodness none of it had gone in her eyes yet) but oh boy was Clara in trouble for that one, the little stinker.  Rose loves being outside though and we spend lots of our days playing in the backyard on quilts or in the sprinklers.

Rose went on a swing for the first time this past month.  I would say she was totally okay with it.  She didn't immediately love it, but she definitely didn't hate it.  She seems to pretty much take things in stride and go with the flow, which is a pretty good attitude I think.  At one point Clara insisted on pushing Rose. 

I always comb Rose's hair to the side and usually put a bow in it, but one night I decided to give her a little curl on the top of her head.  I used a little bit of spray gel to help it stay and it was so cute.  Maybe a couple more months and I think Rose will have enough hair for teeny tiny pigtails right on top.  She has a pretty decent bald patch in back though that is going to have to grow out from where her hair rubbed away from sleeping on her back so much. 

We made a present for Tabby at Color Me Mine for Birthmother's Day.  I saw a cute butterfly made from footprints on pinterest and was pretty happy with how it turned out.  And Rose was really a trooper about it and didn't whine or cry about having her little feet painted.

When my mom came to visit she brought some Halloween costume stuff that my sister had borrowed last year, including this wig that I wore as the granny from Little Red Riding Hood when Clara was a baby.  We all took turns trying it on, including Rose.

Clara insisted on being part of Rose's 4-month photo shoot and was cracking up when she tried to support Rose a sitting position because Rose is so heavy and strong. 

I have to admit that I take a ton of selfies with this little cutie.  Rose really loves being cheek-to-cheek or at least really close.  She is a very cuddly baby still, which is so fun.  She has also decided that it is super fun to grab handfuls of hair and not let grow.  Her grip is amazingly tight, too, and sometimes I really have to work at her little fingers to get her to let go of my hair. 

Clara really, really wanted Rose to swing with her so I let her hold Rose on the large swing for disabled persons at the park.  Clara was so sweet with Rose, who was having a blast (this was her second or third time swinging and she had clearly started warming up to it) and I adore this picture of the two of them together.  Clara's expression is so loving and responsible and Rose is so happy.

Rose likes to suck on her own lips or stick out her tongue to taste the air.  It is hilarious.

Another major milestone is that she started eating solid food on Saturday.  We started her with green beans and she did pretty well for it being her first time. 

Rose eats green beans from Amy Nash on Vimeo.

 

Sure love this girl.  Can't believe she is 4 months old already.