Keeping up with Bébé Béténé

Abigail's 4th month was packed with lots of fun activities. We are so grateful to be able to watch Abigail grow and learn new things. We had her 4 month appointment last Wednesday, and she was 24.5" long (61st %) and weight of 14 lb 2 oz (64th %), with most of that in her thighs! Her doctor commented that she wouldn't be surprised if we had an early crawler and walker on our hands, since Abigail was up and down and all around during the appointment! She also said to make sure to be careful with anything hot around her, because she is very dexterous and could grab it quickly - which I realized last week when she got a firm and fast grip on my dangling earrings, which necessitated a quick trip to the store to pick up some studs for the next few months!

Claude finished out his his summer soccer league, which was good since Abigail's bedtime started moving earlier in the evening. The day before these pictures, she fell asleep for the night at 6:30 but we weren't prepared (she wasn't swaddled), so when she woke up and we swaddled her, etc. it woke her up completely and she didn't go back down until close to 11pm! So we woke her up from her 6pm nap at the game so she would sleep at night, and it (luckily!) worked. Pretty funny.

Video of sleepy baby:

Abigail has come to really like tummy time. Now that she is stronger and can move her head around and roll over, she is a happy baby on her tummy!

Claude and Christine have enjoyed playing basketball at the park near our house during the day - good job putting me in the shade, Daddy! And Abigail is starting to tolerate her stroller better - hooray!

The Mississippi River Rats put on a great free weekly waterski show on the Mississippi in the Twin Cities, so we had fun taking Christine, and Sonja and Nancy got some baby time!

We also took a fun day trip up to Duluth. We enjoyed lunch with our friend Meghan and her daughter Stella, had a nice walk along the lakefront, and enjoyed watching a 1,000 foot ship come in to harbor!

Grandma Christine and Claude also enjoyed spending time with Abigail at Minnehaha Falls and enjoyed getting outdoors.

We got to celebrate Claude's birthday in July - with his favorite foods courtesy of Christine, a fun gift from me (an electronic helicopter controlled by his iPhone), and he enjoyed a balloon I got him, though I think Abigail actually liked it better than him! This is the only picture I have of her not looking away at the balloon!

We enjoyed a nice breakfast with uncle Daryl and aunt Nancy - yummy food and fun baby time!

We also took a trip to the Science Museum of MN to see an exhibit that lots of people had told us about, sponsored by the Child Development Center at the University of MN. They have these cool glasses that you can hold up to see how much a newborn, 1 month old, and 3 month old can see. I love this picture of Christine and I looking through 3 month old glasses (which actually see quite clearly compared to the complete fuzziness of newborns!) and Abigail with her "shocked" big eyes!

No trip to MN would be complete without a mandatory visit to the one and only Mall of America...

The big news of month 4 is that Abigail has found both her hands and her feet and LOVES to suck on them both. This means that she can grab things and get them to her mouth, and that she can spend quite a few minutes content and looking at her hands and feet!

She is also becoming more verbal - still lots of cooing, but not practicing her squealing and screeching voices as well! It has been really fun, and I have heard her laugh out loud a few times as well, which is really fun. She is generally a very happy baby - although she will also not hesitate to let you know she is done with a particular toy or game or that she wants something!

We also had the privilege of joining our friends (and Abigail's godparents) for a boat ride to celebrate their 30th wedding anniversary. We took a great dinner cruise up and down the Mississippi River through downtown Minneapolis.

Finally, Auntie Mari and Auntie Michelle came for a visit on their way to Pennsylvania and we got in a trip to Lakewood to see family and show Christine where I grew up - look for that in the next post!

Fun with Auntie Mari and Auntie Michelle

Abigail continues to grow by leaps an bounds. She's got solid control of her head now and is doing baby push ups now. The way she pushes herself up makes us think she might be getting ready to roll over in the near future (edit - since I am finally getting around to putting this post all together about 10 days before it's time for the one on month 4, she actually HAS rolled over now!). Oh, and she has discovered that her hands belong to her and are great to suck on (though she hasn't quite gotten down the part about not shoving them in so far that she gags herself!).

She is also very smiley and chatty now. We had noticed that she would often start talking when she was getting sleepy. And my great aunt Nancy noticed while we were in IL that she also seems to get the hiccups when she's sleepy!

And we have lots of pictures of her smiling on our bed since she usually wake up a very happy baby!

As I talked about in another post, month 3 also brought my inevitable return to work. It hasn't been as bad as I was dreading and is getting easier as we all transition to this new normal. I am so grateful to get to leave her at home with dad and grandma an we make the most of our evenings and weekends - how priorities have changed! I am also grateful to have someone to help cook and clean!!