Annabelle at 4 months

Today Catie declared that Annabelle is her favorite person in the whole family. I think everyone else would agree. She is such a smiley happy little one. She is also determined and will not sit by and be ignored. She has an amazing set of lungs and can sense when you are sitting down and too comfortable. She likes to be up checking things out and doesn't want to miss a thing. She finally started sleeping again most nights too! All of her dark hair is now gone and she's turning into a little blue eyed blondie just like the rest of our kiddos. So glad she's ours!

At four months here are a few details about Annabelle:

• She weighs 13 lb 14 oz (48%)
• She is 24 inches (36%)
• She wears between 0-3 and 3-6 months clothes
• She wears size 2 diaper
• She goes to bed around 9pm and gets up around 7 or 8am (sometimes she wakes up once before then, sometimes she doesn't)
• She takes three naps during the day if we are home (9-11, 1-3, and 5-6) although it is rare we are actually home and it is rare we don't have a pick-up during one or two of those times, so she usually naps (or doesn't nap) on the go and doesn't get nearly enough sleep! 
• She hates her car seat and usually cries when we are in the car. Lately though we've gone on 30 minute drives and she's stayed awake and happy the whole time and we've been surprised... so maybe she's moving out of that stage soon!
• She nurses every 2-3 hours during the day
• She rolls front to back and back to front and can do two rolls in a row
• She coos and just started giggling.
• She is very smiley and especially loves talking to Catie.
• All of the big kids fight over who gets to talk to her, hold her, and play with her.
• She loves sucking everything- especially my skirts, shoulder, blankets, and her fingers!

Some favorite photos of Annabelle from the last week or so:

Happy 4 months to this little sweetheart!

Ryan at 4 months!

I lost the updated sheet from the doctor... so I can't remember all of the deets from his 4 month appointment, but Ryan is one HUGE 4 month old! He isn't off the charts yet... but he is pretty darn close.

Weighing in at like 17.2 lbs he's in the 95% in weight and somewhere in the 85% in height and the little dude is just all chubs and smiles. We love him!

He probably gets kissed 1000 times a day between me and Catie smooching his cheeks and head. Andrew keeps him entertained by dancing or falling over for him and just sitting and chatting next to him or showing him games on the iPad. He is one loved little baby! 

Little dude will lie on his stomach or on the floor and be entertained or will sit in the high chair or exersaucer or bouncy chair and keep himself happy too.

He is so happy and easy to tote around that it is hard not to just snuggle and hold him all day. I love it when I look down at him and find that he's been staring up at me for awhile just smiling. What a sweetheart!

Ryan sleeps like a champ most nights from 8pm to 6:30am without any wake ups... but he's been growing lately, so we've had a few nights when he's been up a few times. He currently sleeps part of the night in our downstairs guest bathroom and then in the family room. The kiddos have learned to be super quiet and come play in the guest bedroom where we sleep until he wakes up for the day (sometimes not till 8am... despite the hammering and sawing in our master bedroom above him).

Little dude occasionally gets put in clothes other than sleepers... but then manages to explode through them every time, which makes me less likely to get him dressed up. Most days you'll find him wearing pjs all day long and loving every minute of it. We also wish we could wear pjs all day long at our house (and sometimes do if we don't have anywhere to go). 

Little man wears size 6-9 month old clothes now and wears size 3 diapers. The other day I was mourning that my baby was so old already and then realized that he is big, but not old... so I still have many many more months with a cute little babe around. 

We put him in a swing a week or so ago and he loved it, so now he and Catie are adorable swing buddies together. He loves chillin and kicking his feet. I will need to bust out our johnnie jump up thing for the doorway at our house now. 

In addition to smiling, little dude is trying super hard to roll over from back to front... but all the chub seems to be getting in the way. He is super social and loves pretty much everyone that looks at him. He gets passed around church and is so smiley at everyone who holds him. We love his giggling and cooing.

He was so excited to get to see his Grandma and Grandpa Smith a few weeks ago for Andrew's birthday and was smiley from the get-go. 

The only time Ryan isn't smiling is when he is driving in the car (or when he's overtired or sad he has to go to bed)! He hates the car and screams and screams the whole time we are driving! Between him and Catie I do forsee very many road trips in our near future. Once he starts screaming, Catie screams, and then Andrew screams and then I end up with a giant headache! 

It is amazing that one little guy can bring so much joy and peace into our home (as long as we're not driving :)). His happy attitude can really change the tone in our house because if Catie or Andrew is grumpy I can just mention something about Ryan and their faces light up and they start talking sweeter and looking to help their baby brother or give him kisses or hugs. 

We all absolutely love him! Happy 4 months little dude (now almost 5 months bc this post is late)!

Chunky Monkey- almost 4 months

I love this cuddly smiley chunky guy. He is all rolls. I don't think I've had a kid this chubby before and I kinda love it. He is basically just one big smile. If you look at him, he smiles. If you're typing on the computer and not looking at him, he keeps smiling at you until you DO look at him... and then it is hard to tear yourself away because he is SO CUTE.

If I could, I'd spend all day cuddling with this little guy.

Here are a few things about Ryan right now...

- He absolutely adores his big brother Andrew. We call Andrew the baby whisperer and the two little guys have the cutest interactions. Catie is starting to get jealous though, so she's upping her game and is becoming a great baby entertainer too. We're one step closer to me sitting on the couch eating ice cream while the kids entertain the baby ;) Wahoo.

- Little dude is now super sensitive to sound. This doesn't bode well since his siblings don't understand the word quiet. He can't eat if they are running around because he wants to watch them and listen to their crazy noises. He also doesn't like when they are crying... which made the last week or two kinda sad since we've had a lot of crying going on around here.

- Ryan likes to sleep and has a pretty good nap schedule during the day. I feel bad when I have to wake him up sometimes to go pick up Andrew, but he's pretty flexible.

- Little dude is wearing size 6 month clothes and size 2 diapers. I had to go on a shopping spree for him last Saturday because we are now out of wintery clothes for him! Andrew was born a few months later so most of my 6 month boy clothes are summery. The best outfit I found was a rocket themed sleeper. Andrew was so excited!

- Ryan is happy and so chill. We love it. His personality has been a great blessing over the past few weeks. He goes to bed around 8:30 or 9pm and sometimes eats at 3am, otherwise he sleeps in until 6 or 7am. Now if only I could get myself to bed earlier so I could benefit from his sleep!

- Little dude loves to play with little hanging toys now and has some awesome leg strength. I've gotta find our rainforest play mat so that he can start going crazy with kicking the hanging toys. Today he kept himself entertained for over 20 minutes while I cleaned and the other crazies ran around helping. I love independent kids!

This little guy is my favorite obsession at the moment. I just wish I had more time during the day to just sit still and talk to him and listen to his cute sounds.