Guess Who...

Is holding her own bottle? What a big girl! She also drank out of a cup for the first time. She thought it was pretty neat. She really liked the apple juice.

Apple Face

Ethnie had her first taste of real food today. I gave her some apple to snack on and boy, she couldn't get enough of it! Yumm yumm!

The Sweetest Sound

For our far away family here is a video of our sweet girls little laugh. Personally, her laugh is my favorite song but I may be a little biased.

Just Another Day

 Some days are just too special. Ethnie was overflowing with personality so naturally I grabbed the camera.

 Look at those chubby legs!! I absolutely love her little rolls! 

 I personally think she'd make an excellent Gerber Baby.

 Here she is demonstrating her arm sucking abilities. Thankfully she's stopped this but now she moved onto sucking on her lower lip. What a goof!

 Her beautiful arm hickey!

That's a wrap... well for today anyways!

4 Months

 1/3 of a year is already zoomed by! CRRRRRAAAAZY!

• Height: 24 3/4 inches (75 percentile)
• Weight: 14.4lbs (75 percentile) remember last month was a guesstimate since our scale is really messed up)
• Head Circumference: 42 cm (75 percentile)
• Nicknames: Peanut, Sweet Cheeks, Sweet Girl, Boo, Ethie.  Oma calls her Peony.
• Side note: I swear she has grown since last month. Perhaps I'm just horrible at taking measurements with such a wiggly baby. These ones are from her Dr.s visit yesterday.

• She had her first belly laugh on June 14th. Oma was teasing her with a little sheep. It was the most precious thing ever! We did get it on video but for some reason there was feed back. So sad.
• She doesn't like laying down. She has to be able to see everyone and if you walk out of a room without her she'll let you know she doesn't like being abandoned!
• She still loves Kerplunking. More so with Daddy than with me. Daddy can really get some good laughs out of her playing this game. So cute! 

• She's still not sleeping through the night she wakes up at about 2:30 a.m. just to eat and goes right back to sleep. She then wakes up at 5:00 a.m eats and gets the wiggles so we cuddle with her until about 6:00 a.m. when Daddy gets up. They have bonding time until he wakes me up at around 7:30 a.m. so he can get ready for work. By 8:00 a.m. she's ready for a morning nap. She gets back up at around 10:00 and we eat and play. She's once again ready to sleep by 12:00 p.m. and will nap for 2-3 hours. at 2:00 p.m. I wake her up if she doesn't wake up herself and she eats and we do tummy time, sing, practice rolling, read ect. She has a power nap at around 5:00 p.m and is up by 6:30 p.m. when Daddy gets home. We have dinner turn on Pandora and sing (she loves this), have bath time, read scriptures, eat and cuddle a bit before bed at 9:00 p.m.

• She getting more and more control with her hands and she's found her feet. She {loves} grabbing her feet and more often than not I find them in her mouth.
• She is now napping in her crib. Hopefully this will make the transition not so traumatizing once we move her out of our room in August (I'm flying to Canada again and my mother will be visiting and sleeping in her room so I don't see the point in moving her until after my mothers departure.)

• She loves her soother! One night she couldn't stand it and the next she wouldn't let it go. She falls asleep with her soother in her mouth now. She really enjoys taking it out of her mouth and playing with it.
• For a while she was sucking on her arm and giving herself arm hickies. This is when I really became diligent about her working on that soother. I haven't seen her suck on her arm in awhile but she still loves to get that little fist, foot or sometimes both in her mouth. 

• She really joys being lifted up over your head and "flying".
• She's getting better about being around crowds. It's overwhelming for her still but she did a wonderful job while she was in Canada. Life here in Vegas is pretty chill so once she gets over stimulated she becomes cranky. 

• She's still my girl but she has zero problem being held by anyone else. She loves her Daddy and gets the biggest smile when he comes home. Earlier this week she was trying to get his attention as he was making his lunch in the morning. Eye contact is key!
• She is really interested in food. I gave her her first taste of apple two days ago and she was going crazy! Just like her cousin Presley she has taken an interest in cups. It's slow but she really wants to see what's in your bowl or in your cup. She's taken a liking to drinking bath water out of her big green cup. I think we'll try working on a sippy cup this month.

• She's found her voice! She jabbers all of the time!! The first time she started squawking was in the middle of sacrament meeting (of course). She likes to make her presence known.
• She loves our nightly sing and dance party. Sometimes she'll try and sing along but for the most part shes content to wiggle with Daddy and watch Mama make silly faces while singing. We get some pretty precious laughs out of her this way.

• Reading time is always fun! She's now started turning the pages with her left hand just like I do. She puts her little thumb under then page and flips it over. It's amazing how observant she is. 
• She's almost 100% left handed. She will roll half way over just to reach something with her left hand. I don't think this something I can nurture out of her (not that I care but Opa's a lefty and has said it's harder.) 

• She HATES tummy time. I totally shot myself in the foot with this one. Note to self... start day 1! Therefore she really isn't all that interested in rolling. She cranks her head back like she's about to roll arches her little back but nothing. Sometimes she'll roll to her side... mostly when she's falling asleep.
• She was sticking her tongue out all of the time and then suddenly stopped. This past week she's found her tongue again. It's a fun game to play. 

• She love bath time and swimming. Gramma got her a floating boat to lounge in at the pool and she couldn't be happier! 

• She is plugged into TV. While up in Canada she would just stare for hours at the TV. She'd cry if you tried to face her towards you. I'm a little concerned but everything is good in moderation.
• Ethnie LOVES the mirror. We have several mirrors in our home and every time she catches a glimpse of herself she just beams.

 Obviously when you have a four month old there are more bloopers than pretty pictures. This one was hands down my favorite. We sure do love our little Peanut. Being her Mama is one of life's greatest pleasures. I'm loving rediscovering the world every day.

Such A Princess

Here's Ethnie at 3 weeks old. I had no idea what was coming but I love her facial expressions enjoy!

Goodbye For Now

 I got to visit with Mama Moisey before Ethnie and I returned to Vegas. It is always so wonderful seeing her! I am so thankful to have had her as a YW leader. She has had such an influence on the woman I am today. I hope that I can be that kind of example and friend to those I serve as well. 

 We went to St. Thomas Cafe. This has been our spot for the past 7 years. It's crazy to think that much time has passed. Nevertheless I love this place. 

 One last picture with Great- Grandma and Great-Grandpa. 

Our last minute attempt at a four generation photo. It's kind of freaky that we all happened to match. I'm looking forward to our photo shoot come July! I'm sure Sue will be able to get a good one of all of us!

Thank you to everyone for putting your lives on hold for me. It was a wonderful visit and I am looking forward to seeing all of you again in 27 days.

This Beautiful World

 

 Ethnie and I started out the day by singing with Great-Grandma. G-ma and I would sing all of the time when I was little. It was about time that I recorded her. (It's too big to post unfortunately. Note to self: make videos on cell phone.)

 Chris and I were just about to head out for a walk with Ethnie and Tigger when we noticed G-pa standing on top of the ladder, by himself again. I tried reprimanding him saying that he isn't as young as he used to be and he replied with "I've been on a ladder more days than you've been alive." Nevertheless Chris and I set out to help him do what ever he was doing. What a silly old man :).

 We eventually set off on our walk and it was a beautiful day! 

 This is a wild rose. It is the provincial flower of Alberta.

 It's too hot in Vegas to go walking now and though I do love the heat it would be nice if it would stay cool enough to walk in. Ethnie loved being outside!

 Another picture of the tree canopy. So beautiful. I'd like to get a picture of them in the fall. 

 The teachers were watching me suspiciously as I was taking pictures of these kids playing mini stick hockey. I suppose it might have looked bad, random lady, bigger camera, taking pictures of kids? I just wanted to capture some of the heart of Canada, hockey.

 We met up with Oma at the park so we could play a little bit. Ethnie loves to swing!

 "Higher Oma, Higher!!"

 Three generations just swinging life away. 

 Peanut also enjoys flying over your head. My arms are getting a work out lifting her up all day. I love her precious smile.

 

It doens't get much better than a milkshake after a long day. Cheers!

  

Alberta's weather is a little bit fishy. One minute it's warm and sunny and the next it's pouring rain! 

 

 So naturally Mom and I headed out to get pedicures. It was Ethnie's first time (don't worry we didn't paint her toes.)

 Chubby cheeks.

 Tigger trying to figure out what all of the fuss was about.

 

Laughing at Uncle Chris. Ethnie had her first belly laugh on June 14th. She was giggling at Oma with a stuffed sheep. It was adorable!

Night Night everyone!