Holland 4 Months

Holland at 4 months. 12 lbs 7 oz (15.8%)

25.5 in long (90%)

16 in head circumference (53%)

I think Holland was my biggest baby at this point. Go me! :) The pediatrician talked to me about maybe supplementing. Haha! If only she knew! Holland will rarely take a bottle of pumped milk! She hates the bottle and doesn't even love the pacifier. It is funny to me how much the mood of my day changes depending on whether Holland likes the pacifier that day.

I have even purchased other pacifiers to see if she would like a different kind better. Nothing. 

We sure love her though. At four months her main tricks were clasping her hands together (like for a prayer). Also, she often would grab the toes of her left foot. So cute! Another main characteristic--drooling. I saw when she is was getting her 4 month immunizations that there were little bumps where her teeth are coming in. I assumed they would come in pretty quickly, which was supported by Holly starting to drool (a lot!). Right now (at nearly 6 months old) they still haven't poked through. And the drooling has slowed down (knock on wood).

Oh, we all just adore Holland!

 

I think these are the last photos we took in our apartment.  Notice the packing box in the background. Oh we love our baby.

The Aquarium!

While my parents were visiting us for Holland's blessing we stayed busy. This was a little trickier than it typically is because it was August in Phoenix. This means swimming or indoor activities, which is what we did. First on the agenda was an aquarium. This was so fun!

I loved this hairy bright orange/red crab!

The girls loved the tide pool and the area where you could touch the different creatures.

There were lobsters and little cubbies to peak in. There were even cubbies to peak up inside the tanks.

I thought it was cool to see all the fish, especially all of the small sharks.

The girls loved the dinosaur bones in the tank. I swear they were more fascinated with those than the fish. "Do you think those are real dinosaur bones Mommy?" "Nope."

Grandma's favorite was the sting ray.

We all loved the giant turtle.

I liked the 360 degree tunnel.

There was a play ground at the end, which might have been their favorite part! :) 

Thanks Grandma for taking us!

Holland was  a dream through this whole adventure! What a sweet baby!

Ellie really liked the seahorses. So she got 2 toy souvenirs. 

She also got a starfish necklace.

Miriam got a mermaid that grew in water.

We played pin the fin on the seahorse with the seahorse poster Ellie made. We also played Don't Eat Pete. 

And Headbandz!

Of course we had to take Grandpa and Grandma swimming! Love the hot hot weather and swimming!

My sister gave us this floatie, which isn't necessarily age appropriate for my kids, but they still loved it!

Ellie jumping in the pool by herself! Holland is getting to be an old pro at this too!

All of this made us pretty tuckered out.

Ellie never takes naps anymore, so she just read while the rest of us slept! Works with me!

It is fun to have our routine changed up a bit with Grandma and Grandpa here. So grateful that they are willing and able to come visit us so much!

Holland's Blessing Pictures

I still can't believe I am a mother to three. Three beautiful girls!! Can I just say again how woefully inadequate I feel at being their mom? I know they are going to grow up realizing all the different ways their mom was crazy and wrong, and they'll be right! Maybe someday they will read this and recognize that I know more than anyone how far I am from being a perfect mother. Girls, I want you to know that I pray everyday that I will be a better mother to you. Hopefully that counts for something...

Whoa, that was a lot more serious than I intended to go. Let's focus on how adorable baby Holland is! She is gorgeous! 

Right now (at 5 months) she is an easy smile and a little more willing with her laughs, although it is still rare enough to warrant a lot of attention when she is giggly.

She almost always sleeps through the night (knock on wood). She doesn't have regular naps during the day. I don't know when that is going to start happening. Maybe it is a side-effect of being #3, but she normally gets cat naps throughout the day and maybe one or two good long ones. Never at the same time from day to day. I should probably try to put her on more a schedule...

Her blondish-brownish hair is growing so much faster than Miriam's did. It is almost always wet with sweat and spit-up. This girl is a drooling machine!! Her bottom gums are swollen with teeth, but they haven't poked out yet. Those baby blue eyes seem to get bluer every day. And her skin is so soft. (I know babies are supposed to have soft skin, but really it is so soft!)

She is just getting to the stage of grabbing onto everything (unintentionally)--my hair and her binky are particularly noteworthy. Mostly because it is surprisingly painful to have her get my hair, and she makes herself so upset when she inadvertently pulls out her own binky (around 50 times a day).

I love, love nursing her. She likes to hold my finger while she nurses. When she is really in the zone she drapes her top arm across her face, over her eyes. It is adorable! When she is less in the zone, she just watches me and if she catches my eye, she splits into a huge grin that dribbles milk all down us. I seriously love it. (Although we both often smell like sour milk...stinker.:) )

Holland loves the attention from her older sisters. And they just adore her. They fight over who gets to be in her face, trying to get her to smile. They are both convinced she is actually learning her numbers and letter sounds, and that she is actually communicating things in her grunts. What funny girls!

Holland is starting to really love bath time, which is good because she needs a bath everyday. She squirms and wiggles in the bath, which makes her splash herself. This startles her, but she likes it. Little cutie!

She smells so good after her bath. Seriously smelling her (especially her breath--I know, it's weird) sends my hormones into overdrive. My body screams at me--care for this baby!!!

 What an angel! We are so lucky to have her!

Oh yeah, this is what these pictures are about---Holland's blessing was at the beginning of August. My parents came down for the blessing. Included in her blessing was a blessing for good health and strength, to be a good example and share the gospel, to accomplish her goals, be a peacemaker, to help and serve others, to put a high priority on her family, to seek righteousness and God's will, and to know God's love for her. It was beautiful.