A 4 Month Post

I'm REALLLY happy!

10 days ago, Maia passed the 4 months old mark.  As I wrote in the last blog post, between 3 months and 4 months Maia had the trip to the hospital, but thankfully there was plenty of other going ons in the last month so that such was not as dominating of an event.

Maia travelled into the wonderful state of Michigan for the first time since the Firm Retreat to attend her cousin, Gavin's, 5th birthday.  It was nice to spend the time with family, and Maia did a great job handling the noise of the bowling alley where the party was at (and got to see her Dad beat everyone else in bowling :)).

Besides attending her cousin's birthday (and seeing her Aunt, Uncle, and other cousin as well), Maia got to meet her great grandmother for the first time.  And her Great Grandmother immediately declare that she was obviously a Shuler baby because she was a cute baby.  Maia was gracious enough to even share a smile.

Just hanging with Great Grandma!

Outside of those trips, most of the excitement has been going on inside our house.  On the one end, we have some inklings that Maia might be beginning to teeth (or beginning to pre-teeth according to some people).  Whenever she is fussy, she insists on putting her fists (sometimes trying to squeeze both in at the same time) in her mouth, and sometimes ends up attempting to chew on her pacifier and bottle instead of sucking.  However, even though we got the okay to start attempting solid foods, she soundly rejected that first attempt with some very loud screaming.

On the other end, Maia rolled from her stomach to her back for the first time (I never thought something so simple would be so exciting to watch).  Now, when placed on her stomach, she will repeatedly go from her stomach to her back.  The progress happens so quickly.  She is pretty darn close to being able to go from her back to stomach, she just needs to figure out how to get her head out of the way to complete that turn.

WOW! I just rolled over, didn't I!?

The hard part with all this is trying to stay away from the benchmarks of when a baby is supposed to something.  Often, I think we have to remind ourselves not to get too caught up on that for several reasons, but in large part that because she was likely born 3 weeks early, and then spent an additional 10 days in the hospital after birth that could have stalled the physical development of certain things (like muscle development to roll over).  Its not much time in the grand scheme of things, but it is proportionally for a baby.  At least that's what I tell myself to try and keep perspective and maintain focus on more important things.

Like the fact that she remains, generally, a very happy baby, who loves to interact with her toys, and with us, and is growing just like she's supposed to.  At that 4 month doctor's appointment, she weighed in at 13 pounds 3 ounces, meaning that she officially leaves Ellie in the dust in the size department.  She is also now exactly 2 feet long(tall), and in the words of the doctor - "perfectly proportional."

I'm now smaller than a baby. Shameful.

And, right on her 4 month "day," Maia got her 4 month pictures taken.  No better way to end than that...

Just love those eyes.