Sylvia ~ 4 months

My, the days are flying by and I have so much that I want to remember!!  Sylvia is growing like a weed and changing, learning and exploring equally fast.  Here are a few pictures and snippets of the past month-ish of her life.

She continues to suck the middle two fingers of her right hand for comfort and to fall asleep.  Sometimes when I go to feed her, she keeps her fingers in her mouth and just starts sucking harder... silly girl. :-)  I have to take her fingers out of her mouth for her so she'll eat from the real food-source. :-)

She could spend a long time playing on her play-mat, holding the ball or fingering the toys hanging from it.  Now she has outgrown it... or "out-rolled it" would be a more accurate statement. :-) She rolls easily from her back to her stomach, but mostly reserves stomach-to-back rolling for in her bed.

Visiting with her cousin, Rachel, who is about 2 months younger.

2 sweet people:  Mrs. Fawley and Sylvia.  Mrs. Fawley has always been a special person in my life and it is a sweet blessing to me that she can meet my own girls.

My mom and Sylvia at my sister's baby shower.

Baths.  Oh my goodness, does Sylvia love BATHS!!  She is like a slippery fish in the bathtub.  Keeping her on her back is like trying to keep a ballon standing on it's "pointy end"!  Towards the end of each bathtime I end up having to use one arm, elbow-to-hand, to "pin her down" on her back while I wash her with the other hand.  Otherwise she flips over onto her stomach in the blink of an eye.  Most of her bathtime she spends with the lower half of her body twisted, trying to roll over. :-)  She loves wiggling and being on her tummy in the bathtub.  After I'm finished washing her, I do let her "play" on her tummy for a bit, keeping my hand under her chin so she doesn't stick her face down in the water. :-)

She likes to spend some time reading.  Here she is reading The Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle.  :-)

In the past week or so, she has really developed her grasping skills.  This duck is probably her favorite toy.  {An aside about this picture:  Since she was no longer using the swing as a "swing" but only as a place to sit and play, we packed up the swing to open up valuable floor space.  Now her sitting time takes place in her car-seat. It's easier to move from room-to-room, too. :-) }

Catching some fresh air and vitamin D!  With the super-toasty weather we're having this summer, she doesn't got outside very much or for very long. 

Trying out the Bumbo seat!!  She is still pretty wobbly in it, so I usually jam some towels or a stuffed animal beside her so she doesn't topple over.  She loves to sit in it, though!  Here she is seeing a new angle of her gym toys. :-)

So sweet in her sleep.  She is eating 5 times a day and sleeping through the nights very well.  Her last feeding is usually between 9:30 and 10pm, and then she sleeps till about 7:30am (sometimes a little later, sometimes a little earlier).  She wakes up (or I'll get her up) and eats, then plays until close to 2 hours have passed since waking up, then she takes about a 2 hour nap.  Between her evening and night feeding, she usually doesn't take a nap.  By that time her sleep tank is pretty well filled up, so she usually eats about 7/7:30 and then again about 9:30 or 10.

One thing about her naptimes:  It is not unusual for her to wake up around the 50-60 minute mark into her naptimes.  For about a week I thought she was waking up hungry, and I was feeding her all. the. time.  It was not a schedule either of us liked very well.  Then I got wise and decided to see if she would go back to sleep.  Sure enough, she does.  It is amazing what a little bit of training can do. :-)  She almost never wakes up un-happy, and often times I go in to get her up having heard no noise from her, and she's just lying there awake and sucking her fingers.

Ironically, as I'm typing this, she has woken up in the middle of her nap and I don't think she's going back to sleep.  :-)  At her lunchtime feeding she was more interested in looking around than eating, I think that is catching up to her now!

She is still wearing some 3-6 mo. clothes but 6 mo. clothes are fitting her nicely.  She has her 4 mo. checkup next week, so I don't have any current stats on her yet.

She is very smiley, and a pretty quiet girl.  Just in the last 2 days she has discovered how to blow raspberries.  That is a favorite pass-time for her now, and yesterday she spent much of her afternoon wake-time on her tummy, fist jammed into her mouth, "singing" and blowing raspberries.  I tried to get it on video, but by the time I thought to get the camera she was about finished.  I got a few seconds of it.  :-)  She is very cute and silly looking with her cheeks all puffed out.