Four Months Old!

We have been a family of four for four months now! :) Miss Elizabeth is letting her personality be known a little bit at a time. So far she is reserved in public as her brother was/is. She likes to people watch. She will let it be known, however, if she is in any distress. That is definitely a good thing so we can help alleviate the problem. It is just very different from Ben who we never knew if he had an ear infection or strep throat until he got fever or just wasn’t quite right. Elizabeth can scream pretty loud when she is hungry or she has a tummy ache. So we are hopeful that she will also let us know if she isn’t feeling well. So far we have just suffered several rounds of the sniffles/congestion.

Ellie went to the doctor this week for shots and a checkup. She weighs 12 lb 12 oz now (30%) and is 25 inches long (75%). It is really hard not to compare the kids. . . Ben was 16 lb 10 oz at his four month appointment. They are on opposite ends of the spectrum. :) The doctor said Elizabeth is growing great though and is just petite. She got a good report and will go back at six months for her next checkup. The shots went fair. She screamed, but was smiling within minutes after Dad snuggled her a bit.

We got the green light to try cereal. Hopefully this will help fill her tummy as she is wanting milk more often right now. Her first try was a little messy, but she really liked it! Her little tongue kept poking out trying to get more, but ended up pushing the cereal back out. Try #2 was a little more successful and she got to enjoy most of her bowl of cereal. Ben thinks it is funny to watch Ellie eat “real food” and was glad to have Sister join us at the table.

Ben and Elizabeth are continuing to form their brother/sister bonds. No one can pick out a toy for Sister quite like Ben and no one gets a smile from Elizabeth quite like Brother does. She would watch him for hours if he would stay in one place that long. :) When she isn’t watching Ben, Ellie is working on her abs. She loves to kick her legs in the air and roll from side to side. She also does a modified crunch and looks like a little baby “V” with her upper back and neck reaching up and her legs lifted off the ground. Her teachers just shake their heads and say “Boy, is she strong!” If she can find something to push her feet against she can roll over. Without that she can’t quite get over her arm yet. But does that really matter if you are going to just sit straight up from a laying position? Ha ha! Ellie enjoys playing in her baby gym and talks to herself as she grabs at the toys.

Ben is still pacifier free and hasn’t looked back. He is currently obsessed with his “George monkey” book or Curious George as he is known to most. He would prefer to stay up late in his room by himself “reading” rather than going to bed. He also entertains us with his dances and songs. His fave song is still Shout Hallelujah and the words get pretty entertaining after the first couple of lines. It goes something like this: Shout Hallelujah to Jesus is Lord because he takes care of Mommy, Daddy, Sister, Gramma, Granpa, . . . Shout Hallelujah to the Lord Jesus. . . . and other variations of those ideas. It is equally enlightening to have Ben read us his Bible. Jesus is Lord is the most common line in Ben’s bible currently, followed by God made (fill in the blank) and then some variation of his daily prayer. Another favorite of Ben’s right now is “Thomas”. Mom thought he was requesting the blue train show and realized after a very frustrating exchange and finally Dad’s help that Ben wanted to eat some hummus with his crackers. He loves “Thomas” (hummus) and requests it just as often as cheese and fruit right now. We have had our first swim of the year and it looks like it will be another popular activity this summer. Ben also asks to go to the park to play soccer with his dad quite often. We have special soccer shoes, running shoes and cool sandals. The boy is very passionate about his footwear.