4 months!

Dear Ava,

Today you are 4 months old! How did we get to 4 months already? It's going by so fast! To me, it feels like yesterday we were singing "happy 2 months to you!"

Ava, you are the absolute joy of my life! You have brought me a new level of happiness that I can't even explain. I love you so much!

This month has definitely been the most...(hmm, how can I say this?)...confusing month so far. Up until 3 months, you were the champion sleeper! You slept 9-10 hours straight through at night and took great naps! Mommy never should have gotten used to that, or expected that to be normal haha. I don't know what changed - Maybe it has been a growth spurt? Maybe the month we spent travelling and the lack of routine, sporadic naps and constantly changing beds took a toll? Who knows. But ever since we got home from Christmas vacation, your nighttime sleeping has been consistently inconsistent. :) A couple nights this month, you woke up every 2 hours. Usually you sleeps 6 hours and then 3 hours at a time after that. 

You laugh! You had your first "belly laugh" with your daddy! He was just playing with you as usual, and all of a sudden you laughed! I was so shocked, I cried. Little girl, you have the most beautiful laugh. You don't laugh too often, but when you do, it. melts. hearts.

You talk up a storm constantly! I don't know who you are talking to or what you think you're saying, but you don’t just coo, you coo in elaborate paragraphs. We have long one-sided conversations. I can’t get a word in edgewise. When you get excited, you squeal and kick your legs!

You LOVE your daddy! One evening when he came home from work, you smiled so big, squealed in delight and started fervently flapping your legs and arms in hopes to swim through the air to get to him. No one can make you smile quite like your daddy. 

Everything goes into your mouth, and you like to put it there. You’ve gotten so good at holding objects and then shoving them into your mouth. You love toys, especially ones that play music and make noise.   You love going in your door bouncer and your Baby Einstein jumparoo. You could play forever in those! 

The day before you turned 4 months, you rolled for the first time from your back onto your tummy. We were SO proud of you! Auntie Kait was even there to see your new trick! We cheered and clapped. Daddy said this means he has to be extra careful now and never step away from the changing table when he's changing your diaper. :) 

You take 2-3 naps a day. Usually 2. One in the morning and one in the afternoon. You usually sleep for 2 hours during each nap. You still love white noise while you sleep. 

You are wearing size 3-6 month clothes and size 2 diapers. Pampers Swaddlers are our diaper of choice.

We have a lot of nicknames for you. I will admit I have come up with some very strange nicknames. They have all just randomly popped into my mind. I call you Monkey, Munchkin, Munch, Munchie Moo Moo, Chicken, Ava Lulu and Ava Soso. Your Daddy calls you Ava Bean. Grandpa Webster calls you Little Birdie and Aebleskivers. Your Auntie Kait calls you Little Lovers. Aunt Maddie calls you Boo Boos. Your Great Granny called you "Kay-Lu" before you were born, but now calls you Ava Lu. You know you're cute and well loved when you have many nicknames. :)

You love to be upside down. Whenever we lay you on our legs, you push your little head through our legs so you can hang upside down. You also like to lean over the armrest on the couch. Even when you are being fussy, as soon as we lean you over the armrest, you are instantly happy again! :) I think you are going to climb on and over everything once you can crawl and walk. 

We still swaddle you every night. Once or twice, I tried keeping one arm free and I watch as your arm moves endlessly, all over your face and even managing to take our your own pacifier. You just don't know what to do with those hands. SO, we stick to swaddling you. Someday you will learn to sleep swaddle-free, but for now we will keep wrapping you up like a little pink burrito. 


You are really good at standing up. And you are very close to being able to sit up on your own! You can sit by yourself for a little while before you topple over. 

Here you are at one month, two months, three months...

...and now at four months!

This picture makes me laugh. It makes me realize that you look almost like a completely different baby from one month to four months!

Ava, I lay awake at night sometimes and just think of how special you are to me. I hope you will always know how much I love you! You have brought so much happiness into our lives and we can't wait to see the little girl you become as you grow.