4 month photo shoot.

(Lorelei has just recently discovered her feet and is enjoying looking at the slippers made for her by cousin Adria)

big day.

Today, Lorelei is four months old. Here's how she decided to celebrate!

lorelei the live version (part 3)

Here are some videos from the past month.

Lorelei learning how to splash in the bathtub:



Lorelei starting to be able to use her hands more effectively -- she really doesn't have this down yet, but this made us hopeful:



Lorelei in a particularly talkative mood (she's still not really babbling but some days she talks more than others):

one year ago.

Dear Lorelei,

One year ago yesterday, I found out that I was pregnant with you. You were so tiny then -- not even as big as a poppyseed, really.

(image)

One year ago today, your dad and I went out for coffee and pie and I gave him the good news (I needed some time to make sure I was right!). I handed him a pregnancy test under the table (which he thought was a USB drive -- will we even still have those by the time you are old enough to read this?) and he was so surprised. We were unbelievably excited -- and we still are! Even though we had gotten used to it being "just the two of us" after 5 years of marriage and 10 years together total...

...we are so happy that "baby makes three" and that you have made our pair into a wonderful family.

with love, your mom

sugar and spice and everything nice.

...that's what my little girl is made of!

(image)

I know I complain about Lorelei -- a lot. And stress about whether or not things are going well for her and if I'm doing the right things. But I had more confirmation today that everything is going great!

Today was a big day. First of all, Lorelei took yet another long morning nap -- I think she's finally starting to get into that pattern, which I thought would never happen since she's been napping for 45 minutes at a time since about week 8. Then, once she woke up, we went to Crunchy Moms!

Crunchy Moms of DeKalb is a mom/baby group that meets on Monday mornings. It's composed of all kinds of people, but tends to be frequented by moms who breastfeed, cloth diaper, and are generally on the all-natural, "granola" side of the road. I've been wanting to go, but Lorelei can only handle being awake for about an hour at a time, which makes leaving the house to do anything rather challenging. But I went to a "moms only" event last Friday and the people seemed so nice that I decided to give it a go.

It went great! We met at the children's section in Barnes and Noble -- there were kids everywhere! I saw a few of the moms I had already met and said hello, and then I noticed two moms with little babies sitting right in the middle at a table. It turns out that one of them had a 3 1/2 month baby and the other one was 4 1/2 months, so Lorelei fit right in the middle (she was the biggest of them all, of course). And right away I noticed...those babies were TIRED! They were fussing, crying, whining, sucking on their fists, and yawning away. Lorelei, on the other hand, was very perky and alert, looking at everything and taking it all in and not saying a peep!

We stayed for about half an hour. Once I saw Lorelei yawn, I said goodbye, stopped by the coffeeshop to get a pumpkin spice latte (my fall obsession), and we headed for home. Once we got back, she went down without a fuss.

The moral of this story? Even though it's a pain in the butt and I have to work really hard to get it to work, I am really glad that I've been making sure Lorelei is a well-rested baby. She's so much more fun to be around, but even more so, it seems like it makes her able to learn and grow and enjoy her world.

what do you do when you can't play with a baby?

Take lots of pictures! (Still too sick for snuggles -- which is difficult when she's this cute.)

home sick.

I'm unbelievably sick. Jason is being a fantastic husband and father and working from home today. I think Lorelei enjoys getting to see him in action: