Allison: 4 Months

We are a third of the way to one- wait just a minute while I shed a few tears. I'm watching time slip away, and Allison is becoming less and less like a "baby" and getting bigger and more fun with every passing day. And while it tugs at my heart strings to see her growing up, I know how much fun and excitement we are in for, so it makes my heart smile even more.

Allison is officially four months old and is really wanting to roll with the big kids. She absolutely loves watching them play. If she is every cranky laying on her playmat, all you have to do is sit her up in the bouncer or the swing so she can see what's going on and she cheers right up. She cranes her neck to watch her siblings play, and gives them the biggest smiles. 

Allison loves to smile when you talk to her, and I've even gotten a few giggles out of her the past week. 

She tolerates tummy time so much better, and has mastered rolling from her tummy to her back. And just two days ago she started rolling from her back to her tummy! She had been so close for about a week, and we finally made it over the hump. She is getting too big too fast, that's for sure. 

Allison is intentionally grabbing at objects and bringing them to her mouth. Favorites include the monkey and giraffe from her playmat. 

She loves bath time, playing with the animals on her playmat, attention, and her brother and sisters. Oh and also waking up around 3 AM for me to come in there and put her paci back in her mouth. The only really big dislikes I can think of is that she doesn't like missing out on the action or getting stuck on her belly during tummy time.

Allison is eating 5 bottles for a total of 28 ounces, 3 bottles with 6 ounces and her last two bottles of the night are 5 ounces. She is up for an hour and a half to 2 hours before going down for a nap. She is taking three naps, one around 8:30, one around 12:30, and then one around 5/5:30. We've cut that last little cat nap out of her day, so now she's going to bed around 8:30, which has been so nice! Since she is so close to rolling over, we've stopped swaddling her, though for the past few weeks she was wiggling her arms out of the swaddle anyway, so we probably could have stopped sooner. It's been a little adjustment for her to get used to having her arms out and potentially knocking her paci out of her mouth, but she's been doing better. She's not afraid to gnaw and suck on her fingers. We haven't found our thumb yet, but I'm sure it won't be long. 

Big moments this month include our first Halloween, where she was the most adorable little ghost.

She also met her great grandma Flood when we trick or treated her.

She is wearing 3 month clothes and size one diapers. She weighs about 13.4 pounds and is around 25 inches long. 

While I wish I could keep Allison bottled up this little forever, I also know that we are in for some awesome adventures with her in the next few months, so bring it on!

Katie: 4 Months

How is our Katie a quarter of the way to one already!? Time sure moves fast when you are having fun, getting big, and learning new things. 

Katie's most exciting event this month was getting baptized, and you can read all about that here if you haven't already.

She still smiles a ton, and now she will even let out a giggle if you get her going. She is starting to babble up a storm, I'm looking forward to hearing what she has to say. Right now it's a lot of "ah ah ah's", so we'll see what sounds she adds this month. 

She is currently in 3 month clothes and size 2 diapers. We bumped up her nipple size to a 3 and that has really helped speed up her eating. We also discovered that she can go a while longer between feedings and doesn't always need to eat right after waking up. If she doesn't take the bottle right away, give her 30 minutes or so and she usually takes it all pretty quickly. She (thankfully) has also stopped needing to be burped so much. In fact, I don't burp her at all until she is done with her bottle, or until she pushes it away and doesn't want to eat anymore. She is still a dribbler though, so she gets a drool bib when she eats. 

Katie has loved sitting up in her sit me up seat to see what all is going on around her. She loves it when you stand her up and let her look around that way too. She locks her legs and does a great standing on her own if you give her some balance support, all with a huge smile on her face. I've caught her smiling at Brayden and Ashley playing by her, I know she can't wait to join in with them soon. 

Katie is still a fan of the swing and her play mat. Brayden and Ashley like to take the animals off her playmat to play with themselves, so sometimes she ends up with nothing up there to grab onto, but such is the life of the third child I suppose. Her favorite animal to grab has been the monkey. She likes to pull on it and will suck on it's feet or tail. 

Speaking of pulling on things, this girl loves a good hair pull, and she has a tight grip. She's started grabbing onto the O-ball with a little help from me. She also is starting to bring lots of things to her mouth, and loves to suck on her pacifier and her fingers, she's even started getting just that thumb in there, so we might be in for another thumb sucker with this one. A few days ago I noticed she had her toes in her hands, so I'm looking forward to her grabbing those more.

Katie really loves music and being sung to, especially when her daddy does it. 

Loud, unexpected noises will still bring on a good cry from Katie, and she also doesn't like when she is in the carseat in the van and it isn't moving. Other than that, I haven't found much that she doesn't like yet.

At home Katie is measuring 14.2 pounds and is 24.25 inches tall. We go to the doctor Tuesday for her four month check so I'll update with those stats once I have them. 

She is taking five 6 ounce bottles, one around 6, one around 9-10, one around 12:30-1, one around 4-5, and one around 730. She is awake for  an hour and a half to two hours before going down for a nap. She is still swaddled for naps and bed, but I know once we stop swaddling her she will be sucking on those fingers, because I've seen her wriggle her hands out of the swaddle and have them up by her mouth when going to in to get her some times. 

Here's to looking forward to all the fun that our next month will bring!

Brayden and Ashley: Four Months

Another month has gone by too quickly, and these two cuties are officially four months old. Seriously, when did that happen? We have been enjoying each and every second with these guys and I'm amazed at how much they are growing and all the new things that they are learning each and every day. Let's take a look!

In week 13 we finally got the babies baptized! You can check out an entire post dedicated to their baptism here.

Week 14 saw us venturing out of the house a little more with them. First up was a very impromptu visit to Grandma Flood's house. I know that she was so excited to finally meet these two in person!

Next was s'mores and a fire at Erin and Chad's house. Ashley wasn't too keen on the new surroundings, but Brady did really great. I love this picture of Grant holding Brady. I know they will be best buds growing up. 

And I had to throw in a few more of other shenanigans that night, including chalk tracings of Grant and "bubba" (or Eric).

Then we went to Doug and Ashley's house for dinner and homemade ice cream. We tried to time it out where they would take their last nap on the way to their house so they would be happy once we got there. It worked pretty well for Brady, but Ashley really wasn't having it. We also had a little bottle fiasco that you can read about later. Eventually both babies were in a good mood and we were able to snap this adorable picture of them with some of their newest friends. I'm looking forward to adding in more pics with new friends as we start seeing them again!

In week 14 we also decided to start transitioning out of their swaddles. They can both roll belly to back, but they hadn't been showing signs of rolling back to belly until recently. We decided it was better to transition now before they started getting even closer to rolling (like they are now!) We started with one arm out for a few days, and it wasn't long before we had them fully out of the swaddle and moved to just sleeveless sleep sacks. I'm happy to say they are both still sleeping like champs, and I love the positions I'm finding them in when I check in on them on the monitor. 

This month the babies have both discovered their hands can do amazing things! They are being so interactive with the animals on their playmat, and they are both loving playing with their toy balls. They haven't quite mastered their rattles yet, but I think that they are still a little too thick for them to really grab onto them.

We snagged two sit me up seats, and they have been lifesavers! Both babies love to sit up, and these seats have made it so easy to get them up and looking around. I especially love it because we can go out on the porch during the day for some fresh air and I can get a little reading in while enjoying the great outdoors. 

Another big thing this month is that the babies have started noticing each other and it is THE CUTEST THING EVER. Like melt your heart on the floor cuteness over here. Brady will just look at Ashley and get the biggest smile on his face. Ashley doesn't always reciprocate with a smile, but when she does it is to die for. Don't mind me calling them by the wrong name in the video- I was trying to hold Ashley up with one hand and video with the other so I was a little preoccupied ha!

Ashley's motor skills have really exploded this month! By week 15 Ashley decided that her new favorite thing would be to scoot around on her back. She does this back-bend movement and just scoots across the floor. In this picture below, she had started close to me on the blanket and ended up across the room by the jumper. 

Ashley had been soooo close to rolling over from her back to her belly for about a week now. She was able to get completely on her side, but hadn't been able to figure out how to get over that shoulder to fully roll over. That is, until just this afternoon! We officially have a back to belly roller at 4 months old. Brady hasn't really shown much interest in wanting to roll just yet, but I'm sure he won't be far behind her. 

Some extras that I don't want to forget this month:

• We were both in size one diapers and 3 month clothes this past month. But just yesterday I packed away their three month clothes and got out the 6 month tote for both of them. How are they getting so big!?

• Speaking of getting big, according to our scale and measurements here at home, Brayden is weighing 15 pounds 6 ounces and is 25.25 inches long, and Ashley weighs 14 pounds 6 ounces and is 24.5 inches long. 

• Brayden's favorite thing this month might be the puppies. He loves when we go outside and they come up and give him kisses (even if mommy doesn't love that their kisses are usually straight in his mouth. A little germs won't hurt him too badly, right??). 

• Brayden is also a big fan of standing up, and is enjoying jumping around in the jumper.

• He is not a fan of you taking the bottle away halfway through his feeding to burp him. If I don't get a burp pretty quickly I usually pop that thing back in his mouth right away so I don't have to listen to his screams. Brady gets pretty clingy in the evenings, so if you put him down after you've been holding him for a while he will probably start crying. 

• Brayden has really found his voice and is making tons of guttural sounds, almost like he is gargling. We have found out that he is a noisy pooper-it's hard to mistake those grunts for anything else ha. 

• He smiles all the time, and when he's not smiling he might be making his adorable pouty lip face. If you haven't seen the video of his pouty lip disappointment in my song choices one night, please enjoy it here!

• Ashley's favorite thing this month has been playing with her toys. Whether its the animals hanging down from their playmat or their little balls, this girl wants to have her feet kicking them or something in her hands. 

• She has become a pro at pulling her bow down off her head to around her neck. Eric sent me this picture one afternoon while I was running some errands and titled it "Bow ties over hair bows." So far Ashley seems to fully support that sentiment.

• Ashley wasn't a huge fan of taking her last nap before bed, but since I've switched up their schedules she has been doing much better. I would say her biggest dislike at this point is any change in her schedule. We really found this out the hard way when we went to Doug and Ashley's house for dinner one night and I grabbed all the parts to their bottles except the nipples. I knew that Ashley would have some bottles that we could use, so I wasn't too worried. Boy was I wrong. Ashley apparently has a strong liking for Dr. Brown's nipples, and wouldn't touch the kind that (grown up) Ashley had at their house. After everyone trying to feed her and her still not eating, I decided to run to Walmart and pick up some of their nipples. She guzzled that thing down like no one's business after that. I think we are in for a treat with this one!

• Ashley is now also quite the smiley little one, and she actually giggles a lot more than Brady does. She is making lots of noises too, and hers are more vowel sounds.

• This month we have both become quite the thumb suckers, especially when they are tired. When I put them down for a nap, they will get that thumb in their mouth pretty quickly. And it's almost always in their mouths when I go in to get them in the mornings.

• I finally decided to get a more solid daytime schedule going and both babies are doing so well with it! Our schedule now looks like this: Wake up at 8 and have their first bottle. Then it's playtime until 9:30/9:45 and down for a nap. They sleep around an hour to an hour and a half. Wake up and have their second bottle around 11. Play until 12:30/12:45 and take their second nap. Sleep for an hour to an hour and a half. Wake up and have third bottle around 2. Playtime until 3:30/3:45. Third nap for an hour to an hour and a half (though this one has been closer to an hour than an hour and a half). Wake up and eat around 5. They go down for their last nap at either six or 6:30, depending on when they had been waking up from their naps the rest of the day, and I let them sleep a max of 45 minutes, but it's usually closer to 30. They take their last bottle sometime between 7 and 7:30. Then it's bed sometime between 8 and 8:30. And they are still sleeping through the night!

• We are currently going through 10-12 diapers a day, usually closer to 10. They get 6 ounces in each bottle, and all but one, sometimes two bottles a day are breast milk. If I pumped during the night one time I would probably have enough to do all their bottles in breast milk, but I like sleeping too much to do that ha!

Happy four months babies! Now please, slow down on growing a little bit please.