Four Months and Family Memories

I had notes about Paige to write for her four month post, but them my phone deleted them. So this is going off of memory. Also, I'm using my phone to write some of this, so forgive me for any errors. Paige turned four months last Friday but I haven't had a chance to post about it until now. It's hard to think of all the new things that she's been doing; it's hard for me to look back and think when she started doing things. It feels like she's always been like this. Then I look up baby pictures when she was a newborn and realize how far we've come. 

So Paige is a talker. It seems like a few weeks ago, she discovered her voice. This is good for me because she often just babbles instead of crying when she wants or needs something. Like, when she wakes up from a nap happy, she will just cool at me until I come get her. Then she flashes a huge smile and get really excited to see me. I much rather have her wake up like that and screaming and crying. It's also a really cute to try to have conversations with her. Also, I love tapping my finger on her mouth to change her sound and she likes it too.

Speaking of her getting excited to see me, I feel like she is the most happy to see me than any other person has ever been. It's so cute to see her squeal and wave her hands and kick her feet. It's like a whole body can't contain your excitement. And all I did was show up. Why weren't boys like that when I was dating? She's also really happy to see daddy when he comes home--she's almost as happy as I am. She really is a daddy's girl. Stephen got her to laugh the hardest when he was doing push-ups with her. She hasn't laughed like that before or since. Luckily we got it on video. She will smile back at almost anyone that smiles at her if she is in a good mood. If she's in a bad mood, it doesn't matter who she sees, she's not happy.

Physically, Paige is very advance for her age. She was able to hit all of the mile markers for being 4 month old around the time she was 3 months old. However, she has yet to actually roll over on her own. There have been a few times when her head tipped far enough that she rolled, but that was just by accident. She seems like she's really close a few times for rolling over from her back to her stomach but she has yet to actually commit to it.

At her for month check up, Paige weighed 13 pounds and had grown 4 inches since she was born. She's only in the 30th percentile for her age, but the doctor is not concerned, so neither am I. I've had people comment on how little she is, and it's true that she small, but she is growing enough and has enough diapers for me to know she's eating plenty too. Speaking of diapers, she's really good at big summer blow out. I'll just keep that there for the record to embarrass her with it later in life.

Paige is really good at doing a half push-up and holding her head up really high. She loves to look around and see what's going on. She wants to be included on all the action any time we go somewhere new. Because of this, she often skip a nap or skip a feeding because she's too distracted by what's going on. She's going a lot longer between eating, and that's been nice for me. Her naps are not very long, but she does well at night. There have been enough night feedings though to make me realize how hard it would be if Paige actually woke up all the time throughout the tonight. My heart goes out to all the other moms who have to do the night shift far more often than I do.

Paige has also shown more interested in toys. Within a week, she went from oblivious to obsessive over toys. It's fun to try and play with her now. She's getting the grabbing motion down, but she doesn't have a concept of holding onto things yet. And if the toy goes out of her sight, it doesn't exist. Now I have to be careful of her wanting to play with things that aren't toys, like power cords and my hair. Still, I'm happy she's reaching this milestone.

We are also working on her putting herself to sleep in her crib. I was really worried it would be a nightmare and a constant battle, but she surprised me by doing extremely well. I have to make sure she's calm when I put her down, and I've needed to give Paige her pacifier a few times when she looses it, but overall, she's had a high success rate. It makes me want to celebrate. I knew I didn't want to do the cry-it-out method, so I wasn't sure what I would do if she hated falling asleep on her own, but with just a little extra effort on my side (but much less than her falling asleep in my arms), she's able to put herself to sleep.

I think that covers all of the details I want to point out. In other news, We've had a busy week. Last Saturday, we attended a funeral for my cousin Ryan. It was like a mini-reunion, and I appreciated that. Paige was being fussy after her shots, but my mom helped to take care of her and show her off to family members, which gave me a nice break.

Then on Sunday, we went to Stephen's family's cabin. It was tricky to take care of Paige at the cabin, but it worked out alright. She just never wanted to sleep since there was so much going on. It was fun for me to play games with his family--I ended up winning a lot more than I thought I would. We hiked a lot--any time we put Paige in the wrap and hiked, she fell asleep quickly. That seemed to be the only time she slept well, Overall, I'm glad we went. I hope to make many more good memories at the cabin.

We came home Tuesday night and met up with my mom, who stayed with us for a few days while my brother Joseph had New Student Orientation at the University of Utah. My mom changed every diaper while she was here. If you ever want to know how to help out a new mom and give her a break, change all the diapers. I really don't mind changing Paige, but I will gladly let someone else do it. My mom also helped me around my house to decorate and organize more. I was able to cross off a lot of to-do items that had been lingering on my list too long. I'm most proud of my photo wall collage. It's about 90% done, so once it's completely finished, I'll post pictures.

Because there has been so much going on, Paige's update is late, but as you can tell, we've been busy. It's at least been a fun-busy, adding memories and adventure to our lives. I'm so grateful for family and the chance we've had to be with them, and I love being a part of my own little family and watching Paige learn and grow.

Vacation, Visits, and Personal Development

Having a baby has taken up a lot of my blogging time, but I want to document things still, so this will be a catch-all recap. 

For Memorial Day weekend, we went to Arizona to visit my Grandma. We were able to take a four-generation picture as it was Paige's first time to meet my Grandma. We had plans to go to Lake Powell, but the weather didn't cooperate. It was fun to hang out inside instead. We also visited my Grandpa's grave.

I tried teaching my siblings how to make animals out of beads like my siblings and I use to do when we were younger, but their lack of enthusiasm made it feel worse than pulling teeth. But other activities went over better, like playing games and taking care of Paige. I think the best thing about visiting with family is seeing them interact with Paige (the second best thing is when they change the diapers for me). It was a very good trip and turned out really well.

My mom and my sister, Sarah, came and stayed with us this past week. It was great to spend so much time with them. We spent the week sewing different projects. I bought a sewing machine and my mom helped to teach me how to use it. I made fabric letters for Paige to play with. It was a great beginner project and turned out really cute. I also did a lot of mending by myself, and felt a great sense of accomplishment. I'm looking forward to making more things and developing that talent. 

Tom and Deborah came up twice during that week to visit. I made a carrot cake and decorated it all by myself. Or rather, like I said to Deb, "All without your help," since she is the artistic one in the family. We played games, talked, and had fun. It's nice to have my family close. While my mom was visiting, Stephen and I went to the temple and did sealings. We were able to do a lot of family names and finish up the work for a few people that I've been working on for the past few years. And it was nice to have another date with Stephen. 

My new rule of a family outing every Saturday has been going well. One week we went to Pizza Pie Cafe. Another week we went to Sheel's (a sportsman store) and walked around. We went to a festival at the local Catholic school and looked around. This past weekend we took Paige swimming for the first time since it was a free day at the pool. She was really confused by it, but didn't cry, so that's good. She liked looking at all the action going on around her. Paige really likes any action going on around her. She loves going to new places and seeing different people. 

We've also been working on things around the house. Stephen and I are trying to improve on our emergency preparedness. I think my 72-hour kit is about up to par, and I've started making Paige's kit. I've been trying to decorate more too. I feel like I have a lot of half-finished projects, but as soon as they're done, it's going to be so cute. My wall collage, chalk table, and beach-themed bathroom will hopefully be really cute when it comes together. And now adding sewing to my crafting list, I'm going to be spending a lot of time making things. That is, as much time as Paige will let me.

I've also been trying to make time for exercising. Within the weeks after giving birth, I dropped 45 pounds (and considering I only gained 30 through my pregnancy, that was really good). But then I stalled for a long time. I can't say I was actively working on it, though. I would try to go on walks with Paige, but nothing intense. But a few weeks ago, I committed to being more active. I started a couch-to-5k training app and I've seen a lot of improvement. The scale doesn't reflect it, but my ability to run has increased, and I believe it's more important to be healthy and fit than it is to be skinny. I want to be healthy for Paige, and being able to run for three minutes straight repeatedly is something I'm not sure I've ever been able to do. I would love to be able to run a 5k when my sister Susan gets home from her mission next month, but if I could even run a mile in under 12 minutes, that would be a personal record.

And now for Paige. She's as cute as ever. I want to make a four-month post soon (can you believe it's been that much time already?) so I won't write a lot, but I will say she's adorable. She's not sleeping as well as she use to overnight, but it's still only like, one extra feeding, so it's not too bad. She likes to stay up late with the party. She's in larger clothes that are super cute, but it was hard to put away her smaller outfits. She sticks to her schedule pretty well, and sometimes skips a feeding or two through the day, meaning she can go longer without eating, which is awesome. She naps pretty well through the day but evenings and nights are rough to get her to sleep. Speaking of which, she has just woken up from her nap, and it's time to go back to being a mommy.