Love to be Green: 4 Months Old

Check out that chin and those hands
reaching for the camera!

Wow! I am feeling so out of the blogging loop lately! I went back to work for the first time in close to 4 months and boy has it shook my world up a bit! I plan on posting more about my life as a working mom in the upcoming weeks, but for now I've just got tons of fun pictures collecting dust on my computer here of my baby girl just waiting to be posted. So here we go!

This past week Avery celebrated her 4 month birthday! I love how I call it a "birthday," like there was a cake and gifts or something. But really since she's our first child we do go a bit overboard each month and "celebrate" the best way we (or should I say I) know how: by taking lots and lots of pictures. Anyways, you know the "birthday drill": break out the onesie, adhere the sticker, try to fit that headband on again, and start snapping pictures of the growing girl. The highlight of this month's photo shoot was that we had two guests: Dad and then Grandma Karen. Despite being two of her favorite people, she must of been feeling a bit camera shy as she held in her smiles. No worries though, there are plenty later on in the post! ( :

Miss Long Legs

Her 4 Month Stats

Now it had been awhile since she'd been weighed and measured, so this month we broke out the tape measure and scale and took her stats and the results were quite interesting! Let's just say she is one big girl! You can see her stats on our chalkboard (from this post) of weighing 16.5 lbs and measuring in at 28 inches tall, and those numbers are all fine and dandy, but when you chart them on a growth chart like this one... that's where the fun begins. It turns out that her weight is in the 95th percentile. Now for those of who don't live your life surrounded by baby words and terms...95th percentile means that only 5% of babies of her age weigh more than her! What can I say, that girl likes to eat!

Now as for her height, she's not even on the chart! She's above the 100th percentile! She must be taking after her Dad on this one. But at the end of the day, I don't really care about the numbers. As long as she's healthy and growing, I'm happy! On top of this, it looks like my vegan diet is doing it's job of not only taking care of me, but also her! Yeah...go vegan!

Looks like a smile snuck it's way onto the photo shoot!

Curious how she's changed over the past 4 months? Check out this little visual timeline...

Now aside from turning "4", we've been one busy little family this past month, let me share with you some of the highlights!

As I mentioned before, I went back to my job this month as an early childhood special education teacher, which meant I had to leave Avery for the first time since she was born. I feel so lucky to have had the past 3 1/2 months to spend with her, but leaving your baby for the first time is never easy. Luckily she's in good hands with my mother-in-law 2 days a week, and a friend of our family's that has a 15 month old the other 3 days. We both have adjusted fairly well to this new schedule and it really has made me enjoy the time I DO have with her. As I mentioned before, I have lots I would like to post about this transition (pumping/bottles/etc.), but for now here's a pic I manged to get of her on her very first day of daycare. Like that face? It's as if she's saying, "Oh Mom...why are you taking more pictures? Gimmie a break!" ( : Get used to it girl! I even contemplated putting her diaper bag next to her, since she obviously doesn't have a backpack- he he!

The Big Day

Also, we broke out possibly one of my favorite accessories of all time for Avery...skinny jeans! Enough said! ( ;

We've also been trying another new accessory this past week, called an amber teething necklace. And although they aren't for chewing, these necklaces are thought to help ease the pain that comes along with teething (read more here). These necklaces contain amber (which is a rock that used to be resin from a tree) and when the amber gets heated up by being next to her skin, it releases trace amounts of healing oils that can help relieve the inflammation and pain that accompany teething. Seem like a choking hazard? You're not alone...many people wonder this. But I take it off of her at night while she sleeps or during the day when she naps. Other than this she's pretty much always got someone watching her who could make sure the necklace is safe on her. Also, most amber necklaces are a golden yellow color, but I liked this darker color one, so that's why it may look a little bit different.

Styling in her amber teething necklace.

Now although it seems early for Avery to be teething, she loves to chew on things and has started drooling quite a bit...I call it "pre-teething". So I'm hoping to start the necklace now and prevent any pain she may experience in the upcoming months. I'll keep you posted on it's effectiveness when some little pearly whites start to pop up.

Also this month, Avery and I went to visit Brandon at his skateboard shop, Dairdevil Boards. It was Avery's first time there and she really seemed to like it. The combination of all the bright skateboards and her Daddy were enough to make this little girl smile and giggle the whole time we were there.

Somebody likes skateboards!

Trying out a skateboard.

Cruising with Dad

Grandpa Frank and her Dad sure knew
how to make her smile!

Speaking of smiles...

And just some more fun summer styles...

First pair of sandals!

Now this past month has been full of buying all kinds of new gadgets, toys, and clothes around this green house since someone has been growing up. No more just laying Avery in the bouncy seat, she wants to be up and looking around. No more just watching me cook dinner, she needs something in her hands to chew on. And no more size 3 months...we are up to size 6-9 months!

Here is the first new toy we got, a Baby Einstein Musical Motion Activity Jumper. We call it the "jumperoo" for short. It was about $80 and Avery seems to really like it. My desire to get this was because Avery loves standing up (with support). In fact, she almost gets mad if you try and hold her like a baby. So to save my arms from breaking off, in came the Jumperoo. I debated between this one and other jumpers and exersaucers, but after a trial run at Babies R' Us one day, Avery (and I) decided on this one. Now although the crazy bright colors and music were a bit much for me, they really pulled Avery in and now she is hooked!

First time in the Jumperoo.

One downside to the Jumperoo is that there is a mirror near the "piano-like" station and when the light hits it just right, it shines a reflection onto our ceiling...which drives my dog Jilly crazy! She chases it and tries to get it, despite the fact that it's up on the ceiling. We call the light reflection "dementors" (a Harry Potter/The Office "Prison Mike" reference). Here's Jill on "Dementor Watch Duty".

Thanks for keeping us "safe" Jilly!

I can attach various toys to the clips...which she then chews on.

Not quite tall enough yet. Good thing for thick scrapbooks!

"I love this thing!"

Another fun toy that we've really been getting a lot of use out of is her Bumbo seat, which you can see I often put in the windowsill behind my sink in the kitchen. She loves the eye contact with me and all the fun sights and sounds that come from having an up close and personal view of all the food prep, dish washing, and smoothie-making that occurs in our kitchen. A must-have for the Bumbo seat: the corresponding tray. Not only does it give her a place to rest her hands, it also it a great place to put some toys and soft books to keep her busy...even though she just throws them off!

Smiling at me while I make a smoothie.

A funny thing about the Bumbo seat is that her chunky little legs often get stuck in it, so when we try to pull her out, the seat comes up with her too. I suppose this is a good thing because at least I know she's nice and secure in there, but it's a bit funny when you're trying to get her out and you have to pry the seat off of her! Anyone else have this problem?

Those legs are stuck!

Another purchase we made this month was to buy a new car seat for Avery. This wasn't exactly my plan, but when I tried buying new bases (for daycare reasons), for our current car seat, I had no luck. The company had already upgraded the seats and bases and no longer sold the one I needed. So I decided to go ahead and just upgrade Avery to a bigger car seat, since she was about to grow out of her old one (only goes up to about 20lbs or so). So I got her a Graco My Ride 65 Convertible Car Seat, which can fit a baby from 5-40 lbs when rear facing and up to 65 lbs forward facing. That's what I'm talking about...something that will last awhile! As you can tell, she seems to like it. We like to call it her "big girl car seat!" Also, in case you're wondering, the base is built into this car seat...so no extra bases were needed!

Big girl car seat.

Also, now that my mom and I are back to school (she's a teacher too), we really enjoy a weekly tradition we've had since Avery was about 2-3 weeks old: Grocery Shopping Saturdays. My mom started tagging along with me to the grocery store near the end of my pregnancy and since then we've really come to love the time to we're able to spend together each week. Now that Avery is here, our grocery days are even more fun (and a bit more tiring as well!). Thank goodness we make a stop at my grandparents house in between the stores to feed Avery, eat our lunch, and catch up with them. Here's some pics from a typical Grocery Shopping Saturday: