Four-Month Birthday

No doubt, the girl’s getting bigger. Just celebrated our four-month birthday around here and when you look at “old pictures” (like from three months ago), you realize how fast time flies in the life of a little baby.

1     She’s capable of making sounds other than a horrifying scream. She actually is beginning to make “talking” like googling sounds. Amazing how the words come forth after she starts having regular bowel movements. Sometimes I lose the ability to talk to when I gotta poo really badly. That’s between you and me. And anyone who reads this mess. Figured you’re just scrolling down at this point to see her four-month portrait. Her favorite sound is the squeak.

2     Nothing tastes better than the heel of her own hand. But also, there’s no nutritional value in the heel of her own hand. That’s her first nutrition lesson. Rarely do the best-tasting foods have any nutritional value. That includes hand.

3     She can sorta roll over at this point. She can effectively move from her side to her back, back to her side and side to her belly. We’re taking it at half turns at this point. Still seems ahead of the pack. Of course, she has a lot of energy stored up from not taking swings at daddy’s chin hair anymore.

4     She can move from her back to her butt without “whiplashing” effects and also from her butt to her feet and hold a “standing” position for about five seconds with only the aid of her daddy holding her hands (recalls “Daddy’s Hands” and daddy-daughter dances at five different weddings he’s been to).

5     She smiles now. Smiles so much you can tell she’s smiling through her eyes when she’s plugged with a pacifier. Now, I’m a tough guy, but her smile will absolutely melt your heart. Okay, I’m not so tough. In fact, I’m not tough at all. I’m a sissy. But, still, if you were tough, her smile would melt your heart.

6     She sleeps pretty solidly at this point. Never thought it would actually come. We had a few nights when she woke up in the middle of the night (“1:30 middle of the night”…not “3:30 middle of the night”–all’s relative to a new parent). Other than that, she’s down at 8:00pm, up at 3:30am for a feed and up at 6:30am for the next feed. Pretty predictable. That’s at least eight hours a night. As a new parent, you don’t get to pick the hours. You’re just thankful you’re measuring sleep in “hours” and not just minutes.

7     My lovely wife noticed that she now cries for a reason as opposed to crying for no apparent reason…one clue that maybe we’re moving out of colic season. The other day when my lovely wife was taking her to her babysitter, she was fussing and then moved up to a full-on cry. My lovely wife, unable to see her in the rear-facing seat, pulled up at the sitter’s and then went to the backseat to see what the problem was only to find Ellison in the car seat with her little winter hat covering her entire face. She was unable to see. Not a bad reason to cry.

8     Prune juice, prune juice, prune juice. It does a baby good.

Looking at this child, I realize how blessed I am. Sounds cliche, but can’t help it. Sometimes, there are moments in fatherhood when you’re experience becomes fantastically cliche. I have Hallmark moments hourly. I laugh when I hold her in my arms because I’m truly overwhelmed by how beautiful my daughter is and how great it is to be a father. I think about how I want to be a better person for my two girls. I’m not the first to feel it. Sure. But that doesn’t make it any less real.