time is flying...

We have an almost 4 month old. How did that happen so fast? It seems like just yesterday we were nervous mommies not sure what to do with this tiny, fragile little girl. Now she's a little chunk who is sturdier and more sure of herself, just like we are sturdier parents who are more sure of ourselves.

She is trying to be as independent as a 4 month old can be - wants to hold her bottle on her own, grabs toys out of our hands that she, not too long ago, relied on us to hold for her. She likes to lay on the floor and play with the owl and other feathered friends that hang down from the "tree". One night when I was in the kitchen making dinner and Jen was playing with her on the mat she rolled over from back to front. Of course I missed it and we both sat there for another 20 minutes, willing her to do it again. She hasn't since and I think that time might have been a happy accident. :)

She's mostly content to observe...much like her Momma in that way. I asked my mom the other day when I walked/talked. She confirmed that I talked when I was 6 months old (shocking, I know! I haven't shut up since!) and walked when I was 14 months old. Apparently I just liked to sit and take things in and give my commentary on them and I think our baby girl is going to be the same way. Her favorite past time is to chatter and gab and she has whole conversations with us complete with facial expressions and that beautiful smile of hers.

Her new best friend is Jonas the Moose. A wobbly legged little stuffed moose, he was a shelf dweller in Jen's office until Finn and I visited one day. Jen gave her Jonas to quiet her and she hasn't let go since. :) He's just the right size to be slobbered, Imean loved, on and if he's within her reach she has him tightly grasped in her chubby hand. They take naps together and go for car rides and accompany Momma in the stroller when she's attempting to run.

I need to be better about logging her likes and dislikes and all of the milestones. Better about taking pictures at all her different sizes and stages. We take everything in every day and feel like we'll remember it forever. And true, some things we will, but there is so much that will fade. Already has faded. The other day I found a quickly drafted note that was a list I'd made when she was 10 days old of all the silly little things she was doing - the sounds she made and what they meant, the ways she moved her body to stretch and greet the world - I couldn't believe how much I had already forgotten. We look at pictures and can't remember her ever being that small.

I get so caught up in everything that needs to be done in a day that I'm just existing from one chore to the next and forgetting to live. I try to remind myself that the dishes will still be there tomorrow and nobody cares that my kitchen table has become a storage area. I need to remember that what matters is spending time with this little girl and my wife. Making memories and observing and documenting. So that when she's 34 and asks me "Mom, when did I first talk?" I can remember. :)

Finn and her pal Jonas.