4 month well check

Today we went for Ella's 4 month well check.  Don't let those chunky thighs fool you, she is still a petite little things.  Her stats were weight: 12 lbs 1 oz (15th percentile); height: 24 1/2 inches (50th percentile); head circumference: 15 1/2 inches (8th percentile).  She is growing on a normal growth curve (the doctor reassured me).  She is just a tiny thing.  And just so you know, if there were 100 babies lined up, seven of them would have smaller heads then her, so she really doesn't have a freakishly small head or anything.  It's funny the things you worry about as a parent!

 Another fact about this little girl is she can already roll from her back to her stomach.  The doctor almost didn't believe me when I told him that.  She's little to do that and babies almost always learn to roll from their stomach to their back first since it's easier.  She, on the other hand, rolls to her stomach and then can't roll back.  So I usually hear her crying and find her face down in a puddle of spit up.  Hopefully she's figure out how to roll back soon.

Just another reason Ella wishes she was the older sibling.  On the bright side at least Jack is learning his numbers :)

Moab

This past weekend we took a quick trip down to Moab.  The weather was beautiful, and as always the scenery was gorgeous.  We decided to rent a jeep for the trip in hopes of seeing some new sights, and of course getting a taste of Moab's world famous jeeping. 

Jack couldn't look at the camera because he was involved in a very important one-sided conversation on the walkie talkie.  We took the top off the jeep and went off roading down a trail called bull canyon.  At the end we hiked to gemini bridges.  It's a double arch that is not as eroded as say delicate arch, but is well on it's way.

 The best part of the jeep was being able to see things that you would otherwise never be able to get to and experience.  The other best part was that Steve was in heaven.  He loves 4-wheeling and is really good at that sort of thing. Had it not been for me being a wimp and our 4 month old daughter, who knows what crazy rock crawling he would have gotten into.  But for my sake, and it hopes of not over jiggling our little girl, he kept it somewhat mild.

I swear every time we leave town the kids get sick and this trip was no different.  They just had mild colds, but still it throws a little kink in the plans.  Despite not feeling well Ella was a trooper.  Don't you just want to kiss that shiny cheek?

We got back in town Saturday evening and almost before the jeep was unpacked Steve and Jack took it out one last time up in the mountains by our house.  Those two are definitely two peas in a pod.

Naptime transition

I'd be lying if I said the past 4 months with Jack have been smooth sailing.  With kids it's seems like as soon as you've got a good thing going something changes that throws you back to square one.  Our almost 3-year-old has been such a good napper/sleeper since he was a year old, but lately that has changed.  He started getting up for the day at 5 am and was obviously not tired anymore.  I knew the problem, but didn't want to admit it.  My little boy is growing up and no longer needs a 2 hour nap every afternoon (a very sad day for mom).  So our new schedule is mostly not having one.  Some days he naps and some days he doesn't.  This has made for some long days for mom and obviously the little guy too.  Every now and then he finds unusual locations to catch a power nap.  But really, have you ever seen such an adorable sleeping face?  Jack is so funny right now and has me laughing constantly.  He is on his way to being bilingual thanks to "Dora" and always catches me off guard by casually throwing some Spanish into his vocabulary.  Anything that he needs to draw attention to in the downward direction he does so by saying abajo, abajo.  It makes me laugh every time.  I love how he can put his sentences together so well now and communicate in such a fun way.  The other day I was getting him some ketchup to go with his lunch and the bottle was almost empty.  I shook it and squeezed it and mostly air came out.  Jack's response was, "Mom, I like the sound that the ketchup bottle makes."  He's already developing little boy playground humor. He is my little buddy and is such good company.  He can clean the house like you wouldn't believe and loves to help me whenever possible.  Whenever we go to the grocery store as soon as we get settled with a cart he says, "what's on the list, Mom?"  One of the most rewarding experiences I've had thus far as a mom is seeing how much this little guy loves his little sister and vice versa.  He says "oh you little sweetheart" to her in pretty much the cutest voice I've ever heard.  To the casual reader, I apologize for this post and the fact that it doesn't contain any ground breaking event, but I want to remember the little things.  This is why I started blogging and am trying to stick with it.