4 Months: Miss Marlo

I'm a bit late in this post because we've just had a fun-filled, busy stretch of traveling with loads of folks meeting Marlo for the first time.  In the past two weeks, we've been "bamping" (camping with babies!), flown to San Diego, and flown to Austin.  All of this travel and exposure to new people has worked wonders for Marlo's stranger danger.  On our trips, she was so much more comfortable around others and it was a big relief for me.  I also learned to wait to have people hold her until she's been around them for a good hour or two.  This paid off and by the end of Austin, we could hand her off to folks within just a few minutes.  She was even cracking up with new folks when before I'd only seen her laugh hard with me or Eric.  And that laugh is what I live for! 

At four months, sweetie is so engaged with the world around her.  She's figuring out how her body works--occasionally rolling and this week she discovered her feet!  She tries to put her pacifier in her mouth using all fingers and putting it in backwards.  She's digging tummy time more and can be on her belly for longer periods of time now.  She likes to pet the kitties by grasping their fur and is just into exploring different textures in general.  She'll scratch her crib sheets, diaper bag, and anything else that has a different feel.  And baby girl just keeps growing and getting bigger and bigger!  She's so long now that her little feet push against the diaper bag when we go for walks in her stroller.  It seems like she's going to outgrow her carseat pretty soon when I thought it would last us least a year.  She's bigger than babes that are twice as old!  People are always shocked when I tell them how old she is.

I swear her pediatrician told us she's as healthy as can be and to just keep feeding her on demand for now.  I'm so grateful, but sometimes I second guess when I see that she's bigger than babies who are walking!   If I can just learn to stop comparing, I think parenting will a whole lot smoother--I need a mantra to repeat to myself every time I'm tempted to compare my baby or myself to others.  :)  I think her doctor's words will do for now, "She's perfect."