Boston

We found ourselves in Boston, MA over the weekend and I have to say, it was one of the nicest cities I have ever visited. My Dad happened to have a work training in the area and it didn't take much coaxing on his part to get us to make the drive out. 

It was a quick trip, but we enjoyed walking the Freedom Trail, visiting Harvard University in Cambridge, and even a quick stop over in Cape Cod for some lobster. 

 Paul Revere getting ready to lay the smack-down on some British, or Sarah Palin.

The USS Constitution--"Old Ironsides"--the oldest operating warship in the world. Easily the coolest stop along the Freedom Trail.

 We showed up at this bar and everybody knew my name...weird.

 We stayed outside the city, and the first night we ate at the oldest inn in America. It was charming.

And Britta didn't mind being able to log in some snuggle time with her Poppy...

...or chilling in a king size bed.

Four Months

These past four months have flown by at an unbelievable rate, yet I find myself turning to Chris at the end of almost every day and asking, "Can you even remember what life was like before we had a baby?" Sometimes that life seems like nothing more than a distant memory.

At four months, Britta girl is weighing in at 13 lbs 14 oz, putting her in the 50th percentile. She is measuring 25.5 inches long though, putting her in the 90th percentile for length. Our pediatrician took one look at us midget parents before skeptically saying "that's really tall...does height run in your family?" 

At four months, she is very observant and curious about the world around her. She loves to roll around and can get from back to belly, but hasn't figured out how to reverse it yet. Most days my attempts at snuggling result in her wiggling and kicking her way to freedom.

She still loves to sit up and hangs out in her Bumbo all the time. She reminds me of a tiny dictator in her throne. She likes to wait until she is sitting in her Bumbo before she lets off her poop explosions, thus ensuring that the projectile force will send poop as far up her back as possible. This picture was taken approximately ten seconds before just such an explosion.

She is still sleeping well at night, usually a 9-10 hour stretch followed by another 3 hour stretch and we are in the process of trying to work her down to an 8:00 bedtime. 

 She still loves to eat and I was hoping by this point she would be going longer between feedings, but I guess the longer stretch at night is worth the milk factory I still am during the day.

She hates the heat and humidity here, which is making our afternoon walks increasingly difficult. 

She is beginning to laugh and it is awesome. She hasn't quite figured it out yet, and it is really funny to watch her try because it is obvious that she really wants to make noise but isn't sure how. What does come out every now and then is a high pitched squeak. I thought I had hurt her the first time it happened.

And how can I forget her tongue? It is her favorite toy of them all. If she could she would lick each and every item in our house. When there isn't anything to lick, she is content to just move her tongue in an out lizard-style in the breeze. She even does tongue push-ups during tummy time.

She still loves Dad and lights up like a firefly when we Skype with the grandparents, but at the end of the day she has a soft spot for Mom too. 

Beach Babes

One of the great things about where we live is that we are only fifteen minutes from the beach. In desperate need of a fix for my farmer's tan and out of a desire to make sure my girl loves the beach as much as I do, we spent our first afternoon soaking up the rays last week.

I am now nursing a wicked sunburn, but it was so worth it.

 Some of the other hot mamas in the ward joined us as well.

The babies did really well until it was food time. Screaming ensued, but eventually the power of my milk and the sound of the ocean wiped this baby out. And since these girls are BFFs, Lucia decided it was nap time too.

I've got a feeling this is just the first of many beach days this summer.

Yellow

Chris has decided he is sick of the pink that has overtaken our lives, so he has made an executive decision that yellow is to be Baby B's new favorite color. 

B Slice seems pretty excited about it.

And I am trying to show my support by wearing lots of yellow myself.

 These shoes were just another attempt to show my support for the yellow campaign. I am hoping he gets sick of yellow and I get a license to buy lots of red things next.

This is how we roll.

This one has been working fiercely to try to master the art of rolling over. No luck yet, but she has not given up faith. She tuckered herself out practicing this afternoon. I have a feeling she is going to be real disappointed when she finally accomplishes it only to find out it has landed her on her stomach--the last place on Earth she would ever choose to hang out. 

A very D.C. Memorial Day

This Memorial Day weekend we went to our nation's capitol for a spur of the moment vacation. It was easily the most patriotic thing I have ever done on Memorial Day, but to be honest, at one point in the day I realized I was missing my dad's bbq and almost cried.

It was a wonderful trip, and it made Chris want to make a career move back into the field of History teaching. I reminded him of the horrors of middle school kids and I think he has found some peace with his current career again.

The Whatcotts, friends from our ward, happened to be planning a trip to D.C. as well, so we met up and saw some of the sights together.

At one point, Air Force One flew directly over us to pick up Barack-y. It was pretty sweet.

We stopped in Philly on the way home to see the good old Liberty Bell and Independence Hall.

Washington D.C. is a beautiful city and I highly recommend a trip out East to visit it and see some of the great treasures of our incredible history. Britta, however, recommends you visit it when it is not 95 degrees with 80% humidity and you aren't strapped to your father's chest all day.

Three Months

 We can't believe thus chubby monkey is already three months old. Somebody please freeze time and make her stay small. Recently, I have stopped getting comments on my "tiny baby" and have even had several people tell me that she is big for her age. She didn't have a Dr.'s appointment this month, but as far as we can tell she is about 13 pounds, which BabyCenter puts into the 50% percentile.

She is still a very happy baby and at three months is very similar to how she was at two months. She still loves her bath, and is actually better about not screaming once I get her out of the bath. I just have to cuddle her for a while like so afterwards.

She still rocks at sleeping and is totally ruining me for all future children. Where she used to wake up screaming and ready to eat, she is now waking up in a friendlier mood and will even smile at you once or twice before demanding her meal. After she eats, she usually chills on the couch for a while and watches Mom  exercise (and tries to contain her laughter) or helps Dad with his work reports. 

Miracle of miracles, she is slightly less obsessed with her binkie, the key word being slightly. Instead, she has found a replacement in the form of her own clothing. Yum.

As you can see from these pictures, her hair is no less crazy this month. But, it does help that she was blessed with the world's greasiest scalp, so by about 24 hours after her bath most of her hair is slicked down anyway. 

Probably the biggest change this month is her awareness of her surroundings. She will now look at her toys with interest, carry on long conversations with them, and bat at them now and then. She still doesn't grab anything but my hair...of course.

We have had approximately 50 play-dates with this baby and for the first time this week, she actually acknowledged her existence. Progress.

 She is a master at blowing bubbles and drooling, leaving her clothes soaked by the end of the day. It really is an art form.

Happy three months, baby girl!

The many faces of Britta Ann

These pictures were all taken within a sixty second span, and I am pretty sure I even deleted some of the crying ones:

Never a dull moment...but definitely a need for some photo lessons on my part. 

*On an unrelated note, the post before last is referring to the bakery in the show "Cake Boss." Chris didn't think I made that clear enough. If you have never seen it, you should check it out, seriously.

We shall be free...

She is planning to host an anti-swaddle rally soon. Let us know if any of your baby friends are interested.