Baby Fashion

Leah has a wide variety of adorable clothing. Here she is showing off a strawberry onesie that Amelie wore (that she's outgrown!) on top of a fleecy blanket that was a baby present from the UUCC youth group.

Okay, so I've pretty much stopped using the camera because my cell phone is almost as good and a heck of a lot more convenient, but that means all of these pictures are just a little blurry because Leah isn't holding still for the picture :) This romper is from my coworker Sophia!

And I know these overalls have already been featured on the blog, but I love them so much! I also like that the straps are adjustable so that she can wear it for longer. Leah in her co-sleeper:

James thought Leah would look cool in these sunglasses so he stuck them on. 

And then this is an adorable summer jumper that Leah has also now outgrown. I think it was a gift from Grandma Mary Beth.

Here's a look at Leah's birth mark -- it looks a lot like a purple thumbprint.

In other news and notes, she's learned to stick her tongue out. I tried and tried to get a photo and finally managed this one. I was holding the phone up and sticking my own tongue out trying to get her to copy me. She's looking at me underneath it, but my friend said it looks like she's taking a selfie. ha! 

James and Leah

James and Leah are fast friends:

I think it may have something to do with his willingness to get down on the floor with her.

James wanted to show his sister some of his books.

Leah wanted to grab his hair:

Don't let his expression fool you; he likes it when she does this and will lean over her to offer his hair up for grabbing.

So funny! James still can't say L's very well, so he's constantly talking about "baby Wee-ah."

Amelie

Here's Amelie with our first tomato harvest. She's been very excited about the cherry tomatoes, and also about the garden in general. I found her out there weeding all on her own more than once (that was before they got completely overgrown). They taste awesome and haven't been any trouble. I just knew they'd all be eaten by our urban wildlife, but so far that hasn't been the case. The regular-size tomatoes are just now ripening.

Also, Amelie lost her 8th tooth (she's keeping track) and I took her to the Dollar Tree to spend her $1. She looked at every single item in the store twice and finally (FINALLY) settled on these "dino slingshots." They're still in use here over a week later and only a little bit gross when I step on one.

T-Ball

James played t-ball this summer. Isn't he a handsome ballplayer? The team was sponsored by Precision Construction Services.

The "DC" on the hat is for "Diamond Council" which runs all of the baseball/softball/t-ball leagues out at Cosmo Park.

Up to bat: 

I suppose this one was a strike:

The expressions on his face are priceless:

I have to admit there was some walking between bases and some scuffing of dirt instead of watching the ball.

 This is what Leah and I did during the games.

Amelie ran around and played in the dirt and made friends with the other siblings. I think she enjoyed the season the most out of everyone. She's signed up to play the next session - coach pitch, though. 

Edited to add -- the best part! Snacks!

4 Month Doctor's Visit

Leah had her 4-month well child visit to the doctor this morning.

Length: 1 foot, 11 inches (5th percentile)
Weight: 12 pounds, 12 ounces (19th percentile)
Head Circumference: 41 centimeters (61st percentile)
Shots: 3

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What Leah's doing now:

• Rolling back-to-front and front-to-back very proficiently (which has led to her sleeping on her stomach; the other kids cooperated nicely with the back-to-sleep movement, but Leah is marching to a different drummer)
• Grabbing at things (especially my hair) and scratching at things (she especially likes to do this to the fabric on the side of the car seat when we're in the car ... I'll hear "scritch scritch scritch" and look back and see her doing it)
• Smiling (not really laughing much yet)
• Recognizes us
• Verbalizing (she likes to make noise)
• Scooting on her back by pushing her legs against the floor
• Sucking on her thumb/fist/finger (not super consistently, and I hope we don't have a thumb-sucker, but I've been unsuccessful in trying to get her to take a binky, so it may be inevitable)
• Likes to be carried, but also likes to spend time on the floor
• Loves her bath
• Sleeps a good 6-hour stretch at night 

The best news: we don't have to go back to the doctor until she has her regularly-scheduled 6-month visit! (I counted it up, and Leah has been to the doctor 28 times. A few of those were just for weight checks, and once we saw two different professionals for appointments on the same day, but good grief that's a lot of doctor's appointments. She had dropped down really low on the growth percentiles chart and for a while we were seeing the speech/feeding therapist and the lactation consultant weekly, plus visits with our family practice doc.)

She'll start daycare when I go back to work at 3/4 time on August 1. James is very excited that she'll be going to his school.

Here's a link to her 2-month appointment for comparison.

Here's a picture of Leah 2 days ago when she turned exactly 4 months:

4th of July

It looked like it would rain (and it sprinkled on us on the walk to the park) but the weather held off and we went to the big municipal fireworks as usual on the 4th.

Here's James, keeping things interesting (also as usual):

 

Leah didn't seem particularly bothered by the loud noises, though I kept my hand over her ear for most of it.

Kids in Parks

Sam and Leah at Cosmo Park.

James and Amelie on the Dino at Cosmo Park.

Sam pushing the big kids on the big swing.

James hanging out at Westwinds Park.

This is the one right by our house. The kids call it the yellow park.

James on the dino on a different day.

I think there was some kind of challenge by Parks and Rec to visit all of the Columbia Parks this summer. We didn't pick up the form, but we're slowly working our way around - we've got 4 in just these last 2 posts. I tried to google the contest, and found this one instead: Apparently, they're giving away $100 gift certificate for the best Columbia Parks and Rec photo submitted. Maybe I should take the regular camera and not just my cell phone. Ha!

The challenge I was thinking of was to visit 10 Columbia parks over the summer. We've been to our 5 regular ones a few times each already, and we'll go to another one tonight for fireworks if we aren't rained out.