Four months old already!

Hello there blog readers! Sorry for the long absence, but what can I say? Babies keep you busy. The days are a blur of getting Maggie to and from the sitter, playing with her at home, trying to throw something together for dinner, giving her a bath some nights, getting her to bed, and trying to cram a few things into the hour or so of "us" time in the evenings. Not that we are complaining, because Steve and I are having a blast with Maggie Jo. She's really starting to show off her personality, and she's just such a fun-loving curious little gal. We are loving every minute. (Well almost every minute - she's back to waking up 1-3 times a night, so we could do without a few of those sleepless 2 am minutes!)

It's crazy to think that it's been a month since my last post. Time really is flying, and she is changing so fast. There have been quite a few milestones this month. Maggie found her toes about a month ago, lurching at them every time she saw them outside of our socks. The bathtub was a very interesting place for a few weeks. Everything goes in her mouth these days. Maggie likes her toys and books for this purpose, but Dad's thumb is her favorite thing on which to gnaw. Maggie's started to turn pages on our books and stare very intently at the pictures. She's also discovered that she can pull Dad's glasses off his face in no time flat and get quite a reaction from him. She loves being zerberted all of the sudden. Excellent neck control at this point, and she's arching her back something fierce during tummy time and when she wants out of the Bumbo seat. She's not quite sitting up on her own but really likes to play that way with some assistance.

But our big news is as of this weekend -- Houston, we have a roller! Now Maggie's first flirtation with rolling-over started October 17th with tummy-to-back. She's done that 4-5 times so far but nothing reliable. The past few weeks we've been watching her get more frustrated that she could almost-but-not-quite get the momentum to roll off her back. The sitter said she rolled back-to-tummy two Mondays ago (Dec 8th), but no one had seen it since. Then Saturday morning, I noticed she was throwing herself out of the sitting position and into a new three step process for the rolling. Step 1: Throw the legs up in the air. Step 2: Roll onto left side Step 3: Lean the right shoulder and leg over...just a little further...and finally she made it over! The funny thing was that she repeated the performance for Dad when he came inside from de-icing the drive...and she hasn't stopped doing it since. It's all she wants to do now, and she'll whine until she can get onto the floor and do it again. She's probably done it about 25 times this weekend, so we'll have to get some video soon!

I meant to post on Maggie's four-month birthday last Monday, but we were a little busy with a sickie girl. She'd developed a cough over the weekend, and the doctor heard some of it in her lungs. This week has been all about administering the nebulizer treatments and trying to get her cough and congestion to disappear. Luckily, she seems to be doing much better at this point. We go back in tomorrow for a re-check and her shots if she's doing well enough. As for her four-month stats -- weight of 15 lbs 9 oz, height of 26 1/2 inches, and head circumference of 16 3/4 inches. She's clocking in around the 75th percentile on all measures, although height and weight may have been a bit closer to the 90th percentile.

It's been a big month for the little gal. Maggie had her first overnight road trips this month at Thanksgiving, spending a night at Grandma and Grandpa Easter's before Thanksgiving with her cousins from Iowa. She also spent a night at the Jacoby grandparents two evenings later, heading to Mom's friend Audrey's birthday party and spending some quality time with Grandpa J so her parents could go out for a couple hours. Two mornings later on November 30th, we had Maggie baptized at our church in Normal. We were blessed to have both sets of grandparents, my sister and her husband, and my Uncle Lew and Aunt Margaret from Ohio braving the first snowstorm of the year (7 inches!) to attend the ceremony. Maggie was basically the model baby, hamming it up for the congregation and hardly crying during the service. Then December 5th, Maggie had her first visit with Santa Claus at State Farm. The next weekend she helped her dad celebrate his 33rd birthday. Lots of fun pictures, and I will try to post a few soon!

We are excited that Christmas is almost here, and we cannot wait to experience the holiday through Maggie's eyes. Just watching her open her first present at our friends' Christmas party last weekend was a hoot. As the holidays approach, we take time to appreciate all the blessings in our lives. Obviously this amazing little girl is our primary blessing this year, but we truly value our family and friends and appreciate your support this year as we've embarked on our new lives as parents. At the same time, we take a minute to remember those we and our family and friends have lost this year and know their presence will be sorely missed. Thank you for being in our lives. Good wishes to you and yours, and we look forward to seeing and hearing from you in the year to come.