Annie and Sophie,
Four months. A third
of a year with you girls! And yet, it
seems as if you’ve been a part of my life all along. Which, in theory, I suppose you have been,
but my goodness, who would have ever thought I would end up with two of the
most perfect, most beautiful, and most unique little girls? I am so in love
with you both.
Your fourth month has been so exciting. You have blossomed into your own
personalities more than ever, and they are so separate and so distinctive from
one another. Yes, you are twins, and you
both were born on the same day, but that is almost where the similarities
stop!
Annabel, you are feisty!
You have maintained your nickname “Hell’s Bells,” but don’t worry, we
say it with the most affection possible.
You have very high HIGHS, but you also have some low LOWS. When you wake up in the morning, you grunt
and coo. You very rarely cry in the
morning, so it’s one of my favorite times with you. You love to nurse in the morning and hold on
to me as you eat, and you almost always wake up before sissy Sophie. You are a pretty voracious eater. You are so loud when you eat that you wake
your daddy up if he is still sleeping!
You love the endless supply of milk when you nurse, but you still take a
few bottles a day and eat those just as eagerly. When you are done eating in the morning, you
are so full of smiles. I prop you up so
you can see me while Sophie eats, and you just have endless smiles. The fun thing about your smiles is that it
changes your entire face. You stare
intently, and when you see something that makes you smile, your entire face
lights up. Your eyes brighten, your face
relaxes, and you can’t help but stick your tongue out when you smile! It’s also pretty easy to get you to smile,
but your very favorite thing is your colorful doll. Anytime we bring that out to play with, there
is an endless array of smiles. (Do you see a theme? When you smile, you
smmmillleeee!) We always attach it to
your carseat when we go out, and when it catches your eye, you will smile and
talk to it for several minutes. No other
toy can compare to the dolly! On the
other hand, daddy says you have very strong lungs. When you get upset, you don’t whimper, you
scream. I mean, SCREAM. Grandpa says that when you cry, he doesn’t
mind picking you up, but it is like bringing the speaker up to your ear! Your screaming fits are directly correlated
to two things: sleeping or eating. You
are either REALLY hungry when you scream, or you have hit your wall and are
ready to sleep. Something I love so much about you is your hair. It is coming in fast and furious! The only thing is that it sticks STRAIGHT
up! You are getting so much of it, and
it’s only a matter of time before it collapses under its own weight, but for
now, we giggle at your stick straight hair standing right up. Annie, you also love the tv. We don’t leave
it on very often, but sometimes when we are watching a show at night, you will
crane your head to see whatever is on.
This morning, daddy was showing you some cartoons, and you watched very
intently! Another big thing this month
is that you have gotten so, so close to rolling over! One night, daddy went to change your diaper,
and you were trying to turn yourself over on the changing table, so we brought
you over to the living room floor, totally naked (because you love to be
naked), and set you on a blanket. You
tried to roll and turn yourself for at least 20 minutes. You never quite made it all the way over, but
you are so close! My Belly, I love you
so, so much. You are my little cuddle
bug, always nuzzling your face into my arm, my chest, or my shoulder, and I
just can’t believe how quickly you have grown up in the last month.
Oh sweet Sophia, my Mount Saint Sophia. You have also held on to your nickname, but
your spitting is getting better! And my
goodness, you are the sweetest little Sophia I have ever met. Your big blue eyes make people smile every time
they see them. You are a very calm,
mellow baby most of the time. You
usually wake up a little bit after Annabel and patiently wait your turn to
eat. You look all over with those big
eyes and make little talking noises. You
almost never cry in the morning, even if you have to wait 15 or 20 minutes to
eat. You love when we give you a little
illegal break from your brace in the morning to nurse. Daddy will usually take it off of you for a
few minutes before you nurse, and you kick your legs as hard as you can for
nearly that whole time. It must feel so
good to have your legs and hips free.
You are a mellow eater, too. You
eat your fill, and then stop, usually taking only about half the time that your
sister takes, but you always eat your full bottle, taking about double the time
your sister takes! You haven’t really
developed a preference to a specific toy quite yet, though you like things that
are black and white. Your favorite place
to be is….the changing table ! You can be so upset, and if we put you on the
table to change your diaper, you always give us a big smile and start your
sweet talking. Your cry is kind of like
a kittens purr with a little bit of added spunk to it. It’s a sad, sad cry that makes everyone feel
like something is so wrong, even if it’s just that you are getting tired. Speaking of tired, you will fall asleep just
about anywhere when you are ready. One
day, you were playing with Annie in the Pack N Play, and I went to the
bathroom. When I returned, you were fast
asleep while Annie played. Sophie, you
thrilled us this month by LAUGHING.
Actually laughing! A hearty, big
chuckle. The first time you did it was when daddy was playing
with you. We actually got it on video,
but it’s kind of a silly video because mommy is so giddy with excitement that
she sounds funny, and Annie is in the background crying. But it’s still so special to me that we
caught your first laughs on camera.
Since then, you don’t laugh often, but when you do, it’s so fun! It’s often when you are on the changing
table, and you laughed for grandpa when he was playing with you and your bug
toy on the couch. Aside from laughing,
you love to talk. You seem to have full
on conversations sometimes. It’s hard to
catch you talking on camera because you really only talk to people, and when
the camera gets brought out, you get so distracted by it. You smile often, but it is a little bit more
work to get you to smile, but I think that just means that you really, really
mean it when you smile! Sopapilla, you are such a sweet girl, and I love you so
dearly. I pray everyday that when we go
to the orthopedist on April 6, Dr. Hamblin will tell you that you can wear your
brace only at night and nap times so that we can cuddle more efficiently and
you can kick your legs more often, like you love to do so much. I love you ever
so much my sweet sissy.
I have enjoyed this last month more than any other
month! You both love to play in between
naps, and you have really developed a routine.
You eat, play, and sleep, and it’s pretty predictable. We play on the floor, in the pack n play, in
your Bumbos, on the Boppys, etc. We read
a LOT of books, and both of you now pay attention to the books and look at the
pictures. Sometimes you will even swat
at the book. Mommy has a song for just
about every activity. In the mornings we
sing “Good morning, good morning, it’s a good, good, good, good morning. We say “hello” and “how do you do?” Hugs and kisses and handshakes, too. Good
morning, good morning, it’s a good, good, good, good morning.” I think you are starting to recognize it
because as soon as I start singing it, you both light up.
One of my favorite things is bathtime. Both of you were having a bit of a hard time
with baths. The problem was that you
loved them so much that it was just pure torture for you to have to get out of
them. So, I started taking a bath with
you in the big bathtub in our master bedroom.
You both love this even more.
It’s like you are swimming! So, I
always sing to you “Swimming, swimming, in the big bathtub. Annabel (or Sophie)
is swimming in the big bathtub.” You
very rarely cry now when you get out of the bathtub. I can’t wait to bring you in the pool because
I know you are going to absolutely love it.
You need baths pretty regularly because you have a habit of
endlessly sucking on your hands. At
first I thought it was because you were hungry, but now I think you have just
discovered a new part of your body. You
are both also grabbing onto rattles if we wrap your fingers around them. You need that help still, but seem to do a
good job of holding on once you have it.
Tummy time is improving, though you still much prefer to do it sitting
in the Boppy. I like to have you face
one another so that you have something fun to look at, but you haven’t quite
caught each other’s eyes. You also love sitting in your Bumbos!
I have to admit that
I also take a LOT of pictures of you every day.
Now when you smile, you both get so genuinely excited that you can’t
help but bring your hands up to your face in excitement. Sometimes you hide
your face with your hands when you smile big, almost like your shy, but I’m
pretty sure neither of you will be shy.
If you’re not bringing your hands to your face, you are flapping them a
million miles a minute, which makes it very hard to get a good picture of both
of you…there is always a blurred hand, foot, or face in most pictures!
You both sleep from about 8pm-7am and have ever since your
dad went on a business trip to Las Vegas about three weeks ago. Grandma Dingo stayed with me, but I was still
so nervous to be alone with both of you for that many nights! You shocked me by sleeping like angels and deciding
that you would love to nurse in the morning instead of me having to warm up
bottles and feed you at the same time. Another huge milestone you reached this
month was sleeping in your cribs for naps.
Annabel, you had a fussy spell when daddy was in Las Vegas (I will never
forget the Red Robin Meltdown of 2012), and I ended up taking you to see Dr.
Kiley, since you also had some congestion.
She told me it was time to start having you sleep for naps in your rooms
instead of the swing, Rock N Play, or my arms.
It was hard as first, but mostly for mommy. As soon as we put your braces on and swaddle
your arms, you usually only fuss and talk for a few minutes before falling
asleep. Somebody always runs down the
hallway to your room for the job of reinserting your pacifier until you fall
asleep. Grandma and I got you each a crib
toy, and you both love them. They really
help you fall asleep, and you love staring at them.
I celebrated my first birthday as a mom this month, and I
was so glad that you both got to be a part of it! You helped daddy make me a present—imprints of
your feet! Daddy said that Sophia is the
artist of the family. We also went and
had cupcakes and went shopping for my birthday.
You did GREAT until we tried to go have dinner. Then Sophia had a major blowout, and Annie
had a major meltdown, and we frantically
asked for our dessert TO GO, please, and hightailed it out of there! No big deal. I still had a great time
celebrating with my little family.
Speaking of blow outs, you graduated from your newborn All
in One diapers, and you are now able to wear pretty much all of the cloth
diapers we have for you. We haven’t had
any problems with them, and you don’t seem to mind them one bit.
I am getting this out a bit late, although I really did have
most of it done on your 4 month birthday.
But, let’s face it, my little four month olds are A LOT of work, but for
the most part, it’s all fun work! I love
you to pieces, my darlings!
Love,
Mommy
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