Happy Easter

The first picture is from her 4-month birthday. I had a cold and ran out of tissues, so I let her play with the box. : )

The second picture is Josephine sound asleep on Aunt Leah. It was a late night.

The third is a picture of Josephine in front of our house. The tulips were a nice surprise since this is our first spring here and we had no idea what was planted in the gardens. I'm curious as to what the other plants are.

The fourth picture is Josephine cuddled up on the floor with her giraffe. She never did go to sleep . . . .

Nathan, Josephine, and I are going to Pensacola in a week to visit Nathan's grandfather. I should get some good pictures while we're at the beach.

I haven't been updating the posts as much recently because it's been warmer here so we're going outside more during the day. She seems to like the small tent I got for the beach. We've gone to the park the past two days, too. I stroll her around for the most part, but we got on the swings too and she seemed to like it. The sunscreen seems to be doing its job, no burn on the baby. : ) People like seeing her in her sunglasses (there's a picture in a previous post). Nathan says she looks like a baby Vin Diesel (from Pitch Black and Riddick) in the glasses. The kids at school get a big kick out of the glasses.

For Easter Sunday we're going to Grannie and Papaw's house (my mom and dad) for lunch after church then heading over to the Granna's farm for an early dinner with the Anderson/Carter clan. Josephine should sleep well tomorrow night! I'll post a picture of Josephine in her Easter dress later this week if I have time. I hope everyone has/had a Happy Easter!

Thanks to everyone who has added themselves to the guest map (click on the icon on the right side of the page). I get excited seeing new posts. (I'm a part-time stay-at-home mom, little things excite me : ) Keep the family stories coming too!

Josephine Update:

• Josephine is doing a great job grabbing toys and putting them in her mouth. Her favorite is still the "Purple Slurple". Her eyes get huge every time she sees it. It's also easy for her to handle and get into her mouth.
• She had her four-month checkup this week along with the vaccines. She didn't have a bad reaction to the shots although her legs are still bruised. As of Wednesday, she weighed 12 lb. 11 oz. and was 24.5 inches long. She's in the 50th percentile for both height and weight.
• She's becoming more independent sitting up on her own. I can't leave her sitting up (unless she's in the Boppy), but I don't have to hold on to her either. It's funny sometimes when she can't figure out how to get it into her mouth so she leans over all the way to the floor and chews on it there.
• She came up with a new game this evening the she likes so much she cackles. She'll sit in my lap then I'll help her pull up to standing position then she gets a huge, open-mouth grin, then plops down on her bottom. She thinks that's the funnest game in the world.
• Josephine spends most of the late morning/afternoon playing on the floor. She doesn't want me to hold her all of the time (knock on wood) and enjoys slobbering all over her toys.
• We're not any closer to sleeping through the night. She still wants to eat every 3-5 hours, usually closer to 3 hours. On bad nights she wakes up once or twice an hour wanting the passy. On good nights she will sleep for a good 5 hour stretch, eat, then sleep for another 3-4 hours. Most of the time we start the nighttime routine around 8:30-9:00pm and she goes to sleep within a half hour. Most of the time. Sometimes she'll sleep 20-45 minutes then wake up again. She's pretty easy to rock back to sleep then.
• She rolled over one more time from her stomach to her back. Apparently she'll on do that on Mondays. I guess she's working on other things right now, like sitting up and hand-eye coordination.

Josephine's Favorite Things (at 4 months):

1. The Purple Slurple (teething ring)

2. Daddy

3. The TV

4. The Passy

5. Playing on the floor

6. Watching the kids entertain her at school.

7. Loud kisses

My favorite things about Josephine (other than she's the most beautiful and smartest baby in the world):

1. The way she stretches when you pick her up when she's asleep. It's something she's done since she was born. As you pick her up she'll pull her feet in with her knees pointing out, straighten her back, pull her elbows up to shoulder-height, put her fists next to her chin, raise her eyebrows (eyes closed), and pucker her lips. She'll stay that way for a few seconds. It is one of the cutest things I've ever seen. Although, within the past week she's started to raise both arms above her head instead of pulling her fists up to her chin.

2. Her first smile of the morning.

3. Very expressive eyebrows complimented by such big eyes.

4. She always smiles as soon as she sees Nathan. She'll have been fussing at me for an hour, then she sees her dad and she's all smiles.

5. Her long, soft fingers. She likes to play with my hand and it's so sweet to feel her baby-soft, delicate, long fingers.