Olive: Four Months Old

First, let's see how Olive is measuring up these days.

• Weight: 14 lbs., 3 oz. (60th percentile)
• Length: 24 1/4 in. (50th percentile)
• Head Circumference: 16 1/4 in. (75th percentile)

The pediatrician thought Olive looked great. I believe the words, "She's advanced for her age" were actually spoken (not that I'm a proud mama or anything).

She's practically on the move. She can easily roll from tummy to back and back to tummy. She can kick and twist and flip and wiggle until she is no longer even close to where she was laid down. No more laying her on the bed while I get dressed.

At times it almost seems like she's going to sit up on her own, and she can tripod for a few seconds at a time, but she quickly loses her balance and flops over.

Olive has excellent head control. When she's in her reclined highchair, if something catches her attention she'll hold her head up an inch or two from a resting position and hold it this way for a long time. Way longer than I could hold my head up at that angle.

Olive loves grasping things and bringing them to her mouth. She's getting good at it, too. She used to mostly bring stuff up to her eyes or her forehead, but now it more reliably goes to her mouth. She can move objects back and forth between her hands as well, and she has once or twice taken her paci out of her mouth, then put it back in again later. Not too shabby.

She smiles and smiles, especially if being smiled at. Dimples are still to die for.

She babbles and babbles. Lots to say, this one.

Lately we've taken to swaddling her for sleeping times. Not sure why Andrew tried it. I think he was just having trouble getting her to sleep, so he tried swaddling and it knocked her out cold. The next day we went out and bought a Miracle Blanket and another swaddler. She sleeps much better and for longer stretches. I can now do things during her morning nap besides sit there and hold her. Glorious. (Although I must admit that lately I've been using those naptimes to take my own nap. Which is also glorious.)

She adores her brother. Smiles at him and watches him. Sometimes I see her watching him run around and she gets this look in her eye, this sort of feisty grin. I'm pretty sure we've got a little firecracker on our hands. But let me tell you, I can't wait to see her running around with Milo.

She's amazing, and even when she's driving me completely insane, I am also completely wrapped around her teeny tiny finger. I love giving her smooches on her cheeks and her neck and making her giggle. I love blowing raspberries on her tummy and singing silly songs to her. She's an appreciative audience (unlike Milo who quickly tells me "My don't like that" when I start to sing to him).

I have two months left of maternity leave with Olive, and while I will be ready to return to work, I am going to miss spending all this time with Olive. There's really nothing like hanging out with a tiny person all day, for better or worse. But mostly for better.