The Grays

We started Lilly on rice cereal on Thanksgiving.  She got excited about it right away and opens her mouth whenever she sees the spoon.  We are trying rice cereal for a week and will introduce a new fruit/veggie every three days beginning next week.  It’s quite a bit messier than bottle feeding her – but much more fun!

This Thanksgiving Bill and I have more to be thankful for than ever before.  We celebrated our 4th Anniversary and, of course, introduced Lilly to her first family holiday.  My parents were in town all week and we enjoyed a festive dinner at Aunt Terry’s.  It was a very special day – can’t believe that Lilly will be eating turkey and mashed potatoes with us next year (that is, if we decide not to raise her as a vegetarian)!

Bill and I woke up extra early to run the 5K Turkey Trot together.  I began running very recently and had never ran more than 2 miles, but was certainly up for the challenge.  The race began at 8am and it was so much fun!  Most people were dressed for the holidays and people lined the streets to cheer us along.  We look forward to running with Lilly in the stroller next year!

Last week Bill informed me that he had made the decision to become a vegetarian.  We have been cutting meat out of our diets for awhile now but he made the final decision mostly based on health & fitness reasons.  We have been experimenting with vegetarian meals at home and have really enjoyed the Veganomicon cookbook.  Let us know if you have any recipe suggestions!

This past week Lilly has been much more active with her toys and hands.  In fact, I often have to put her down because she is flailing her arms so violently.  On Tuesday she seemed to figure out pull toys.  While on her back she grabbed hold of the elephant on her tummy-time mat and pulled it down on her own for the first time.  She was very pleased with herself and did this repeatedly – talking to the elephant for several minutes.  So cute!

We have started to refer to Lilly as our ‘baby eagle’ when she makes these squealing noises. So cute!

Lilly gets the hang of playing with her favorite elephant pull-toy.

Our four-month-old is suddenly sleeping like a one-month-old.  The past week or so she has woken to eat once at her usual time (between 12 and 1:30) but wakes up every 10 to 30 minutes (usually eating once) from 4:30 until her *official wake-up time at 7am.  The problem seems to be pacifier related – when I put the pacifier back in her mouth she usually falls asleep quickly.  Bill and I have considered pacifier weaning for awhile now.  I’m meeting with the pediatrician tomorrow and plan to make some changes later this week.  Keep your fingers crossed for us – mom needs more sleep!

Today I met with the Moms Group through Beaumont Hospital for the first time.  We meet every other Monday from 10-12 at a different moms’ house each week.  There are 13 of us in the group, two of which are group leaders.  I was a little worried about the timing of our meeting because Lilly is always asleep at that time, but I woke her up early from her nap and she did great – really seemed to enjoy seeing the other babies.  At one point she was standing up (with a little help from mom, of course) talking to the babies next to her.  The other moms remarked at how calm she was.

All of the babies in the group are between 3 and 5 months.  We talked about our babies and told our birth stories.  None of us could believe that more than half of the moms in our group had c-sections…crazy.

The group seems to be a lot of fun and I’m already looking forward to the next meeting!

Lilly at 4 Months

Weight:  14 lbs.
Length:  26 in.
Head:  16.5 in.