Eighteen Weeks!

Weight: I'm guessing Lizzie girl is right around 11 1/2 pounds right now, based on her official four-month weight a week or so ago.

Sleep: For much of the past week, baby girl has been doing an awesome job sleeping. She's been waking up only at 4:00 to eat, which is perfect, because we wake her up for the day and to eat at 6:30 -- which is close to being a perfect "duration" between feedings (when she wakes at 5:00 and wants to eat, I need to feed her again right away at 6:30 for daycare/school reasons since I'm still nursing her, and since it's only been an hour and a half, she's not really all that hungry again). She went through a streak of waking only at 4:00 a.m. all week until we got to the weekend. Friday night into Saturday morning, baby girl woke at both 2:00 and 5:00... and then last night, she was up to eat at midnight, 2:00 and 5:00! I let her know in the morning that she was a little piglet overnight :) I've heard rumors that at four months, babies can "regress" in terms of sleeping through the night, so maybe that's it. Or, maybe she's having a brain growth-spurt, so she needs her food! Either way, I'm happy to oblige. I know these middle-of-the-night dates won't last forever. Some of my favorite moments are when I burp her after she eats in the quiet darkness and she snuggles in, falling fast asleep over my shoulder. I could sit in those moments forever.

Medical Issues: Nada :)

Clothes: Still in our 0 to 3 month, and lookin' good!

Socialite!: Sweet girl has just been hanging out with the daycare kids for the most part, and seeing her grandparents here and there, too :)

Diet: Still nursing Lizzie exclusively (lucky mommy -- even after I've gone back to work!).

Baby Gear Love: Our O-Ball is slowly coming to the front of the pack in terms of favorites. She loves that it's easy to grab (which she does with two hands now! Very coordinated ;)), and it's so cute to watch her try to eat it because her tongue just goes right through it :) She's also slowly becoming a big fan of her Go Baby Go 1-2-3 Snail -- she likes his light up face, and he gives her something to do during tummy time :)

Crying: She is one sweet baby. She's only fussy if she's hungry or tired :)

Mommy News: Not much in the "Mommy" department, really. I've noticed again just how extra emotional I've become. A few days a week, I go to the Y after work and walk. I flip through the channels, mostly spending my time watching the Food Network -- but I've happened upon Extreme Makeover: Home Edition a few times. All I mostly care to watch is the big reveal at the end -- which is, of course, very dramatic. Anyway, I found myself watching it today and the family who was given a new home had children around the age of two with very severe physical and mental disabilities. I was struck, over and over, at just how much they reminded me of my sweet girl and how much I love her. The love a parent has for their child, disability or not, is so overwhelming in such an amazing way. So there I was, walking on the treadmill, blinking back tears because of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. Seriously? Sadly, the episode ended with the news that their youngest child passed away two weeks after the episode aired, followed up by a montage of home video and photos of this precious girl. You can just about guess what ensued as a result: I was sniffling and had some of those "can't-catch-my-breath" cries. Oofsch. Can't let me watch a darn thing anymore.

Also: we celebrate this day with big cheers! September 23rd will always be a special day for us. It's the day I took the pregnancy test that told us we were expecting a sweet baby. It's the day I stood in the bathroom, shaking with disbelief. It's the day that was one day after Andy's 24th birthday, the day I put that little stick in a gift bag and presented it as a "belated birthday gift" to let him know he'd be a daddy. It's the day we started this journey, only hoping it would end up being half as good as it is today. It's the day that I thought nothing would be sweeter than -- but the days only got sweeter from there. It's a good day to celebrate.

Milestones: This week, baby girl started something new: using her jumperoo! I came over to daycare to feed her one morning, and I found her sitting up like such a big girl in a jumperoo they had -- I was so impressed! I thought she might be ready to use the one we have at home, but didn't think her head and neck control were quite there yet. But apparently daycare did, so they threw caution into the wind and put her in it -- and she did great! So that night, I unpacked ours and put it together... and though she has pretty much no  reaction to it yet (aside from chewing on the seat in front of her), I still think it's pretty cool that she's able to sit in it at all. She's also sitting in her Bumbo now for short periods, grabbing at things with impressive skill (and utilizing two hands, coordinated flawlessly :)). She's pretty awesome!