Bowling with Friends

 We've had a fun holiday weekend visiting with lots of friends.  The Moody family came to visit today and we all ventured out to the local bowling alley.  Right at nap time.  So we bowled a set with four tired kiddos.  It was entertaining & fun regardless.

 Trying to get a photo of 4 tired kiddos....they were good sports!

The bowling baby!!

Lego Contest

Our local toy store has a Lego contest running where kids can bring in their creations for display.  Allison keeps talking about entering one but so far she hasn't come up with one to enter.  Regardless the contest has spurred her interest and she's been spending a lot of time playing with her Legos which we think is a lot of fun.....Legos are a favorite toy for the biggest kids in our family, too!  We'll see if she comes up with an entry by the end of the month when the contest ends.

Almost Sitting

Heidi loves sitting or standing.  We've started propping her up - which works sometimes.  In this case she folded right over on top of the Boppy instead, though.  She was pretty happy hanging out this way!

Hopscotch

 Allison has been practicing hopscotch - since I made a pattern with painters tape.  She's getting better and better - especially when she concentrates (see the tongue sticking out?).

First Bike Ride

 Heidi got her first bike ride today - she was nice & comfy in the infant sling in the Chariot after Mark made a few adjustments (she screamed the first time he tried to set her in).  She rode around the neighborhood completely quiet, just taking it all in.  Hopefully we have the makings of another bike rider!

Toy Love

 Allison never seemed to be entertained by toys for long when she was a baby.  So I find it fascinating to watch Heidi 'play' with her toys (and all the baby toys that Allison didn't play with much!).  She works so hard to grasp the toys and then she focuses intently to get the toy to her mouth.  Now, if only she could figure out how to get a part of the toy that is worth chewing on to her mouth!  We're really enjoying watching the little Heidi-bug learn and grow every day (a week ago she could only barely grab the toys - they weren't going anywhere near her mouth!).

4 Months!!

Our little Heidi bug turned 4 months old this week!  Time is flying by!  We had a 4 month check up and learned her stats - she is 25 3/4 inches long (94%) and exactly 15 lbs (64%).  So apparently not quite as chubby as I had thought.

 

Heidi is a generally happy baby and in the last month has loved 'standing' and 'sitting' (supported of course).  To the point where when we lay her on her back she will frequently try to sit up like she is doing in the picture above.  She is incredibly strong.  We've started putting her in the jumperoo and she loves it.

She still loves tummy time and has started moving her arms to try to pull things in - most often just the blanket she is laying on.

Yup, she loves standing!

Allison still asks to hold Heidi fairly often.  Heidi enjoys watching Allison playing and running around.  We think it is fabulous to have built in entertainment.

In the last month Heidi has really gotten into her toys.  She is absolutely fascinated with them - the ones on her bouncy seat, the ones on her play mat and finally stuffed animals and baby toys.  She is working hard on her hand-eye coordination and has gotten quite good at grasping toys.  Now she is learning to pull the toys to her mouth - which generally results in her getting her hand in her mouth.

And I had to post this one - I love those little arm rolls!!!

A few other notes about Heidi at 4 months:

Eating - no solids yet and we're thinking we'll wait until 5 months to try any.

Sleeping - not much has changed since 3 months at night - generally 7 pm to 6 or 7 am with one feeding.  She is slowly settling into naps a little better and has at least one 2 hour nap a day.

Social - She seems to really enjoy daycare.  She enjoys her 'teachers' and watching the other kids.  At both daycare and home she has started talking & exercising her voice more and more.

Finished in 2013 No. 1 & 2

 Life around here is just plain FULL lately.  My manager is allowing me to work a modified work schedule, 8-3 in the office and then an hour or two at night.  This means Heidi only needs two bottles a day and I get some time with the girls in the afternoon both of which are great.  But it also means I have very little time for any of my own projects.  Hence it feels like quilting is moving very, very slowly!  Regardless I managed to finish two quilts!  Both of which were close to done before 2013 even started but who's really keeping track, right?  Oh and don't you love my quilting helper?

 I made this quilt with mostly left-over fabric and had the quilt top sitting in my cabinet for almost two years!  I made a poppy quilt some time ago and went back and forth on which pattern to use so I had lots of left-over fabric by the time I was done.  I found a pattern in Quilts & More magazine to highlight fabrics with large prints - and this quilt was the result of that finding.  I backed and bound this quilt with flannel and it worked pretty well.  This quilt was shipped off to Alaska and auctioned off at a fund raiser for the youth group my sister works with.  I'm already planning next years quilt...

 And this quilt was given to my Mother-in-law for Mother's Day.  It is my 'Block-of-the-Month' quilt from 2012 over at the 'In Color Order' Blog.  I had a lot of fun doing this one and I think it is the first 'block of the month' quilt I have ever finished.  It helped that it was made entirely of half-square-triangles.  I may be making more of some of these blocks for some more quilts here soon!

Not only does she like to help me sew the quilts she likes to break them in, too.  She was pretty excited to give this quilt to Nana!

Local Celebrity Sighting

Allison and her best Sunday-School buddy, Annie, recently went to an OSU softball game with their Dads.  They weren't expecting to get to meet Benny the Beaver since there was a (sold-out) baseball game going at the same time but they were in luck - not only did Benny show up but they got to take a picture with him!  They both LOVE Benny the Beaver (you should hear their excitement when his picture comes up on the slide show at the local frozen yogurt shop!) so this was a big treat.  And we learned softball games are one of the best sporting events with kids...just pack a bunch of snacks and sit in the outfield.  It always helps when it is a good game & the Beavers win, too.  I love hearing Allison talking about 'girls baseball' now and having me pretend to play with her.

One Happy Baby

 I am incredibly thankful that our little Heidi-bug is one cheerful baby!  She is always so happy when we come home from daycare I'm actually having a hard time putting her down for her last nap even though I know she needs it.  She is also becoming a bit 'drooly' as you can tell in these pictures....more about that in a 4 month update NEXT WEEK - I can't believe how quickly she's growing up!

The Mother's Day 2013 Hike

 Mark & the girls did a great job spoiling me on Mother's Day.  The day was very relaxing and I requested we end it with a little hike.  We 'hiked' the Homesteader trail in McDonald forest.  I use the term 'hiked' generously but we're easing Allison into the whole 'hiking' concept.  Heidi started in the BOB but didn't enjoy it.  She does love facing out in the Beco carrier, though, thankfully.

 Allison loved walking up and down this old fallen log and jumping off the end.

 She also tried to convince us the stump in the background of this picture was a scary monster.  We had quite the time getting her to walk towards it until she could finally tell it really was a tree stump.  Silly girl!  But I remember having quite an imagination when I was young, too, so I can't complain too much.  I'm bummed my focal point was off in this picture of the three of them....I don't know what happened!

 Our little hiking baby - getting to wiggle in the back of the car a bit before getting loaded up and....

 crashing hard on the way home.

 And of course I need to share some pictures of the wildflowers we saw...some of which may be more of weeds than wildflowers but pretty none the less.  Allison got into looking for the different ones with me. 

I thought this wild Oregon columbine looks an awful lot like the Alaskan fireweed...at least in this picture!  There was tons of it growing in a little 'meadow' along the trail by the creek.  You could hear tons of bees buzzing in the meadow!

Our Little Lady

 Allison is turning into quite the little lady and we love it.  She wears Auntie Brittney's hand-me-down dress coat on Sundays.  It is adorable and she looks so sweet and grown up at the same time.

 She has taken to 'reading' books by herself.  We are thankful that she enjoys reading both by herself and with us.  When she gets too wound up at home we can tell her it is time for quiet reading and she'll pick out a book and sit on the couch with it.  We've also recently started reading 'chapter' books to her.  Our first one was Little House in the Big Woods, for the most part she listens well to the story.

And we recently finished out the 2012/2013 season with Oregon Children's Theatre by going to the 'A Year with Frog & Toad' performance.  Allison behaves fabulously at the plays and really enjoys them.  We're looking forward to next year which includes Charlotte's Web & Fancy Nancy.  I'm disappointed I don't have more pictures of her at the plays but the trips fly by too quickly with Heidi in tow!  We can't wait to see how Allison continues to grow up!