Grampy, is that you?

Grammy and Grampy came today and brought Autumn a balloon since she discovered her love of balloons at Jim's birthday party. The fun part was there was "Grammy's" face on one side and "Grampy's" face on the other. She liked that, and the string was yummy too!

Donuts!!

Autumn has learned to make donuts! Not the kind that you eat though (mmm, that would be nice!). She can make a donut on her back while in her crib. She really can move around in there now - the heartbeat monitor went off 6 times last night since she had gotten to the corners of the crib! Today she also pulled herself up from a reclined position to a sitting position - she can't get all the way up from laying down quite yet. And she said "ma" - it was only once but it was an exciting new development! She amazes me each day with all she is learning!

4 Months!

Yesterday Autumn turned 4 months old. Of course with reaching that milestone comes the dreaded "well visit". The nurse got her weight - 13 pounds 12 ounces, which puts her in the 50th percentile. Then she got her height - 25 inches puts her in the 75th percentile for height. You go, girl - or should I say "you grow, girl"! Then the nurse measured her head circumference, went to write it on the chart, made a face, measured her head again, went to the chart again, and then made some kind of alarming comment and measured it again. After that she said that she was in the 5th percentile for head circumference. Jim and I both looked at each other with a worried look and I started praying. When the Dr. came in and asked if we had any concerns, that was top on the list. I asked what would make her head small, fearing a horrible answer, but she said "usually a bad measurement". She measured it and it was a whole inch off what the nurse got. I guess Autumn has a slippery head which is hard to measure, but it's in the 50th percentile! She appears healthy (praying it stays that way after being in a germy doctors office). She was a trooper getting her 5 shots. Cried while she got them - and hated the rotovirus oral liquid -and that was about it - she's fussy now but that's to be expected!

What am I teaching her???

Autumn is slowly starting to enjoy bath-time. Part of that is because she's becoming more coordinated and can purposefully move her limbs. She likes to splash around and try to get her rubber ducky which is usually floating down by her feet. I've been telling her to "kick the ducky" - which she does. Then I realized that I'm going to need to stop saying that at some point so she doesn't try to abuse the real ducks at the duck pond!

Soccer, Track, or Softball?

When she was inside me, she kicked so much I thought that she'd become a soccer player someday. When she's sitting she moves her feet around so much and so fast that I'm thinking she'll be a track star. Today, as I was standing beside her crib, she took her sock off and threw it at me - she got it over the top of the crib and it hit the back of my thigh - so maybe it'll be pitching softball?

Call her "Grabby"!

Last week Autumn learned to grab things - a new milestone for her. Now she's becoming a pro! Usually she's grabbing my hair but today she had a ball playing on her Rainforest playmat that Nana and Pop got her. She figured out how to look in the mirror and grab the two hanging toys all at the same time!<

Jim's "Surprise" Party

I tried to surprise Jim with a 30th Birthday party. With the help of family members, we got food, a place, and everything needed for the big event. Last night Jim was complaining since I wasn't going to have a party for him (little did he know). I was totally stressing about this party - the hot water heater was on the brink of exploding again, the salt truck went up the street at 3am causeing me to rush and check the ominous weather forecast - so many things coming against us. I prayed and God reminded me of our wedding day which turned out just perfect despite being outside less than 24 hours after a hurricane! I got up extra early this morning to get things ready - including packing the video camera in the diaper bag. I didn't want to pack that too early since we sometimes take video of Autumn when she's doing cute things. So I went with the plan and got Jim there - thinking he was going to be so surprised! Turns out he figured it out about a half hour before we left. He got suspicious and decided maybe he should take the video camera just in case. When he found it in the diaper bag, he knew - but didn't tell me he knew!!! Oh, well - he got the party he wanted and we all had a great time! Autumn got to meet some new relatives and we all ate, and ate, and ate!

The Super Bowl!

We went over to Jim's parents' house for the Super Bowl party. My parents were routing for the Patriots since Jess and Scott live in New England. I think everybody else was routing for the Giants. Me, I was just there for the food! Autumn 'retired' her Eagles onesie at halftime and then slept the remainder of the game - bet she won't be doing much sleeping tonight, ugh!

Visiting Great-Grandpop

Today we visited my Grandfather who's in a nursing home near Tamaqua. My Grandmother, Uncle Marc, and Aunt Paula also came to see our little 'pumpkin' again. Everybody held her and enjoyed her smiles!

Visiting Grandpa

We got brave and decided to try a longer car trip. We went to Lancaster to visit Jim's Grandpa. Autumn actually did really well. She slept most of the car ride and most of dinner, too. But she did wake up at the restaurant and decided that she wanted to eat, too - she fits right in with the rest of the family!

Autumn's 3 Month Birthday!

We like any excuse to celebrate and eat cake so we had a 3 Month Birthday party for Autumn today. We got to eat cake and she got a few presents - my favorite are the pink bunny slippers I got her - so cute! Grammy and Grampy got her a Rainforest mobile that plays music for 18 minutes - what a blessing! Cranking the old one every 90 seconds got old really fast! What a lucky girl!

I can hardly believe she's been here for 3 months already. She's getting bigger and learning new things everyday. When we first brought her home, I wanted her to stay little but I love that as she's growing she's becoming more fun - we're seeing her personality develop right before our eyes. She's such a precious gift!

Autumn's Dedication

Jim and I had Autumn Dedicated today. Infant Dedication is a ceremony where Jim and I make a commitment before the Lord to submit Autumn to God's will and to raise her according to His Word. It's based on scripture found in 1 Samuel 1:11, 26-28. Once Autumn is old enough to make the decision to accept Jesus as her Lord and Saviour she will be baptized as a believer.

As luck would have it, she got hungry right before we got to the part of the service where the dedication was. I tried to get the bottle in her as soon as I could but she wasn't satisfied with the few sips she got so I had to take her up with the bottle in her mouth! Pastor Jim said it was the first time he walked around the church and introduced a baby to the congregation with a bottle in the mouth. But that's Autumn - I think she's going to be her own person!

Afterwards we went to Jim's parents' house and had a little celebration - complete with the Winnie The Pooh cake that was left over from my baby shower! My Mom wanted it out of the freezer and it seemed like a perfect time to eat it! Mmmm!

Abbi's Baptism

Abbigayle was baptized at the Catholic Church on Lehigh University's campus. Abbi was so good - even when getting the water dumped on her head! I'm so glad that we could be there for the celebration!

Christmas - Part 2

We are so glad the weather cooperated and everybody was healthy so we could finally all get together! With Jess and I having babies so close together, it was hard to make the long trip to visit each other. After 3 months, we finally get to meet Abbigayle! It was so nice to see Jess and Scott again, too! We enjoyed giving our gifts - a lot of baby-related presents this year! At one point we put Abbi and Autumn in the chair together and grabbed hands - very cute!