Dear Emmylou,

I can’t believe it has already been four months since they pulled you out of my tummy! Four months since I instantly fell in love with you! And it just keeps getting better and better. This past month has brought a lot of changes. You have become so bright-eyed and animated, laughing and talking and singing to us throughout each day. I never thought I'd gush like this, but I can't help it-- it's the sweetest sound I've ever heard! I had so much fun watching everyone visit with you in Texas during our last trip. I know it was busy but you were such a trooper, especially on the plane rides! I guess you really took that little talk I gave you to heart before our very first trip down there. Just wait until you get to go to all the other fun places I have lined up for us since you're such a good traveler! I can't wait!

This month you have continued showing us your good-natured, sweet personality. You still hardly ever cry unless it's for a good reason, even though we're pretty sure you'll be getting some teeth soon. You continue to love taking baths and now also really love swimming and being outside. You're still a great sleeper and although I think it's time for you to move from the bassinet in our room to the crib in your room at night, your daddy doesn't think so. He says he sleeps too well knowing you're right there with us. Some of my favorite moments with you are in the middle of the night and I guess I'm not quite ready to give those up either, so if it's okay with you, we'll just keep you in our room for now.

Besides your current obsesssion with ceiling fans, this month you are also still loving your Whoozit toy which you sometimes try to stuff in your mouth at once like a giant hamburger. You'll also spend a good 30 minutes at a time occupied with trying to get as many fingers in your mouth as possible at once, which is kind of nice since those are already attached to you and don't require me to repeatedly pick them up off the floor when you drop them. How convenient!

I'm excited that you will get to try some real food in the near future. Today I bought you some applesauce, bananas, sweet peas and sweet potatoes! We'll have to see how those go this weekend. I wonder what you'll be eating in another month. The stuff I bought you today seems pretty harmless, almost yummy. I hope I'll be able to bring myself to buy you the disgusting ones (i.e., whipped meats) when you need them. I'll try not to make faces when I feed them to you. Anything to keep my baby healthy!

Today I tried something new-- I took a short video of you with our digital camera to commemorate your 4 months-old-ness. I'm sorry it's sideways-- I'm an amateur at this tech-y stuff and once I realized I needed to re-shoot it turned horizontally, the camera battery died. Since I accidentally left the recharger in San Antonio, I had to work with what I got the first time. I'll try to do better in the future and maybe we'll actually get a real video camera soon so our clips can be longer than 15 seconds! This doesn't really show everything you're doing these days, but I hope one day you'll still enjoy seeing yourself like this. I know we'll have many more fun times to come to capture and I couldn't be more grateful for each experience I have with you.

I love you more than words can say!

Mama



your whoozit toy...