Hattie is 4 Months Old!

I can't believe how quickly time has gone by.  Hattie is 4 months old and she's getting more and more fun everyday.  The fun changes as she gets older.  I used to enjoy all the snuggles while she slept in my arms and nuzzled into my chest.  Now I really enjoy listening to her coo and shout while she plays.  This month, Hattie has grown so much physically.  She's able to roll from her belly to her back, although she doesn't do that very often.  She mostly hangs out on her tummy and looks at the world head-on.  When she's tired of lifting her head, she'll just lay on her belly and chill out... usually trying to find the magic pictures on the TV.  She's also gotten quite close to rolling from her back to to belly.  She can easily get to her side, it's just rolling over those broad shoulders that she struggles with.  As for her verbal skills, we'll have to see, but she seems just as chatty as Gracie was at this age.  Hattie will have some serious conversations with you, if you have time to listen.  And I always make time to listen!  She's still sometimes nursing and sometimes bottle-feeding.  She eats about 26-30 ounces per day and seems to be growing like a weed!  Her appointment isn't until next week, so I'll know more about how much she's gained after that.  

Probably her biggest accomplishment this month, at least in my book, has been her newfound ability to put herself to sleep and put herself back to sleep, both without much fuss.  About a week ago, I was putting her to bed and she'd gotten into a pretty annoying pattern of falling asleep while eating, then once she'd been in her bed for about 30 minutes, she'd wake up and cry for her pacifer.  Ryan or I would go in and put it back in and she'd fall asleep.  Then 10-30 minutes later she'd cry out again and we'd go put her paci back in and the game continued for about an hour and a half.  After some thinking and research, I decided to do some sleep training with Hattie.  Now, I must be honest and say that I don't believe in crying-it-out.  It's just not my thing for my babies.  I wanted to improve her sleep habits, but I didn't want it to be a tearful process.  So right around New Years, I started using nap time as a sleep training time.  This put the paci back game was also happening at nap times.  So I'd feed her and lay her down awake and unswaddled, but sleepy.  She'd have her paci in her mouth, but she'd always spit it out and start to coo.  She'd coo for up to 25 minutes before she'd get into this cranky shout, just before she'd start to cry.  At this point, I'd head into her room and she'd kick and smile, all excited, thinking I was going to get her out of bed.  Instead, I'd swaddle her up, put her paci in her mouth, and tell her it's time for her nap.  After I left the room, Hattie would usually continue to coo for a short bit longer, but then fall asleep on her own.  After about a week of sleep training at nap time, it just sort of dawned on me that maybe part of the problem is that I was still swaddling her.  So last Wednesday night at bedtime, I fed her and talked with her a little bit before bedtime.  When it was time for bed, I didn't swaddle her, but gave her the paci and told it was time for night-night.  Once I left, she cooed for 5 minutes and then got quiet.  That was it.  She's been putting herself to sleep ever since.  And it's amazing because she doesn't have her paci when she falls asleep.  I'm just so proud of Hattie for figuring this out so early.  It has made a world of difference for her naps and for the bedtime routine.  She's a total rock star!  

I took the girls out on a lunch date, just the 3 of us, to Cheddars.

Hattie chilled in her carseat for most of the meal, while Gracie enjoyed the ribs!

Photo taken by Gracie... not too bad!

She's ALL ABOUT her hands these days.

Another advantage to bottles is that Gracie gets to help!
This is Gracie in heaven!

Hattie also celebrated her first Christmas this month!

Pretty girls!

At Gracie's gymnastics 2 weeks ago, so held her own bottle for just a second.
What the heck?!  Slow down, Hattie Faith!

Christmas Fun 2015!

Needless to say, the Christmas season at the Weaver house was super duper busy this year!  Now that Hattie's here, we have so much more to celebrate!  And we sure had fun celebrating Christmas!

Because our weekends are so packed up in December, we went ahead and set our tree up the weekend before Thanksgiving.  Some people think this act is just criminal, but we Weavers don't forget to be thankful just because our tree is up!  This year we pulled out a new tree I bought on Christmas Clearance last year.  It had all these little pinecone things on the ends of the branches, so Ryan, Gracie, and I removed all of them before we began!  Momma Weaver doesn't like anything on the evergreen... nothing pre-lit, and no weird stuff.  Just branches, y'all!

Notice the cute elf next to the tree

The Saturday after Thanksgiving, Gracie and I met up with several friends and family members for the Fairy Princess Breakfast at Zona Rosa.  It was a Momma & Gracie morning date.  Steph bought her two girls, my mom also came.  Annabelle was finally old enough to come with Aunt B.  And our friends Charlotte and Lauren came, too!

You can't tell here, but my boobies were about to explode with milk!
SO. MUCH. PAIN.
Should've pumped before I left. 

Left to Right:
Charlotte, Natalie, Gracie, Kia

A week later, my sister and I took the kids to a local church for a Kidz Small.  It was such a cool experience for the kids to get to pick out gifts for their family members and keep them a secret till Christmas.  The church had obviously done this before and had all the kinks worked out.  So it was a smooth morning and a great way to let Gracie get in on the giving part of Christmas.  It totally reminded me of the Small Mall at Antioch Mall.  Man, I wish that place were still open!

While we waited in line for the mall, we met The Grinch!
Bubby was too scared to get his picture taken with him.  Hilarious!

We also saw this cute gingerbread house.
Notice G has her purse!
She was "shopping like Momma"!  

We also met a princess!

The only negative comment Gracie made before we left was that she DID NOT want to end up with a boy elf to help her shop.  She must have jinxed herself because when we got to the front of the line, a BOY elf named Chad was assigned to her.  She kind of got sheepish and reached for my hand, I told her it would be just fine and I'd see her when she finished.  After about 5 seconds, I peeked around the corner to make sure she was okay and Chad was sitting on the ground right in front of Gracie.  He said, "So who are we shopping for, Gracie?!"  Well that was all she needed, he was a captive audience and Gracie ate him up!  She still talks about Chad, her elf!

Sneaking a peak at my baby girl shopping for her family.
Sweet punky!

We had to stop by the manger blow-up before leaving so she could hug Jesus.
Sweet... and a bit odd.  

After the experience of shopping at the Kidz Mall, I got to thinking about other experiences that might help Gracie focus less on the getting of Christmas and more on the giving.  So, one chilly afternoon, I sat down with all the girls and we talked about the gift God gave us in His son, Jesus.  We talked about why he would do such a thing and whether or not we deserved such a gift.  We decided that God gave us Jesus just because He loved us and not because we had done anything.  I helped them translate that love and kindness for others "just because" by doing an random act of kindness near our home.  We drew Christmas pictures on notecards, then wrote a note on the back saying, "Enjoy this popcorn while you watch your movie!".  We attached each notecard to a microwavable bag of popcorn.  Each girl had one package and as we drove, they tried to spot a RedBox that we could tape it to.  Hattie's was first, so all the girls helped her tape her popcorn to the RedBox.  As we drove around, each little lady found a special place to leave their kind gift.  They really enjoyed the experience and Gracie was still talking about it several days later.  We brainstormed other random gifts we could give to people "just because", so we've got a good list to act on throughout this year!

Our little family of 4 decorated a gingerbread house again this year.  It's one of Gracie's favorite traditions.  She definitely enjoys eating some of the decorations, but mostly she really likes the crafting time with Daddy and Momma.  Hattie was able to enjoy the first phase of decorating, but then we took a break to give her a bath and put her to bed.  Poor baby doesn't make it much past 7:00 right now.  

The next morning was Breakfast in Bethlehem, an annual event at our church.  There are so many crafts and activities for the kids to do, Gracie is in absolute heaven all morning!  Hattie turned 3 months old that day and got to wear her "My first Christmas" outfit for the first time.  

Kia was sick for the whole weekend, so Natalie joined us for the fun!

Gracie wanted a baby Jesus in the manger  painted on her face.
I love how she loves Jesus.

3 months!

On Sunday, Gracie was in two Christmas performances.  The first was the Kid's Christmas Program.  Gracie likes to tell people that the Pastors don't teach during the Kid's Christmas Program, the kids get to tell the story.  And that's about how it goes.  Gracie was a star and sang songs with the kids from her Sunday School class.  Later that afternoon was Gracie's PreKindergarten Christmas Program.  Her class sang several songs while our family watched.  She was all dolled up for both events, looking so angelic and beautiful!

The stars!

Sis had to dress up, too!

PreK Class

The following Friday night, we made our annual visit to see Santa at Crown Center.  Gracie was wishy-washy all week long, but when we actually made our way to the big guy, she asked for a Princess Tiana dress, baby doll clothes, and baby dolls.  We enjoyed the fun at Crown Center, ate dinner, and bought candy by the pound.  Then we decided to try something new this year and walk to Union Station through the skywalks.  It was the first time Gracie remembers walking through them... and boy, was that a hit!  Union Station was all decked out for Christmas and had a kid's train for the kids to ride.  It was an extra special night for Gracie because our friend Kristy Giermann met us there.  Gracie doesn't see Giermann too often, but when she gets the chance, Gracie talks about it for days!  German made all the kids fleece blankets, which was the highlight of the night for G.   The low point of the evening was Gracie getting carsick on the way there.  She puked on her dress, so she and Grandma had to spend some time in the bathroom scrubbing up.  Poor baby.  She even told the gate girl by Santa that she puked on the way here.  I asked her not to tell Santa that!  Geez, G!

Hattie changed into her Christmas jammies after Santa because why not?!
Gracie wore the same jammies for her first Christmas season.  

After Union Station, we walked back to Crown Center and had ice cream!  

The next day was Grandma Jean's Christmas (Ryan's Grandma).  Family comes in town for the event and Gracie LOVES spending time with the ladies of the family.  Here are both girls with Aunt B!

Just a few short days later was Christmas Day!  Our Christmas Day is always pretty packed full of fun, food, and gifts.  This year, we opened presents at our first with our family of four.  I was super excited this year because I was very thoughtful about the gifts I chose for the girls.  Gracie has almost everything you can buy for little girls from Toys R Us, Walmart, and Target (so does Hattie, really).  So I chose things that I knew she'd be excited about.  Gracie got her first perfume, a baby doll boppy, diaper bag with diapers, and doll bed.  I ordered the doll stuff on Etsy, so the fabric was purple and perfect for G.  There were several other gifts she got that she adored... which was fun to watch.  Hattie got several Montessori toys this year because I always wanted to get that stuff for Gracie, but never did it.  So Hattie's got scarves to play with and a mirror to look at herself, along with lots of other baby toys.  I think the best part for Gracie was that we finally got to open the presents she'd picked out for us that the Kidz Mall.  She chose earrings for me, a desk dart board for Daddy, and a mermaid bath toy for Hattie.  She did a great job choosing gifts that we'd love!  I made sure to change my earrings before we headed out for the rest of our Christmas Day celebrations.

Around lunchtime, we headed to Aunt B's house to play with Annabelle and celebrate Christmas was the Weaver side of our family.  It was a great afternoon.  Hattie napped almost the whole time, which I was really glad about because I knew she'd be a total crank if she didn't.  She decided Aunt B's bed was pretty comfy!  After eating and opening, we had time for Gracie to play with a few of her gifts.  Aunt B, Gracie, and I tested out her new "Eye Found It" game and jewelry making stuff.  So much fun!

Around 4:30, we packed up and headed to Aunt Steph's house where the Sevedge side of our family gathered to celebrate.  The kids were ready to open gifts right away.  I love that anticipation!  I had chosen a magic set for Kyle's big gift this year and he was able to start showing us tricks after dinner time.  Gracie got her first Easy Bake Oven.  We tried that out on December 26th.  I can imagine that will provide hours of fun!  After opening gifts and eating, the kids played and played while the adults chatted and played, too!  It was a fabulous Christmas.  By 8:30, Hattie was a crank and we packed up to come home.  Gracie was sad to leave and said the only thing she doesn't like about Christmas is not having as much time to play as she'd like.  I told her we'd make time to play over the next week.  And sure enough, we did!

Her new princess storybook.

Hattie checking out her Cabbage Patch Baby... they look alike!
That's my necklace Gracie made me.

Cousins!

Naked Baby!

Who's that baby in the mirror?!

Gracie (with no pants) playing games!

What a blessed Christmas season we had this year.  I'm so grateful to be in this phase of life right now.  I know one day I'll look back on these Christmases and call them my favorites!