Cora - Four Months Old

Four months old - that magical stage when a personality starts budding out and, theoretically, everyone starts to get some sleep.

Here's what we've seen so far from our four month old Cora.

Cora is super social! Cora loves being in the action, cooing, "ah-gooing," and smiling at everyone. When we were riding a crowded train at the Denver airport, Cora flashed smiles at all the travelers. People couldn't help smiling back. Cora even squeals, smiles, and converses with dolls and stuffed animals. When I nurse her, I have to try to not talk because the moment I open my mouth, she looks up at me, milk dribbling down her face, and starts cooing and smiling.

Cora is very physical. She loves being tickled, bounced, rough-housed, and held standing up. She also continues to surprise us with her strength. Since babies spend so much time sleeping on their backs, you're supposed to give them awake time on their tummies to strengthen otherwise unused muscles. With the craziness of having two kids, I mostly forgot about tummy time the first three months. When Cora was barely three months old, I plopped her on her tummy for the third time ever. You can imagine my surprise when she rolled herself right back over. I wonder, how early would she have started rolling if I had put her in tummy time bootcamp from day one? A week ago, I randomly decided to see if she could sit up on her own with just her hands propping herself up. Yup, she could. Am I bragging about my baby right now? Yes, I am!

Cora does not know what a schedule is. In the past month, we've had days on end where she only takes 30 minute naps. We've had days where she takes two hour naps. We've had nights where she wakes up three times. We've had nights where she sleeps 8-10 hours straight. Hopefully this stage of complete unpredictability will ultimately make me a more flexible, patient person. Right now it feels like it's just forging my insanity. Also, she nurses every two hours. I can't wait to start solids.

She sure is cute when she's sleeping though...

And she's sure cute when she's wide awake...

Two more pictures:

She got to meet lots of family when we spent two weeks in Colorado over the holidays.

She even got to meet her great-grandmother and namesake, Cora Lee. It looks like my grandpa is about to eat her!

Cora, you are an amazing kid. We are crazy for you!