Aidan and Julia, on Tuesday your Mommy took both of you to see the Doctor. It was Julia's 4 month check up and Aidan's 3 YEAR check up. As silly as it seems to say it, because time is a constant, both of you are growing up so quickly. I can't believe you're almost 5 months old. I SUPER can't believe you're 3 years old Aidan!
The doctor told us that you can start on solid foods now, Jules. Holy smokes, where did the time go?
Jules, you are pretty average for height and weight: you're 25 3/4 inches tall and weigh 15 pounds 4 ounces. That puts you somewhere between the 75th and 90th percentile for height and weight. You're a growing girl! You're loving your feet a lot now. They must look so tasty!
Aidan, you are twice your sister's weight...almost exactly. With your shoes on you were exactly 30 pounds. But then they took your shoes off: 29 pounds, 8 ounces. And you're just a squidgy over 3 fee tall. Percentage wise? Well, let's not worry too much about those...but basically it puts you more on the Roomiani side for height than the Weinstein side: 10 % for height, 25% for weight. But don't worry, these things have a way of all evening out. And despite these percentages, you still seem larger than life to us!
Good...you already got the whipped cream and a safety hat. Let the celebration of the THIRD BIRTHDAY EXTRAVAGANZA BEGIN!!!!!!!!
You're 4 months old and you're still happy, you're laughing, you're grasping, you've found your hands...
and you've found your feet.
You've certainly found your voice.
And we all are finding you charming beyond belief.
So what's new with you, you might ask. You've been smiling and laughing and grasping for a while now. Well, all those skills are getting refined and super better than before!
You're eyes are changing a bit...maybe they'll be a little hazelish? Who knows!
You're working really hard on rolling over! You can get up to your hip...and almost over!
You're sleeping in your very own crib in your very shared room with your big brother...and doing super well with it!
And, well, you're just an all-around happy-go-lucky growing girl!
You're 4 months old now, and you basically sat up by yourself for your whole photo shoot. That's new!
Pops and Mimi were on hand to help me get the best smiles. They got some special Julia cuddles afterward too.
They certainly helped you smile...but I know the effect was mutual. You make us all smile as you giggle and laugh and beam your four-month-old little spark to the entire world.
I see so much of me and your mother in your beautiful face. And, of course, you look like your brother too. But you are uniquely you, and you have already carved out your own unique place in this world and in our hearts.
This week you celebrated your First Fourth of July! Not that you'd notice, or anything, because we didn't go to any fireworks shows or anything. But next year, I promise, we'll go to fireworks; we normally go every year! But, since it was raining and also since we didn't want to keep you out until after midnight, we decided to do a more low-key friends-of-july event instead.
At said event, your Godmother took some more amazing pictures of you doing some tummy time and exercises and playing! Here are some of my favorites!
Even though we didn't go see a fireworks show, we got some amazing, surprising fireworks from you the whole week after all.
First of all, you have become a really active little boy! You can roll over with ease now, and are routinely doing it in your sleep. But imagine my surprise when I went to get you on Monday morning and you were laying in your crib, face up, with your head at the opposite end of the crib as we put you down in! That's right: you were placed in bed with your head on the left side of the crib, and you woke up with your head on the right!
At first I figured that your Mom just put you down in the other direction after feeding you in the middle of the night. But, the lady, she did protest. You moved around all by yourself!
That means that you rolled over on your belly, then scooted around about 180 degrees and then rolled back onto your back!
How's that for a firework?
Oh, not enough for you? Well, even though you were showing signs of 'talking' as much as 2 weeks ago, this week you really seem to have found your voice, making all sorts of cute noises, cooing, screaming, ahhing, oohing, mimicking and almost-laughing! You make your Mommy and me smile so much when you make these noises! It's even better when we have a 'conversation' - and you back-and-forth with us!
Now, of course, taking a video of you talking is almost as difficult as taking a clear picture of the Loch Ness monster. You make all these noises to us and when the cameras are rolling, you clam up! But, with some clever misdirection and patience, we were able to capture a decent conversation!
To make it even better, this week we decided you were old enough to be on your own. Kind of. While your Mom and I are doing work during the days, you do work too: you play in your pack-and-play all by yourself! Rolling, and playing with toys and chit chatting; hanging out on your tummy, going after your favorite toys and just chillin'!
You really love hanging out in your pack-and-play!
You've also developped a bit of a crush...on this Baby Einstein Band Turtle. The deal is when you squeeze one of his limbs, he plays one of four parts of a song- the percussion, the strings, the vibes or the brass. And when you hit his tummy, he plays all four parts in unison...making a whole (not yet annoying) tune.
Occasionally in the past you've shown signs of activating the turtle's melodies, but this week you really seem to realize what your doing. Almost like a causal relationship has been identified: if I mash this green thing, it makes noise!
Who knows if you know that or not; but I do know that you seem to like this toy a lot (most of the time!) And that yesterday in the play pin you were having a ball activating the toy over and over again!
Like I said before, Band Turtle has definitely risen in the ranks to become one of the favored toys. And that's super cool that you can even show preference! But, Crinklephant (Or Ella Finkle) (the blue crinkly elephant), is still up in the pantheon of interesting toys too.
You took a nap with Crinklephant on your lap and when you woke up you looked around a little and saw the little blue toy on your lap and immediately started manipulating it, grabbing it, tugging it and, yes, trying to eat it.Your dexterity has improved so much! Yesterday you were playing with a plastic ring toy and just feeling every bump and rotating it (and trying to eat it), and occasionally the toy would slide out of your hand and, like an over-large bracelet, slide all the way down your arm. You protested. You got a little fussy...you could no longer play with the toy! So we would take turns going and helping you get the toy back into your little hands!
Needless to say, it's incredible to watch you develop so much and so quickly! Those are some good fireworks, right: preference, dexterity, vocalizations, associations, oh my!
But, we know you're still our sweet baby too! We're not ready for you to grow up quite yet!
And that's why, the grand finale, is just an explosion of all that you love right in your face. And for you, that grande finale of the Fourth of July Fireworks has to be a MILK FACE!!!!!!!!!!!
On June 19th you started showing signs of wanting to roll over from your back to your tummy. When I went to your crib in the morning, you were on your side! Around the same time, your Mom started finding you on your tummy in your crib, so you've been rolling over in your sleep.
We captured the magic of you rolling to your side on the 19th:
Through the two and half weeks since that 19th, you've gotten better and better at rolling over from back to tummy! Your Mom called me two days ago at work and let me know that you'd done it before her very eyes! We are so proud of you!
Your Mom was able to capture this video on June 29th of you rolling over like a big boy!
But, of course, you're still learning! Here's another video of you rolling over from your 4 month Birthday! It's actually exceedingly cute. There's even a hat involved.
And, as I think I told you before, nearing the end of your third month here on earth, you started making some really funny noises: high pitched squeals, cooing, garbbling, aghas, coughs and the like. These are significant because they're not cries at all. Granted, sometimes they turn into cries, but for the most part, they remain as sort of your own primitive language. You gabble in the morning before we come to get you and sometimes even talk yourself to sleep. You cough when you want our attention and you jibber jabber to us while you're playing. You got a little more interested in the camera whenever I tried to film this phenomenon, but I think we captured a bit of your silly noises...and a lot of my silly noises made trying to coax a silly noise out of you!
You turned 4 months old today. We can't believe how lucky we are to have such a sweet little 4 month old baby. I can't believe how fast it's gone!
And it's been a pretty monumental weekend already! You've 'found your voice,' so to speak! Making non-crying noises all the time...just a chatting and gurgling and squeaking and grunting and coughing away. (The coughing isn't because you're sick...it's a vocalization that you just use sometimes!)
You even mimicked me, blowing raspberries. You just smiled and smiled when you figured out how to do it!
To celebrate your birth-iversary (and because it's summer in Dallas), we took you to Uncle Jeremy's and Auntie M's apartments to go swimming!
Again, you didn't really LOVE swimming, but you certainly didn't hate it. You just kind of liked it!
And, your Godmother, Aunt Kari, was there with her excellent photographic eye to capture the swimming fun and all the post swimming cuteness!
They are just fabulous pictures of you that totally capture your burgeoning personality!
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But, Crinklephant (Or Ella Finkle) (the blue crinkly elephant), is still up in the pantheon of interesting toys too.
Your dexterity has improved so much! Yesterday you were playing with a plastic ring toy and just feeling every bump and rotating it (and trying to eat it), and occasionally the toy would slide out of your hand and, like an over-large bracelet, slide all the way down your arm. You protested. You got a little fussy...you could no longer play with the toy! So we would take turns going and helping you get the toy back into your little hands! 
And it's been a pretty monumental weekend already! You've 'found your voice,' so to speak! Making non-crying noises all the time...just a chatting and gurgling and squeaking and grunting and coughing away. (The coughing isn't because you're sick...it's a vocalization that you just use sometimes!)
