Amélie Four Months

Our baby girl turned four months old on Tuesday. I meant to go get her weighed, but never got around to it due to coming down with a cold/preparing for our America trip, but I bet she's more than 14 pounds now. She has been quite the chatterbox and loves babbling. She had a lot to say for herself for a few days in the middle of the night last week (which was not so great when mom and dad were trying to sleep). The greatest difference this past month has been how interactive she has become. She is so much more aware of her surroundings, grabs her toys and actually seems interested in them. Plus she has learned how to pull the music bar on her bouncy chair, which is what I now listen to nonstop while showering :)

She still rolls from her tummy to her back, but not very often - just when she's in the right mood. In the past couple of days, she's been very close to rolling from her back to tummy, but doesn't quite make it. Peek a boo is also starting to interest her a little bit. I played "where's mommy?' peek a boo for the first time with her last week and she was full of laughs. Though she still can't sit up on her own, we bought her a Bumbo and likes to sit in that with a tray full of toys, which of course end up on the ground after a minute. Standing up with a little support from us is her other favorite, but she still hasn't quite figured out taking steps yet.

Sleep-wise, she typically wakes up once, sometimes twice to eat then falls right back asleep. We've also been giving her a bath every night followed by a massage by mom and book read by dad. Speaking of which, we are going to baby massage classes, plus swimming and baby sensory. All are great and I think she really enjoys them all. My favorite is preparing her to go underwater for swim class so during bath time we say, Amélie - ready - go!, and then dump water all over her head/face. She takes it pretty well, but it's kind of funny and a little mean, but we want her to be ready when she goes underwater for the first time. Babies have a reflex to hold their breath until about 6 months when they are put underwater, but this exercise just emphasizes it a bit more and really prepares them.

Lastly, we cannot wait for our trip to America on Saturday. I can't say I'm not a little worried about the flight, but I'm just hoping there won't be any major meltdowns. I'm sure there will be a food and baby filled post about our trip when we are back.

^^Such a snugglemuffin

 ^^A gets to do the swimming lessons with Amélie and I get to stay dry poolside. 

 ^^Flyingggg.

^^"Mommy, why am I in this huge bath with daddy?" And love that there is a whale on her wetsuit.

Happy four months little miss! 

Amélie Three Months

Little Miss Amélie turned 3 months old today! She weighs 12 pounds and 13 ounces (5.7 kilos) and can roll over from her tummy to her back (see pic above!). She really is growing up so fast and little personality is coming out more and more each day. 

She's still all smiles in the morning especially and in the past week has only been waking up once per a night. She went through a couple week run of sleeping through the night and once gave me a record of 10 hours sleep straight! This was right before her 12 week growth spurt, which was a few days of major crankiness, poo explosions and constant milk drinking, but that's all done now (phew). I'm already excited about starting with solids though it's still a couple of months away. I've been starting to read about making my own baby food and how to store it, etc. I cannot wait! I've taken out the next size of clothing for her as she's is just about growing out of her 0-3 month clothes plus she's almost gone up to size 3 diapers.

We're enjoying the last couple of weeks of summer, though it's already starting to feel like fall here. A has a few week long business trips coming up until the end of the year so we are not looking forward to the time he'll be gone, but the good news is we booked a trip to America in September! Amélie is now officially a dual citizen and has both her Italian and US passports. We are going during my favorite time of year and I'm excited to take Amélie apple picking, having end of the season barbecues and having her meet American family and friends. 

She's fast asleep now, which means I should go to bed too! Here are a few pictures from this month:

^^Hi Miss Puppy, can I have your attention pleeeasee? 

^^Ok, that's better. 

^^To the left is right before the first time she rolled over! Next is having fun with hats :)

^^Can't wait for her first trip to America!

^^After bath time cuddles. 

We love you Amélie. Happy three months. 

Vacation in Wales

We took our first family vacation last week! We were limited with destination choices since we are still waiting for the little one's passports (US & Italian!) so A found a cute cottage rental in the Brecon Beacons in Wales for a relaxing week off. I think Amélie also knew we were on vacation too because most nights she gave me a little break and slept for 6 hours straight. It was nice to have A around for the entire week since he never had any paternity leave. It gave me a little break during the day from diaper changes and keeping Amélie entertained plus it was just nice to spend time together as a family. 

 ^^Our cottage was called, "The Coach." I loved the stone exterior and the grounds of the cottage. 

 ^^The living room area. 

^^Upstairs bedroom.

 ^^First thing after we arrived - find a supermarket and get everything we needed to grill!

 ^^I need to get Amélie a pair of sunglasses :) 

 ^^Bouncy bouncy with dad. 

 ^^I was going to save the barbecued chicken for the next day, but we ate it all that night with the burgers, oops. 

 ^^I had been saving up the graham crackers my sister brought over from the US and the American marshmallows I found at a local shop plus bought a pack of Reese's from the candy store to finally finally make Reese's s'mores!!

 ^^They were incredible. I had s'mores almost every day. And I tried s'moreos too! 

 ^^The rest of the week we explored a couple of cute towns and mainly just took an easy. Here's baby and dad hanging out at a coffee shop. 

 ^^We grilled some more. 

 ^^Jim & Donna came to visit. Amélie hung out in Baby Bjorn, but she definitely wasn't happy in it at times. We were able to do a long walk with her in it - A and I alternating with carrying her, but I think she just needs to be a tad bigger to be more comfortable in it. 

 ^^We checked out an old castle and it's museum. 

 ^^We found a cute restaurant in Cardigan. 

 ^^Delish sweet potato and butternut squash quiche with some very light and fresh salads. 

 ^^Penryn beach, it was a mission to get to and I wasn't in the mood/prepared for sand so we didn't stay for long, but it's very pretty. 

 ^^We checked out Hay-on-Wye, a very cute town known as the town of books. Tons of cute boutiques, cafes and an ice cream parlour. 

 ^^The evenings were cooler so we made a cozy fire and caught up on Scandal.

 ^^We mainly cooked at the cottage, but this was one from lunch one of the days at a pub near the cottage. I couldn't decide on what to get and wanted to try everything so I ordered three of the starters! This is above is linguine with crab. 

 ^^Thai chicken meatballs with egg noodles. 

 ^^Pork belly, onion ring with slaw and applesauce. 

 ^^A's fish with vegetables.

 ^^I indulged that meal for sure. A did eat most of the pasta though! 

 ^^On one of the last days, we checked out a distillery and went on a tour. I was worried Amélie would be fussy, but she slept in my arms the whole time. 

^^Pretty view driving to the distillery. 

We ended the week by visiting A's parents who were so delighted to see their granddaughter. I took the opportunity to have a few more moments of "me" time even it was just to catch up on Pinterest :) Now we are back in the swing of things at home. I think I needed a vacation from the vacation when I got home because there was tons of laundry/ironing and admin to catch up on, but last night the little one slept for a 7 hour stretch! (that's the longest she's ever done!) I feel amazing after such a long period of uninterrupted sleep. I got so much done this morning and am looking forward to the rest of the weekend. A's sister and bf are in town, plus I finally made myself an appointment to get a haircut and the weather is looking good too!