4 Month Check Up

Left:  First family walk, December 4, 2012; GV one week old.
Right:  An everyday snuggle, March 20, 2013; GV week 20.
Oh my goodness. 

You know how some parents mistakenly turn away for a moment and find that when they come back their babies have rolled off the couch and are lying somewhere under the coffee table? Well, I know not to leave the baby unattended, but some how I turned around and inexplicably found that my little bitty baby isn't where I left her ... and in her place there is a gorgeous four and a half months old.  It doesn't seem like so many weeks have passed, but GV is 18 weeks old already and there is officially nothing about her that resembles a new born babe.  She's able to bear all of her weight when standing if you provider her balance, she giggles when you tickle her chin, she smiles whenever GW interacts with her and, even with her first tooth coming in (top right, poor thing!), she cries rarely.

She's turning into Little Toughie, Jr. 

We took her up to see the pediatrician this morning for her four month check up and, despite a mild case of cradle cap and a lingering cold, she's doing remarkably well.  She's growing and developing like any healthy baby ought to -- today she measured in at 16 pounds 1 ounce (96%), 25 inches tall (85%) and a head circumference of 16.5 inches (75%).   That's just shy of ten pounds in weight gain, 5 inches of added length and a whole three inches in head size since she was born in November!  So regardless of the complications that happened in the pregnancy, diabetes related or plain and simple bum-luck, she appears to be unphased by inutero trauma and perfectly thriving.  Thank God!

I must admit, however, we are having one problem with her...  With a beautifully even temperament and wonderfully chubby cheeks, GV is regularly accused of being "fake."  Because she's more often than not quietly, comfortably just watching the world around her from the safe vantage point of our arms or laps, passers by often jump (seriously) in surprise that our doll is "OH MY GOODNESS! REAL!" I have no fricking clue why people so regularly think that we'd burden ourselves with actively parenting a baby doll when we have a very, very active and curious 3.5 year old to wrangle, but given the fact that there are those out there that pay good money for life like, adorable baby dolls I take it as a complement that they assume my GV is perfect enough to mistake her for a dolly!