adventures of an american housewife in the south of france

Ramona Rose at 4 Months

Posted on Feb 10th, 2013 in Featured, Knocked Up Abroad | 22 comments

Four months. Already. I think I'll be using that word a lot. I never knew time could move this swiftly.

We have a very happy, smiley baby girl these days. And quite the little chatterbox! She literally spends hours babbling ooh, ooh, agoo, agoo, gah, bbrrr, ahh! One time she even sighed, Ohhh yeaaaahhhh. She loves it when we mimic her sounds and "talk" with her. I think we're in serious trouble when she really starts talking. She may never shut up, just like her Mom.

Ramona also loves it when we sing to her. Anything high pitched and with a lot of trills and la, la, la, las! We like to change the words to every song to include her name, so "My Sharona" becomes "My Ramona" and "Ramble On Rose" becomes "Ramona Rose." Every night during her post-bath baby massage I sing to her, not "Baby Beluga", but "Baby Ramona." She's our pretty little girl on the go.

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She's on the verge of laughter. She'll let out a few giggles and one time just absolutely cracked up, but she doesn't really laugh on a consistent basis yet. We're constantly trying to get her going, but it's like trying to catch a unicorn. I guess Mom and Dad just aren't that funny yet.

Ramona

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My favorite part of being a parent is watching Ramona learn and discover new things. It is just truly incredible to watch her develop into her own little person. Over this last month she's found her feet, which are almost always in her mouth. Actually, everything goes straight to her mouth these days. She's grabbing at everything, especially Mom's hair, and loves to carry around her little fox rattle we got for her in Aix.

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She really enjoys riding in the Bjorn. In the early days, when she couldn't hold her own head up, man I hated that thing. I felt like she was so scrunched down in there flopping around. And I never could figure out a comfortable way to wear her in the Moby. But now that she can face forward, I love the Bjorn and it makes walking the dog with her so much easier. I can't wait until it's just a little warmer and we can do more things with her strapped in, watching the world, instead of all tucked away in her stroller.

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Ramona is still a baby on the move. You can't lay her down on her back for more than 30 seconds before she's flipped onto her belly. She has rolled back onto her back a few times, but she's not so interested in continuing her roll...she wants to crawl. She tucks her legs under her, raises her little butt and pushes with all her might! Grunting, yelling, exerting all the energy she has and she gets closer to actually doing it every day. She loves to "stand" and "walk" and jump, jump, jump. She seems to want to grow up so fast.

Recently, her and Fig have started to acknowledge each other. When we first brought Ramona home, Fig wasn't too interested and generally steered clear. After a few weeks when Fig realized that Ramona wasn't going anywhere, he'd creep over from time to time and sniff her head. And now, four months later, he loves to greet her in the morning with a little nose bump on her hand and kiss on her ear. She stares at him, her eyes following him around the room. When she is on her play mat, crying in frustration because she cannot yet move the way she wants, Fig sits next to her and whines too. When I'm trying to calm her at nap time if she is fussing and crying in her bassinet because she doesn't want to go to sleep, Fig sits outside her door waiting for me to come out and let him know that she is okay. He is very gentle with her, and even though he really, really wants to get his paws on that Sophie, he leaves her toys alone. I think they're going to be great friends.

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Our little chipmunk is still eating about every 2 hours during the day. Since I've yet to pump and offer her a bottle, this means that I can't ever be too far from her. But that's ok with me, there's nowhere else I want to be right now. I don't like to talk much about what an amazing night sleeper she is because I'm afraid I'll jinx it. Let's just say we are very, very lucky and we're going to enjoy this stage for as long as it lasts. Nap time is another story.

It's funny to look at pictures of when she was first born because she's lost almost all of the little amount of hair she had! Even her tiny mullet-like rat tail in the back is almost gone. Her eyes are still a bright colored blue like her Grandpa Huffman which makes us think that maybe they'll stay that way. According to the Punnett Square that Michael did when I first became pregnant (nerd alert), there's only a 10% chance that our babies will have blue eyes. And since only 3% of babies are born breech, I like to say that Ramona is a girl who defies the odds. I really like that about her.

At night, when Ramona is fast asleep, we miss her. We scroll through all the photos I've taken that day on my phone and watch the videos of moments Michael's missed while he's at work. A friend recently asked me if having Ramona changed the way I view my relationship with my parents, and the answer is absolutely. I have a whole new appreciation for how much they love me. My friend said, "and think about how much they must love you to be able to let you go." Oh, my heart. My parents are brave. Not yet, thank goodness, not yet.