FOUR Months.

Reese turns four months old today, and I'm more in love than ever. As she grows, she becomes more beautiful and more dear to me. I finally cleaned out one of the last bags from the hospital yesterday, and it was emotional. I had kept this bag on the table near our front door since the day we brought her home, and the longer it stayed there, the more difficult I knew it would be to clean it out and put it up where it belongs. I've cleaned the house numerous times, but that bag just stayed put. I should say that the main reason it would be difficult to clean is that I would have to figure out where to put its belongings not that it was going to be emotional.

Inside it was the banner that Jenny Beth and kids made for Reese after learning our hospital stay would be a bit longer than usual. On one side it said "Welcome Reese Robinson" with each kid decorating a word. Jenny Beth filled the other side with scripture to encourage and support us as we embarked on this unknown journey. I put this banner along with the "Walker" sign that Molly added it to it in Reese's baby book. It doesn't really fit, but I don't really care.

Along with the banner was the stack of notes my 9th grade Bible study girls wrote to me right after Reese was born. The sincerity, excitement, love, concern, and urgency for prayer that these girls expressed were simply beautiful. I might have mentioned this before, but I missed a cell group meeting while at the hospital, and these teenage girls called on speaker phone and prayed for Reese over the phone. Really? These girls are amazing, and God is so good to let me be in their lives.

A couple of books that were brought and sent to the hospital were in the bag as well. They are now in the stack of children's books on our coffee table to read to Reese all the time.

Probably 10 magazines that friends and family had brought to keep me busy also filled the bag. I'll just throw those out because I am known to hold on to magazines for too long. I've learned to tear out pages of ideas I like.

The little journal that Wes brought me from home after one of his trips to shower and feed Emmett was in the bag, too. And in that journal was the note Wes wrote right after we found out I was pregnant, the note he wrote me on Mother's Day, and several pages worth of prayer requests I had written over the past months.

And the last thing in the bag was my hospital bracelet. Even though I was discharged two days after Reese was born, I kept it on for almost a week because Reese still had to wear one...and I really wasn't going anywhere.

I really should have just cleaned that bag out a long time ago, but those first few weeks at home were ROUGH. As JB puts it, having your first child is liking ripping off a band-aid. I didn't do too much cleaning or organizing in the beginning, so a few things just stayed where they were. My mom didn't know where I wanted those special things, so she left them there. Regardless of it being almost four months after that bag got put down on that table, it took me back to Reese's first few weeks of life. I really enjoyed cleaning it out even though I might have shed a tear or two. Now I just need to get rid of that sitz bath that got put away in the laundry room and the samples of formula that I hope to never use. Side note: I never want to evoke pity from anyone by sharing our experiences with Reese as a newborn. In fact, God gave me a strength and confidence that I had never known before during those days, and I want more than anything to share that. Plus, our bout with the NICU was nothing compared to so many others. I'm so thankful that Reese's illness was short-lived and completely treated.

Wow, that was long. Sooo sorry for that long story about the bag. I have a feeling though that I'll enjoy reading this in a few years.

On to Reese's four month update...

*RRW has slept through the night on her own a handful of times.

*The title of one of my favorite books is Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child. I like to say that we have a happy child even though she may not have healthy sleep habits. Her chronic 45 minute naps are still pretty consistent, and those sleep-through-the-night-nights are few and far between. Lately, she's taken up waking several times a night. I do, however, feel like we are slowly but surely getting better. As I type, Reese is down for a nap, and she actually slept for seven hours straight two nights ago. I won't mention what happened last night.

*Wes likes to call the pacifier our Achilles' heel. It soothes her, it makes her happy, it gets her to sleep. All wonderful things. However, if she wakes and that thing isn't in her mouth, she wants it and needs it in order to get back to her sweet dreams.

*Reese is still swaddled and loving it. She does seem to get her left arm out during a good number of her naps or sometime during the night, but I'm not sure how and when to start weaning her of this life-saving technique. And somehow, she finds a way to rotate 90 degrees (or more) during naps. Crazy.

*B-Dubette LOVES her new jumperoo and will just smile and squeal when she catches me looking at her playing.

*Sweet girl still loves bathtime, her play mat, and listening to me sing silly songs to her.

*RRW watches a Baby Einstein or Praise Baby almost once a day, and I love it because she squeals and makes noises while she watches...except for a few animals on Baby Einstein. They terrify her.

*Speaking of noises, she makes a pretty funny sound that I can't really describe. It happens when she tries to talk; her voice is just a raspy coo at this point. Cute, but I will be making sure it's okay when we go for her checkup next week.

*For the record, she usually is up for the day around 7:30 in the morning and eats every 3 hours or so. The last 1 1/2 to 2 hours of each of those cycles is usually naptime. I say napTIME, not necessarily napPING. A little while after the 7ish feeding, we bathe sweet girl and put her down to bed. I do a dreamfeed between 10 and 11, and then as of late, I've fed her at some point during the middle of the night.

*Baby girl is a happy baby. She's content and takes everything in around her. I love this about my daughter.

*B-Dub's smile is contagious. I can't help but smile ear to ear when she gets that gummy grin. However, please take note that she refuses to smile for the camera. She will be smiling as big as ever, and then I pull that big black machine out, and she's in a daze. I think I'll have to get Wes to assist me during the next photo shoot because you HAVE to see this smile.

*Oh my. Reese's laugh has just begun, and it's pretty amazing. It's the perfect blend of squeal, raspy-ness, and cackle. It happens best right before bath time as I strip her down and kiss her belly and neck.

*Rolling over from tummy to back is still a pretty new skill because she seems to forget it every few days.

*Sweet girl wants to be sitting or standing whenever possible. None of this laying on her back stuff any more....get her on her feet or bum.

*Reese Peese wants her hands in her mouth at all times; really, she just wants everything in her mouth at all times.

*Weight and height stats will come next week. Our four month appointment isn't until the 24th.

*Until then, enjoy these sweet pictures of my four month old (and the end of my rambling)...

(I tried to sneak a picture of a smile here, but I only got the tail end of it; and of course her hands are in her mouth.)