Four Months!

Can you believe it? Ellie Belly is four months old in a matter of hours. I feel bad for her - she'll be pretty old before she's actually awake at the moment of her actual birth when she gets bigger. And I thought I had it bad when we lived in Massachusetts and my dad teased me that we couldn't celebrate my birthday until 7pm Eastern time.

We had a good day today! I've been meaning to put together her jumparoo from her Uncle Jake, but since Tim was home, I made him do it. She likes it pretty well so far, and spent some time staring down and grabbing at her animal friends. Her feet don't touch the bottom yet, but that leaves more space for Lula to slink in. You know how she enjoys baby toys.

"Yes, hello, welcome to my little zoo."

I spent most of the morning cleaning the house and preparing to host mommy dinner. Rather than just focusing on the necessary tasks (cleaning the bathroom, sweeping the floors) I was also inspired to organize my CDs and move them out to a cabinet in the garage and clean out the pantry. Things that needed to be done, but not necessarily at that very moment. Sometimes, I can't stop spring cleaning.

Some of the moms in our group have gone back to full time work. A few can slip out for a long lunch with us during the week but some can't, and we'd discussed that it would be nice to have everyone get together, including the dads. Originally we were thinking about going out to dinner, but I figured that with a dozen adults, half a dozen babies and a two year old, we'd be a restaurant's nightmare, so I offered to host at our house. I set the start time at 3pm, because with baby friends, it's easier to socialize before dinner rather than after. I made lasagna and baked ziti and people brought salad and dessert and it was really fun!

It was great to see the girls who have been trapped in offices the past few weeks, and it was nice to meet all of the husbands. Sleepy babies could pass out and be laid down some place, stinky babies could get changed in Ellie's room (rather than on one of those questionable bathroom changing tables) and nursing moms could nurse without it being a big hairy deal. And everyone could walk around and chat and get to know each other. It was really fun!

We took a picture of all of the babies lined up by age, and talked about how fun it'll be to line them up in a year or two. Can you tell who's baby is the biggest, most crybaby turd?
The oldest baby is almost six months, the youngest baby just turned three months. Ellie and the two to her right are only five days apart.

Thankfully, she's almost always got a smile for her daddy. We love her so.