The Harrer Happenings: 4-month checkup

So a couple weeks ago Ellie had her 4-month checkup. The doctor was very happy with her development, weight, and laugh. She weighed in at 15 lbs 6.5 oz and was 25.5 in long. We are still rocking the 75th + percentile in height and weight. Our head circumference, well, we are still up around the 90th percentile (we blame her father for the large head...). I'm a little late writing this, as she is almost 5 months old, but better late than never.

This past week, my mom was in town to nanny while Aunt Susie headed over to Cambridge, England for a seminar. For the fourth we had some burgers and hotdogs at our place and then headed over to the Cambridge side of the river to see the Boston fireworks. Ellie slept through the whole thing, which is just as well I guess.

So for an update on some of the things we are into right now:

Not sleeping. She reverted to sleeping only a couple to a few hours in a row (thus my previous post). There were theories including, developing motor skills, teething, mising me (now that she isn't coming to work with me), afraid of the dark, napping too much during the day, not napping enough, putting her to bed too late, hungry...
Not sleeping on our backs. As soon as I put her down for bed, she rolls onto her stomach. There isn't much we can do. While she sleeps a little better, its still not great.
Tripod sitting, she can support herself while sitting. She's getting more erect each day and relying on her hands for balance less and less.
Talking, lately Ellie has been talking up a storm. Sometimes she will "babble" for 20 minutes after waking up (before she starts hollering for one of us).
Petting Mallie. Well, she enjoys grabbing Mallie's fur. Fortuntely Mallie seems to realize that this Ellie and is pretty chill with it.
Holding our own bottle. This past week, Ellie started holding her own bottle. She can't hold it for the whole feeding, but will for most of it.
Taking out the pacifier (by herself) and prefering her fingers and even her thumb.
Laughing. Ellie laughs at everything now. If you haven't already, check out the video below.
We love all the new toys and books Grandma V and Great-grandma Dolly bought her.

We are getting ready for Ellie's first plane trip out to Santa Barbara in a few weeks, should be exciting! Hopefully we will average more than 4-5 hours of sleep a night before then.

And some adsditional photos:

Us on the fourth waiting for the USS Constuition to return.

Ellie in a beret that my parents brought back from their trip to Europe.