As the kids grow throughout their first year, I like to take portraits of them as newborns, at 3 months, 6 months, 9 months and 1 year. Well, with the hustle and bustle of the holidays in December, I didn’t get a chance to take Jillian’s 3 month pictures. SO… New Years weekend I took her pictures at 4 months. Better late than never right? She is still much smaller at 4 months than Benny was at 3.

This is a tricky age to photograph because they can’t sit up yet and can’t really hold themselves up on their hands. Because laying down was pretty much my only option, I wanted to use a background with meaning… so I used the handmade quilt my Aunt Peggy made for Jillian. It was perfect. Her big blue eyes really pop. I was able to get Jilly to prop herself up for a few seconds and was able to get a shot very similar to the one I did of Benny with the black background and furry blanket. I love it. Her sweet little face makes me just want to reach in the picture and hug my chubby baby.

Oh an please note I did not do anything special to her eyes to make them sparkle like that. That is just how they are. Just like Benny’s – dark blue, glass like sparkling eyes.

I love that I’m doing these monthly snap shot posts of Jillian. It’s making me be much better about documenting her first year on the blog. I love to look back on the old posts of the boys and I wish I would have posted more pics of them on here when they were little ones. These pictures aren’t anything fancy. The color and exposure is wrong more than right, the focus might be off, but they are simple snap shots that capture this beautiful baby as she changes so much over her first year. I’m just happy I found my love for photography and my SLR 5 years ago and was able to capture the memories I have way better than my old point and shoot use to do. I don’t think I’ll ever be a great photographer, but I’m good enough to document the story of my kids life in a better than average fashion and I’m OK with that.

I know I posted a lot from Christmas, but here are more Jilly pics from December.

Our sweet sweet little princess is 4 months old. I’m loving life with her in our family. She is like the icing on the cake… the sprinkles on the sundae… the pretty bow on a present. She is the perfect finishing touch to make our family a complete package. It’s hard to believe that one year ago today I found out I was pregnant and now, here she is in all her glory, making our life better every day.

So far, her first year has been very different than the boys – mostly because she is at the daycare at our work. I go down to see her 2 to 3 times a day. I get to rock her, feed her, and get my snuggle time in when I need a Jillian fix. I even get to change a diaper every now and then. I feel so fortunate to have this set up. If I can’t be a stay at home mom, this is the next best thing. I get to continue to foster my career, I get QT with my baby during the day, and she gets the social interaction and learning that daycare brings. Her teachers are great and she has bonded really well with them. I know she is in good hands.

She was supposed to have her 4 month well baby visit today, but she is sick (bad ear infection – poor thing) so we had to post pone it. I took her to the doctor yesterday and her stats were as follows:

Weight: 15lbs 3oz*
*with clothes on and I had just fed her a 2oz bottle… so I’m guessing she’s around and even 15 pounds (77th percentile)
Height: 24 ½ inches (32nd percentile)

She is very much following Owen’s progression, although she is a short chubber…the rolls on her thighs are unreal. That’s OK. Benny at this age was 18 pounds and 27 ½ inches. It’s nice to have a smaller baby this time. She’s staying more “baby” longer too. She’s reaching her milestones on target or a tad behind (nothing to be worried about though). It’s a welcome change to my super advanced boys. I get to enjoy the baby stages a little longer.

Here is a Jillian update on how she changed, what she did, new things, etc. from 3 to 4 months:
* Had her first train ride
* Met her cousins Abby and Carlie
* Did lots of fun arts and crafts in school (you should see her cute little moose hand/feet ornament)
* Went to Bedtime Story Night at Owen’s school
* Sat in the Bumbo for the first time
* Really started to follow things with her eyes and turn her head to sounds
* Started to grab toys and blankets with her hands
* Had her first Christmas
* Began to constantly put her hands in her mouth
* Has become just like her brothers in her love for the silky blankie. She can’t go to sleep without one.
* She is doing better in her crib. We still have her in our room from time to time, but she had a lot of good nights of full sleep in her crib.
* She likes to try and hold her bottle. She’ll put her hands on either side.
* To bring her comfort, she like to hold onto one of your fingers.

She’s a doll and I’m so so happy I get to experience a baby again… especially since we are starting my favorite age 4 to 6 months.

We had a quaint and quiet Christmas as a family of 5. Since Bill, Sara and the girls were back east, we didn’t have our traditional Christmas Eve and Christmas morning with Grammy & PeePaw Thomas. It was nice though… the boys slept in until 8:15 and I got some great one on one time with Jillian before they woke up. The boys were very well behaved Christmas day… I think it was because they were so bad up until the 25th they thought Santa wasn’t going to bring them any toys. Their good behavior was a gracious “Thanks” to Mom, Dad and Santa that there were presents under the tree. Although. Owen still wasn’t convinced Santa was 100% good to him. When he picked up his stocking he said “I really hope there isn’t coal in here.”

This year I changed Christmas up a bit. Instead of everything coming from Santa, Santa brought each kid 3 presents, just like the wise men bought baby Jesus 3 presents. Santa also fills the stockings and brings the family a gift… something they can do together. These gifts are in special “Santa” paper. The rest of the gifts are from Mom & Dad and their siblings. There are many reasons why I chose to do this but mainly… 1) It helps bring the true meaning of the season to the day and 2) it helps the kids understand giving at the holidays… not only to each other but to those less fortunate. Now they will understand why there are donations for Toys for Tots because some Mommy’s and Daddy’s can’t get their kids more than what Santa brings. I mean, how do you explain Toys for Tots if Santa’s magic brings all the toys??? It also helps us keep our over giving in check. Especially with the boys birthdays 6 weeks later.

I think my favorite part of this Christmas was seeing the reactions the boys had to the gifts they got each other. They were both so excited and gave big hugs and said thank you to one another for the gift. It was so heart warming and genuine.

The kiddos also had a special visitor on Christmas day… SANTA! He made a special stop to Kent Drive after his official duties were done to see Owen, Ben and Jillian and to remind them to be good next year and stay on that nice list. Over the holidays, Mike had an app on his phone to check if the boys were on the naughty or nice list. They knew they were on the naughty list more than the nice. Hopefully Santa’s visit will help them stay good and always be on the nice list for 2012. I think it will because the looks on their faces were of total seriousness. Owen & Ben could not believe Santa was in their house. Owen made sure to thank him for his DS, but Benny just wanted to know where his sleigh was. Maxie on the other hand was not a fan of Jolly Old St. Nick. Mike had to hold her down. She is very protective of her family… even if it was from Santa.

And without further ado… pics from our Christmas day… sorry, there are alot!

Santa was here!

Good morning, Jillian… it’s your first Christmas.

Patiently waiting for Owen & Ben to wake up.

YEAH – Santa came!!

Tine to go see if we were on the naughty or nice list.

I see presents so we must have been on the nice list. (Actually, only Jillian was, but Santa left gifts for everyone b/c she was on he nice list)

Our first Christmas with 3 kids.

Benny hugging his McMissile from Owen & Jillian.

The boys took turns opening Jilly’s gifts and showing her what she got.

Maxie loves Christmas morning and is always right in the thick of things seeing what the kids got.

Someone likes her new taggie blanket!

Owen was ecstatic to get Super Mario Memory from Ben & Jillian.

Jilly’s turn to see what Santa brought.

For 2 years Owen has wanted a Nintendo DS…

This year he finally got one from Santa b/c Mommy & Daddy said he was old enough.

He was one happy camper.

Benny is super happy Santa brought him his Leap Pad.

Benny taking every item, one by one, out of Jillian’s stocking to show her what she got.

Just like her jammies say…”I’m all Mommy wants”. YUP! She is actually my present from last year because my due date was almost 9 months from Christmas 2010.

Jilly and Uncle Dan.

PeePaw Park getting in some Jillian snuggles.

SANTA CAME!!

Mommy’s getting a camera in her hands early.

What more could a girl want…a camera and a doll.

The boys and Mimi.

Here are some more photos from our Christmas Eve in New Jersey with the whole Thomas clan.

Mike and I have blessed each other with the gift that keeps on giving year round… our children. And 2011 was a very gracious year for our family as it gave us our beautiful daughter to add to our joy and happiness. I hope 2012 will bring us a year full of wonderful family fun and a host of treasured memories with our triple dose of loves… Owen, Benjamin and Jillian.

PS – lots of blogging coming your way… more form Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Jillian’s 4 month pic and New Years!

Mike’s brother and his family live practically half way across the country in Indiana so we don’t see them very often let alone around the holidays. Well, this year they made the trek back East and we all got together with our families at Grammy & PeePaw’s. This is a very rare occasion, so I tried to mark the first time the 5 kiddos were all together with a picture of them in their Christmas jammies in front of the tree.

The kids had a lot of fun together playing. Abby showed the boys all about having magic and dressing up like a princess and Owen and Ben showed Abby it was cool for a girl to be a super hero and she rocked the Thor helmet and hammer.

But the two new BFFs were Ben & Abby. These two were born 4 days apart and were almost inseparable the entire time we were there. I thought it would be cute to see how this duo has changed in the past 3 years…

Abby & Benny – June 2008

Abby & Benny – December 2011
… and he still keeps an eye on her from the corner of his eye!!

It was such a nice visit with the whole Thomas clan, but I’m really glad Owen, Ben, Abby, Carlie and Jillian got to spend some QT together.

On November 13th, Jillian was baptized. It was a nice day with close family to celebrate this important occasion. It ended with Mike and I having the flu and Jilly going to NJ to get far away from the germs. Thankfully she didn’t get sick.

We have a new priest who changed the way our church does baptisims. For the boys, we had to undress them to a diaper and the were submersed in the holy water. This new priest baptized Jillian the more modern way… water over her head. I liked it this way much better.

Jillian also wore the baptism dress that her daddy wore when he was baptized. It’s been worn by her Unlce Bill, Aunt Susan and cousins Abby and Carlie too.

She did great during the whole thing. Never made a peep. What a darling thing she is!

Can you believe this precious little thing is three months old already?

One word can describe Jillian… pleasant. She is such a pleasant baby. She’s so dear. She rarely fusses. She loves to cuddle. She smiles at me like I’m the greatest person in the whole wide world. I feel so lucky to be able to experience having a baby again. It’s hard to believe Jillian is 3 months, but I’m relishing in every moment as much as I can… her sweet baby noises as she eats, her smiles and coos, her looking at her hands with her eyes almost crossed, her sweet lavender smell after a bath, how her face lights up when I sing to her, how her brothers think she is he greatest thing in the world. Oh how I love being a mommy… I’m so blessed to have receive God’s gift three times.

This month Jilly:

* Found her hands
* Started really cooing and “baby talking” up a storm
* Had her first out of state trip to New Jersey to Grammy & PeePaw Thomas’
* Met most of her extended family on the Thomas side
* Was baptized
* Had her first Thanksgiving
* Started the transition to her crib
* Started daycare at our work
* Started to enjoy Baby Einstein as much as her older brother
* Had her first big belly laugh (only once, but it was priceless)

I just love this little girl, LOVE HER!!!