4 months

Motherhood is so full of cliches.
But they are cliches because they are over-used...
And they are over-used because everyone can relate...
And everyone can relate because they are true.

Example: I love her more every day.
No really. I do!

At 4 months Ella has developed quite a personality and her social interactions are at an all-time high.

When she wakes up in the morning and sees me watching her, her smiles are so huge and beaming, sometimes breaking into a joyful giggle, it feels like I just won lotto.

When she is sitting on Daddy's lap and keeps turning around just so she can GAZE at him with the huge baby blues and a hint of a smile on her lips. Without blinking. For aggggggeeesss.

When I catch him, through the kitchen window, showing her the garden and the world.

When we take a moment from our usual "She's growing so fast! She's so big!" to stop and suddenly realise, "She's so small."

When you leave the room and she follows you with her eyes, and is still waiting expectantly when you come pack.

The peals of laughter when you play any game with her. Especially something that involves suddenly coming closer to her, or nodding your head from side to side. Hilarious, apparently.

When she says "Mummm! Mummmm! Mummmeeeh!" when she is crying or just trying to get my attention. Her crying sound just recently changed to that at around 3.5 months. It makes me realise why almost every language in the world has a "M" word for mother.

When I showed her the new big painting we just bought for our lounge (update coming sometime soonish) and whispered "Isn't it beautiful?" and no kidding, she was absolutely transifixed by it and smiled ear to ear for minutes while she studied it.

Her budding musical abilities, (I like to think!). Sitting at the piano with Grandpa watching every key being played. Smiling like a sunbeam if we play a note on her muscial octopus. Starting to "sing" with her own voicebox at church.

How around 3-ish months she became more vocal - first making soft sound and looking surprised when they came out of her mouth, and then now making long loud "Ah-uh-ah-uh" sounds all the time and varying the pitch from high to low, sometimes painfully screechy, and looking quite pleased with herself. How she will stop "talking" to listen to you and let you speak, then do some more talking, and hold quite a nice little conversation.

How expressive she is. Showing every emotion in her little face, including the wobbly lip before crying.

How she clings on to my clothing when she is unsure of where she is or who the people around us are.

How she amazes air-hostesses with her shy smiles - smiling at them then hiding behind her hands, then peeking out to smile again.

How absolutely happy she is, most of the time.

How tiring 4.5 months of sleeping no more than 3-4 hours in a row can be.

How surprised I always feel to have energy to get through the day and get dressed in the morning!

The blessed relief of hitting the 4 month mark and finally, months after "all" the other babies, have some kind of routine where I can actually predict when her nap times will be.

Learning to let go and accept our feeding issues, while still trying to find an answer.

How horrible the world can appear when you watch the news, and you have a child.

How fierce a mother's love and protective instincts can be.

How much we adore her!