Yeah for the New Year and all the fun we'll have in 2009. We finally had Sasha's 4-month check-up (even though she is actually 4 1/2 months now) so here are some cute photos and all the stats since I last put them up around 2 months:

Sasha and her mama in the living room showing off how well she stands and her cute dress, bow and tights. I know, I'm not a girly girl, but she looks so cute in them that I can't help it every once in a while. Plus, it's tough to find non-pink, non-girly clothes for her.

• She weighs 14 lbs. 14 oz and is in the 68th percentile for weight.
• She is 25 inches tall and is in the 68th percentile for height.
• Her head is in the 50th percentile so she's just right.
• Sasha has starting really laughing in the last few days and it's just pure music to our ears. There is nothing sweeter than the sound of a baby laughing.
• Sasha is like her papa in many ways, especially when it comes to 2 things: observing the world around her and adrenaline highs. She loves to watch everyone around her (which sometimes causes her to focus more on the person so she forgets to smile). It's like she's completely absorbing every little bit of information - it's so amazing. She's also our little adrenaline junky since she especially loves to feel like she's being dropped, but not really. Pretend drops, being tossed in the air - it's like candy for her.
• Patterns are the name of the game. She just can't get enough of vivid patterns, especially her red and white polka dot burp cloth. She cooes at it, talks to it, makes faces at it - it's almost as if it's one of her best buds and has a personality or something.
• Still speaking Russian, but quite a bit of English as well since my Russian isn't as developed and expressive as I'd like it to be. She at least gets the basics so I hope it's something she picks up. I'm excited to order a Russian picture book off of half.ebay.com...we'll see how it goes.
• Sleep has been one of her forte's as she has been snoozing 10-12 hours a night since just before 3 months. Sadly, that streak was broken when she got her immunizations. She got a temperature of 102 and woke up every 2-3 hours. She's gradually been sleeping better and a little longer so let's hope it goes back to that sweet, 10-12 hour goodness soon!
• Her personality is somewhat reserved (and observing), but she's continuing to babble and smile more and more. She's pretty mellow and loves to just sit with us and look around, stand on our laps and watch our facial expressions, or lay on the group and make sounds at the ceiling. We got her a Step and Play Piano that she can stand in (like an exersaucer) and there's piano keys for her hands and feet plus some other toys. She's not super interested in it yet, but I'm sure her Mozart skills are going to come out anytime.
• She was on a pretty great schedule of sleeping 10-12 hours and eating every 4 hours, but the immunizations and her great appetite seemed to join forces. She was eating 6-7 ounces at every feeding and it seemed like it was starting to be too much for her little tummy to handle as she was spitting up a lot more (she's not a very spit-uppy baby). So, we've changed to eating 5 times a day and eating 4-5 ounces. Seems like the spit up is much less. She doesn't seem to care either way as long as she gets her food.
• Aaron's still helping her develop her bottle prodigy skills and encourages her as often as possible to hold her own bottle, which she does quite a bit. She often pulls the bottle to her mouth when she's really hungry.
• Sasha started pulling herself up to sitting and then standing about a month or so ago and is getting better and better. She makes this cute face that looks like she's constipated and focusing - it's hilarious!
• We started swaddling Sasha just before 3 months as well because she wanted to go to sleep with the pacifier, but kept knocking it out of her mouth with her hands. So, I thought we should give it a try...it worked. She has slept better and longer now that her hands/arms aren't waving around like crazy. Now, if we could just get her to stay asleep for longer than an hour without needing her pacifier, that would be great!
• She's definitely got her dad's long, dark eyelashes - watch out when she gets older.

Well, I think that about does it for the list of stats on our cute, little one. Here are some recent photos of Sasha doing what she does best...look adorable.

Sitting up in her high chair. We haven't started her on solids yet, but probably will give the rice cereal a go soon. So, for now, this is just a means to help her sit up and play with toys.

Hope you're all doing great and having a fabulous 2009 so far!

Happy New Year!

Hooray for 2009! We have had some fun adventures already in 2009 and we're excited for many more. Unfortunately, we started out the year with a dose of sickness as Aaron and I were sick on New Year's eve and recovering on New Year's day. We did manage to stay up until 11 pm on New Year's eve so we counted that we celebrated the holiday central time. :) Sasha was expecially excited about New Year's as you can see from the photo below:
On January 2, we had a great time watching the U of U compete in the Sugar Bowl, giving Alabama quite a few slices of humble pie. It was especially fun watching the game with fellow Ute fans (Heath, Andy, Spencer and the Reese family). I guess it also didn't hurt that the U played an amazing game and beat the socks of Alabama.

Heather holding Spencer and Becky holding Sasha as they had fun getting to know each other. We decided to give Heather a break for wearing blue since her U shirt was dirty and she promised not to let it happen again. :)

Spencer is quite the charmer and Sasha was very impressed with his cute little smile. Spencer is 2 days older so he has taken on the role of being a good example to Sasha by talking and wiggling lots...they are both such cuties!

On January 3, 2009, Aaron and I took our family Christmas gift (our new hiking backpack for Sasha) for a test run. Thank you REI dividend! She had a great time looking at the scenery even though it was a little chilly. We love this model because it has a plastic cover that protects her from the elements. The plastic, protective covering goes over the top, sides and back of the backpack so the whole front is open (except for the adult's head blocking some of it).

Here's a great view of the mountains, the backpack and Aaron - the best 3 in 1 ever!

Sasha loved it so much she even fell asleep for about 45 minutes of our hike...what a champ! We're definitely going to be doing more of this!