Happy 4th

This past weekend we celebrated the Fourth of July and also Katarina turning 4 months old. These pictures were all taken on the 4th of July. As my baby is growing so fast, I thought I ought to skip ahead and post some recent pictures rather than continuing on my quest to chronical our life a month behind. It's now July, and I haven't shared any pictures from June (and, in fact, haven't even finished all of May).

Katarina smiles and laughs often now, especially at her big sisters. She smiles with her whole face, including her tongue. I just love little baby tongues! Her giggles began just recently and are very cute. She also exercises her voice with adorable coos.

We went to the church 4th of July cookout and fireworks show with Lolo and Lola. We saw Ninong, Ninang, Cousin Steven, and many other friends there as well.

These pictures are of Kätchen watching the lights and toys on her playgym. While toys are very interesting, people (chiefly Mommy and big sisters) bring out all her smiles and giggles. You can see in these pictures that she usually brings her hands to midline, and she will entertain herself for several minutes just examining (and tasting, and talking to) her fingers. She is almost constantly drooling and gnawing on her clothes these days, too. Ah, teething!

Katarina has always been very alert, and she developed neck muscles months ago to hold her head and turn it so she can look around. In her efforts to observe the world, Katarina has also been doing crunches, which are gradually turning into sit-ups. What a strong baby!