Anika 4 months old!

My, my, my... Yet another month comes and goes! Anika turned 4 months old a week ago today. It seems that with Anika, as soon as she hovers around another anniversary date, she seems to awake that morning with new skills pulled out of thin air.
A couple of days before her 4 mth anniversary, she lifted her feet and rather than just move them around, she deliberatly reached out and grabbed one foot. Suddenly the next morning, she has become a pro at this! Both feet now come up with both hands pulling them and she leans over to one side then back to the middle. A couple of days after that, she decided to attempt new sound waves with her voice.
Her usual deep and loud coos have, on occasion, become high pitched singing as though she were a dainty little songbird. Quite funny considering her size and strength. She nearly tears her entire floor gym off the floor when she grabs it as I pick her up.
Her hair continues to amaze us. No matter how long it grows, her little alfalfa tuft near the back grows higher and higher although these last few days, she is developing a curl to it. Now it reminds me of a peacock tail!
Her favourite blanket is the colourful quilt that Grandma Vaags made for her. She has been insisting on pulling it over her head when it's naptime and waits patiently for me to play peekaboo when she awakes from her nap. I giggle every time! Especially when she is moving around under the blanket still pulled over her face until she hears that I've entered the room... Then she goes still and it's like she holds her breath in anticipation of the "Peek-a-boo, Anika!" I am then greeted with a huge smile, a few excited kicks and her amused giggle.
Ah... The sound of her giggles... Truly a gift from God himself! Is there any better sound in this world that that of your children laughing? It's wonderful when she is in one of her moods where you just have to say a funny word like "pikatee-KA" and she giggles. And giggling is effortless when Mina is around!
When big sister Mina is around, she can't take her eyes off her. There is sheer delight between those two. And when sitting or lying next to big sister, Izzy, Anika always reaches out a hand to touch Izzy's face or her hand. It is beautiful what those two seem to share in a world without language as we seem to know it. The way they look into each other's eyes nearly brings tears to my own. Sometimes they've stared at eachother for as long as two minutes without wavering. Then Izzy smiles, sings her little coo, looks up at me, looks back at Anika to smile once more and resumes watching her movie. Truly special.
Here are some pics including pic# Anika016 where she has found her papa and beamed her smile of love at him; pic# Anika007 where she'd fallen asleep playing with her toy and slept an hour and a half still holding it in her hand and a few others that warmed my heart.
Mable, the baby goat, is now half the size of her mom yet still insists on jumping onto poor Molly's back. Duane has got milking Molly down to an art but my first attempt yesterday proved rather disastrous. Perhaps it's from sheer sympathy... I cannot pull on her without cringing. After all, I am now dealing with a daughter who sometimes pulls away from her feedings in rather unnatural and painful ways! Wish me luck in mastering the art of milking a dwarf goat. If Duane's massive hands can milk her (despite looking like he's milking a cat) then I should be able to learn this, too! Our regular sized Toggenburg goat should be kidding any day now. (I am resisting the urge to say "just kidding"). :)
We love our life, we love our family, we love our journey of faith and thank God almighty for the gifts each day presents us with!
May your lives be richly blessed in knowing you are in our prayers.