Update

Esther's latest big trick is rolling over from her back to her tummy! She started this about a week before she turned 5 months old. At first she did it one time when we weren't looking. Then the next morning when Dad went in to get her she was on her tummy! After that, she was rolling over several times a day. The problem is, Esther can't roll back over from her tummy to her back, and she doesn't like being on her tummy for too long before she starts crying. The last two nights she has been waking up several times a night after rolling over on her tummy and crying until Mom or Dad come in to rock her back to sleep. Both Mom and Dad are really tired. Dad is super-tired since he is still going to work all day long. Hopefully this is just another 7-10 day phase like when she started teething and it will pass.
Mom and Esther are leaving on Saturday to go to Texas to visit Molly's cousin, Alicia. They will be there until next Wednesday afternoon. Dad will probably go visit his parents to have someone to keep him company while he misses his wife and little girl.

Growing!

Esther is well past the 4-month mark now. She is definitely growing bigger and longer. She still doesn't have a lot of hair yet though. :-p We still have to work to get her to enjoy tummy time. She really doesn't like to be on her belly for too long, and hasn't made much progress towards rolling over or crawling yet. She still likes to walk with help though - she thinks she is pretty big stuff! We can almost always get a smile out of Esther when we let her walk on top of us and look down into our faces. She is a happy, smiley little girl. She is still teething, but we think she is through the rough week that she had a few weeks ago. The last couple of nights she has been waking up 2 or 3 times during the night, but that's still better than nearly once every 1-2 hours!
She seems to be going through a phase where she wants to be held CONSTANTLY. For awhile she really liked her "bouncy seat" and would sit in it unattended for 15-30 minutes or so. Now she needs to be held or rocked by a real, warm person.
Esther really likes to suck on her hands, on toys or on other people's hands. Maybe because she is teething?
Esther is also starting to make more noises. She laughed for the first time last week! (see Molly's flickr account for the video) She tends to make a lot of sounds when she is eating her fingers. Esther doesn't have much control over the pitch or volume of her voice. It's funniest when she lets out little squeals and squeeks!