I'm a broken record, but you just continue to grow and amaze us! You fill our days with such happiness, and you are a wonderful reminder at the end of the day to let go of any stress from work (or just life in general). Your smile and laugh are infectious and it's impossible to be upset for too long around you when you're happy. What a blessing you are!
This month you seem to have grown so much — in maturity, size, and spirit! We laugh because there are some typical baby things that you just never took to, so you've always seemed a little more mature than we expected. For example, you never really took to using a pacifier, and you also never liked being held cradle-style. Aside from when you were first born, you just don't like being held that way (I suspect it's because you like being held upright so you can see what's going on). The picture below was taken when we were joking around with you about being "a little baby"... which strikes me as funny because you are, in fact, a little baby!
You love to laugh, talk in your own special language, and interact with people. Even though you're still a little shy when people put their faces close to you too quickly, you love to look at everything around you, smile at whoever is passing by, and observe what's going on. You're so aware of what's going on, and I love that about you! When I carry you somewhere, you inevitably crane your neck around to watch where we're headed. But you make me laugh because when I then carry you facing outward, you turn your head around to see who's holding you. I swear you already have a sense of humor!
Sleeping: Have I said "thank you" yet for your amazing sleeping habits at night, little one? Even with starting daycare and acclimating to a new routine, you still remained a sleeping champion baby! Bath time/bedtime has routinely started at 6:30pm, and you are usually asleep by 7:30pm. Thanks to daycare, you are very tired at the end of the day and it almost feels too easy to put you to sleep. But even on the days where you don't fall asleep right away, you're very good at hanging in your crib for a little while and self-soothing until you fall asleep. I wake up around 5am to get ready, and then Daddy usually wakes you up around 6:15am and gets you dressed. You greet him with such smiles!
On the weekends, you are even more amazing! You go to bed at the same time as during the week, but you're usually able to sleep until sometime between 7am and 8am. This is so nice for us, as we get a little extra sleep too. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that you're always able to sleep this well!
As far as napping goes, you've gone through phases. You're an excellent napper at daycare and often have a 2-3 hour nap sometime during the day. When you're at home on the weekends, however, your napping is much more sporadic. We're hoping to get a better napping routine down as we all get more used to our new routine of work/daycare. You love to be swaddled tight at daycare, which cracks me up considering you've always despised being swaddled at home!
Eating: You finally started taking bottles! Hallelujah! I was so relieved once you started to eat more regularly (and with less resistance) at daycare. For the first couple of weeks, you only ate 6-8 oz. per day — over a 10-hour span! But starting in your third week, you upped the amount to in the teens, and by the end of this month you were eating over 20 oz. per day.
Through the first half of this month, you were still exclusively drinking breast milk (via bottle during the day and nursing in the morning and at night). Towards the end of the month, I added in one bottle of formula per day. You don't seem to have a preference, which is a relief. Next month we will slowly start to ween you from breast milk and breastfeeding altogether.
Stats: You just had your 4-month well visit and you weighed in at a whopping 14 lb. 10 oz. I was sure you would be heavier, but it turned out that you did a lot of your growing in height! You are 25.5 inches tall already — in the 90th percentile for height. This must be Daddy's genes kicking in!
Clothes Size: You have a lot of clothes that are 3-6 months or 6 months and fit perfectly. It seems that you've done a lot of growing taller and not much growing wider. There are many 6-9 month items that fit you too. You're still in size 2 diapers (although I tried out the trick of putting a size 3 on you overnight since you tend to pee a lot while you sleep! TMI?).
Milestones/Firsts: It seems as if you learn something new each day, and I love that about this time in your life! You've had a lot of firsts this month.
You celebrated your first Thanksgiving at Grandma and Grandpa's house. This also led to your first sleepover and first interaction with a puppy! They took in a little 5-pound Maltese, Jack, so there was actually something in the house smaller than you. You didn't seem overly interested in him, but maybe you will be when you get a little older.
You had your first cold this month. And your second. And Mommy had two colds as well! I hear this is a rite of passage when first starting daycare. Especially when you start in November!
You also grabbed your feet for the first time, and it seems like you haven't stopped grabbing for them since! If you're wearing socks, you love to pull them off. And when you have your PJs on, you love to grab onto the feet of them and suck on the PJs. And if you're wearing nothing at all? Well then you just suck on your toes! It's pretty funny to watch you do all of this. And I now know where the pose "Happy Baby" comes from in yoga!
You also had your first belly laugh this month, and I could swear my heart nearly burst when I first heard it! It was truly one of the sweetest sounds, and for some reason I decided to shout for your Daddy because I was so excited about it. You're a little ticklish under your arms, so every now and then I will selfishly steal a laugh or two! Daddy really makes you laugh though — one night he was giving you a bath while I was downstairs cooking and I could hear the two of you cracking each other up! It was adorable!
You lived through your first election this month. And while you didn't really have an opinion one way or another (both candidates were equally willing to kiss babies, and that was important to you!), you had a special outfit to announce the results the Wednesday following the election. (You can thank Ember for this timely hand-me-down!)
You rolled over for the first time! You like to roll from your belly to your back, and it's fun to watch your facial expression when you do it. Ms. Debbie at daycare also said that you rolled over twice from back to belly in your crib! This is one that Daddy and I have yet to witness, however.
Likes/Dislikes: You still just love your Daddy, and you light up whenever you see him or hear his voice. You spend a lot of special Daddy/Katy time on weekend mornings since he will often get up with you to let me sleep for an extra hour. He makes you laugh, and you love how he dances with you and sings to you. It's so special to see your relationship grow already!
You really like your primary caregiver at daycare — Ms. Debbie. She gets lots of smiles from you, and she was one of the first to really be able to give you a bottle with ease. And actually, in general, you really seem to like daycare! You don't mind our early morning routines, and it's been fairly easy to drop you off each day. Plus, it's fun leaving the house as a family to start our day.
You've started to love toys, especially books, rattles, and toys with lots of places for you to hold onto and grasp. Your hand/eye coordination is very good! You also like holding onto a couple of dolls (soft plush), like this sock monkey that you got as a gift from your Grandma Renee's sister, Carla. The picture with the sock monkey makes me smile...it looks like you have blush on!
You love to stand up, and you're so strong and steady when you do! The second your feet are planted, you stand straight up, look around, and smile from ear to ear. You're so amused by it, and in turn, it's one of my favorite things that you do right now!
You still love bath time as much as before. You love being held up above our heads (airplane). Even though you're content for a while playing with toys or a book, you just love to be held by Daddy or me, and that makes us feel pretty good too!
As for dislikes, you still aren't a huge fan of being in the carseat when you're not going anywhere. However, you have gotten much calmer these days, and you rarely cry anymore in the car unless you've got a wet diaper or are hungry. You really hate having the boogies sucked out of your nose, but who wouldn't?! Unfortunately, with two colds this month, you had to endure quite a bit of that. You're still a no-go on the pacifier even though I keep trying periodically. And one major dislike is crowds — you're just a little nervous when you're in a loud group of people, many of whom want to talk to you and hold you. It's a lot for a little gal like yourself to take in and we know why you get scared. We're hoping that you get a little more comfortable in crowded family gatherings and such because there are so many loving relatives who would love to play with you!
Visitors: Your Grandpa Gary and Grandma Renee came for a visit all the way from Wichita! You saw them several times over the course of a few days. I think they had a lot of fun meeting you, and you even let Grandma Renee hold you for a while. As to be expected, you had lots of other repeat visitors like Grandma and Grandpa, Auntie Ashley, and Auntie Shannon.
