Grace: four months

My darling Grace,

Has it really been four months since you've arrived?  That seems impossible, sweet girl!

Here are your four-month stats:

Four Months at a Glance

Weight:  15 pounds, 5 ounces (75th percentile)

Length:  24.5 inches (50th percentile)

Eating:  anywhere from 2-6 ounces - your eating has gotten incredibly inconsistent

Sleeping:  9-10 hours at night

Diapers:  size 2

Clothes:  3 months, 3-6 months, 6 months

Things You Love:  pulling Mommy's hair, talking to us, bath time, lotion time, grabbing your toes, sleeping on PawPaw's belly, grabbing your paci clip and pulling it loose from whatever it is attached to, your little glowworm, the breeze, dancing with Mommy, listening to Mommy sing "Pop Goes the Weasel"

What You Can Do This Month: pull up to sitting position, sit propped up, bear weight on flat feet, spontaneously grab things and interact with them, grab things and put them in your mouth, laugh, track things 180 degrees

This month has been a whirlwind!  You recovered from your cold and ear infection, only to get a tummy bug and a sinus infection.  We also took you on your first trip!  We drove down to Galveston with Grandma and Grandpa, Uncle Seth, Aunt Diana, and cousin Landyn to stay for a few days.  You slept nearly the whole way there and back, except when you needed a diaper change.  You loved sleeping in the breeze under a canopy at the beach, and you looked adorable in your cute swimsuit and floppy hat.

Eating:  Oh, girlfriend.  Your inconsistent eating has had Mommy a little stressed this month.  Sometimes you suck down your bottle like you'll never have another one.  But fairly often, you eat a few ounces and then get super squirmy and refuse to eat any more.  Clearly, you're getting plenty, and it might just be that you're still not back to normal from the antibiotics, but your doctor is a little worried we may have some kind of tummy problem.  We've switched you to soy formula for a week to see if that helps - we've got our fingers crossed!

Sleeping:  I think we've finally got the sleeping through the night thing down.  You usually go to bed around 8:00 or 8:30.  We do a dreamfeed around 9:30 or 10:00, and then you sleep until we wake you up around 6:15.  You sometimes cry around 4:00 a.m., but you put yourself back to sleep after a minute or two.  (Most of the time.)  Daddy's ready to drop the dream feed, but I don't think you're quite ready, so we'll stick with it for now.

Naps are pretty inconsistent.  They're hit or miss at daycare (it must be too loud in there for you, love!), but you do slightly better at home.  {Any mommas out there have any advice for establishing a consistent nap schedule?  It may be time to switch to a four-hour schedule... when she does have a good nap, she often sleeps through her next feeding time.}  I'm trying to let you figure things out, but I know we're going to eventually need to get you back on a good schedule.

(ha!)

Other Stuff:  You're still mostly just as happy as ever, angel girl.  You're tolerating outfit changes better.  Your thighs are getting deliciously chunky, and your feet are nearly as thick as they are wide.  Bathtime has become a safety hazard because you splash so much that the floor becomes SOAKED!  We have to keep a towel down so Mommy doesn't slip and fall!  Your "conversations" with yourself (and us) are getting louder and more insistent.  We love hearing you talk.  

Your hair has started to lay down a bit, which makes Mommy strangely sad.  Ha!

Every month, you're getting smarter and even more adorable.  We're having so much fun seeing little glimpses of your sweet, funny personality.

See how you've grown?

We adore you a ridiculous amount, baby girl!

Love,
Mommy