Tuesday, May 31, 2011

4 Months!

Dear Adilyn,

Here we are at the end of May and another month has flown by!  You are four months old!  May is one of my two favorite months (October is my other favorite) and now I have another reason to add to my list of why.  Mother's Day!  So now I have my birthday, my and daddy's wedding anniversary, AND Mother's Day.  Lucky daddy...an expensive month for him.  Wink, wink.

This month you have started holding things in your little hands and staring at them.  You don't really do anything with them yet, but you are learning, I can tell.  It's funny because it seems like you have finally noticed the singing bee toy on your car seat.  It has been there since you were a newborn, but you always kind of ignored it.  Now you look at it and grab it so that it makes music.  Yay!

You've gotten so much stronger with your head this past month, and you can finally lift it up off the ground during tummy time.  Which means that tummy time is becoming more bearable, and dare I say, enjoyable for you.  Now you can look around and see what's going on, which is what you've wanted the whole time.  You have also started lifting your head up off of your bouncer, swing, and infant seat.  It's so cute because it really looks like you are doing sit-ups!

Your legs are getting much stronger too and you can support yourself on them for a long time with just some balance support from mommy or daddy.  You love standing up and getting a different view of the world.

Everyday you are discovering new parts of  yourself, and this month you found your head and your ears.  Mommy was a little nervous when you found your ears, because she thought you might have an ear infection since you were touching them so much.  But it turned out that you were just fascinated by your new discovery! 

You have also noticed your feet, which is so funny to watch!  You will be kicking your little legs around and when your feet come into your view and you look so startled.  You actually jump a little!  Then you stare at them with that intense look that you get and you kick them around some more.  It's times like those that I wish I could be in your little brain to know what you are thinking!

This past month you have also found your voice.  You make these adorable soft little cooing sounds when you stop nursing for a little break, and it melts my heart to hear you.  That is your indoor voice.  You have also discovered that you have an outdoor voice.  Sigh.  At times you just start yelling for fun.  You're not crying; in fact, a lot of times you are smiling when you do it.  But it is LOUD, so we'll have to have some more talks about using our indoor voice.  Ha ha!

Then we move on to your new favorite activity (other than the activity mat of course).  Looking at yourself in the mirror!  I remember when your Aunt Tina and I were little and someone asked her what her favorite things to do were, one of her answers was looking in the mirror (the other was planting flowers...?????).  Anyway, now you love looking at yourself too!  We look in the mirror and I say, "Who's that baby in the mirror?  She's beauuuuutiful!".  It brings a giant smile to your face every single time.  I will always cherish our moments in front of the mirror.

We have developed somewhat of a nap routine (finally!), and you take your longest nap in the morning.  Once you've been awake for about two hours you start getting cranky, so we put you down for a nap.  You usually sleep for 1.5 - 2 hours at this time.  Then you take one or two more shorter naps in the afternoon.  Those naps are usually about 30-45 minutes long.  Although we have more of a routine, it's still often a struggle to get you down for a nap.  You usually cry in your crib for awhile before you fall asleep because you just don't want to miss anything!

As far as night time is concerned, with the exception of a few random (wonderful) nights, you still wake up once a night to eat.  The time of this feeding varies from 1:30-5:30 AM.  We never know when it will be.  But luckily, it's only once.  You go to bed between 8 and 9PM and wake up for the day around 7AM.

We took you to the doctor today for your four month appointment, and the dreaded immunizations.  Your poor little legs; 2 shots in each.  You were a trooper though, and even though you screamed bloody murder during the shots, I scooped you right up when they were done and you stopped.  You love love love to be held. 

The pediatrician (and the AAP) recommends that I keep exclusively breastfeeding you, and hold off on solids for another month or two.  You are still getting all that you need from Mommy's milk.  The only different thing that we will do is start giving you some extra iron since your iron stores from birth are almost depleted by now.

At four months old you are:

14 lbs, 10 oz (75th percentile)
26 inches long (95th percentile)
43cm head circumference (90th percentile)

I found it interesting that in your weight versus length ratio, you are only in the 10th percentile.  Meaning that you are a very tall girl!

Here are some pics and videos!

You love that fist!

Smiley girl!



Blowing bubbles...you love that trick!








Daddy and I celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary today, and we went out for dinner while you went over to Carley's house to play. 

Mommy and Daddy at our anniversary dinner

We reflected on our life now and how it is so different than it was last year.  But our life is so much fuller!  Having you is our greatest accomplishment as a married couple.  You are such a beautiful, smart, happy little baby and we love you with everything we have.  Happy 4 Month Birthday sweet girl!   Mommy and Daddy love you always!




Love,

Mommy

2 comments:

  1. She does look so tall now! And that laugh is the cutest, it's like she's a real person! Haha - happy anniversary!!

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