Craft: Four Months Old

Welp, with all of the excitement of going back to work last week I was a slacker on the blog front and didn't get to officially wish sweet Craft a happy 4-month-birthday.

The week was hectic - Dan is in the middle of his busiest few weeks of the year at work while they're trying to pass the budget, plus we had another gala to attend on Thursday evening.  The good news is that no one was seriously injured and I managed to get both children fed and in bed pretty close to "on time" every night so I think we may all be starting to get the hang of things.  Thanks to Auntie Syd for the extra hands - her help has definitely been making our lives much easier!  These update posts are never short, so I'll get right to it.

Weight/Length:  Dan and I had a friendly wager going relating to our big boy's weight, and neither of us won because he ended up weighing less than we thought he did, ha!  Mean mama and Daddy.  Drum roll please…

Height:  25 inches/50th percentile (up from 23.5 inches/50th at his 2-month check-up)
Weight:  18 lbs, 11 oz/97th percentile (up from 16 lbs, 14.5 oz/>97th at 2 months)
Head:  17 inches/75th percentile (up from 16.5 inches/85th at 2 months)

At the doctor for his 4-month check-up!

C was trying to impress everyone with his baby vocabulary.  He was cooing and giggling (loudly) and being a regular little ham while we were waiting to see Dr. G!  

For the record, my guess was 20 lbs and Dan's was 22.  I was surprised to look back at my records and note that Craft isn't actually that much bigger than big sister Lilly was at 4 months old (she was 16 lbs, 3.5 oz and 25 inches long).

Sleep:  We are once again lucky ducks and have another (for the most part) pretty good sleeper…at least until the past week or so, ugh.  Up until this past week, Craft's night sleep was pretty predictable but we seem to have gotten hit by the 4-month sleep regression and I hate it.  If he is being "normal," he goes down between 7:30-8:00 pm and sleeps until sometime around 6:00 am, eats and then goes back to sleep until 8:00 or 8:30am.  For the past week, though, he's decided to get up and eat earlier - most mornings around 4am, but last night he was up at 10p, 2a and 7a.  So weird.  Dr. G said this is totally normal and assured me that I'm not creating bad habits by feeding him when he wakes - in fact she agreed with my opinion that it's a much quicker way to get him to go back to sleep and told me that he'll be out of it soon.  Fingers crossed.

Naps are getting better but still not very predictable.  Again, Dr. G said he probably won't start putting himself into any kind of consistent routine until around 6 months.  Currently, the only thing predictable about Craft's daytime sleep patterns is that he is ready to go to sleep around 2 hours (sometimes less) after he woke up from his last nap.  Additionally, his first nap of the day is typically pretty short - only around 45 minutes or an hour.  Sometimes the rest of his naps for the day are more frequent and only last 45 minutes or an hour, and other days he stretches them out and gives me a couple of 2-hour naps or several 45 minute naps and then one three-hour nap.  The inconsistency makes planning things tricky, but luckily he's still at the age where he'll sleep pretty easily in his car seat or in the baby carrier when we're on the go.

Feeding:  There really isn't a lot of change here from Craft's 3-month update.  He's still eating around every 3-4 hours, usually 4 hours unless it's close to a nap and I force-feed him a little early in hopes for an uninterrupted (and longer) nap.  He is also still spitting up some but again, not nearly as frequently or as much in amount as previously.  

Craft has done really well taking the bottle while I've been at work (hallelujah!), and Syd says he also seems to spit up less on days when he takes bottles, so I'm wondering if I am drowning him when he nurses.  We had a few adjustment days after I went back to work, but hopefully I've figured out the proper amount of pumping because he did better switching back and forth between bottle and b00b as the week progressed.  He currently takes a 5-oz bottle every four-ish hours - sometimes he finishes it, other times he doesn't.

One more exciting thing to note, Craft got the okay from the doctor to start solids!  He got his first taste of oatmeal this week (doctor's recommendation was to skip the rice cereal, I can't remember why but we went with it).  He is pretty good at eating with the spoon but didn't seem too excited with the new tastes, ha!

I can't wait to move on to more fun things in a few weeks (banana, avocado, apple blueberry, etc.).

Firsts This Month:  Oy, lots of these and I'm sure I'll still leave something out.  For one thing, we took Craft to the beach for the first time to visit Grandma Susie and Papa over Memorial Day Weekend.  I unfortunately never got around to blogging those photos, so here are a few of all of the fun we had during the long weekend!

Craft also went swimming for the first time in our neighborhood pool.

Craft has also been sitting up "by himself" in various contraptions such as the jumperoo, door jumper, bumbo and various other seats.  I think that as of his 3-month post he was sitting in the bumbo some, but he's getting much better at it and has been able to sit in other seats as well for longer and longer periods of time.

Poor guy.  Not only does he have to sit in a purple bumbo but he has to endure big sister/Aunt Syd putting bows in his hair!

Developments:  Craft has really started "talking" this month.  He was making noises previously, but lately it seems like if he's awake, he's talking all the time.  He loves to explore his vocal cords - both the different sounds he can make and the varying volumes  (the loudest sounds he can make are his most favorite!).

C is very purposeful now when he is using his hands.  He still "bats" at his toys but it no longer seems accidental.  He can also pick toys up and hold them, and he's very oral because most things these days go straight to his mouth.  He is drooling a LOT, which could be teething but also is just normal at his age.  He has really good head control and continues to roll over from his back to his tummy (he still hasn't gone the other way, probably because he hates tummy time so he rarely does it but his head isn't flat and clearly he has good control of it so the doctor didn't protest).  Dr. G was particularly impressed with that trick, which he demonstrated while we were visiting her on Friday.  She said it's much harder for babies to roll from back to tummy, especially chunky babies with a lot of weight to get over.  Overachiever, just like his sister!  Also, Craft freely gives smiles and we have witnessed (quite a few of) our first belly laughs.  I tried to get it on camera last week but he has the hiccups so you can't really tell he's laughing, but gosh it is the best sound and SO cute.  It is amazing the silly things we will do over and over again to hear that sweet giggle!  He thinks that Lilly is the funniest.

I wrote in Lilly's four-month update that around this time she started consciously finding her thumb some instead of just chewing on her whole hand, and I speculated as to whether she would be a thumb sucker (yes).  Craft is doing the same, so we'll see what that means.  I have been feeling like he loves the paci more than Lills did at this age, but according to photos that is not the case, so we'll see!

Likes:  Not a ton of changes here: bath. sleeping. eating. bumbo. door jumper. jumper. Lilly. Layla. Daddy. Aunt Syd. Carney. being outside. walks. swinging. being worn. ceiling fans. drooling. putting things in his mouth. his paci. talking/babbling/exploring his vocal cords. belly laughing. kicking his legs. singing. snuggling. more eating.

Notice I left the piano mat off this month - C has decided he hates it.  I think I figured out that the toys hang down too low/close to his face, because if I take the toys off he doesn't mind it as much.

Dislikes:  Again not too many changes.  Craft is truly one of the happiest babies, and is pretty good unless he's hungry, tired, has a poop or is gassy.  He is also getting better with the car seat, thank the Lord!

What I'm Thankful For:  Carney and Aunt Syd!  They take such good care of my babies for me and were so good about texting me and sending me pictures and videos last week.  It makes my days at at work a little easier knowing that everyone is happy (for the most part) at home!  Also my coworkers, family and friends for checking in on me throughout the week.

What I'm Looking Forward To:  We have lots of fun things coming up over the next few weeks: a neighborhood food truck rodeo, birthday parties, LOTS of pool time, Mason's first birthday party, and a trip to the mountains.  Yay!

Next Pediatrician Appointment:  August 6 for his 6-month appointment with Dr. V.

I'm off to finish laundry, bottle and pump part washing, etc. but I shall leave you with some more photos from our little 4-month photo shoot.  

Hope your weekend was great!

Four Months Old and 4-Month Check Up

Well, here we are again...time for another monthly update!  I can hardly believe it myself.  This one is four days late, worst Mom ever (sorry L!).  On Thursday evening, we traveled to Charlotte to spend the long weekend with my parents and we were swamped the entire time we were there, so time just got away from me.  I'm so sleepy, so without further ado, onto Miss Lillian Grace's four month stats!  This may be a long one since I'm combining the update with the check-up, but I don't want to forget anything!


Weight/Length: 25 inches long...homegirl is getting SO BIG (stop it!)!  She is in the 95th percentile for height.  She also, as of Thursday, weighs 16 lbs, 3.5 oz.  Still 97th percentile for weight.  The doctor said she's not worried about L being malnourished!  ;-)

Sleep: I am so grateful that we were blessed with a wonderful sleeper.  I am starting to realize that I cannot count on any routine, because just when I think we're in one Lilly changes it up on me (this is totally normal, I hear), but sleep has been pretty predictable as of late (except for the nights when she breaks out of the swaddle!).  We typically start our bed time routine with a bath around 7:00.  If she had a super long afternoon nap or took it later than usual, I'll let her play for a little while after bath time, but most nights we head upstairs to read a book, eat, and go to sleep.  She is normally in bed (still awake) by 7:30 or 8:00.  I have made it a point to put her down while she's still awake to help her learn to self-soothe.  So far, thankfully, this has not been a problem. Some nights, she will lay in there talking and giggling to herself - other nights she goes straight to sleep.  On a "normal" night, Lilly sleeps until 7:00 or 7:30 a.m., wakes up to eat, and then goes back to sleep until 9:00 or 9:30.  She takes a short nap in the morning, normally between 10:00 and 11:00 a.m. and normally only lasting 45 minutes to an hour, and then she takes a 2-3 hour nap in the afternoon, normally sometime between 2:00 and 3:00 p.m.  On the mornings when she goes to stay with the nanny, we keep her up instead of letting her go back to sleep, so sometimes the morning nap is a little earlier and lasts a little longer on those days.  Lilly so far has demonstrated that she'll sleep anywhere and through just about anything (angels singing).  She is still waking up sometimes having broken out of her swaddle, but it is not very consistent, so we're still trying to decide what to do.  I talked to her doctor about this issue, and asked about whether we should work on sleep training and breaking her of the swaddling habit.  The doctor basically told us that Lilly is such a good sleeper, if it were her, she wouldn't fix what isn't broken and she'd just order a bigger swaddle.  She tended to agree with us that the fact that Lilly wakes herself up when she's not swaddled probably means she's not quite ready to come out of it yet, and said that she may even wean herself off of it.  She assured us that nothing about swaddling is harmful for Lilly's development - she said her own children slept swaddled until they were 8 or 9 months old.  She reiterated that we for sure need to stop swaddling once Lilly can roll over in the swaddle because then it becomes dangerous.  I don't see that being an issue as I have been trying to get the child to roll over again ever since she did it for the first time last week, but she won't.  So, we decided we will order a bigger swaddle and give it a week to see how it goes.  If the little escape artist still wiggles her way out of the next size up, we'll sleep train without the swaddle.  Side Note: Why am I always worried that writing about how good she is at eating, sleeping, being happy, etc. will jinx me?

Feeding: Clearly there are no problems here.  She is eating around every three hours during the day still.  Sometimes she'll go four hours, but it's only if she's napping when the three-hour mark hits.  I asked the doctor if this was normal, and she said absolutely.  She told us that since Lilly is sleeping for a minimum of 10 hours/night, it makes total sense for her to eat every three hours during the day - really, if you think about it, if she wakes up at 7:30 and eats every three hours, she's eating 5 times in a day.  Lilly is still nursing like a champ.  Over the past few days, she's fought me on it a couple of times.  I'm hoping this is just due to the fact that her tummy was really upset (as evidenced by complete and utter blowouts both times, ugh).  Other than that, I'm thankful that she is OK switching back and forth between bottle and b00b so easily.  In other news, the doctor gave us the OK to start on solids, so we're going to try rice cereal this week.  She told us, which I found interesting, not to put the rice cereal in Lilly's bottle - she said if it doesn't come from the breast, it shouldn't go in the bottle.  She said to try the rice cereal mixed with breast milk and to feed Lilly with a spoon.  If she can't quite get the hang of it, she told us to give it a week and try again, that Lilly will let us know when she's ready.  If all goes well with rice cereal, we can introduce a few other things - avocados, sweet potatoes, bananas - shortly after.  I mentioned that I'd like to make Lilly's baby food (I am not saying I will never feed her baby food out of a jar, just that I have a food processor and some empty jars and a freezer and figured, why not?), so she gave me some good resources for that which I'll blog about in a later post.

Firsts This Month: First bachelorette party!  She also rolled over for the first time - I know, I still need to post that video.  She sat up in a seat for the first time without help (she's had good head control and has been able to sit propped up against something for a while, but this month marked the first time we tried out her seats and she does really well in them!).  First time staying with a nanny.  She was also baptized, which I guess can be considered a first.  First time swimming, which she LOVED.  I know I say it every month, but I'm sure I'm forgetting a lot.

Developments: Lilly has been smiling at us for a while now, but I feel like in the past month she's really given smiles a lot more freely.  The same goes for giggles - we're starting to hear belly laughs pretty often now, and it's the best sound in the whole world.  She has excellent head control now, and wants to be sitting up looking around and taking everything in (nosey girl!) instead of laying down when she's being held.  She is starting to "stand" some when being held, but not a whole lot - I'm not sure whether it's because her legs can't hold up that buddha belly or what.  :-)  She is really exploring her hands and figuring out how they work, and testing her depth perception.  She's gone from "batting" at her toys to actually reaching for them and picking them up - she immediately tries to put everything in her mouth, of course.  Sometimes she is surprised when she pulls her hand back and the toy is in it - it's pretty cute.  I am also still wondering if we're going to have a thumb sucker - more and more I catch her putting her thumb - not her whole fist, which she also sometimes does - but specifically her thumb, into her mouth:

Speaking of whole fist, she is doing this thing where she sticks her whole hand in her mouth and gags herself.  Doc said this is completely normal - she's just testing herself and learning.  She is also drooling a TON, which I took to be teething.  The doc said that it very well could be, but that every parent of every 4-month old says the same thing when they come for their check-up, and that tons of drool is totally normal.

Likes: Bath time, eating, cuddling, stroller rides, being worn in the baby k'tan, singing and music, dancing, talking, cooing, giggling, her swing, her piano gym play mat, tummy time on the boppy, being outside, toys, books, the sunshine (unless it's shining in her face in the car seat), Layla, watching the ceiling fan, people watching, bumbo seat, swimming.

Dislikes: Being cold or hungry. Or overtired/over-stimulated. Oh and getting dressed - specifically anything that has to go over her head. Being lotioned up after bath time - same goes for putting on sunscreen.  HATES it.  Also being bored.

What I'm Thankful For: My sweet little family!  I am so overwhelmed with love for Dan, Layla and Lilly every day.  Who knew my heart had room for even MORE love?  I also don't think I say enough how thankful I am to have a wonderful and very hands-on husband.  He never hesitates to help out around the house  and with Lilly.  He cooks, he cleans, he does yard work, he takes care of Layla, and he is SO good with Lilly - even with her dirty diapers!  

What I'm Looking Forward To: My little sister is getting MARRIED next month!  Lord, I feel old.

Next Pediatrician Appointment: Lilly's 6-month check-up on July 24 (I think).  

How Mommy's Doing: Wonderful.  I am still trying to find a good morning routine, but something tells me it will never be perfect.  I am still struggling again with my new body and the way it looks.  Something tells me I will never be fully comfortable with it, but I need to get a move on into getting back into shape - I don't know where I'll find the time but I know it will only get harder!


I've just realized that I never blogged about Lilly's baptism, so I'll add that to the list of posts for this week along with a picture post for the weekend (would take too long to upload all of them tonight), the rolling over video, and the "making your own baby food" post.  Lots to do!  For now, I shall leave you with a few shots from Lilly's "I'm 4 months old and SUPER cute" photo shoot.  I love how chunky expressive she is!

Hope everyone had a lovely holiday weekend.  I am thankful for those who have fought and continue to fight for my freedoms!


Sarah


PS - Don't forget to vote!  :-)

4 Months!

We are en route to Charlotte for the long weekend, so the 4 month stats and check-up report will have to wait until tomorrow.

In the meantime, I just wanted to wish my sweet baby girl a happy 4 months. Lillian Grace, you have brought us more joy than we ever knew we could experience, and we love you so much more than we know how to tell you. Thank you for teaching us what life is all about. We are so thankful for you!

Love,
Mommy and Daddy