Four Months!

Dear Adeline Grace,

            You turned four months old on Friday, March 9th! How are you a third of a year old?! Oh how your personality just continues to come out more and more! You are so busy and spunky these days.  We are constantly finding ourselves shaking our heads and laughing at you.  You are a mover and a groover!

So what have we learned about you this month and what have you been up to in your fourth month of life?

Here are some of your firsts this month...

-On 2.13.12 Mommy went back to work and you stayed with Daddy.  It was a sad, sad day for Mommy...but we made it through! You are now staying with Daddy or your Grandma when I go to work! You are one blessed little baby!

-On 2.14.12 you celebrated your first Valentine's Day.  We just relaxed and cuddled at home that night since Mommy went back to work that week and was exhausted!

This month you also:

-have started really interacting with people in an intentional way
-started screaming and yelling (just for fun)
-grabbing at things and holding onto things really well
-became more squirmy (sometimes we will find you completed turned a 90 degree angle from where we laid you down in your bed and we have to strap you into your bouncy seat now or you will squirm your way almost out of it)
-started sitting in your Bumbo seat
-started blowing raspberries

-started giving kisses
-started going on a napping strike
-started being fussy during the night when you wake up
-learned how to get your way with a smile and your sweet little bottom lip pouting out
-really started paying attention to yourself and others in the mirror
-started grabbing your feet all the time and pulling them toward your mouth
-started putting almost everything into your mouth
-started realizing cause and effect....if you scream loud enough, Mommy or Daddy comes to check on you, you smile and get what you want (it's too cute, really)

So what do you like and dislike?

You love…

-your jungle gym and grabbing and kicking at the toys in it
-yelling and "talking"
-your changing table
-kicking lots in the bathtub (you create quite the mess)
-chewing on toys (including teething toys...we wonder if you are starting to teeth)

You dislike…

-naptime (going down for a nap, mainly)
-getting out of the bath
-getting too warm

What are your sizes?

You are still in 0-3 month sleepers.  You are in mainly 3 month and 3-6 month clothes.  We are quickly creeping into all 6 month clothes, although right now those need a bit of rolling of the sleeves.  You are in size 2 diapers when in disposables and are still in your one-size cloth diapers on the smallest snap settings.

You weigh 14 lbs. and are 24 3/4 inches in length.  Both of these are in the 60th percentile.\

What are your eating habits like?

This has changed quite a bit this month.  Since Mommy went back to work, we got you on a "schedule" for your feedings.  You wake and nurse around 6 or 6:30 (right before Mommy goes to work), you take about 5 ounces around 9:30, 5 ounces around 12:30, nurse around 4 when Mommy gets home (unless she has a meeting and you get another 5 ounce bottle), nurse around 6:30, and then again around 8 or 8:30 right before bed.  You are also waking up a couple times a night still to eat.  Your nursing sessions are still around 10-15 minutes each.

How is your sleeping?

Well this month could be tagged as the "boycott sleeping" month.  You were quite a sleeper and seemed to turn an 180 all the sudden.  (I contribute it to your new routine with me going back to work.  It's thrown us all for a loop!) We start your bedtime routine between around 7:30ish and you are in bed asleep by 8:00ish.  You wake up around 12-1ish for a feeding, again around 4 or 5 for a feeding, and then stir again around 6 or 6:30 and eat.  You go back to sleep until Daddy gets you ready to take you to your grandma's which is around 7:30.  You sometimes sleep on the way there and sometimes not.  When you get there, you usually go back to sleep for around 45 minutes.  If you are at home instead of going somewhere, you seem to have made 8 am your wake-up time...not matter what.  (You sleep about 11-12 hours at night.) Your naps are hit or miss as far as length.  You nap about an hour or hour and a half after both of your bottles for about 45 minutes to an hour.  You also sometimes take another nap in the evening for about an hour.  You really fight that one.  Where did my napper go? So overall, you take about 3 naps each day for 45 minutes to an hour each.  We've decided that you dislike napping like your mommy but require sleep like your daddy.  You are getting around 14 or 15 hours of sleep on average...which is considered "normal" so no worries. :) We'll get this figured out!

So what makes you, you this month?

I feel like I could go on and on in these letters to you.  You are just too wonderful for words.  And I don't want to forget a single thing from any stage.  You are just so full of joy, little one.  We just want to squeeze you.  I never feel like I can get enough of you...especially now that I am back at work.  Time with you is so precious.  You have our hearts and are the light of our lives.  Oh how God blessed us with you, baby girl!!

                                                                                                    Love,

                                                                                                    Mommy and Daddy