Madelyn - 4 months

 

 

Sleep:

Right after you turned 3 months, your sleep schedule changed a bit.  You started waking up a bit more because of the changes in your world, specifically rolling over.  You have started rolling to your stomach and will sleep that way until you wake up and cannot roll yourself back over.  You don’t necessarily need to eat when you wake up and cry, but someone has to console you for a minute before you fall back asleep.  You normally want to eat around 5, but sometimes you make it known that you must eat earlier around 3 or 3:30.  You still nap between each feeding so you normally take about 3 good naps a day.   

Eating:
You are currently nursing 5-6 times a day and we have been given the go ahead to start rice cereal or oatmeal this next month. 

 

Size:

At your 4 month appointment you were 14lbs 9oz (57%) and25.5 inches long (87%).  You are wearing mainly 6 and 9 month clothes and in size 2 diapers.  Your hair is still growing and is about 3 inches long.  

 

 

Things you love:
You still love playing with your play gym and mobile.  You are reaching & grabbing for things and grab onto the toys hanging from your play gym and pull, pull, pull at them to get them in your mouth.  Everything pretty much goes straight to your mouth to see what it’s like.

You still love your wabanub pacifiers because you can grab & play with them right near your mouth while you are sucking on your pacifier.  You rely much more on your pacifier than your brother…you’re always keeping us on our toes!

You want to be sitting up and looking around.  If I sit you up on the couch at an angle you try so hard to sit all the way up and look around.  You are working on sitting but are still pretty unsteady.   

You LOVE to smile…and are always smiling at us anytime we talk near you.  You also love your brother.   Y’all interact more than I thought possible at this age but he is constantly trying to scare you by roaring (he’s watched the movie monsters a few times) and you just smile and laugh at him. He also thinks you’re playing with him when yall sit next to each other and you kick, kick, kick like you always do.   He keeps  you entertained in the backseat of the car & if you are upset I tell him to tell you it’s ok & he does (“it otay baby”).  He has learned the word baby since you were born & at first you were “Mae-e” and now you are “baby.” 

 

 

New things:

There have been a lot of new things this month. The most major is that you now roll from back to your front and when you’re playing can turn yourself back over, but when you’re in your crib you have trouble.  You have rolled to both sides. 

You had your first Thanksgiving and were such a good baby while I was cooking for a couple of days ahead of time.  You just sat in your bouncer & watched me and would nap in the kitchen. 

Your head control is so much stronger and you are trying so hard to sit up.  I can hold you on my hip and you have control of your body and head until you get really tired and start to wobble some more.

You also had your first time change and there were some very early mornings for about a week until you adjusted to the new schedule.

 

Routine:

Our routine still seems to revolved around your big brother a lot.  You normally wake up for the day between 7 and 8 (although you were already up once in the morning to eat).  You go with me to take Jack to school and run errands on Tues/Thursday and the other days you go with us to do fun activities like go to the zoo, playground, or library.  You sleep and have fun on the go.  You nap once in the morning, a good afternoon nap, and then an evening cat nap around 5.  I feed you and put you to bed between 8:30 and 9.  Baths vary and sometimes are mid-morning and other times are at night with your brother.  You normally sit with me while I read books & pray with Jack before nap & bed.  We held your hand during prayer one day and now he insists on holding your hand each time.