Emma: 4 Months

Sweet girl,

I don't know how you've done it, but you have made me fall even more in love with you!  4 months is  by far my favorite age with you (so far) :-).  This month has been a busy one and one of limited sleep, but despite that it has been wonderful.

 

Here's what you were up to each week of your fourth month of life:

Week 15 (September 28-October 4)

 

• Diaper size: 2, Clothes size: 3 months and 6 months
• We took you on your first trip this week!  In the middle of this week we took a trip to Panama City, FL to visit Grandma and Grandpa Vaccaro.  Aunt Julie was there and you got to meet Uncle Chris for the first time!  The drive down was okay, but you only slept for 40 minutes (2 twenty minute cat naps).  You did much better on the way home, taking two 1 hour naps!  A champion in the car seat, rarely fussing.  Such a good girl!
• Unfortunately this is the week your nighttime sleep started going downhill.  You were only eating 1-2 times in the night, but I was having to replace your paci anywhere from 1-4 times in the night.  Exhausting!

Week 16 (October 5-11)

• Diaper size: 3 (only because we ran out of size 2's), Clothes size: 3 and 6 months (mostly 6)
• The first half of this week we were still in Panama City.  Your naps were great while we were there, but nights were rough!
• This week you started "talking" a lot more with high pitched "ooos" and "ahhhs"
• Nights were rough all week, probably a result of travelling.  And naps were hit or miss once we were home.  Always takes some time to get back on track after a trip with kids.
• I weighed you near the end of this week and you were 15lbs!
• You are now starting to grasp toys more easily.
• This week you really started to drool!  
• Your eyes have been very goopey/runny for the past week or more...definitely something to talk to the pediatrician about.

Week 17 (October 12-18)

• Diaper size: 3, Clothes size: 6 months (packed up all the 3 months stuff!)
• This was a week of firsts - your first trip to a pumpkin patch (Cagle's Family Farm), your first trip to the playground behind our house (and their pumpkin patch), and your first time in the doorway jumper.
• By mid-week you had a few good nights of sleep (one night you went 8 hours with only one paci insert) compared to where we were last week.
• You were constantly blowing out your diapers this week....so much poop!
• You continued to "talk" a lot this week!
• You had your second cold this week.  Hannah is picking up so many germs at preschool and bringing them home for all of us.  You had a runny nose and lots of sneezes.  Your sleep was very off (short naps resulting in lots of snacking all day).  
• You continue to nurse on only one side per feeding, for 5-7 minutes total.  Hard to believe how big you are despite nursing for such a short amount of time!  Mommy must have super milk! :-)

Week 18 (October 19-25)

• You turned 4 months old in the middle of this week!
• We had your 4 month check up this week.  You were 15lbs. 3 oz. and 26" long.  Everything looked good!  I told her about your rough nights and she suggested that it might be time to let you cry it out.  Boo!  I was really hoping to avoid that!  You were given two vaccines at the appointment (Prevnar and Rotavirus) and you were not happy about those. :-(. You had a slight fever and were out of sorts for a few days afterward.  Poor thing!  The only good result of the shots was the 7 hours of uninterrupted sleep you did that night.
• Diaper size: 3, Clothes size: 6 months
• Naps were hit or miss this week.  Some days were great and some were awful!
• We had a horrible week of nighttime sleep this week. :-(. You were up to eat anywhere from 1-3 times each night, with the majority being 2-3.  Ugh!  The paci didn't help to get you back to sleep and neither did rocking or walking or bouncing.  So I was forced to feed you every time you woke.  Not fun, but at least it put you back to sleep every time.
• One night this week we had a little nighttime scare.  I heard you fussing around 2:30am but it never escalated, so I just dozed off again and let you work it out since I had fed you less than 3 hours earlier.  After a little while (not sure how long because I didn't look at the clock) I felt like it had been going on long enough so I checked on you on he video monitor.  I saw your little feet facing the camera and you were on your back (I put you down facing the camera on your tummy, so you had flipped over and turned 180 degrees.). I went in to flip you back over and found the blanket over your head!  It scared me to death!  Thankfully it was a crocheted blanket with large holes in it, but it still scared me!  I rolled you back over and put the paci in, fully expecting you to need a feeding to get back to sleep, but you fell right back to sleep.  Poor baby...you were probably exhausted from trying to escape.  :-(
• You are so close to rolling from your back to your belly!  You rolled from your belly to your back several times this week in your crib.
• Your eyes are still goopey and crusty, but the doctor said that it is just a result of your clogged tear ducts and there really was no need to treat them.  The ducts will grow as you grow and the clogging will improve.

Your schedule this month was the same as last.  You were on a three hour nursing schedule with a 60-70 minute waketime after each feeding, followed by a 1.5-2 hour nap after the first three feedings and a short cat nap after the fourth feeding.  By the end of this month we started trying to drop the 4th nap and just keeping you awake after the 4pm (ish) feeding until bedtime around 7pm.

4 Month Stats

- Diapers: Size 3

- Clothes: 6 months

- Shoes: Size 1, I think...but you only wore them at the beginning of the month, so not sure

- Weight: 15 lbs. 3 oz.

- Height: 26"

We love you sweet, sweet girl!  You are truly such a joy!  Despite very little sleep this month, you continue to be such a happy baby and so easy going.  We couldn't imagine our lives without you and are so thankful for God's amazing blessing of you!  We love you all the way to the moon and back (that's a lot of love!!)

Hannah: 31 Months

"Little" Peanut,

Not so little anymore, but as I always tell you, you will always be my baby! Another month has sped by and we are gearing up for a crazy time of year with Halloween, Thanksgiving and then Christmas! It will be 2013 before we know it! Speaking of Halloween, we pulled out all our fall decorations this month and you have two new favorite toys now! Grandma's friend, Mrs. Lori, gave us two large stuffed animals (as talk as you). One is a black cat and the other is a ghost. You love them and play with them every single day. You are constantly giving them hugs and carrying them around the house. So cute!

This month was full of sickness, family and cooler temperatures. At the beginning of this month Uncle Brent and Aunt Lauren came to visit and meet Emma for the fist time and MeMaw and PaPaw came too. It was great to see everyone and you loved all the attention! At the end of the month we took our first trip as a family of four to Panama City, FL to visit Grandma and Grandpa. Uncle Chris came down to meet Emma for the first time and Aunt Julie came home too. We spent a full week down there which was great. You did a great job on the ride down and back (thanks to the portable DVD player!). The four of us slept in the same room while we were there and that proved to be very difficult. You, my dear, are not easy to sleep next to! You snore louder than most grown men! It's intense. Mommy didn't get much sleep that week and decided that I simply cannot sleep in the same room with you. We will have to figure something out for our next visit. But thankfully you did do a wonderful job sleeping in the twin bed while we were there and didn't attempt to get out on your own. Still amazes me!

Preschool has continued to be a favorite activity this month. Still no tears and nothing but smiles when I drop you off and pick you up. This month we started morning carpool and you did great! The only negative part of school are all the germs you keep picking up! You just started your third cold since starting school and you've only been going for one month! Yikes! At the beginning of this month you had your second cold which turned into croup. You gave us a major scare one night when you woke up in the middle of the night gagging and choking with the croupy cough. Thankfully that was the worst of it and it went away after a few more days.

One of my favorite things you have learned since starting school is the prayer you sing before snack time..."Father thank you, Father thank you, for our food, for our food." It's precious! You also have learned "prayer hands" which I love.

Naps have been great this month! You have actually been sleeping for almost a full hour everyday! AMAZING! I realize that many toddlers sleep for much longer every day with no issue but for you, this is a big deal! A solid hour without screaming is amazing. I really think your 'okay to wake' clock is working and I'm thrilled. Of course all the sleeping could also be attributed to the many sicknesses your little body has been fighting this month. (Thank you preschool!)

Baby dolls continue to be a favorite toy as well as little people and other small animal figurines. Your baby dolls are constantly using the potty and wearing your big girl panties, but you refuse to do the same. You would think that as often as you talk about the potty that you would want to use it...nope! We had a few random moments this month when you wanted to wear panties so I let you. However you continue to be scared to actually use the potty so you end up holding it for as long as possible. But one time this month you did actually pee in the potty! This was a big deal for you and I was so proud of you. It took a lot of back and forth and you weren't eager, but you did it and did it all by yourself! I was feeding Emma so I couldn't help you. You kept running back and forth to tell me that you had gone when actually you hadn't. But then you finally did. To help you not be afraid I had put a cloth diaper in the bottom of your little potty and told you that you could sit on the potty and pee in your diaper. Tricky, right?! :-). While it worked for that one instance you were no longer interested the following day and I didn't push it. You will get there on your own and if not I will force the issue next summer. We have stopped all talk about the potty with you and have let you take the lead completely. So any little bit of interest is exciting to me.

This month your fear of bugs really started showing. That apple didn't fall far! Mommy and Daddy aren't big fans either. According to you, all bugs are called bees and when you see one (no matter how small) you freak out. Silly girl! Another quirk that started to show this month is how much you hate having your hands dirty. One day this month you had a complete meltdown at lunch when you were eating a PBJ and your hands were messy. Yikes!

This month we started doing formal time outs with you. Pretty amazing that we have never needed to do them before now. You truly are so well behaved! Unfortunately the time outs did not work very well as you seemed to really enjoy them. After a few days you started trying to get sent to time out. You would do something wrong, like pulling on Emma's arm, and then look at me and say, "I need to go to time out." Stinker! I think it was just the novelty of something new along with the timer that we used during timeout. We often found you sitting on the steps playing with the little egg timer and if we asked you what you were doing you would tell us that you were in time out. So silly. Needless to say, we didn't end up using time out very much this month. For the most part, we are able to discipline you just by talking to you (your communication skills are above and beyond the typical two year olds) or by giving you a spanking when needed.

Your latest silly saying is, "What's the big idea?" We have daddy to thank for teaching this to you. But I have to say that it's pretty adorable!

One thing that you really struggled with this month was sharing with your sister. I fear that this is only going to get harder as she gets more interactive, but we will see. Anytime I try to put Emma in the swing, bouncy seat, exert saucer, etc. you run to grab your baby doll and try to put her in before infer Emma in. When I tell you no you have a complete meltdown. You even try to pull Emma out of whatever I have out her in which is certainly not nice! Thankfully you have gotten a little better with this as the month progressed but it is definitely something we are still working on.

Favorite foods this month were hard-boiled eggs, nuts, bread (not toast) with almond butter, raspberries, baby bell cheese, crackers, squeezy pouches (puréed fruit and veggies), applesauce, sugar snap peas, and cottage cheese. I also made you your first almond butter and banana sandwich which you loved.

Other 31 month stats:
-You wear 3T and 4T clothes
-You wear size 8-8.5 shoes
-You wear size 5 or 6 diapers (6 at night for sure!)
-You weigh 33 pounds and are 37.5" tall (90th percentile)

Little peanut, I love you! You are so special and bring us so much joy! We thank God for you every day and are so proud to call you daughter!

And we're off...

In celebration of Brian's 31st birthday we are heading to Florida for the week to visit with his family. This is Emma's first road trip and so far, so good. We have been in the car for nearly 5 hours now with with only one stop (for a diaper change) and she has been a champ! While she is not loving the car seat and has only slept for 40 minutes total (two 20 minute cat naps), as long as I continue to pop the paci in her mouth (over and over) she is okay. I have to say though, traveling with two is tough!! I'm cramped in the back seat on paci duty, changing out Hannah's dvd every 15 minutes or so (can we say short attention span!) while brian is driving with one headphone in, listening to who knows what!? At least one f us is relaxing a bit! :-) Are we there yet??

This sure was a relaxing twenty minutes when they were both asleep! :-)