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!!)