This past month has been so much fun as you are developing new skills and growing stronger every day.
A big change for our family this month was the quitting of your nanny. You are being spoiled by both your daddy and I as you are now under our supervision full time. While your daddy is at school during the week, you and I have our girl-time and go on walks, go shopping, and talk. On the weekends, you and your daddy have your bonding time and you two go out for lunch, grocery shopping, and walks around the neighborhood. One afternoon, you and I visited your daddy's class at school because they were learning about infant reflexes. You were perfect for the students!Developmentally speaking, you have discovered your voice. You can be heard across the house making noises, happily yelling, or talking to us. About 2 weeks ago, you started giggling! Your laugh is such a beautiful sound but you are a stinker and we have had trouble recording your little laugh. You love kicking your legs, especially when in your bouncer. I am worried that someday you will tip yourself over because that left leg sure propels the bouncing. Your face lights up with a big smile as soon as Mickey comes on t.v. when you watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Other cartoons that interest you are The Cat in the Hat Knows About That and Curious George. You alternate between your Bumbo chair, your bouncer, and the boppy pillow when you watch cartoons. I try to read books to you but your attention span isn't too long for books yet. When playing on your activity mat, you don't stay in one position for very long. You very quickly kick your legs up, roll to your side, arch your back, and squirm in a circle. You are also grabbing your knees and sometimes manage to hold your feet. Your neck muscles are getting so much stronger as when you are carried, you no longer lay your head on our shoulder but rather are looking around to see where we are going. Tummy time has made big gains this month with your head up to 90 degrees and tracking both directions. You typically love bath time, splashing and kicking those legs until there is more water out of the tub than inside the tub. You have transitioned completely to 3 month clothes and size 1 diapers but we are starting to look at the 6 month sleepers as you love to kick those legs and we don't want you to bust through the footies! You are now taking 4 ounce bottles every 3-4 hours.
Shortly after your 3-month letter, you began sleeping 4-hour stretches again. However, that only lasted about 1 week and lately we have been struggling with what they call the '4-month sleep regression.' Some nights you will sleep 3 hour increments but most nights we are lucky for 2-hours. Apparently at this age, you are just so much more aware of your environment and more mobile, that you wake yourself up at night by an odd position you got yourself into or you are just simply awake. We have had several middle of the night tummy time sessions because you are wide awake. When you awaken, you aren't necessarily looking for food, you are just awake. One consistent sleep pattern this past month is your morning nap is about 90 minutes to 2 hours after you wake up in the morning and you will sleep for a good hour. You also average 2 naps in the afternoon but those naps are between 30-60 minutes. I think your naps have become more consistent because when you are awake, we are busy playing and talking and watching the things around you whereas when you were younger, you just weren't as aware of your environment. We have moved your from your co-sleeper back to your pack n' play and I'm not sure your were ready for those changes but we are sticking with it for now. We were hoping to have moved you up to your nursery already but with our Christmas vacation to visit family, we didn't want to go through the transition to your own room twice. However, come January, you will be officially moved to your nursery.
I was waiting to post this letter because you had your official 4-month appointment today. You now weigh 11 pounds 6 ounces! and length of 25 inches with head circumference of 15.75 inches. Your weight and length remain in the 5th and 75th percentiles again this month. Your doctor also felt some scallops along your bottom gum and feels that teeth could be breaking through in the next month or two! You showed off your smiles and coos to the pediatrician and also showed her how you roll and grab your feet. We were given the green light to add rice cereal but we'll probably wait for a few weeks because we don't want you to simply feel full, we want to continue to push your calories. The pediatrician said we no longer need to use the Human Milk Fortifier to increase your calories by 20% so that was very exciting news. Your pediatrician commented how social you are, what good eye contact you make, and your happy demeanor. She said that she feels it is more important to look at you as a whole rather than just your weight. She feels that you will continue to grow appropriately and remain on the petite side. You did real good with your 2-month vaccines however you were really upset with the 3 shots and one oral vaccine today. I hadn't heard you scream and cry like that since they tried to start your IV in the hospital :( Next appointment is for your 6-month vaccines.
You and I continue with our breastfeeding journey. We have started going to a breastfeeding 'cafe' every week for advice from the lactation consultants and I have learned so much about what I did wrong those first 4 weeks from not pumping when I was away from you to not seeking help with your latch sooner. You are our first born and I didn't know that your latch was hurting me and our milk supply. I figured that because you are our first, that it is common for nipple pain and discomfort. I can't believe how much I feel I've learned from this cafe, I look forward to implementing these tricks the next time around. For now though, we continue with nursing with however much I'm able to provide for you and supplement with your cousin's breast milk. One new thing I love these past 2 weeks is that sometimes while nursing, you will detach and just look at me with the biggest, happiest, gummy smile which melts my heart. We've made it this far, we can make 2 more months!
Oh Miss Ellianna, we have had quite the time this past month. Your personality continues to be easy going and happy. But when you are upset about something, you sure let us know with those lungs of yours! These past two months have been so much fun and full of changes and although I miss your newborn sweetness, I am so excited to watch you grow and develop. We love you so much!
