4 Months Old!

Emmeline is four months old today! August 26th, 2011

I can hardly believe it has been four months since I gave birth to that sweet baby girl. It feels like just yesterday that she was sleeping in a moses basket next to our bed and we were doing all sorts of things to get her to stop crying and rest. (i.e.- the "ferris wheel") She was never a tough baby, but we certainly had our moments just like everyone else. She is getting to be such a big girl now, I look at her everyday and wonder where my little squishy baby has gone!

It's true that each month just gets better and better with a child. I feel like this past month has been so much growth, development, and doing new things. She definitely found her hands and just recently her feet! She loves to grab them and play with them, but hasn't been able to get them in her mouth...yet! Yuck. (edited to add, the day after I wrote this, the foot entered the mouth!) Let's hope she doesn't become that flexible. She is able to grab and hold on to her toys now and most of them, along with anything else she gets her hands on, go into her mouth. She particularly loves to chew on Sophie the giraffe while sitting in her bumbo chair. She still enjoys her playmat from time-to-time, but gets super frustrated that she can't pull those toys down and into her mouth. Her fingers or fist are constantly in her mouth. I don't know if it's just fun or a little teething or both. She drools all over the place!

She still enjoys to talk a lot and even laughs from time to time. It is super cute. Her favorite times to talk are when she's really tired and when she first wakes up in the morning (Unfortunately, that has been around 6 a.m. lately, but she just talks and plays or goes back to sleep til I come get her at 7. Sweet girl!) Rob and I love listening to her "sing" in the morning, as we call it, but sometimes will turn the sound on the monitor off after a few minutes. Sorry baby girl, we need our rest. I enjoyed watching her crack up when I showed her a flip video of my dad from Christmas last year. She thought/thinks he is HILARIOUS (which he is). 

Emmeline is still a great sleeper all thanks to http://www.momsoncall.com/, but has had some episodes where she wakes up anywhere between 4 and 6 and sometimes will fuss a minute and go back to sleep or just start chatting. I never go in there to check on her because I don't want to start a habit. If she was screaming and crying, that'd be a different story. (I promise I take care of my child!) She gets up at 7, takes 3 naps a day and sometimes a late afternoon catnap, and we give her her last bottle between 730 and 8 and then its off to bed. She still gets 5 bottles a day with 6 ounces in each, but we'll probably try to cut down to 4 bottles a day soon when we start some rice cereal. Oh fun! She still spits up a lot, which can be annoying. You just never know when it's coming. She wears a bib the whole time she's awake and I have to be ready with the burp cloth at a moments notice. Typically I will walk out of the room for 2 minutes and come back to a soaking wet baby. Such is life!

She is still not the biggest fan of her carseat, but is manageable. If we have to run errands, I try to do it immediately after her bottle during her "awake" time, because she no longer falls asleep in the car unless it is naptime and when it is naptime and she's still in the carseat, watch out, a breakdown may ensue! This makes it hard to go out to eat for many meals. The only way we really luck out is if she is tired enough and we can ignore her and not stimulate her and she'll fall asleep. If not, we have to sit there and entertain her and eat very quickly. We've found we can typically go out for mexican food, as that only takes about 10 minutes. Ha!

I am definitely glad the weather is getting cooler so we can go on more evening strolls. These are very handy during that evening boredom/fussiness. It's just not fun when its still 100 degrees at 6:30pm and your baby is fussy! I will be so glad when it starts getting cooler and we can bundle up and go on walks!

Emmeline still loves to be read to and I feel like she becomes more excited about books everyday. I've noticed if she ever gets bored and fussy, if I just take her in her room and read to her, she will listen to me forever. I tend to read to her before her naps to calm her down. What is it about Brown Bear, Brown Bear that is like crack to kids? Seriously, that girl can't get enough of that bear. I try to read Panda Bear, Panda Bear to her, but she just doesn't have the same love for him. I've recently pulled out a big, brightly colored Mother Goose book we received and have found she really loves the nursery rhymes. Who doesn't?!

Four months old has also marked a big change in our house -- mommy's home! After having some medical issues this summer, my doctor decided it would be best for me to take some more time off from school, so I am at home with Emmeline for the time being. (That's another post in and of itself) I am glad to be able to have this time with her, but actually do miss getting up and going to be around adults everyday. Being a mom is a wonderful job, but it's definitely the hardest and one that you don't really get praised for or feel very accomplished about! I am still trying to figure it all out.

Dear Emmeline,

The past four months have brought so much love, happiness, fear, and joy into our lives. We would do anything for you. You are such a bright-eyed, happy little girl and we can't imagine our lives any other way. Being your parents is the hardest, but best job we have ever hard. We feel so blessed that God has given us the opportunity to raise a child and pray that he gives us the strength and abilities to raise you in a way that He would like. Thank you for teaching your mommy and daddy to love someone so unconditionally.

Love always,

Mom and Dad

Four Month Stats:

Height- 24 in -- getting tall!

Weight-13 lbs 14 oz

Head-41cm