4 Months Old

My sweet Cakers is 4 months old! This past month has been challenging in the sleep department. We have had some VERY rough nights with very little sleep, but the past two nights have been good, so I'm hoping we are getting back to normal. She has always hated to be swaddled and has been able to break out of the miracle blanket for a while now, but she would usually go back to sleep if I reswaddled her. But lately she has really been battling it, so the other night I thought I would try her in a sleep sack. She went to bed fine but starting at 9:45 she was up off and on the rest of the night. It was awful. So the next night I went back to the miracle blanket and she busted out of it around 10:30 and the rest of the night was awful again. So Tuesday night I wrapped her tightly in a regular swaddle blanket and left her arms out, and she went back to her normal sleep schedule {went to bed at 6:30, woke to eat at 3:15am, and got up for the day at 6:15}. I was so happy!

I think she might be teething, which could be adding to her sleep issues. {I hesitate to even say that because I feel like that's the excuse everyone uses when their child is out of sorts- it's either teething or a growth spurt. :) }. But she'll pull out her paci in order to chew on her hands, and she is drooling a ton. That may not be what it is, but with C getting teeth early, I'm thinking SC might too.

She is still waking up once a night to eat, but when she has her 4 month checkup, I'm going to ask her doctor if it's ok to start letting her cry it out. I hate to do it, but she has been eating once a night since she was a tiny thing, and now I'm afraid her internal clock is getting stuck, so as long as her weight is ok, I think she is ready go all night without eating. We'll see what the dr says, though.

She is taking three 4 oz bottles at school and nursing every three hours at home. Her schedule is usually 6am, 9am, 12am, 3pm, 6:30pm {give or take 30 min}, and she sometimes eats a little closer together at the end of the day. At school they sometimes give her a bottle at 5pm. When I nurse her at night, a lot of times I'll give her a bottle afterwards to make sure she is good and full before bed. She has done great with staying on a 3hr eating schedule at home. I have been proud of myself because with Curran it took me forever to stretch her feedings to every 3 hrs. If she takes a long afternoon nap, she may go over 4 hrs in between eating.

She is still on the eat-awake-sleep schedule, so she ends up taking about 3 naps a day and usually a little cat nap in the evenings before bed. I still use the Moby some to get that cat nap in on the days we are at home. Her afternoon nap is usually the longest, at least 2 hrs but sometimes longer. She usually is asleep by 6:30 or 7 at the very latest.

She is not rolling over completely yet but is rolling almost all the way over from her back to stomach. Her whole body will be flipped over except for her shoulders and head. It looks comfy. :) She sleeps on her side a lot these days. She is getting more tolerant of tummy time.

moral support during tummy time

She has tried out the exersaucer at school and seems to like it, although we haven't done it at home yet.

{her teacher texted me this pic}

She loves to stand up on her legs and hates to be sitting down these days. She has started planting her feet and arching her back so she almost falls off my lap. She does it when she's on the changing table, pushing her head off the pad, and she also scoots herself to the top of her crib doing that.

Unfortunately she had her first ear infection this month. She had been really fussy and was waking up a lot during the night and having a really hard time going back down, so I took her in to the doctor. She had an infection in both ears, so she got amoxicillin. The antibiotic gave her a bad upset stomach though.

She has been laughing a lot more this month, which is so fun to hear. I seem to be able to elicit the most laughs. :) Curran always tells me to try to make her laugh. She loves hearing that sweet sound, too.

I can't believe four months have gone by so fast! It's a lot harder for me to see time slipping away with Sallie Cate. I just want to keep her my teeny tiny baby since in the blink of an eye she will be a big 3 year old like her sister.

Sallie Cate, I just can't put into words how much I love you and how much you have enriched our lives!! Happy 4 months!