Olivia at 4 months: Ch-ch-ch-Changes!!

Olivia was excited to turn 4 months. Why wouldn’t she? 4 months brings more neck control, rides in the big girl seat of her stroller and babbling. Lots of babbling.

We’ve been having some strange weather in Minnesota. Last week she got to lay out on a blanket out in our back yard and the weather was sunny, beautiful and 70 degrees.

Aaand then three days later we were back to walking in our fleece suit.

But regardless, we’ve been able to get out on more walks, we celebrated my mom’s birthday and St. Patrick’s Day.

This post has taken me forever to write. I think she is starting to hit that 4 month sleep regression and naps are a hit or a miss. Add in me going back to writing for mom.me this month and I’m left with hardly anytime for an update.

Nicknames: Livia, Livvy, Monkey, Monkers, Monk… all sorts of things really.

Weight: 14 lbs 15 oz
Length: 23.5 in
Head Circumference: 42.5 cm… so she still has a big head.
Diaper size: Moved to size 2 at 16 weeks.
Clothing size: Growing out of 0-3. I’m starting to slowly pack away the clothes she’s too big for and trying on the 3-6 month outfits we have ready.
 
Eating: I fear we have hit that stage of distracted nursing because my sweet little baby who used to take 45 painstaking minutes to eat as a newborn is now so efficient that she’s all Oh Hey! I Gots this! And then proceeds to grunt and squirm and use my nipple as a slingshot every. single. time. There is just so much to look at. Dog! Shadow! TV! Sunlight! SO that’s annoying. She’s still eating every 2-3 hours during the day, but only once at night and again in the early morning. For a few weeks, her reflux has been back with a vengeance, leading to a lot of spitting up and gagging. During that same time, she also had an increase in gas pain and we were back to giving her the gas drops. So I don’t know what happened. She’s still on her probiotic, but obvi I just was eating something that didn’t agree with her. I have no idea what. Cooked tomatoes, maybe? I was eating a lot of chili (oh how I love chili) and Italian food during that time (oh how I love Italian food). Breastfeeding can suck sometimes. She’s definitely started drooling a lot more. Like, a lot more. Not teething, but apparently this is some sort of preteething. It was interesting because her pediatrician told me she can start solids now. That the reason she is drooling all the time and has her hands in her mouth is because she is ready for food.
I’m like, excuse me, what? Call me overprotective, but she just seems too little for that. I wasn’t planning on starting solids for another two months. No, no, he said, I mean you can do what you want, but she’s showing you she’s ready. He said to start with fruits and vegetables. I left there feeling like a mean mom for wanting to hold her back for another two months. After talking with my invaluable mom friends it seems I am not alone. It just seems crazy to me. So I am just going ahead and waiting until she is 6 months.

Sleeping: The day after she turned 3 months, she slept her first 6 hour stretch. Glorious. It was amazing. I checked on her twice to make sure she was still alive. She’s been now averaging 6-8 hours at a stretch, but has also gone 9-11. We started unswaddling one arm out at 15 weeks and first night she went ten hours! A week later (and of course on Daylight Savings) she went with both arms unswaddled and I think so far it’s going ok. I wonder though if she’s starting that 4 month sleep regression because for the last two weeks she has been religiously waking suddenly and crying the saddest cry about 30 minutes after I put her to bed. I then go back in, pick her up and walk her around until she falls back asleep and then she’s good for the most part.
Naps are a hit or a miss. She’s still taking a morning nap in her swing and then I try to actually do a routine for the afternoon if we are around the house, by putting her in her swaddle, turning the white noise on and putting her down in the Rock N Play. She sleeps for about an hour that way before waking up crying and I end up bringing her into bed so we can both sleep.

Milestones: Discovering her hands. Discovering her voice. Laughed for the first time in the bathtub 2/21

Health: She handled her shots better than I think she did for her two month’s. I was better prepared this time and gave her Tylenol in advance. She just had a fever from her shots overnight.

Likes: Going for walks sitting like a big girl in the stroller to see out. Seriously, this is like her new favorite thing EVAH.
Sitting up. It’s no longer acceptable to be reclined. No. She’s discovered she has abs and wants to use them.
Her toys. Namely her crinkle paper and ball.
She’s also recently discovered her has a voice and uses it. A lot. Loudly. Mostly in quiet coffee shops. I think the days of visiting with friends over coffee while she snoozes in her car seat are long gone.
Sucking her fingers. It could be one finger or all ten, she doesn’t discriminate. One time I got her actually sucking her thumb but she hasn’t done this since. She loves mostly to suck on them all. She happily will jam her whole fist in there and leave me concerned she will gag herself and spew everywhere.

Dislikes: Still tummy time, but I try to do it on the changing table and she seems to not mind that for too long. Actually I’ve taken to just putting her on her tummy for only a few minutes at a time multiple times a day but this has to be timed appropriately because of her reflux.

Also hates when people other than Mommy get close to her face in greeting. Hates it. It’s terrifying and leads to the saddest cry ever. Me, I think it’s hilarious, but I now should probably warn people to tone it down a notch when they first see her. 

Undecided about: School. We joined an ECFE class for babies that meets every Monday. We sit around in a circle and sing songs and she gets to lay on the big mat and play with toys and stare in the general direction of the other babies. We’ve only gone twice now and she became pretty overwhelmed toward the end.
Her carrier. She only lasts so long and then she’s screaming to get out. It will not bode well in a few weeks (see below). However, I only have myself to blame being that she’s hardly in it. 

Looking forward to: Summer vacations! We have a trip planned to the North Shore in June with my family. We are also planning on a late summer trip to see Chris’s parents and relatives. It will be the first time all his aunts and uncles and cousins get to meet Olivia. It will also be our longest road trip of about 5 plus hours. Pray for us. In September we are flying to Texas to visit our friends and actually not do a transfer. I thought this would be Olivia’s first time on a plane. However, I am making an impromptu visit to my friend’s house who just brought home miracle twin girls! So yes. Olivia and I will be flying out alone after Easter. So not only is it my first time flying alone which is anxiety-producing in itself, but I will by flying with a 4.5 month old. Seriously. Pray for us. I’m so excited to see Celina, but I. am. terrified. of flying alone with my baby. Oy. I have to stop thinking about it. However, once I’ve survived the airports and flight, I’m looking forward to a loooong vacation back in Olivia’s home state.

13 weeks

14 weeks

15 weeks

16 weeks