four months old!

Growth
Since our 4 month appointment won't be until Charlotte is almost 5 months, I've taken matters into my own hands. Joel stood on the scale with her and she weighed about 14 pounds. She is at least 26 inches long; she barely fits into her sleep sack, which is for babies up to 26 inches (!!)

Charlotte wears mostly 6 month clothing. She can still fit in a couple of 3 month onesies, but they are starting to get a bit tight. Pants, dresses, etc. are all at least 6 months size. She doesn't wear footie pjs anymore; even the 6 month size stopped fitting her when she was just 3 months old. On cool nights she wears a onesie and pants; when it's warm she just wears a onesie in her sleep sack.

Schedule/sleep
Charlotte eats 5-6 times a day. For many weeks she was sleeping through the night, but the last week has been tricky and she's wanted to eat at least once during the night.

The trend lately is for Charlotte to wake up when we go in to get her a little before 6am. She is awake for an hour or so before taking a long nap (1.5 to 3 hours). While I'm at work she takes 3-4 naps and drinks 3 bottles. I nurse her before I go to work, then as soon as I come home. Her bedtime feeding starts right around 7pm. She gets 2-3 ounces in a bottle, then nurses for however long she seems hungry.

Bedtime has been rocky this month. Some nights she is happy to lay in her crib for a few minutes before falling asleep peacefully. Other nights she screams bloody murder, even if we go in to comfort her, until she falls asleep on her own. I think she's adjusted to not having her arms swaddled tightly; she often rolls onto her side at night and snoozes peacefully like that. Sometimes she fusses at nap time because she's hyped up from playing and her room is bright, but she usually only fusses and rolls around until she falls asleep.

Awake time is full of fun lately! Charlotte lays on her back. She rolls to her tummy and looks all around her. Then she gets stuck there and once she's tired of tummy time starts to fuss for help! She smiles and coos and makes singing noises. She enjoys sitting in her swing (for short periods of time), being carried around outside, and snuggling with Momma and Dad. She also is interested in books now and looks at the pictures intently. Her spastic little hands can accidentally "turn" the pages as we read.... so fun!

Health
Though it seems way too early, Charlotte is showing a few teething symptoms. We have her wearing an amber teething necklace now, because she started drooling, chewing non-stop on her hands, and being fussy during the day. We'll see how things progress with that. Apparently babies' salivary glands open at 4 months of age, which is why she has been drooling and chewing on things.We aren't sure that teething is on the horizon, but she's wearing the necklace just in case. There's no harm in it, so why not? :)


Due to scheduling issues, Charlotte's four-month checkup won't be until June 18th. She'll turn 4 months old on May 31st, so her appointment is almost 3 weeks late. At that appointment she'll get her next round of immunizations.

Awesome stuff!

Often when we wake her up, or when I check on her at night, Charlotte will be sleeping on her left side with her arms all up around her face. She seems so snooze peacefully in this position and it's so darling.

However, sometimes she rolls too far in her sleep and wakes up fussing on her tummy. She can't roll back, so she needs one of us to come "rescue" her. It's happened a few times in the middle of the night; if we hear her fussing quickly enough, we can sneak in and turn her back over, then "sush" quietly while holding her arms down, then she'll fall back asleep. If we're too slow, or it's close enough to wake up time, then she just decides it's time to get up and eat!

Charlotte blows bubbles and makes little squeaking noises. We laugh at her silly antics and she does them even more. Another hilarious thing she does is smile at her reflection. Often when I'm done nursing I stand up next to the mirror in our room while I burp her. She gets this huge grin on her face when she looks at herself in the mirror. Ha!

Charlotte turns her head to look at the TV and she looks toward wherever there is music playing. Last week I caught her watching the Detroit Tigers' game!

She also recently discovered her toes! She was kicking and all of a sudden seemed to notice her feet. She immediately began reaching for them and trying to hold them tightly in her little hands!

Does every parent think every new stage is the greatest, or is it just me?! :)
Love this little lady so so much!