4 months

Running a little behind this month! Josie turned 4 months last week but we just went to the doctor for her 4 month check up yesterday so I can say that's why I'm behind, right?

Well, I'll give her current stats first, per her doctor's visit. She is 12 lbs, 5 ozs and 24 inches long. Though not overly concerned yet, the doctor noted that she had dipped a little bit on her growth curve and when we go back in a month for more shots, we needed to have a weight check as well. Of course, I immediately came home and started googling the heck out of how to increase my milk supply and called the lactation center for some advice. I had actually been wondering if my milk supply had taken a dip because when I pump, the amount I get had decreased recently. Originally when I looked this up it said that not pumping the amount needed for a full feeding was not unusual so I didn't worry about it. But after talking with the lactation consultant, I realized that my thoughts about my supply having issues began right around the time Josie started consistently sleeping through the night, which makes sense since she wasn't getting up to eat anymore. So I have a plan in place to hopefully make sure Jos is getting enough milk so that when we return in a month, the doc is happy with her weight. My goal is to breastfeed her for a full year and really want to avoid formula if possible. (This is NOT a  judgement on those who use formula for whatever reason! Simply my own goals and desires and I am glad that if needed, formula is available).

Look at me holding my head up!

Aside from the minor weight dip, she is in perfect health! Also, I'm now pretty sure she doesn't really have reflux. At least not to the extent that I originally thought. She doesn't exhibit many of the classic signs and the only real indicator I was using was that the first day I gave her the medicine she was much happier. This may have been a fluke as I didn't give her the medicine for a day recently and she seemed fine. Who knows?! Now onto her milestones and activities this month...

WELL. The biggest (and best in my opinion) milestone is that she is now consistently sleeping through the night. Please cue the Hallelujah chorus. This had made my days much easier to handle since I'm not such a sleep deprived zombie. She is also so pleasant in the mornings since she's slept for 11ish hours. She now goes down around 7:30 (after having her last feeding at 7) and stays in her crib until 7 am. She usually wakes up between 6:30 and 7 but hang out in her crib until I get her at 7. Our original schedule was waking up at 7:30 but Daylight Savings time messed that up and I'm actually liking the 7 to 7 schedule better. Part of what enabled her to sleep through the night is that we unswaddled her so she could find her thumb and soothe herself back to sleep. Believe me this sounds way easier than it was. There was much fretting on my and Charlie's part and a few crying sessions for Josie until she found her thumb.

Her naps are still about 30-45 minutes and I have gone back and forth between freaking out about this and wanting to "nap train" her and not worrying about it because it's fairly common and she should grow out of it in the next couple months. Actually (and I hope I don't jinx myself) I think she might FINALLY be starting to grow out of it now. As I write this she is taking a 2 hour nap. God bless the video monitor because I have watched her suck her thumb back to sleep a couple times. Until today, she wouldn't do this when she woke up early from a nap. It's like she couldn't make the association with daytime sleep, only nighttime. But yesterday I could tell she was trying to do so in the afternoon but ended up fussing on and off until her next feeding. Hopefully she will continue to exercise this skill because she is a bear in the evenings after not napping well all day.

She is sitting up with support very well now and she sits on my hip nicely. It's so cute. She can now grab toys and bring them to her mouth to chew on them. EVERYTHING goes in her mouth (as shown by the pictures). As I posted earlier, she can roll from her tummy to her back. She is so very close to rolling from her back to her tummy but can't quite do it. She smiles a bunch and will give little laughs, particularly when you bring her feet up towards her face.She can hold her head and chest nice and high when she's on her tummy and doesn't mind tummy time for the most part.

She eats five times a day- every three hours and is in size 3 month clothes. She is apparently pretty petite- I posted her weight on facebook and received numerous comments about babies much younger being close to her size.

I was telling Meg this a couple weeks ago- I feel like her temperament has evened out this month. She still gets fussy during the day but it is becoming rarer that it (appears to be) for no reason. She used to cry as soon as I put her into her carseat but now she will often sit quietly in it or play her with toy when we go somewhere. She also really likes walks in the carseat now whereas a month ago I had to make sure to keep a pacifier in her mouth or else she'd fuss most of the walk. I think being more interactive and able to see more of her world had made these things more enjoyable for her.

Some of my favorite things about her right now:

• Her little fuzzy head. I just love her head. Call me weird but it smells awesome. It's the perfect little round shape and has just enough peach fuzz that when I slide a shirt over her head or she gets toweled off after a bath, it's all fuzzy and cute.
• Her smiles and laughs. She'll look right at me all serious and then she does this eye crinkle thing and give me a sly smile. 
• Her eyebrow raises. She does this often when she nurses and it kills me every time  It's as if she's saying "Oh really? Go on..." with her eyebrows.
• How she takes her little hand and sticks it in my shirt when she's snuggling and falling asleep. She's not reaching for anything in particular, she just likes to put her hand on my skin and snuggle her head into my arm as she sucks her pacifier. 
• She looks so adorable when she sucks her thumb.
• How she leans over to chew on something, mouth wide open as she lunges for her target.

4 months
Firsts: survived first hurricane, first time cheering Mommy (5K) and then Daddy (Marine Corp Marathon) on in a race, first halloween (she was a pumpkin!)
Best Milestone: Sleeping through the night!!!!
Favorite toy: Stuffed moose from Gram...so many parts to chew on
Eyes: still blue
Likes: Looking at people, the monkey on her play gym, walks, my Iphone (she doesn't play with it, she's just mesmorized by it)
Dislikes: Getting out of the bath, being put down when tired

Seriously, her blue eyes kill me.

I'm bored with this shoot Mom.