four months.

My little peanut is four months old!

Stats

Annabelle is 11 lbs 3 oz and 23.5 inches long. Certainly a teeny-tiny one! She is now wearing all 0-3 month sizes and she’s still in size 1 diapers using the Honest brand (we love them!). She’s a peanut for sure, but I appreciate all the wear she’s getting out of her wardrobe!

Eating

Still exclusively breastfeeding, eating about 8 times a day. My attempts to build a freezer stash have been somewhat futile, but I’m still pumping enough for her to take a few bottles per week.

Sleeping

The dreaded 4-month sleep regression hit, but didn’t hit us too hard. Right around 16 weeks Belle started waking up a few times in the night, and I would get up to give her a paci and she’d go back down. A few times this would happen at 1am, 3am, 4am, and so on until morning. Luckily this only lasted for about a week and we seem to be back to our normal schedule: bedtime between 7:30-8pm and awake around 5am every day. At 13 weeks, we had to get rid of the swaddle since she started to roll over. It took a few nights to re-create our bedtime routine, but she’s now in a sleep sack and sleeps on her belly every night.

Naps are still a struggle… is it possible for a baby to just not need naps?! I have tried (and tried, and tried) to get her take naps in the crib, at least one a day, and my attempts have been futile. Some days I’ll spend 90 minutes trying to get her to go down and she’ll sleep for 15 minutes and wake up. Typically she’ll nap in the stroller if we take a long walk, but that’s not even a guarantee. I’m hoping that soon she’ll start extending her nighttime sleep to 7am so she gets a few more hours. If you have any tips for getting a baby used to taking naps, even one a day - please send them my way!

Development

I mentioned that Annabelle started rolling over at 12 weeks in our last update, and she has certainly mastered that. If I turn around for more than 5 minutes, she will have rolled clear across the carpet in our living room. So that’s fun! She pretty much hangs out and plays on her tummy all the time now, so we’ve abandoned official tummy time.

She wants to sit up so badly on her own, but doesn’t quite have the strength. I grew tired of holding her in the sitting position that she prefers, so I caved and bought a Bumbo seat last week. She loves it! I’ve also noticed that Annabelle is so much more aware of her surroundings. She watches us intently - especially the puppy! - and is so curious about what’s going on around her. Sometimes she’ll stop eating and crane her neck around to see what’s happening, making feedings longer and less productive!

The past week or so has also brought about some new clinginess for mom and dad, which I think is the result of some teething. The drooling, chewing on toys and biting is also out of control - I expect to see one pop through on the bottom any time now!

Likes: her giraffe lovely, chewing on everything - especially her hands and clothes, hanging out on her tummy, Sophie, pulling mom’s hair, playing with the dog, the doorway jumper, bathtime, showers, sitting in the Bumbo, walks in the stroller

Dislikes: naps, being in one spot for too long, running too many errands at a time, did I mention naps?!

She’s my little sidekick and while our days might be long, we have so much fun.

BRAEDYN

Is getting so big! He was 6lbs 10oz and 18 1/2in when we brought him home four months ago. Today he was 14lbs 9oz and 25in! He was only in the 25th percentile last doctor visit and now he’s in the 45th!

On a not so good note though, his head circumference is in the 5th percentile. I don’t know if I should be worried about that. His skull is a little oddly shaped so I don’t know if that’s the reason for it. Above his left eye it’s indented at his eyebrow. It’s been like this since we brought him home. The last time the doctor said it was from favoring that side to sleep on but I don’t think he favors one side. I brought that up this time and she said she didn’t really want to get an X-ray because of the radiation but that she’ll just keep an eye on it for a couple months. I don’t know, I’m just worried. I mean it doesn’t seem to be affecting his development so far. I just don’t know what to do. The doctor didn’t seem concerned that his head circumference is only in the 5th percentile, but it just doesn’t seem good. She wanted to see him gain weight when he was in the 25th percentile for his weight but didn’t say anything about his head. I just don’t know. D: Should I be worried?