Four Months Old!
Dear Kierra -
You're four months old! It's crazy watching you grow and learn about your body, your abilities, and your environment, especially as your personality continues to emerge. Sometimes we can see such a leap in your abilities even from week to week, which is just amazing. You continue to show us what a determined person you are; you know what you want to do and you work hard to achieve it!
Weight / Length - 11lb 6oz, 24.5 in.
Eating - Nursing, STILL going about 45 minutes to 1.5 hours between meals, depending on naps and whether Tom is home or it's just me. I'm beginning to get weird looks when I admit this to people (most babies this age are going about 3 hours between feeds -- although frequent nursing has always been a hallmark with Kierra and is common with high needs babies). According to the lactation consultants, I should continue to just go with it and feed on demand. I'm not fighting it much because it helps calm her down and "reset" her too, when she gets super fussy or screamy. Plus, she's so distractable that I can't even keep her on for long enough to get a good meal into her. So it means she's hungry again that much sooner, in addition to the already existing comfort factor. But I really get frustrated at how much this ties me to home. And she nurses so rough anymore, too! She's very easily distracted with sounds and people and sights these days and ends up whipping off the nipple without breaking suction first. OUCH.
But she's finally taking a bottle now and then, after over a month of throwing out wasted pumped milk. We tried the faster-flow bottle nipples again and this time she's accepting them without much of a fight. (But by now, her/my sleep is so bad that I often have nothing to pump in the mornings. Which is the only time I can ever pump because, come on, WHEN and WHAT are you supposed to pump when a baby is eating every single hour?)
Sleeping - Naps are staying pretty regular, with about 1.5 hours to 2 hours of wakefulness between each nap. I still have to nurse her to sleep or Tom has to bounce her to sleep. She cannot go down on her own. Putting her down "drowsy but awake" just makes her wake all the way up and become crazy energetic and crazy pissed off. It then takes a LOT to soothe her back down to calmness, and forget about getting her back to that drowsy state anytime soon. :P
Nights have gotten pretty ugly over the past two weeks, and I think it's the dreaded 4-month sleep regression rearing its head. Bedtime is still around 8pm, sometimes earlier if she didn't go down for her evening nap correctly. Her longest stretch of sleep is usually only 3 or 4 hours now, with many wake-ups every night and subsequent sleeping periods of 2 hour, 1 hour, or even just half an hour or so. i feel like death, thanks to Tom and Isis keeping me awake even further with Isis' nighttime trouble-making and Tom's now-constant snoring. UGH.
We just switched out her bassinet for the pack n play (slightly modified to make it work for sleeping), right next to my side of the bed still. She was getting too big for the bassinet anyway, but the plan is to get her used to sleeping in the pack n play because it's what we have to use when I stay at Tom's parents' house for a week in June while he's away for a side-job grading AP papers in Salt Lake City. (So nervous about this trip, although his parents have offered to get up and help me any time of night if needed.)
Clothes - We're using 0-3mo, 3mo, and 3-6mo clothes at this point. As the days get warmer, I've been putting the footie pajamas aside and choosing outfits of short-sleeve onesies, pants, and socks - the pants and socks coming off on the unnaturally hot days.
Diapers - We're using one Pampers Swaddlers size 1 to get us through the night (she usually just pees at nighttime despite her multiple wake-up and nursing sessions overnight) and one more to collect the first mega-crap after her morning nursing session. Other than that, we've been sticking with my OsoCozy unbleached Birdseye flats, and my Thirsties Duo Wrap covers throughout the day. This may be changing for a little while though, because she's been having the grossest liquid poops for a while now - supposedly a sign of teething as she's swallowing a metric ton of saliva now. Anyway, that liqui-shit just runs all over inside the cloth diaper covers and means I have to handwash covers multiple times every single day. (Now you know. You're welcome.) With no regular outside help, and Kierra getting pissed off if I either set her down or hand her to Tom, I've got no time for all that.
Appearance - She's definitely grown a lot, but is still rather long and slim. Her hair is growing a little bit more, but she still basically looks bald. She still has grey eyes, although they aren't that flat and murky grey she had as a newborn. The hair and eyes may change anytime in the first year, so we still have no way of knowing how she'll look. But I can't imagine her with different eyes at this point!
Personality / Behaviors - Kierra LOVES standing up! Not by herself or anything, but when you help her stand and support her enough so she doesn't have to worry about balance, she can support her own weight beautifully. (It's a myth that this causes bowleggedness.) Standing her up often instantly quells a meltdown-in-progress, and she instantly looks around with fascination and will either start stomping her foot and "dancing" her butt or bouncing herself up (standing) and down (squatting). I really think she'll become much happier once she learns how to use that little body of hers and crawl or walk.
The stroller is now a soothing tool - FINALLY! She likes to go out for walks, so we do about two a day on nice days. She's also just started letting me babywear her in a mei tai carrier. A huge relief on my back, since otherwise she still insists on being carried almost every waking instant.
I'm pretty sure she actually understands the words and/or sign for "diaper change." As soon as you make the sign, she grins and hauls her legs straight up in the air, keeping them up there herself throughout most of the change as if she's trying to help. Saying/signing "diaper change" can actually stop a fussy spell in its tracks (she's always LOVED diaper changing time since Week One).
She also understands "up," I'm pretty sure. And "Isis" too! (She'll start scanning the floor until she spies the cat, then watches her as long as possible.)
New Milestones - She has pretty good aim for grabbing things now, and invariably hugs everything in toward her mouth. She doesn't just explore things with her mouth like babies are supposed to do ... she tries to ferociously DEVOUR everything she touches. o_o Her absolute favorite toys are her "crinkle book" (a small fabric "book" that has different textures and whatnot for her to explore) and Kissy Dog (plush "lovey" that rattles, called Kissy Dog because we make him swoop him to kiss her cheeks... then she grabs him and tries to devour his face).
She's discovering her feet and legs! She grabs them whenever she can now, but hasn't quite got her toes into her mouth yet, which is frustrating her.
Kierra can roll from her back onto her right side (but not all the way to tummy yet). She can also roll from her tummy all the way to her back with regularity now and is figuring out how to do it on purpose.
She can briefly support herself when you help her into a sitting pose. With the amount of energetic activity she does all day long, I imagine she'll be able to sit herself up before too long.
Mommy Stuff - Going insane from extreme sleep deprivation. Nights the last two weeks have been pretty nasty. When I'm not feeling too gross, I'm running 2.5 to 3 miles at a time, now, at about 9min/mile pace.
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