Lena: 4 Months

My baby is 1/3 of the way to a year! 4 months old and getting cuter every day. ;-)

Routine/Breastfeeding/Sleep
The past few days she's been waking up at 6:59 on the dot. Haha. She happily talks and plays for a while before she starts fussing. I feed her in bed and we snuggle for a while, then we usually go back to bed for an hour or so until Lucy wakes up.

She's finally started to go 3 hours between eating! Not every time, but more often than not. I think it helps that she's started to eat off both sides more regularly. She definitely prefers my right side, so the left doesn't produce as much. Isn't it crazy how my body knows that?

She's still only staying awake about an hour at a time before going down for another nap, and she usually takes a few short naps and one long nap during the day.

Night time is very hit or miss. Sometimes she has her last feeding at 7:30, sometimes it's not until 10 or 11. I was just reading in Lucy's 4 month update that she had started sleeping 12 hours at night! She didn't consistently sleep through the night until 8 months, but apparently she started doing it now and then by 4! Lena is no where close to that. I was astounded when she made it 8 hours the other night. She usually does a 6-7 hour stretch, followed by a 3 hour stretch. Nothing new there.

Personality and Milestones
Lena loves to talk. She especially likes to make gurgly, growly sounds. And she loves to squeal. This is her being happy. (It's only sideways for the first few seconds.)

She loves kicking her legs. She does it every time I lay her on her back - whether it's in her swing, on her playmat, or in the bath (which results in much splashing).

She's finally outgrown the colic, and is usually a happy, easy going baby. She loves to smile, but very rarely giggles. We've only heard a few chuckles here and there. I can't wait for the real belly laughs to start!!

She's getting good at playing with her toys and getting them in her mouth. She still hates tummy time, but can't roll over anymore like she did as a little baby (when her head was so much bigger than the rest of her body. Haha). She's working so hard on rolling from her back to her belly, but just gets up on her side, wobbles a little bit, then falls back onto her back.

She's a major drooler, but I highly doubt she's getting teeth yet. Lucy didn't get them until 10 months, and I don't feel anything in Lena's mouth. I think she just always has her mouth open, so drool comes out. Haha.


Here's another of her strange quirks: she has the most awful smelling gas of any baby I've ever known. How can a breastfed baby have such stinky toots? I think it's because she never poops - seriously, probably only once a week - if that.

She's still a little midget. Her next doctor's appointment isn't until June 10 (because I rescheduled for a time when my doctor will be back from maternity leave instead of seeing the formula-pushing PA!), so I don't really know how much she weighs. But she's still wearing 3 month clothes. Actually, yesterday she was wearing a GAP dress that said "Up to 3 months" and the little diaper cover sagged around her knees because she couldn't keep it up!

My mom and I were looking at pictures of Lucy as a baby last night. Lena is definitely starting to look more like her - just with bigger ears and less chub. Haha.

And as always, a note on me: I've started shedding. I pull out huge chunks of hair in the shower. And I realized this week that I'm only a couple pounds away from my pre-pregnancy weight. I've lost 40 lbs since the day Lena was born. Woot! But I still have a good 15 to go to get to my healthy weight. Blurg. I'm officially done with the maternity jeans, but only because I went out and got a pair of jeans in a much bigger size than I've ever worn, and a friend loaned me her "fat jeans." (I can say that, because she was only "fat" right after having her baby and is back to size negative zero now. Haha.)

I love my little Lena bean so much. Last night, she was fighting against sleep, so I sat in my dark room rocking her. As she snuggled against my chest, I felt so overwhelmed with how blessed I am to have my 2 healthy, happy girls. That's grace right there, because I certainly don't deserve such a blessing!

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