Jourdan Leigh: Four Months

I can't believe how much sweet Reese has turned from a newborn to a baby in the past month! Now I realize what they mean when they say parenting is the most rewarding and challenging thing in life. I can't believe how much joy this little love brings to our lives! It truly keeps getting better and better. When I was pregnant, I couldn't wait for her to get here, but I remember thinking I hope she stays a tiny newborn forever! Now I realize how much more fun each stage is along the way. Its so amazing to see her growing and changing and learning new things. My absolute favorite thing this month has been the baby giggles! There is no describing the sweetness and pure joy to hear that sweet baby giggle!

Things you have learned this month:

Giggling

Rolling from your belly to your back, but its only happened 3 times so far. You also half roll from your back to your side but then back to your back.

You keep getting stronger! You are now sitting in your jumperoo and loving it! Even though your feet don't reach the floor, you can sit up in it for at least 20 minutes and play with the toys before you will fuss.

You don't seem close to sitting up yet. I will occasionally prop you up in the bobby or in a chair but you fall over pretty quickly. (don't worry, never leave you unattended!)

You still love your playmat. You grab things and immediately pull them toward your mouth. Also, if I put a small blanket or burp cloth in your lap, you do the same.

You are also still obsessed with your hands. If only you could fit both of them in your mouth, you would be sooo happy!

You are so smiley still. But I feel like I can never capture it in a picture! Everytime I lift up my phone or camera, you stop smiling and give this look of amazment at the phone/camera! Oh well, I'm saving them in my memory!

You are still in love with mommy & daddy, and prefer us over other people. But I think you are getting better! Its nice to know that you know who we are though! :)

You love the mirror and always smile at yourself in it!

Another favorite is to get you out of your crib when you wake up! You are so smiley and excited! Then once mommy changes your diaper and picks you back up, you are so excited, you start breathing all fast and even squeal! You're so happy to be up and know that food is coming soon!

I wouldn't say you are the most talkative baby, now that I've been around others at a similar age. Don't get me wrong, you do your fair share of babbling, but not all the time. Its pretty sweet to go back and forth with you, when you are cooing at me while I'm talking to you. (update since I'm posting this half way into the next month! you have found your voice now and go on and on!!! You are so noisy and it is hilarious!)

I'm afraid we hit a bit of sleep regression over the past month. Reese had her first cold which was the most awful thing ever! I felt terrible! She was coughing and sneezing, and just stuffed up in general. Luckily it wasn't a big deal, no wheezing or anything, but its pretty awful to see such a tiny baby sick! This lead to her waking herself up coughing many times during the night. Our baby who previously slept from around 7-8 to 4ish with only one wake in between typically (needing the pacifier, then going right back to sleep), eating at 4ish, then sleeping until 8am, went to waking every hour starting around 11 when we went to bed and many of those times she wouldn't soothe herself back to sleep with the paci, leading to me feeding her to get her back to sleep.

Once she got over the sickness, she had about a week where things were getting back to normal, but now it seems we are back to the bad sleep! Not sure what is going on. We tried to cry it out during a nap two days in a row, but were unsuccessful. My doctor is very pro-CIO and I'm actually a lot more on board with it than I thought I would be pre-baby. We will see how it goes, but I think we'll wait a little longer, maybe until she's eating some solid foods, to really give it a try. I think we are going to wait at least a few weeks to start cereal, she just seems so young to us even though she has great head control, but we'll see.

She weighed 13 lbs and 8 oz, 40th percentile and was 25 3/4 inches, 85th percentile. The pediatrition was happy with her growth and said everything looks great! She also said she is big enough that we can stop the middle of the night feed now if we want, but I don't know if I'm ready for that yet! I'm definitely going to wait at least another month on that one, but probably until she is at least 6 months, I'm not in any hurry.

I hate that I am posting this so late because so much has changed already in the past few weeks that I want to share! I need to be better about posting these on time! :)