1274 Days

Four Months

1/3 of the way through her first year!? It doesn't seem possible, but here we are. Ruby is four months old today!

See? Even she can't believe it!

Weight/Length:
14 pounds even
24.5 inches long

About her weight.....I think last month's weigh in at 17 pounds was a fluke. We weigh her by stepping on the scale and getting our weight, stepping off, and then weighing again with her in our arms which is probably not the best way to get an accurate weight on her, but I haven't really wanted to invest in a baby scale specifically to weigh her on her own. 14 pounds at four months old is closer to average and makes a lot more sense than 17+ pounds so I'm going to throw last month's weight out as a scale error and go with this. She definitely hasn't lost four whole pounds so it had to have been wrong last month.

Eating:
Still exclusively breastfed, though she did get a bottle this month while I was at the doctor (I was told she only ate about an ounce). She doesn't follow much of a schedule when eating. I would say about every 2-3 hours and 1-2 times throughout the night.

Feeeeed meeeee!

Her post-meal face:

Sleep:
She's a great night sleeper once she's down for the evening which usually happens around 9-10pm. It's a bit later than I would like, but not late enough that I've bothered trying to modify her schedule.

Naps leave A LOT to be desired. She averages about 30-45 about twice a day and most of the time, it's in the car. It's rare to get an hour long nap out of her and she never naps for longer than that. I wish she would sleep maybe a 2 hours stretch in the morning and then another 2-3 hour stretch in the afternoon, but she just doesn't like to nap for long. It doesn't have anything to do with noise or light either. I've never tried to keep the house perfectly quiet during naptime because I believe that it's better for babies to learn how to sleep through at least a normal level of noise and, in fact, Ruby used to be able to sleep through noise without a problem. When she started to become a lighter sleeper, I gave in and tried putting her to sleep in our room with the lights off where she would have a quieter environment. She actually seems to sleep worse this way and other than on a few rare occasions, is awake within minutes. So I'm come to the conclusion that she's just not much of a napper. The one surefire way to get her to nap for several hours is for me to cuddle up and nap along with her (I think she took a four or five hour nap one day that I did this). Unfortunately, with a two year old to care for and a part time "job" now (I'll update about that in another entry), napping is not really an option for me.

This is where she prefers to nap:

Or here:

Health:
*Her skin is a lot more sensitive than either of her sisters' was. I've had to stop wearing perfume because if I spray it on (even just one spritz) and then nurse her, her little face breaks out in red spots. Jon also peeled an orange one evening and then picked her up (she was just in a diaper) and when he put her down, she had a red rash an hives in the shape of his hands where he had been touching her :(

*I've been trying really hard to stick to a "clean" diet (as much real food as possible, limited dairy) and I'm really amazed at how much of a positive effect it seems to be having on her. She still spits up (which I still think has to do with me having too much milk), but not as much and not as frequently as she used to.

*She appears to have started the dreaded teething process. I am so not ready for this. She's drooling like crazy though and loves to chew on things. We finally took out our Sophie the Giraffe teether.

Milestones:
*Rolling back to front and front to back

*Scooting forward

*She can grab and hold things with her hands.

*She is starting to get too big for her 3 month clothes and has started wearing some of the six month stuff that we had leftover from Lucy. I'm trying to make the three month clothes work for just a little while longer until it warms up out here and then we'll get her some 6 month spring clothes.

*She's pretty much outgrown the Rock & Play which I'm not too upset about as she really didn't use it often. For about two months, I would nurse her to sleep, let her fall into a deep sleep in our bed, and then transfer her into the Rock & Play where she would sleep for several hours before waking up to eat. For the past few weeks though, she only sleeps for about 30 minutes before waking up again no matter how deeply she's sleeping when I put her in and I think it's because she feels restricted in it after her huge growth spurt last month. She's happy in our bed and we're happy to have her there so we'll be passing the Rock & Play on to a friend who is due next month :)

From this:

To this:

*She got to try out her big sister's old jumperoo! She enjoys the lights and the sounds, but she hasn't quite discovered the joy of actually jumping yet. It's a nice alternative to the swing though when I need to set her down for a second. She enjoys the swing when she's sleepy, but when she's awake she much prefers being upright (but is obviously too young to sit unassisted) and the jumperoo allows her to do that.

So this past month has been pretty eventful for growth and milestones! This one should be interesting as she starts to move around more and as she takes her first vacation. LOTS of photos to come in next month's entry!

Hand-me-down shirt that was originally given to Lucy from Uncle Tyler

Still blue.....

She's already lost some of her face chub

Baby playdate while mama does some work!

Being loved on by our friend Madison

Best Buy outing with daddy

She's my first thumb sucker and my first binky baby

Four months old!

Check in one month to see how much I've grown!