Lucy went to the doctor on July 8th, so a little over a week before she turned officially 4 months. So I'm not sure if the percentile takes that into account or not. I weighed her this past weekend and she came in at 14.8 pounds on our home scale - so I think she might already be a pound heavier. Which could definitely be possible after the growth spurt she went through this past week - I couldn't feed that girl enough!
Doctor's appointment went well, Lucy is healthy as can be. She is obviously very tall and skinny (not sure who she is getting that from!) and is meeting all of the appropriate milestones. She did great with shots again, little crying right afterward, but then was totally calm once I held her. Doctor wants us to wait till 6 months to start solids, so we've got a little more time before we move on to real food.
This past month has been full of changes, surprises and so much growth! Lucy is really moving from the infant stages into the pre-toddler stages - she is super engaging, talkative and getting so strong. As mentioned in a previous post she has mastered rolling over. This has been fun at play time, but I have a feeling has led to lots of waking up in the middle of the night as she gets turned over, the paci falls out, and then she needs someone to come put it back in. When the paci doesn't fall out, I think she must really enjoy sleeping on her tummy because I often go in after her naps and find her sleeping on her stomach (and sometimes flipped around and on the opposite side of the crib - she's doing a lot of moving around in there!)
She has also gotten pretty good at sitting up unsupported. I wouldn't leave her with out pillows because after sitting on her own she typically likes to reach for her toes or a toy that's to the side, which leads her to topple over - but her torso has definitely gotten stronger and her balance is getting there too. I think she just needs to understand the consequences of reaching a little better.
She is reaching for everything now, and anything she can get her hands on goes directly into her mouth. Whether it's her toes, fingers, toys, or any other random object - everything in our house seems to be getting slimmed by this little girl! And when something isn't in her mouth, she has a lot of fun blowing spit bubbles, drooling, or sucking on her lip.
She does a great job at following ben and my voices and loves to smile at us all the time. I found ways to get real hearty laughs out of her too, whether it's flying her through the air or surprising her with "pop goes the weasel". I don't always get a laugh out of her, but I'll typically at least get a big grin or a squeal in delight.
While she is still an extremely happy baby, she has definitely gotten a lot more opinionated about where and when she will go to sleep, when she wants to eat, and when she is "done" with an activity. It's funny, everyone says that the first 3 months are the hardest, but I think this past month has been a little trickier as Lucy is learning to communicate her needs - meaning a lot more fussing when she isn't getting her way. I spent the first 3 months setting my alarm and watching the clock to make sure I fed her enough - now I rarely have to wake her up, she's usually shouting for me from her bedroom, ready to eat. She also doesn't lay down as easily - she used to get nice and drowsy as I rocked her in my arms, now she doesn't want to be rocked for long at all before she is squirming and moving around trying to escape... so I end up just laying her down in the crib wide awake, and go to pop her paci in anywhere from 1-5 times before she finally conks out. When she used to lay down for a nap, she'd be out in no time, now the process seems to take closer to 20-30 minutes as she plays around in the crib, spits her paci out, starts to fuss, I put it back in, and repeat. Hoping this is only a short phase - maybe something brought on by the growth spurt, or her new found skill of rolling over - or maybe it will be time to take the paci away soon...
We took her to a couple different outings this past month and I also realized that the days of my little girl passing out wherever/whenever are over - there is far too much for her to take in and observe, we found she needed much more coercing to fall asleep in a public place.
After going to the doctor, I was told we could now let Lucy sleep as long as she wanted throughout the night. I was finding that after waking her for a 5 am feeding, she would then have really restless sleep from 5-8am, and doc said that was probably from disturbing her sleep at 5 am. So we got to test out this new sleep schedule, and got a couple amazing nights of rest - one night she slept from 9pm-7am with no interruptions, a couple others she would go from 8pm-7am, but I ended up having to go in 3-5 times to put the paci in (again, not sure how much longer I can take the paci-game we play!). It seemed like things were moving in the right direction sleep-wise, and then a growth spurt hit this past week, which led to 2 night time feeds and feeding every 2.5 hours during the day (she usually eats every 3-3.5 hours). Needless to say this led to a cranky baby and cranky mom, so I'm hoping that this next week brings more sleep, less eating, and less crying!
Ok - now for the fun part... updated pictures!
Reaching for my toes, my favorite thing to do! And I want to sit on my own now too - no back of the chair necessary for me!
Who me?
great update. love the "who me?" picture!
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