Charlotte- 4 Months!

Clothes
Well, it came time to get out the 3-6 months clothes.  At this point, I put away all her newborn and smaller 3 month clothes.  I have to admit, this was a little sad!  It was like a huge punch in the face that my little girl is growing faster than what I’m prepared for.  She is getting so big!  So anyway, to answer the question…some 3 month clothing but 3-6 month pjs.




Health
It appears her right eye has completely cleared up this month, yay!  Charlie had a rash this month, which we first thought was a diaper rash.  Thank goodness for pharmacist Daddy, because he soon realized it was a yeast infection and brought home some medication for her.  She has also been drooling so much more (if you can imagine!) this past month.



Diet
I’ve been exclusively pumping this past month.  Whoa, it is a lot of work!  I also noticed a drop in my supply when I returned back to work.  A couple weeks ago I was going crazy trying to get my supply up…oatmeal in the morning, mother’s milk 2 cups a day, gatorade in the evening, pumping an extra 5-10 minutes each session, adding 1-2 sessions per day.  Basically, I burnt myself out.  If I continued at that rate, I would be ready to hang up the pump any day now.  So, I relaxed and went back to pumping the normal 5 times a day.  This I think I can sustain for much longer now that I’m not going crazy!  Charlie takes 5 bottles a day and we have been continuing adding Similac Supplementation to any bottle needing a little extra.  She takes two 5.5 ounce bottles, two 5 ounce, and her last bottle is 7 ounces.

 



Sleep
We are so thankful for our little sleeper.  This month marked a huge milestone of all naps in the crib, yay!  This month she has been going to bed earlier and earlier.  Her last bottle is always at 7:30 and in the past couple of weeks she is asleep by 7:45-8:00.  Her day always starts at 7:30am, which 6 out of 7 mornings I wake her.  With the help of our Nanny, we have been putting Charlotte asleep for naps and bedtime completely awake!  We made huge progress the first part of the month.  Now, within the past few weeks, we’ve ran into a bit of a roadblock.  I don’t know if it is related to the 4 month sleep regression or what, but Charlie has started screaming before naps, mostly afternoon naps (first morning nap and bedtime she is super happy to go to bed fully awake).  We are hoping this is just a phase and she will go back to her happy self when putting her down for naps.




Crying
Besides running into the crying before a few of her naps, Charlie is such a good little girl!




Baby Gear
Play mat, security blanket with doll, and Pandora Baby Einstein station




Likes
Music (LOVES music!), being held, laying on her stomach, bath time, people singing to her, dancing with her dad, diaper changes, watching Brutus

Dislikes
Afternoon naps and being hot


Milestones
This first part of the month held big sleeping improvements.  All naps in the crib, long naps, putting down awake, and going to bed earlier.  Charlie is the most smiley little girl ever.  And for the biggest milestone, she rolled over right around 15 weeks.  It was actually in the middle of the night.  Derek and I were shocked to see that she had rolled over when going in to get her one morning.  Now, I've seen her roll over a handful of times.  Derek has yet to see it with his own eyes though!  We’ve also noticed how much she watches what is going on around her.  She is definitely way more interested in looking around.  We brought her upstairs in our bathroom one evening while we were getting ready.  She was an absolute doll the whole 20 minutes because it was a new room to look at.  She had to look at every detail!  This month also marked the use of a nanny and babysitter.  With this, we have noticed that you are able to differentiate between strangers and familiar faces.  We have to be a little timid when handing you off to new people.  You only take about 5 minutes, and then you warm right up.



Other Thoughts
Charlie, you are the love of our lives!  This month has brought so many smiles and laughs.  Your laugh, oh my goodness, I smile just thinking about it.  It is the most chill laugh I’ve ever heard.  It is complete opposite compared to your huge smile.  You continue to have the most expressive eyebrows ever.  In fact, this is one of the first things people notice about you.  Your daddy swears you get your expressiveness from me. 

You have grown so much this month.  From putting you into larger clothes to noticing how much more you take things and people in, we love watching you develop.  It is easiest the best thing I’ve ever experienced to watch you develop every day.  You are so much fun to be around and so predictable.  We are so thankful that you have started to go to bed earlier this month.  It has given me and your daddy a couple of extra hours each night to ourselves.  One of our favorite times with you is getting you up from naps.  You snuggle in so hard to us.  On the days that me and your dad are both home, we fight over who gets to go up and get you.  We cannot get enough of your snuggles!  We are looking forward to what the next month will bring!