She's 4 Months!

Oh my sweet girl...

That smile gets me every time.  She is just so sweet.  We are just madly in love with this little lady.  She is four months old today and I can't quite believe it.  She is really not a newborn anymore but I feel like it hasn't been long enough to be out of that stage yet.  Didn't I just have her?

She has big blue eyes just like her brother.  She watches everything going on around her and loves looking at mommy and daddy.  She just watches us and stares at us directly in the eyes.  She loves to smile at everyone but every once in a while she will break out in a very sad pouty lip face when someone new is talking to her.  I always feel bad for the person when it happens but she is just so stinking cute when she does it.  Her pouty face is pretty fabulous.  

She loves to wiggle and squirm.  I can't ever just leave her propped up on the couch because she wiggles so much that she ends up all squished in a cushion and gets very upset.  Even to get these pictures in the rocking chair proved to be challenging because she kept straightening her body and would end up flat on her back.  

She LOVES her big brother!  If he is around her she is watching everything he is doing and throws out little smiles every once in a while.  I just see adoration in her eyes.  

She loves holding her hands together and really loves sucking on her hands and her dresses.  Every time she has a dress on it is always super wet because she pulls it up to her mouth and goes to town on it.  

She is a screecher!  She yells and screeches all the time.  It usually starts out happy for quite a while and then gets louder and wilder as she begins to get cranky.  It then eventually turns into a full on cry. When she yells, Carter will say "baby says AHHHGGG."  He is so funny.  He is always telling us what others say and do and it always starts with "Carter says" or "baby says." 

At her four month appointment (today) she weighed 12 pounds 10.5 ounces which put her in the 30th percentile.  She was 23 3/4 inches long which also put her in the 30th percentile.  Her head was also in the 30th percentile.  She's consistent.  I still don't have a single pair of shoes that fit her.  She is four months old and every single "newborn" shoes are still too big.  I am holding out hope that someday she will fit into a pair of shoes. 

She got close to rolling over today from her back to her belly but she just couldn't get over her arm.  She hasn't rolled from her belly to her back yet either. 

She is NOT a great sleeper.  Most nights she is still waking up every 3 to 4 hours and sometimes she doesn't even go 2 hours.  I know she is too old to still be eating so much in the night but I am just not ready to be up for an hour trying to get her back to sleep.  The last four nights have been awful!  My little lady just doesn't want to sleep in her crib and we have even resorted to putting her in the swing.  She LOVES sleeping in her swing!  I don't want to start that habit for night time but we have been so desperate the last few nights.  We talked to Dr. Wilson about it today which I was expecting to hear everything I am doing wrong, like feeding her at all in the night.  He said because the curve on her weight went down just slightly that he isn't pushing me to stop feeding her in the night just yet.  So she gets one more month with a couple feedings in the night (if she needs it) and then we will do one more weight check.  If that shows that she is gaining and the curve is good (on his little computer chart thing) then it is down to business on weaning her from her night time feedings.  This mama needs a full nights sleep.  I haven't had one in probably almost six months (since at the end of my pregnancy my arms were falling asleep so bad that I couldn't sleep.)

She loves playing with her feet and sucking on her hands.  Her hands are always in her mouth and she sucks on them very loudly. 

We tried rice cereal for the first time tonight and she hated it and spit it all out every single time.  So we are going to give it another couple of weeks before we try again.  Carter loved it the first time we gave it to him which was also right at four months.  Silly me assumed she would be the same way.  It's so funny how I always expect my kids to be the same and they love proving me wrong.  They are keeping me on my toes and I love it. 

She has lots of fun in her bouncy seat but doesn't like being in there for too long.  She's kind of a 10 to 15 minutes jump a roo girl and then she's done.

She usually eats around 6am and then sleeps until 8 or 8:30.  After she gets up in the morning she eats and plays for about an hour.  Then she goes down for her morning nap which is usually at least two hours.  Often she sleeps until Carter's nap which is a bummer.  I love it when they both sleep at the same time but it doesn't happen all that often.  Then she usually goes back down for an afternoon nap around 2ish and sleeps another couple hours, sometimes even 3 or 4 hours.  So I usually have them both sleeping for about an hour to an hour and a half.  Then she is up for an hour and a half and then takes a 30-45 minute evening nap.  She is pretty predictable when it comes to naps and I kind of like that.  I will be honest and admit that she still naps in her swing.  She is just so great at sleeping in there that I haven't tried switching her to her crib yet for naps.  As soon as I am done with my summer term of classes (which end in 3 weeks) then I will transition her to her crib for naps.

She wears size one diapers and 0-3 month and 3-6 month clothes, depending on the brand. 

She loves being in her daddy's arms and I often wonder if she will be a daddy's girl.  I think I would be okay with that ;)

To our sweet Mady girl...

You have added so much love and joy to our family.  Your smile lights up a room.  I wasn't sure if God would bless me with a girl and often wondered if I would be a mom of boys.  I am so thankful He gave me you.  There is nothing better than being a mommy to my sweet Carter man and my sweet Mady girl.  I don't know why I always call Carter "Carter man" but I have since he was really little.  And lately I have started calling you "Mady girl."  I call you Madelynn more than Mady but when I do call you Mady it is often Mady girl.  I love that you look so much like your brother and yet you also look so much like me as a baby.  I love it when you are crying and as soon as I pick you up you are peaceful.  You make me feel like one special lady.  There is just something precious about you!  We love you baby girl!  Happy four month birthday.