Category: L

Lana turned 4 months old about a week and a half ago, but the girls and I were on vacation so I haven’t gotten around to updating ye old blog until now.

Here are the stats from her 4 month checkup:

• Height:  25.5″ (50-75%)
• Weight:  13 lbs. 8.25 oz. (50-75%)
• Head:  50-75%

Her doctor was again surprised that her height wasn’t in a higher percentile, but I’m sure she’ll sprout soon enough. She did say, however, that Lana is a perfect child, so I’ll take that. She thinks the bright blue eyes will stay, too, about which I’m thrilled.

This past month was a big one. We’ve dropped the pacifier (except for emergency public situations), seen her roll over from front to back for the first time and many times since, heard her first real laugh, and went on her first airplane. She’s also starting to string together multiple nights of sleeping all the way through, which makes me very happy.

I said she was getting more vocal in her 3 month stats post, but now she really has a lot to say. She still wakes up with huge smiles and usually just starts from there. Coos, gurgles, squeaks, shouts, na-nas… I love it. I say she’s telling everyone her “stories”. The best is when she gets so animated with her toys trying to get them in her mouth; she honestly shouts at them. Della says she’s talking to her guys when she does it, since that’s what I call the toys that hang from the arches on her playmat.

Her hands are constantly in her mouth, as is anything she can get in her hands. Squeaky balls, rings, chew rattles, you name it. She especially enjoys sucking on your finger. So if you pick up my baby, just wash your hands first, because there’s about a 150% chance she will grab your hand and shove it in her mouth. It’s hilarious, because sometimes she actually lunges at it like a little piranha.

I swear those blue eyes just keep getting bigger, too. She is constantly looking around; loves watching faces and mouths; and makes the cutest “biggie eyes” face you’ve ever seen. These faces are often accompanied by a constant drool stream, which is her new favorite accessory. I can’t see any teeth poking through in there yet, but all this drool might be a sign that they’re getting close. We are now in bib territory.

Her first (and second) airplane ride last week went better than I could have ever expected. On the way out to Tucson she took a bottle before takeoff, sucked on her pacifier (yes, i caved and gave it to her to prevent a screaming fit) for a few minutes after that, then slept on Grandma’s lap for the entire rest of the 4 hour flight. Hallelujah! On our return trip she was equally as pleasant. She was asleep in the carrier on me for takeoff and the first part of the flight, then ate a bottle, played with Grandma again for awhile, took another bottle shortly before landing, and didn’t make a peep the whole time. Whew!

She still can’t reach the floor in the jumperoo, so the throw pillow remains under her feet. She is, however, already growing out of some of her 3 month clothing – a lot of pj’s have returned to the attic storage, and a couple cute little outfits won’t be far behind. She is in the process of switching up to size 2 diapers, too. Growing like a little flower, I tell ya.

She is the cutest thing ever, and I just love how she smells. I can still get her to nap on my shoulder sometimes, which I cherish. Since ditching the pacifier, naps are still a little hit or miss, but she generally takes one during the early-mid part of the day (sometimes morning and afternoon) and almost always an evening one.

Bedtime is still usually anytime between 8-9, then I cross my fingers that she sleeps through the night. On vacation she slept through 5 out of 7 nights, but since we’ve been home she hasn’t had a repeat performance. I think she has had a little bit of a cold though, with some congestion and hoarse cries, so that could be the culprit. But I have cut out the diaper change when she wakes during the night, so if I hear her starting to squeak or cry, I just feed her and get her back to sleep as quickly as possible.

We’re still doing all breastmilk, which I’ll probably continue for a little while. She is very interested in watching you eat now, so I did try a little rice cereal the other night. She was much more interested in chewing on the spoon than actually getting anything to stay in her mouth, so I’ll wait a little bit before trying again. No rush for me on that one.

Her cranky spells are much fewer and far between now, which is a nice change. I say she’s mellowing in her old age. She is very content playing on the floor now, either on her stomach or back, as long as she has plenty of toys on which to chew. She’ll start to fuss and let you know it’s time to pick her up when she’s had enough or when she gets tired still, but it’s fortunately nothing like it used to be.

I think those are the highlights for this month. Here are the monthly comparison pictures so far – I swear she looks like a completely different baby! Her hair looks like it’s getting red in the 4 month shot, but it’s not really. It’s still dark brown, there’s just so much less of it now. I do love this one so, my sweet baby girl.

 

 

Lana turned 3 months old yesterday. She has now spent a whole trimester on the outside! I never thought of it that way before. Hmm, interesting.

We don’t have her next doctor checkup until 4 months, though, so I don’t have any official stats to share this time. But I’ll fill you in on how life with L is progressing and what’s changed since her last update.

Sleep. Well let’s see. She has been consistently down to waking up once a night to eat since around 2 months, but she hasn’t mastered sleeping through the night all the time yet like Della had by 3 months. She has done it 3 times, once for 2 nights in a row on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day, but unfortunately that trend did not last.

Her last feeding before bed is usually around 8:30 now, but it still takes awhile for her to actually get to sleep enough to go into her crib without waking back up. So I get her diaper changed, swaddle her up for the night, feed her, then arm bounce her with her pacifier for generally half an hourish until she’s really out. Sometimes it takes longer, sometimes it takes less. And I know you’re not supposed to wait until a baby’s completely asleep to put her down so she can get used to putting herself to sleep, but I call horseshit on that one right now. Lana most definitely needs to be asleep for at least her bedtime or else you’re going to stand there playing dropped it got it with the pacifier for hours. That’s not my favorite game.

Her nightly wake up feedings typically occur around 3-4am still, but she’s gotten fussier about going back down most of the time. I used to be able to just change her, feed her, and she’d be ready to be put back down, but now when I burp her she wakes up and wants to play the staring game. So then I’ll use the pacifier again, which tends to be relatively fast-acting.

What else? Daytimes still have fairly little structure. She’ll take roughly an hour nap within about an hour of waking up and her morning feeding. Then the middle of the day is kind of hit or miss, depending on her mood that day. But then there’s usually another hourish nap in the evening before her bedtime feeding. I have noticed, however, that she tends to take a pretty long nap at some point during the day, it’s just not quite at the same time each day. So I guess that’s about 3 naps a day?

She’s still exclusively breastfed, nursing about 6-7 times a day, including the late night feeding. Some days there might be 1 more in there somewhere. And we’re still doing 1 bottle a day containing her vitamin drops. She has started becoming very distracted and chatty during her feedings, which can get a little annoying because they just take longer. She still eats well overall though, so I guess I can’t complain much.

The cranky spells have decreased since she was first born, but she can still wail with the best of them. The other day she high-pitched screamed in our faces, which always leads Ryan to believe she’s colicky. He actually looked it up again online, and apparently when babies pull their legs up into their chests quickly and seem to be “running” a lot it can be a symptom of colic. Trying to relieve the gas or whatever’s causing pain in there. Lana constantly has legs in motion. And the fact that her screaming fits always start with her going stiff as a board also points to some colic. But thankfully she still has never yelled for hours on end and will calm when you hold her, which I think is a good sign that she doesn’t have full-blown colic.

Her smiles and “stories” she tells are the best. My favorite is in the morning when I unswaddle her and her little arms instantly fly up next to her head in a huge stretch accompanied by a gigantic smile. She sure is a charmer when she’s not shouting at you.

I put her in the jumperoo for the first time today too. She can’t sit on her own or stand yet, but she’s so squirmy and active all the time I thought she might like something a little more stimulating than lying on her playmat. I think she likes it. She can’t touch the floor yet, just like Della when we first put her in it, so I put a big throw pillow under her feet so they touch something. I folded up a little blanket and propped it behind her head too, so she can stay upright better. She’s currently staring at the hanging animal toys with the music playing.

Not a ton has changed since last month, but she is definitely awake and alert more during the day. Certainly learning all about this new big world she’s in.

And since I know how much you fell in love with my comparison shots during my pregnancy with Lana, I’ve started one to keep track of her over the months. 1-2-3!

 i forgot to put the pillow behind her yesterday, but she sits propped up well enough now that she doesn’t really need it. and she was tired and getting cranky, so i didn’t change her into a white onesie for the sticker. i’ll try to get back to matching next month.