Weight: Because we had another well-care checkup this month, we got to see how our little girl is doing officially. Unfortunately, this fell on my birthday. And she had to get her second round of shots. Because she really didn't have that much of a reaction to the 2 mo shots, I didn't think it would be a big deal to do it on my birthday this time. Lets just say that I was wrong. Anyway, before the puncturing of little chubby thighs started, she was weighed in at 16 pounds and 11 ounces! I totally thought she would have been into the 17 pound range, but I guess she has slowed down a bit and somewhere in there had a growth spurt.
About halfway through the past month Merida outgrew 90% of her 3-6 month clothing. She is now wearing most of her 6-9 and even some 9-12 (in Carter's gear mainly). I am truly hoping that she slows down a little so we can actually have her wear her outfits more than once. The week before she turned 4 months, we switched her over to size 3 disposibles. And the reason we're doing disposibles at the moment is that we have some from baby shower gifts and don't want them to go to waste. After we use up the majority of the size 3s that we have, we'll be going right back to cloth.
Height: Merida measured 25.5 inches long at our doctor's office. She was as squirmy as ever but I think they got a pretty accurate measurement. With the head circumference included our little girl is in the 90th percentile across the board. So, basically, we just have a bigger baby. She's still using her 6-12 month socks and I hope that continues for a while.
Sleeping:
Merida is now consistently sleeping 8-10 hours at night in her crib. It might have taken us a whole month for her to adjust, but it was worth it. To all you non-parents-- ENJOY SLEEP! I have missed being able to sleep. It's been very nice having Merida sleep for an extended time frame. As of this post, Merida will fall asleep on her back but most of the time turns on her side a little later.
While we were away visiting family, Merida decided she was going to start rolling over continuously. Even while she was trying to fall asleep. After we came back home, her turning over became a problem and led to her arms and legs getting caught in between the slats of the crib. So we had to put up the bumpers on her crib again. After doing this, she has demonstrated her acrobatics and has literally done a 180 in her crib by morning. Hey, whatever works for her is fine with me.
Since she's officially unswaddled now and we don't like having even a light blanket in her crib with all of her acrobatics at night, we have started to actually use the sleepers. In fact, we had to go out and buy more.
She loves when we read to her now. She even "helps" us turn the pages. And her favorite book is one that I used to read to my belly every night before she was born. It's called Llama Llama Nighty Night. It's short and has easy to turn pages for Merida. But every night when I pull the book out to read it to her she smiles.
We are slowly transitioning her to keeping the lights on until we put her in her crib for bed. We used to read to her and then turn out the lights as we sang to her. But after a few bruises from running into furniture on the way to the crib or stepping on a puppy's tail, we decided it was safer to keep the lights on until she was in the crib.
Mer still naps the best in our bed. Most of the time she'll start to rub or eyes or yawn and I just have to lay her down with a pacifier and she's out. She is most of the time napping on her back but will occassionally nap on her side.
Eating:
Merida has fluctuated from 4 ounces every three hours to 5 ounces every three hours to now 5 or 6 ounces every three to four hours. We tried doing 5 ounces every four hours and she was waking up in the middle of the night hungry. So we tried 6 ounces every four hours and she was still waking up earlier. So we went to a odd routine which is: 9ish-6 ounces, 12ish- 5 ounces, 3ish- 5 ounces, 6ish- 5 ounces, and then 9ish- 6 ounces. That's technically 27 ounces. But if you've ever mixed formula you know that once you hit over 4 ounces, it really becomes an ounce bigger than you mixed. Not that you're supposed to count it that way.
Merida tried her first foods this month too! She actually slurped down the insides of a blueberry when she was 2 and a half months old. But I'm not counting that since it wasn't official. But she did officially eat some carrots the day before we flew to N.C. I think she liked them, but it was more for a test to see if she was ready to start solid foods. And the answer, nope. She still had a huge tongue reflex that pushed all of the carrots out of her mouth. Hey, at least we tried. We'll wait a week or two before trying again with a different food. Maybe apples?
Other things I Want to Remember:
As I said before, Merida rolled over for the first time this month. She can only roll over to her right side at the moment but seems to love to roll. She is obsessed with it at night too. As soon as I put her in her crib, all she wants to do is roll over. A couple times she's rolled too far and gotten stuck on her stomach. She hasn't figured out how to get her arm out from underneath her stomach so she starts crying. Fortunately, she only did this for a few nights before learning not to roll that far in her crib.
Merida loves to smile for just about everyone. She enjoys when people smile at her and loves to reciprocate their joy. We have truly been blessed with a very "good" baby. She has a good disposition as long as she gets enough rest and food.
Merida is still teething. She has a small white dot on the bottom right front gum where a tooth is starting to cut through. As of the end of 3 months, it still hasn't cut through. I really wish it would hurry up so that it wouldn't cause Merida so much pain. She still doesn't like teething toys. And even though she was given a Nuby ring in N.C., she loves to play with it but not chew on it. Most nights I end up giving her a small dosage of Tylenol to help with the pain. I know it bothers her a lot when she's tired because her fingers are always in her mouth before naps or bedtime. I've heard that the first tooth is the worst, so if we can just get through this one, I hope it'll be a lot better. I'm sure the drool won't let up, but the pain will hopefully subside.
Merida flew for the first time this month. After freaking out about how we were going to do it, David and I did as much research as we could and just did it. And while the return flight wasn't as easy as the departure to N.C., overall she did very well. David and I were very proud of her. And it was worth all the fretting and hassle to finally let our family meet her.
Towards the end of the month, Merida finally discovered her feet. I've heard a lot of other kids find their feet before this, but Merida apparently didn't care about them until now. And now, everytime she's on her back, she grabs onto her feet. It doesn't matter if she has socks on or not. Feet are fun people.
Merida's favorite toys are Marvin the Monkey (thanks Wayne and Anna), UGA Mickey (thanks Josh and Lindsay), Tagli the Cow, and the Ladybug on her carseat. Each have their specific uses in different times, but overall, she loves these the best. Her favorite book is still Llama, Llama nighty night. And she still helps us turn the pages. Her favorite song is Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. And the dog that she watches most now is Lexi.
The Lionheart Bebepod is still one of my best purchases for her. It's amazing to have her in the kitchen with us but not in harms way or so low to the ground that she can't see what's going on. She "helps" me make the puppies' food bowls and even chats with me while I'm doing the dishes or cleaning the kitchen. And now that we have started feeding her solid foods, I think it'll definitely come in handy.
Tummy time is still something that we struggle with most days, but if we keeping singing to her or she can watch the dogs play, we can get a solid 7-10 minutes without crying. It's definitely a lot harder now that she wants to move. She kicks and kicks and kicks her feet behind her but not touching the ground. She still seems to have no interest pushing up on her hands even when I try to work on it with her. I figure that she'll crawl when she's ready and it might be a little later than most babies, but we'll see.
Merida loves standing on Mommy's tummy and always gives us huge smiles when we stand her on my tummy. Most of the time we sing a little made up song when she stands on my stomach. She really enjoys standing in general though. So who knows, maybe she'll just skip crawling and go right to walking?!
Here are some pictures from her photo shoot and from her past month of adventures!:
Other things I Want to Remember:
As I said before, Merida rolled over for the first time this month. She can only roll over to her right side at the moment but seems to love to roll. She is obsessed with it at night too. As soon as I put her in her crib, all she wants to do is roll over. A couple times she's rolled too far and gotten stuck on her stomach. She hasn't figured out how to get her arm out from underneath her stomach so she starts crying. Fortunately, she only did this for a few nights before learning not to roll that far in her crib.
Merida loves to smile for just about everyone. She enjoys when people smile at her and loves to reciprocate their joy. We have truly been blessed with a very "good" baby. She has a good disposition as long as she gets enough rest and food.
Merida is still teething. She has a small white dot on the bottom right front gum where a tooth is starting to cut through. As of the end of 3 months, it still hasn't cut through. I really wish it would hurry up so that it wouldn't cause Merida so much pain. She still doesn't like teething toys. And even though she was given a Nuby ring in N.C., she loves to play with it but not chew on it. Most nights I end up giving her a small dosage of Tylenol to help with the pain. I know it bothers her a lot when she's tired because her fingers are always in her mouth before naps or bedtime. I've heard that the first tooth is the worst, so if we can just get through this one, I hope it'll be a lot better. I'm sure the drool won't let up, but the pain will hopefully subside.
Merida flew for the first time this month. After freaking out about how we were going to do it, David and I did as much research as we could and just did it. And while the return flight wasn't as easy as the departure to N.C., overall she did very well. David and I were very proud of her. And it was worth all the fretting and hassle to finally let our family meet her.
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| Passed out on the plane...good baby! |
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| Loving hanging out in North Carolina |
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| Family shot...so glad Mimi got to meet Merida |
The Lionheart Bebepod is still one of my best purchases for her. It's amazing to have her in the kitchen with us but not in harms way or so low to the ground that she can't see what's going on. She "helps" me make the puppies' food bowls and even chats with me while I'm doing the dishes or cleaning the kitchen. And now that we have started feeding her solid foods, I think it'll definitely come in handy.
Tummy time is still something that we struggle with most days, but if we keeping singing to her or she can watch the dogs play, we can get a solid 7-10 minutes without crying. It's definitely a lot harder now that she wants to move. She kicks and kicks and kicks her feet behind her but not touching the ground. She still seems to have no interest pushing up on her hands even when I try to work on it with her. I figure that she'll crawl when she's ready and it might be a little later than most babies, but we'll see.
Here are some pictures from her photo shoot and from her past month of adventures!:
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