Harper Four Months

My four month old little peanut!

Age: Four Months Old

Weight: 13 pounds 3.5 ounces, 42%ile

Length:  24 inches long, 40%ile

Size: We are just finishing up the last of her size 1 diapers and are moving up to size 2. This past weekend I took some time to pack up all her newborn and 3 month clothes. I really tried all of last week to get one more round out of all her 3 month clothes and pjs but had to be real with myself that I just cannot force her into squeezing into them. When all your leggings become crops, it’s time to move on. The bright side is we get to wear a whole new wardrobe!! Harper is officially in 3-6 month and 6 month clothes/pajamas. 

Love all her facial expressions

Hair: She might just turn into a little blondie! She has some new hair growth starting to come through under the hair that hasn’t fallen out and it's definitely lightened up from that dark brown she was born with. 

Eyes: Blue is coming through! And those lashes, girl has inherited the long lashes that all the boys in our family have been blessed with.

Health: At the beginning of the month we were both kind of miserable with colds together. Mine was a cough that turned into a terrible sinus cold for about 10 days. Shortly after mine started Harper started getting a cough that developed into lots of spit up and mucus. Thankfully hers never really seemed to bother her and didn’t seem to affect her sinuses or her breathing. She just had a bad cough for about 10-12 days.

Teeth: None yet, just loves chewing on her hands.

Big Bro loves joining in on her monthly photo shoots. He just woke up and just wanted to sit with her. 

Sleeping: Sleeping is pretty much the same as last month. I think this month she only gave me one night sleeping the entire night through and maybe a week were she was waking up more than once. We typically start bedtime around 6:45pm and usually is asleep by 7:30pm but is starting to go down a little easier. She wakes up once during the night, although it’s not consistent and could be anytime between midnight – 4:30am. Then goes right back to sleep till I wake her at 6:40am. She still kind of catnaps throughout the day. An average nap for her is 45 minutes.

Daycare no longer swaddles her for her naps as she does fine for her without it. So last week I decided to try taking it out as well to see how things would go. All of her swaddles are getting small for her, I had to pack most of them all up, and she has started rolling onto her side so I know it’s just a matter of time before she starts rolling over on her tummy and getting stuck. I am hoping we can transition before that for peace of mind on my end! 

I started with keeping one are arm of her swaddle at night. The first night she woke as usual, the second she woke super early and Dave ended up swaddling her all the way back up. The third night she slept the entire night through and the fourth night she had a rough time staying asleep. On Saturday for her afternoon nap I tried no swaddle, it took her about an hour and a half but she finally gave in to staying asleep and took almost an hour nap. Saturday night we had a later than usual night out at our friends house so when we got home I put her down in only a sleep sack, she woke up once and slept in till 8am. Sunday her first 2 naps went terrible and would not stay asleep, she did end up taking a 45 minute afternoon nap. Sunday night we tried the sleep sack only again, she did wake up once about 45 minutes after I put her to bed but then went back to sleep after I gave her paci and shushed her. She stayed asleep till about 2:30am, ate and went right back to sleep still I woke her at 6:45am. I realize next weekend is Daylight Savings, so I imagine we’ll get this no swaddle thing down just in time for daylight savings to mess it all back up. Perfect timing.

Eating:  Harper’s second week back at daycare, that Monday she fought taking a bottle again but has since been a rock star! Sometimes even needing an extra few ounces. She takes 2-3 bottles at daycare, each 3-4 ounces, the last one sometimes is only 2 ounces. I typically do a short feeding as soon as I get home from work, she’s tired out at that point from daycare and that tends to keep her happy for another 1 hour or so till bedtime. I fed her once more at bedtime then she usually wakes only once for a nighttime feeding and goes right back to sleep still morning. If she wakes more than once at night for a feeding it’s typically due to a growth spurt but only lasts 2-3 nights but we'll see if that changes in the future. This month she has finally stopped fighting/fussing during her bedtime feeding. I think she is finally getting use to our schedule and bedtime ritual. She is now calm during that feeding, I don't have to bounce her or pat her bum to get her to stop fussing. If I do have to pat her bum it's because she falls asleep during and I try to wake her to finish eating. 

Movement:  Harper now rolls from her tummy to her back (or falls over but it’s happened a lot!). She rolls onto her side and will really try to keep going onto her tummy but her arm gets in the way. I don’t think she knows she could do it yet because she’s not at the point of getting mad. During tummy time she will kick her legs and flail her arms to the point she looks like she wants to go somewhere. 

Meeting Great-Grandma Dorothy!

Milestones: Started mimicking facial expressions, if you stick your tongue she will too and go back and forth with you.  Laughing!!! She went from the silent laugh to a full sound giggle. Has really good head control on tummy time, pushes up and has started reaching out for toys that are close by. Grasping and grabbing toys. Blowing raspberries.

Favorite Toys/Activities: Her bouncer, eating her hands, sticking her tongue out, baths, watching TV (particularly Bravo), blowing spit bubbles, blowing raspberries, being held, watching her brother, diaper changes, being naked, playing under the play mat, cuddling. 

Matching Mommy and Harper hats via grandma Karen

Dislikes: Naps still, taking a bottle from dad, and being overly tired. Other than that she really had brought down her high maintenance attitude quite a bit and is turning into a very alert and laid back little lady.

Words: N/A

Sounds: Laughing and talking a ton! Squawks, cries, cooing. Blows raspberries. 

Favorite Moments

• This month we went to finally visit my Grandma, and her Harper to finally meet her only Great Grandparent, Great-Grandma Dorothy! It had been a while since Madden has seen her also so it was about time we made a trip to see her. My mom came with us. Harper was so good! She slept the entire car ride up there then was so alert and content while at my grandma's place. She just hung out on my grandmas lap without making a fuss. I remember Madden was like that too when he was a babe, my kids just must really just love their great grandma, she’s got the magic touch! Madden had a blast entertaining us all with an app he found on our ipad and I think my grandma was highly amused by his antics and laughter. After a little visit with her we stopped to get lunch then decided to check out the Iowa City Children’s Museum. It just happened to be Free admission because it was Rockwell Collins day. It looked like it was going to be a little crazy because it was a free event but it ended up being fun and the crowd thinned out after a short time. Madden got wore out with all the activities and fun things to do, definitely something we will come back to. I carried Harper around in the Baby Bjorn, she stayed awake the entire time we were at the museum. She loved people watching and checking out all the kids activities while chewing on the carrier straps and ended up drooling completely through the carrier.   

•  How much she just loves watching her brother. The other day I had Harper sitting on my lap facing out, she just sat there chewing on her hands. Madden came up to her to give her kisses and talk to her. When he did that she would take her hands out of her mouth and start talking or blowing raspberries at him. He’d then walk away to play with something and she would put her hands back in her mouth. Every few minutes or so Madden would come back over to show her a toy, talk to her or give her some sort of attention and every time she would take her hands out of her mouth and start talking back or blowing raspberries at him again. He thought it was great! The continued so do this back and forth for a good 15-20 minutes. It was the cutest thing and makes me so excited to watch their relationship develop. 

My little elf still rockin her Christmas pj's well into March.

Monthly Highlights

• Mimicking some facial expressions
• First cold
• Went to the Thissen’s for Copper’s birthday and super bowl party
• First Valentine’s Day
• Valentine's Day party at daycare
• First laughs for mommy
• Started grabbing at toys
• Blowing raspberries
• Found her feet
• Started rolling to her side
• Round trip to Iowa City
• Met great-grandma Dorothy
• Went to Iowa city Children’s Museum, stayed awake the entire time
• Rolls from tummy to back
• Visited the Vincent's for pizza night
• family movie nights at home
• Loves to interact with her big brother
• Chiropractor appoint, laughed at getting adjusted
• Went to Jackson’s birthday party
• Harper/Daddy date night
• Still breastfeeding

Falling asleep sitting up on daddy's lap