Elyse Love ~ 4 Months

We headed to the pediatrician this morning for Elyse's 4 month well-baby visit. She's doing marvelously and developing just as she should!

Weight/Height: As of today's appointment, she weighs 12 lbs 15 oz which is in the 25-50% and she is 25 inches tall which is in the 75%!  We still have our skinny minny on our hands, but she's definitely starting to fill out in her legs & arms.  The rolls are starting to appear at her wrist and on her thighs.  It's absolutely adorable!

Clothes: After a few blowouts, we moved her into size 2 diapers a few days ago.  The diapers seemed big, but actually fit her quite well...just goes to show how small the size 1's really were!  She is still wearing some 0-3 month things, but the shirts are becoming much tighter & the pants are looking more like capris than true pants!  Anything new that we buy will definitely be 3-6 month.  I've actually started removing some of the newborn & 0-3 month winter stuff from her closet as there's just no way that she'll be wearing it again.  I'm loving all the spring & summer playclothes that are in the stores..I think I may have to go shopping soon for some more fun stuff!  

Food: Elyse is still eating like a champ but has definitely slowed down a little from her 3 month crazy eating spell!  She is still feeding 6-7 times a day (depending on if she wakes in the night) and is taking probably between 5 & 5.5 oz at each feeding.  She's still being nursed the majority of the time, but on the days I work she takes a bottle at 10, 4, & 7.  She does great with this and I'm so glad for the freedom we have with her being willing to eat from a bottle. 

Sleep: This is still a work-in-progress, but honestly it doesn't bother me all that much.  She has started waking sometime between 2:30-3:30 am, and normally I feed her and she goes right back to sleep.  Last night Nick just gave her the pacifier at 3:30 and she went right back to sleep and didn't wake again until 6.  It's going to be trial and error of figuring out if she's really hungry when she wakes or if she's just lonely.  Hopefully we'll get this figure out soon but she's such a good baby otherwise that if this is the only thing we have to deal with then I can handle it.  We're also still swaddling her completely at night so I know that her sleep habits will be thrown for a loop once we start trying to wean her from the swaddling. 

Activity: She just loves to be around people and be the center of attention.  She is perfectly content with laying in the floor, sitting in her iSnug chair, having some tummy time, or playing in her activity center at Gigi's.  I love that she enjoys all of these things because when she gets tired of one we can just move on to the next.  She is starting to grip toys in her hands and is pulling on her mat when she has tummy time.  She also kicks her feet really hard on the floor at times which makes me think that she'll be rolling over consistently from back to tummy very soon!  She kind of decided recently that she didn't want to roll over at all anymore, but sooner or later we're going to have a mobile, active girl on our hands! 

Personality: This month we went from full-face smiles to full-body smiles!  Sometimes I swear she could light up an entire room with her smile...although she doesn't seem to want to show it off for the camera!  ughhh! She is talking more and more every day & even likes to babble all the way home from Papa & Gigi's house after my working days.  She absolutely LOVES her daddy & I swear that he can get her to smile & laugh more than anyone!  It's so stinkin' adorable and just makes me fall in love with both of them more & more!

Likes:

~People she loves:  She is definitely starting to recognize familiar faces and my heart just melts when she gives me a big ole grin in the mornings when I go in to get her from her crib or when I see her after work!  Those moments are priceless. 
~Lamaze toys:  These are seriously the best toys ever.  We have an inch worm, an elephant, and a dragon all here at our house & she also has a horse at Papa & Gigi's.  They have all sorts of different things to keep her entertained and they are small enough that she can hold on to them with her little hands. 
~Hands to Mouth:  The thing I predicted in her 3rd month certainly happened..she gagged herself by having her hands to far down in her mouth!  But she still loves to put as many fingers as possible in there at one time and the drool flows freely down her face! 
~Movement & Music:  We definitely try not to put her in front of the tv too much, but she absolutely loves to watch it!  The Easter Bunny brought her a Praise Baby DVD and she loves that so I'm thinking those will be on replay at our house!  

 Dislikes:
~We seriously have such a good baby.  She doesn't really have any dislikes that any normal person wouldn't have.  She doesn't like being woken up from a sound sleep, she doesn't like it when she's been in one position for too long, and she gets fussy when she's tired or hungry...otherwise her disposition is that of a perfectly happy baby.  Love this girl! 

 
4 Month Milestones:
*Rolling over from back to front: Around 4/4, but she's only done it a couple of times
*First STL Cardinals game:  4/2 when STL came to Springfield for an exhibition game