Liv 4 Months

She started sitting in the Bumbo this month!

Yes. I'm sure many of you see coming what I didn't... I thought "aw, cute. He's pretending to feed her." Then he shoved it down her throat. Not my finest moment.

Giraffe! This is the greatest toy for her age! Thanks Shockleys!!

Tummy time with Queen

Pics of Cassie

We think she looks like Mommy. Notice the double chin, hair line, and eyes :)

Liv's smiley face while laying on the changing table

We sat outside while Beck played on a very warm day in January.

Liv FOUR Months Old

Stats:

Length 25.5 in 90%

Head 41.25 cm 72%

Weight 14lb 2oz 52%

15 weeks

7pm Last Feeding

8pm Dream Feed

6:30-7am Wake/First Feeding

Dream Feed had been at 9:30, then 9 for several weeks. She would stir and cry once or twice between 6-7 am. On the first night I moved the dream feed to 8pm she didnt cry at all in the morning. That was a sign she was ready to start dropping the dream feed.

16 weeks

7pm Last Feeding

Dropped Dream Feed

6:30-7am Wake/First Feeding

The timing worked a couple nights that she was up until her 7pm feeding so I laid her down after that last feeding for the night. She woke at random times throughout the night for a few days after dropping the DF, but she had a cold so I wasn't sure if it was b/c of the stuffy nose. She has a hard time breathing while sucking her thumb with stuffy nose. So I decided to wait out the cold. Sure enough after the worst of the cold was over she stopped waking throughout the night. Beck had a cold at the same time and he was waking throughout the night as well, so that gave me the clue.

17 weeks

I wasn't sure how to adjust her naps since dropping her DF, b/c she naps from 5-7, then takes her last feeding at 7pm. Well I didn't want her sleeping for 2 hours right before I put her down for 12 hours at night. So I've started keeping her up after her late afternoon feeding at 4pm until bedtime at 7pm. This can be difficult b/c it is dinner and clean up and getting ready for bed time for Beck as well. I always make sure after her 1pm feeding that she only stays up for about a half hour, then takes a nap from 1:30-4 or 4:30 so she's good and rested for the 3 hour wake stretch before bed. Not fun to have a cranky baby while you do dinner and night routine by yourself.

We've also found a new routine with Liv that we didn't have in place with Beck. Since Jamie works retail hours, he's home in the mornings until about 9:30am. So he gets Beck up, pottied, dressed, fed, and played with, while I take care of Liv. The trade off is he's not home at night for dinner or bed time. I'm VERY THANKFUL for his help in the morning. I soak it up and try to remind myself of it when I'm worn out around 5pm.

She seems to be wanting to stay awake longer for naps. According to the Baby Wise blog they give signs of readiness for naps. I've been using those to determine when she's ready. They seem common sense, but sometimes just reading something, especially if it comes from others' experience, helps. So I watch for her to be fussy, yawn, get red or watery eyes, then I look at the clock and it always matches her symptoms- it will be about an hour or hour and a half that she's been up. If she's just fussy, I try to move her to another "station" like from bouncy seat to play mat, or back to belly, or play mat to bumbo. If she continues to be fussy in the new station, I know she's ready. Also about an hour into every nap she usually cries or whimpers for usually 5 mins max. I can hear her cry, look at the clock, and it will be at an hour give or take 5 mins, every time. It is her resettling in her sleep- moving into a deeper sleep. Thank you Baby Wise for such great info!!!