In the blink of an eye we've landed at four months. Your soft sweet smile bringing joy to every morning that I wake up to you. I can't help but start my day with a warm spot in my heart for how much happiness you bring our family.
At four months, our lives are finding their way into a routine. Everyone is settled in at one place or another, be it your brother's school schedule, you with Nanny Candy, or at ECFE on Mondays where you seem to watch the other babies as though they are foreign beings, or me, finding my own way among another foreign forest of trees at work. Things get easier every day.
I remember last spring getting the boys off to school thinking to myself, how on earth will we do this with a baby? We barely get out the door now. But somehow, we've accommodated well. We even have time for your brothers to play before the school day begins. Our weekly schedule tries to balance out life's needs with you spending most of your time with me on Mondays and Fridays. I head into the office late on Monday (around 12:30) and stay home with you on Fridays. On T,W,Thursday nanny Candy is here before I need to drop the boys off to school. You seem to have found your stride with her and you offer wide and infections smiles when she arrives. It makes my heart warm to know you are in such good hands and that you are so happy about it. Sometimes we go a little rouge though, and you get to come along to work. You've been to my office a handful of times, and most times we try to dress you for academic success in your S-IGDI onesies the team made for you. I'm lucky to have such fantastic work colleagues!
This month our days start with the sunshine, you usually are fast asleep next to me after your dad brings you somewhere between 3 and 5 am. About half the time you sleep through until 5, which makes for an extra restful night and an extra happy morning. The very first time you slept from 7 pm to 5 am was on your dad's birthday, which felt like a little gift to him! Everyday though, as soon as those little eyes lift up from the warm cozy nest that is my bed, you find my face and smile a big, infectious smile. The kind that makes you so grateful for the joy in the world. Every morning you remind me to be gracious, helpful and kind in this world. Babies really are the closest thing to pure joy.
Once you are up you'll usually tell me just what you are thinking. This month you've found your voice and it comes out in all intonations and ranges, coos, and aws, mimicking all we say. The boys were nearly certain you said "Hi" yesterday because you've taken so much to trying out the tones and sounds we make to you. We rise and shine and head to your room for a new diaper and some clothes. You continue to be so happy, with a side of spit up. Your spitting up doesn't seem to bother you any, you smile right through it, but boy do you still do it a lot. We almost always are two shirts and three bibs into your wardrobe within the first hour of the day. Nevertheless, we get dressed and I talk to you as we check in with your brothers, who are most likely reading books or playing for the most part, nicely, in the basement. Sometimes mornings are my favorite part of the day because they can be so kind and helpful to each other and adore playing with you too.
This month we bought you a high chair. We won't use it until 6 months, but we bought one that rolls around the kitchen so you can be near as I assemble lunches and make breakfast. Almost always the boys want to be right by you, talking to you and giving you teethers. The teethers are necessary because you want to chew on everything, especially your fist. You don't really use your pacifier much during the day, but you do love to put your fist in your mouth. Sometimes Sophie the giraffe takes a beating from all the chewing you do on her.
After breakfast the boys head up to get dressed, make their beds and brush their teeth so they are all ready for school. You and I make our way to do a few chores, making my bed, changing your diaper, and laying you on the floor to play. We've been trying to add more floor time so you can get better at rolling. You still aren't rolling from back to tummy yet, and I'm not in a hurry for you to do so, but I do want you to be able to roll in your crib if you get close to the edge, so this is one milestone I'm a little bit anxious for. It makes me feel better to know you'll roll if you can and my anxiety about SIDs and suffocation go down. While you lay on the floor and play, Collin reads you a book and plays with you. You adore your brothers. More than any of us, I think. You look at them with such adoration in your eyes. When I see it I hope it last forever. I hope you all stay so close well into your adulthood.
Another blessing built into the mornings is while you play with Collin and Owen on your floor, I get a few minutes to get ready for work. They are so helpful and so patient with you. Collin has been asking and wanting to hold you more and more and he's asked a few times to carry you. He's getting more confident and with guidance I let him make small efforts in caring for you. You can see him well with pride when he calms you, sings to you or makes you smile.
After I am all set for the day its usually about 8:30, time to nurse you and get you ready for morning nap. You continue to eat like a champ, and are putting on weight steadily. Your little rolls are growing more rolly making me think that you must be climbing the charts. We'll find out sometime next week at your next appt just how big you are though. Since your naps are stretching to be longer and you are sleeping longer at night, you've been also upping your milk intake at each feeding to get those ounces in, so we're up to about 5 ounces a bottle. This seems to be a happy sense of satisfaction for you- your dad says you get pretty excited for the bottle. I rarely get to see bottles though, because if I am there I'd rather nurse you than give you a bottle to keep supply up. The naps have fallen into a pattern of 3 or 4 a day, depending on the stretch of them. They aren't quite as long as I'd like just yet, still in the 45 minute zone. I crave that magical 2 hour nap for you (and for me!)
Once you are down for your nap, we take off for our day, the boys to school and me to work. Then at 2:15 your dad comes home and gets to enjoy just you for the next 1.5 hours or so. You are often sleeping, which is good, because you need it, but I know he loves the time with just you too, when the boys are still at school. Around 3:45 you leave to go pick the boys up and then the evening routines begin, dinner, practices, games, swimming, whatever is happening that particular evening...
Life is a little bit crazy, but we try to maintain some semblance of the schedule for you. We squeeze in tummy time, books and lots of conversation every day and end our days usually with a bath, the going to bed book and a cuddle to sleep before we rest you peacefully in your crib.
Our weekends are filled with Soccer games (which you are enamored with! You stare at the boys running with quiet alert contentment for nearly the whole hour!), errands, trips here there an everywhere and family fun. You love to be with us and be part of the action in the Ergo or facing outward in the Moby. Next month we'll take another trip down to see Andrea in NC, where you'll get your first go at the Smokey mountains, so more adventures for you are right around the corner!
We're so lucky that you are are such a happy, cuddly, warm and loving baby. You make the parenting gig pretty easy and we all just can't get enough of you. My heart beams with happiness to have you in our family and we can't wait to see what 5 months brings!
all our love
Momma and Daddy
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