Four Months

So, do you remember how last month I was noting that time didn't seem to be slipping by that fast? Well a weekend long swim meet, three days at a conference, two weeks on the east coast, and the countdown to the end of my leave, all have a way of making time fly rather quickly! I know it's going to go by even quicker as I go back to work and the holidays approach. Yet, this month the biggest measure of how time is passing is the size of Jate herself. Before I left, I had been noticing that she was starting to outgrow her bassinet and we were planning to move to the Pack and Play when we returned as a way to transition to her crib. It wasn't really an option, in just two weeks she became too big for her bassinet. Sigh. My baby is not a little peanut anymore.

Nicknames: (new ones!) Muffin, BeefKate

Stats: 15 lbs 3 oz. 24.5 inches

Eating: Breastfeeding story of the month: I had to bring Jate to my swim meet and I wanted to have some expressed milk on hand in case she needed to be fed while I was swimming. The 95 degree temperature was too much for the ice block in my Med.ela cooler, so I went to procure some ice. I approached the middle aged ladies who run the snack table and asked if I could take some ice from the coolers where they were selling water and juice. "No." the first woman replied. "You don't want this ice, everyone's hands have been in the cooler..." I tried to explain that I wasn't going to be using the ice for drinking. "No." the other woman backed up the first. "You don't want this ice. Go to the first aid stand." I held up my Med.ela cooler and demonstrated that I was needed the ice to help keep her milk chilled. I was planning to double bag the ice, mostly because I didn't want it to leak, not that I was concerned about everyone's hands being in the ice cooler, given that this was a swim meet where everyone's hands are sterilized by the chlorine and chemicals in the pool. I was starting to feel as if I were in the "I can't spare a square" episode of Seinfeld, so I decided I would buy a bottle of water and just grab a handful of ice. As I approached the cooler, I was shot down. "NO ICE FOR YOU!" " Go to the first-aid stand!"

I walked into the life guard's office and was greeted by a 18 or 19 year old guy, who was playing on his phone. I asked for a bag of ice. "No problem." he replied as he jumped out of his seat. "Are you injured?" At this point, I was thinking it would be easier just to claim a fake injury, but I wasn't prepared with a back story. I offered that I just needed to chill my daughter's milk. "Oh." he replied, "Do you want to keep it in our fridge?" as he pointed to the small dorm sized fridge that was marked 'Staff Only'. Lesson learned. Sometimes the people you think will be helpful are not, and sometimes you may be surprised by who is helpful.

Sleeping: She started sleeping through the night just before she was two months, and not the five hours uninterrupted definition of sleeping through the night. Actually sleeping from 9 PM to 6 AM. So I've been terrified that it will all come crashing down with the four month sleep regression. She slept rather well while we were visiting my parents, although she had some nights when she would wake up after we put her down and would need to be settled again.  As she was showing signs of rolling, we recognised that it was time to stop her swaddle and put her in a sleep sac, and we figured this was a good time to institute this change. We were planning to have her sleep in the Pack and Play for the next two months until we are ready to move her to her room at six months. However, we don't like having to bend all the way down to place her in the PNP and it seems to make her startle easily, which may be why she was waking as soon as we'd try to put her down. I was able to purchase a barely used Arms Reach Co-sleeper for only $45 and we're using it as a free standing bassinet. It's been working really well, the only trouble is that Tyler is fond of it too. I woke up to pump one night and found him sleeping by her feet.  We've also started having her sleep in her crib for naps. The first attempt lasted five minutes. Her current PB is 45 minutes. Since we returned, she started waking up around 3 AM, which we wondered if she was still on east coast time. She had one episode where she would fall asleep quickly in our arms, but woke up as soon as we put her down. After repeating this cycle for nearly an hour, and as this was the morning of her professional photo shoot, and I didn't want a cranky baby on set, I took her back to bed with me and let her sleep on the Bop.py. We also wonder if we are in denial that she may be showing signs of a sleep regression. Stay tuned.

Likes: She's still enjoying the playmat, especially as we've added some new items. She recently tolerated two hours in the Bj.orn while I was cleaning, so I'm adding it to the likes column. Her favourite toy seems to be an activity bunny, which saved us on the airplane. She's really into her feet, as she thinks she can eat them. She also enjoys spitting up on me, and for some reason, just me. So much so, that she practices several times a day, just to get it right. At press time, we just introduced her Sophie toy. It appears to be a hit!

Dislikes: She does protest quite a bit when we're tyring to dress her.  Otherwise, she's a pretty easy going baby.

Diapers: We moved up to size 3 Pamp.ers. We still cloth diapering during the day, but no longer need to use the twist method.

Clothes: While we were in Connecticut she wore little Myrtle's old clothes (Mrs Myrtle has them stored in her attic as she's holding out for grandbaby #2) so I had fewer items to pack. When we returned, she no longer fit in her 3 month sized clothes and needed to move into the 3-6 month section of her wardrobe. 6 month size onesies are still a little big on her, but 6 month size footie jammies seem to fit almost perfectly. Yikes! how is she wearing 6 month clothes already?

Events:
Attended Mummy's swim meet
First Daddy-daughter day while Mummy was at her conference
First airplane ride and trip to Connecticut
Met her other set of grandparents
Met Myrtle and little Myrtle
First Playdate
Started Day Care

Health Issues: She came home from her third day at day care with a stuffy nose, but it didn't develop into a cold. We're two weeks in and so far, still no major illnesses.

Milestones: Just days after her three month birthday, she started turning on her side from lying on her back. We thought rolling from back to tummy was imminent, but hasn't officially happened yet. She came really close one time at my parents' house. We were using my mother's dresser as a makeshift changing table, and she had an epic blowout. While Husband was drawing up a stat bath, she got three-quarters of the way over before I had to stop her. I didn't want her to get shit on my mother's curtains and I didn't want my memory of this milestone to be that my daughter was rolling around in shit.

Looking forward to: Going back to work -because, if I write it, it must be true! In that case, I'm looking forward Thanksgiving break. I'll have four days alone with Jate as Husband will be away. I have all of season three of the Gilmore Girls on my DVR so I can re-enact my maternity leave. Next week we meet with the photographer to review the proofs from her three month photo shoot, and I'm a bit afraid to see how much we'll spend. Finally, and this is a vain one, I'm looking forward to seeing what she'll look like with hair!

Blond or ginger? We shall see!