Dear Kate,
I will bet you a million dollars there has never been a cuter little ‘chip’. At the beginning of this month, you joined the crew in dressing up as Beauty and the Beast characters for Halloween. Lexi was Belle, William was Beast and you were Chip. Daddy made your onesie and I dug out Lexi’s 1-year birthday tutu for the pic.
Eating
So far, you have enjoyed the luxury of exclusive breastmilk and it is going well. But being over anxious about stuff is kind of my thang, so i continue to stress about not producing enough. About half way through the month, I stopped nursing you in the middle of the night, which has enabled me to pump one side in the morning and I’ll usually get 6 oz. And then I’ll nurse you on the other side. At work, I pump twice a day and per the Drs. recommendation, started pumping both sides. The first two weeks or so, this helped ensure I would get a total of 5 oz during each session so I was set for the next day. By the end of the month, I wasn’t consistently getting 5 oz during each session–queue the stress. I am also pumping before bed each night and getting a little somethin’ so that usually supplements what I didn’t pump while at work. To sum things up, I don’t get as much milk when I pump as when I nurse, or you are more satisfied with the amount you get from the boob than what you get from a bottle. I’m most worried about what is going to happen in January when Daddy and I got to Arizona for a wedding for a couple of days. Will I have a big enough stash to get us through the time or will we need to do formula? I’m also trying to remind myself, that I had it much easier with Lexi and William as I didn’t really need to pump anywhere close to what I’m doing with you. I was home with Lexi for the first 7 months and William was at daycare and I could walk down and nurse him everyday so two completely different scenarios and I can’t compare you to them.
Last month the Dr. gave us the thumbs up to start giving you some rice cereal or food and you haven’t shown any interest in food yet so we’ll probably start that around the 6 month time frame.
Sleeping
High-five baby girl, I think you have finally figured out what a glorious solid night of sleep feels like! (knock on wood somewhere that I haven’t jinxed myself here). At the beginning of the month, I forgot about the ‘4 month sleep regression’ and once someone else mentioned it, I remembered what was going on. I stopped nursing in the middle of the night and when you would wake, I would rock/bounce you back to sleep. Around week 2-3 of the month, I was able to just stick the paci back in your mouth and just this past week, you’ve gone 4-5 consecutive nights of sleeping from 8:00ish to 7:30ish!!!! HEAVEN!! Except, for some odd reason, I still feel tired?!?! But a million times better than what it was!
You have shown zero signs of rolling, so you are still swaddled at night and in the day, you’re usually swaddled in a muslin blanket. You take about 3 naps a day, morning, afternoon and evening and they range anywhere from 20 min to 2+ hours. There is no rhyme or reason to the length–they just happen. Almost 100% of your naps are taken in your crib. Most of the time you fall asleep in our arms and we put you down, but we do also put you down when you’re very drowsy and you’ll just fall asleep on your own. Rarely, do you fall sleep and stay sleeping in your carseat. You usually wake up within 10-20 minutes of coming home–just like your big brother.
Development
- Very strong head control
- Getting better at tummy time, but still don’t like it. You’ll roll from your tummy to your back–but not intentionally, just gravity/momentum taking over
- Love the bath
- This month you’ve learned about your vocal range and have developed this high-pitch screeching noise and do it all. of. the. time. And it drives your daddy CRAZY!
- You’ve become much more interactive with your toys. You regularly grab them and play with them
- This is a total shocker, but you’re less reliant on your paci then you have been in the past. From time to time, you’ll spit it out on your own and just chat away or just be Ok without sucking on anything
- You are a smile machine and flash those pink gummy grins to anyone that glances at you, and then proceed to turn them into puddles with your big bright eyes
- You’ve started to show some signs of separation anxiety and well whine or cry when I leave the room or am not within eye sight. Most of the time, you forget within a minute and move onto something else
- As of this week, you’re too long for 3 month clothes, but 6 month are still pretty big on you
- Size 2 diapers
Sibling Love
This is my favorite section to write each month because it keeps getting better and better. Basically, you and Lexi think each other are ‘the bomb’. Lexi is the only person who can make you laugh on demand. You think the world of her and she is equally obsessed. This love can’t be overshadowed by your big bro though. He is equally as awesome and is always singing you songs when you’re crying and gets into baby voice to talk to you and loves to make sure you are happy.
Kate, you are such a happy and mellow baby. Everyone loves everything about you and we are SO grateful to have you be a part of our family.
Love,
Mama
Peanut Smiles 