Four Months

Our little baby is growing fast! LOTS of changes have happened this past month for miss Janie. It will require two posts...

Janie Elizabeth

HEIGHT:  25 inches

WEIGHT: 13 pounds, 15 ounces

We are supposed to go to the doctor for her well-visit and shots, but we've had to reschedule twice so hopefully next week I'll have her weight and height updates to share.

Since her three month birthday...

Eats every 3 hours during the day Just this weekend we decided to try out a 4 hour schedule, knowing that around this time she could start to stretch it out a little between her bottles. It's only been a couple of days, but she did take just 4 bottles yesterday and is on track to do the same today. We'll see how it goes this week at school. 

Nurses morning and night I stopped nursing Janie completely on Easter weekend, so now baby girl is on formula only. I counted, and it was exact to the DAY when I stopped nursing Nora. I am sure that Janie hit a growth spurt right before her 4 month birthday and I just couldn't produce enough for her, with only nursing before and after work. I had some milk stored up but we finished it up just last week and now we are straight formula. Janie has been taking 5 bottles a day since Easter weekend. She was taking 4 ounce bottles, then we increased it to 5 ounce bottles, and within the next week we were making 7 ounce bottles for her. Growth spurt! She now takes 6-8 ounces per bottle and although we have been giving her 5 a day, on a 4 hour schedule she will only need 4 bottles. 

Sleeps through the night in her crib Janie has continued to sleep through the night. It has been glorious. She does not need the dream feed and so she sleeps for about 10-11 straight hours a night and only occasionally wakes up and needs soothing. We have a few big changes that will surely affect this habit a little bit, though. We are going to try to have her self-soothe a bit more in the next couple of weeks. 

Sleeps swaddled at night We have stopped swaddling Janie as of this weekend. It has been a little bit rocky, but overall not too bad. Considering her new challenges, I am very pleased with how she has adapted to not being swaddled at night! She has shown us also that she likes to sleep on her side.

Sleeping beauty!

Sucks on her hands I still catch Janie sucking on those hands and she also uses her pacifier when falling asleep. She likes to put toys and anything she can grab on to into her mouth as well! 

Keeps her head steady Janie's head control is still pretty good. She is holding her head at an angle when she sits and is on her tummy due to some muscle tightness. She is enjoying looking around at everything. She loves watching people and being outside!

Pushes up on tummy I think that Janie is enjoying her tummy time a little more. She is doing it a lot! She will usually keep her head up and push up on her elbows.

Rolls from tummy to back I have seen Janie roll from her back to her tummy a couple of times in the last few days. She is getting stronger! We have been working on some stretches and strengthening exercises to help her with this. 

Grabs her feet Janie loves to grab her feet with her hands but also touch her feet together. She also likes to clasp her hands together. She has started to try and reach for things around her, though not with much success. She likes to grab things and put them in her mouth!

"Talks" Janie is quite the talker. She flat out yells some times, which Nora finds hilarious. Nora will yell back to her, too! 

Smiles & "almost" laughs My sweet baby is very happy and content. She loves her mommy! She will smile just about every time she sees me and it is the best thing ever!!! I haven't heard a big laugh yet, but I'm sure she will do that soon enough. 

Mommy and Janie

Wears size 2 diapers I feel like size 2 is getting snug, even though I convinced myself to buy them again since I thought there would be no way she would be ready for the next size up. Every time I think this, I am proven wrong. Don't let me do this again, people!!

Wears 0-3 month clothing I went ahead and just put away everything newborn to three months in size. We have plenty of clothing in 3-6 months that I do not feel like we need the others. I went through Janie's closet this month and put away quite a bit! I am just waiting for a few straggling items (like that sleep sack we stopped using this weekend...) before I pack up the box and put it in the attic for (possibly) a later time!

Janie's four month "accomplishments":

Eats every 3-4 hours during the day

Eats 6-8 oz. bottles of formula

Sleeps unswaddled in her crib

Uses a pacifier for soothing

Rolls from back to tummy sometimes

Reaches for toys

Talks & yells

Wears size 2 diapers

Wears 3-6 month clothing

My sweet, sweet cutie!

Easter

We had a great time celebrating Easter this year! Nora was old enough to participate in fun events and it was Janie's first Easter.

I really enjoyed watching Nora hunt for eggs. She is very curious and loved opening them all up to see what is inside! There was plenty of fun to be had between church, school, and home.

Nora hunted her first eggs at school. This is where I first learned that Nora would open all of her eggs before putting them in her basket. Luckily, she doesn't really know what candy is so she didn't try to eat any of the goodies inside.

Primrose Egg Hunt

I took Nora with me to church on Good Friday. She did so well! It was past her usual bedtime so I was a little nervous, but I brought enough distractions to keep her occupied and pretty quiet. I think since she was tired she was more okay with sitting still through church. 

Nora & mommy

My pretty girl!

We went to church on Easter morning and after the service we participated in the egg hunt there and then ate breakfast! I didn't come prepared with a basket, but she didn't seem to mind. Again, Nora opened all of the eggs. Janie hung out with daddy.

Easter morning

At home, the girls discovered their baskets. The Easter bunny must have known to use toys we already had to fill up Janie's basket...

Nora liked her goodies!

We had a little egg hunt in the backyard at our house before nap time. Janie found one egg and Nora found the rest. It was a successful morning!

Janie

Nora

It was a beautiful day!

My sweet bunny baby

We had a great day celebrating the resurrection of our Savior!

Weekends

We are having so much fun as a family of four! Plus, the weather is getting warmer and warmer, giving us more opportunities to get out of the house and do "stuff"! Some of our adventures...

There's this great park just down the street from us. We like to go there and play on the slide and the swings. Nora is REALLY into sliding. She likes to go to the tallest slide and go down it alone. She likes when we call "Nooorrraa" up the slide. She calls back "Noooonnnaa". She's a brave girl!!

Lunch at the park.

Enjoying the swing.

Love that little grin!

Nora swinging, happy for a little while!

We've been on some walks in our wagon and the stroller! We even got out the second seat and pushed them both at once. Nora surprisingly liked riding in the stroller around the neighborhood.

Wagon ride down to Griffin's house!

Two Peiperts in a stroller.

 Nora enjoyed more swinging at her friend's house and the playground at my school. She likes it more and more each time. She really likes when there is a back to the seat!

Backyard swinging

with Auntie K!

Just hanging out at home.

We've even enjoyed a trampoline on a few occasions... 

Loved her friends...

Had fun at the park!

Oh, the fun we will continue to have!

Three Months

Happy three month birthday to our baby girl!!

THREE MONTHS OLD!!

Janie is such a precious baby. She really is just the sweetest thing. I went back to work a few weeks ago and Nora has had to start getting up early again. She has had a bit of a hard time adjusting and is sometimes rather cranky in the morning... (where did she get that from???) I'll feed Janie and put her in her car seat, swing, or bouncy chair while I get Nora ready. And I'll be just focusing away on Nora and her fussiness and look over and there is Janie, just sitting quietly or sleeping peacefully. We're very thankful for that!

I love that we've hit that three month milestone and that Janie does not need as much of the soothing tricks that newborns do. Since she was two months old, she has made the following progress...

Eats every 3 hours during the day Janie is still on a three hour schedule, for the most part. She pretty much sticks to it, according to her baby school. I have seen her stretch out her feedings a little bit so she may be on a four hour schedule next month. We'll see!

Eats breast milk and some formula I started weening myself and Janie to bottle feedings the few weeks before I started work again. She is now taking 3 bottles during the day of formula and I have been able to keep nursing her for her additional 2 feedings, the first and last of the day. I am so happy that I have been able to sustain this feeding schedule with her. I knew that I couldn't handle pumping while working but I wanted to try and keep her nursing for as much as I could and as long as I could. Since it didn't work out for Nora, I didn't know what to expect for Janie. So far so good!

Eats 1 meal from a bottle Janie is now eating 3 meals from a bottle every day. 

Sleeps through the night Janie has been consistently sleeping through the night for a solid 3-4 weeks now. We have been able to put her down after her last feeding, around 7:30 and she will go through the night until about 6:00. On weekdays, I have to wake her up then to feed her. On the weekends, we just let her go, but she doesn't usually sleep much longer than that anyways. On occasion she stirs some after we put her down or before 6:00 but we can usually count on 10-5 being totally uninterrupted! YES! And she never really took to the dream feed that we did with Nora so we have been very happy to have a long stretch of time that we can get sleep, too. 

Sleeps swaddled in the swing I starting slowing down the swing after Janie had been consistently going through the night for a few weeks. Once she slept in the stationary swing for 2 nights and did naps in the crib, I decided it was time to try the crib for bedtime, too. That was a success!! She has been in her crib for one whole week and I am thrilled. She does stir a little easier in the morning, but we can usually keep her in bed until 6:00 when I have to get her up anyways. 

Slept through the night for the first time in her crib!!

Loves a pacifier She still enjoys her pacifier when she is tired or kind of hungry, but she has started to ease off of it some. She does like to suck on her hands though. I swear she will get her whole fist in there one of these days. I can't quite remember when Nora stopped using hers, but it was around 3-4 months, so maybe we will get lucky again and Janie will prefer to just fall asleep without it. 

Holds her head up with bobbles Man, Janie has got some strength! She holds her head up very well these days. She will even keep it level with her body when you pull her up to a sitting position. This babe has always been strong! 

Lifts her chest & head up off the floor Janie even seems to push up off the floor during tummy time. She also rolls quite easily from her tummy to her back. I've been considering unswaddling her at bedtime since she looks like she could roll from her back to her tummy any day. She gets all the way on her side but just barely can't get all the way around. I'm impressed. 

So strong!

Coos Janie has started talking some and we like to have conversations. She is so sweet!!!

Smiles at faces Janie smiles at people and sometimes objects and she especially loves her big sister. She even looks like she might laugh sometimes. We've found that she is a little ticklish and smiles and flinches a little when you tickle her ribs.

I can grab my feet, too!

Tracks objects and people Once Janie was following me when I walked away and it was like she tried to turn her head all the way around. She loves mommy! 

Wears size 1 diapers I went ahead and ordered up the last time we got diapers because this baby is growing fast. She has to be around 12 pounds. 

Wears 0-3 month clothing Janie is pretty tall. She is still in her 0-3 month clothes, but only because the 3-6 month things swallow her. She may not have a choice soon though, as she is tall enough that it might cause problems with fit pretty quick!

So here's her three month wrap-up...

Eats every 3 hours during the day

Nurses morning and night

Sleeps through the night in her crib

Sleeps swaddled at night

Sucks on her hands

Keeps her head steady

Pushes up on tummy

Rolls from tummy to back

Grabs her feet

"Talks"

Smiles & "almost" laughs

Wears size 2 diapers

Wears 0-3 month clothing

St. Patrick's Day

We didn't get pinched today!

Happy St. Patrick's Day 2014!

Hair

Nora was born with hair and quite a bit of it. She has always had hair, but it was a little wild at times! Lately, I've been able to start doing her hair in new ways and it's been so fun! I can't believe how long her hair is now... I was looking back at pictures and I feel as if her hair's evolution can be appreciated in a blog post, all it's own...

Nora had a good amount of dark brown hair when she was born. Everyone at the hospital loved it and said she looked like the Gerber baby. When they gave her a bath for the first time, the nurses even did her hair in a little curly-Q just like the Gerber baby on the packaging.

Awwww...

I loved that Nora had so much hair! I put headbands in it all the time and thought it was just the cutest thing EVER!

Baby Nora's dark brown hair.

But... babies sleep on their backs and therefore rub off a bunch of hair on the back and sides. Plus, I think she may have lost a bit of hair in general. So, after a few months of that, we ended up with a little bit of a toupee-like hair do - long on top, barely there on the sides, and bald in back! Her hair was also starting to get a little bit lighter than it was when she was born.

Nora, around 4 months old.

Well, around then she also started to roll over and not sleep on her back as much so the hair rubbing stopped, but the damage was already done. She was cute nonetheless and we just embraced the strange hair-do. She eventually started growing her hair back in the bald spots.

Nora's 6 month photo!

But the hair evolution continued. The mop top kept on growing and became curly! 

Nora is frustrated.

See the back of her baldie head?

And the top. And look... baby Janie!

I thought about cutting it so many times!! But just didn't. Or couldn't. Doesn't matter.

Top curls.

See that hair hanging down???

It really reached it's peak when Nora was 9-10 months old. It would look like ringlets on top and just plain crazy! Plus, she wouldn't let me put headbands in any more! She figured out how to yank them out. Every time. So we just went with crazy.

4th of July - 10 months old

What a chunk!

It must have been humid...

I have LOTS more of where those came from! 

So finally I could start to put a little ponytail in without it looking like I'd shaved the sides of her head around when she was around one year old, maybe a little after. And she turned out to be a bit of a blondie!

Now, we have to get that hair up and out of her face every day! Luckily she has gotten used to me doing it and will usually sit through one or two ponytails. She will even keep a little bow in (for the most part). No headbands yet, though!

I've even managed to get one large ponytail in her hair! It doesn't stay well but it is exciting (for mommy at least)!

And you don't want to know what happens if we don't do her hair. Or worse - if it comes out! Or do you...?

And then there's always Auntie K's hair we can borrow when we need to...

I still haven't cut her hair. Not sure when I will! And since Janie is a bit of a baldie I don't think we will be visiting the salon for either of the girls for a while. So until then, we will watch and wait!