4 Months--Miss Hallie

Hallie is 4 months now and is growing like a weed...a tall, slender weed.  At her well-child visit, the doctor discussed her growth with me.  She was 50th percentile in height and weight at 2 months, and at this appointment, height jumped to 90th and weight dropped to 25th.  Several things can cause this such as genetics, sickness, temporary drop in appetite...but just to make sure it isn't due to poor nursing/milk supply, she instructed me to supplement with formula, and no longer let her sleep through the night.  She has been sleeping through the night great, and when she does wake, she goes right back to sleep with a pacifier.  Well, since being told to do this (I'm writing a few days late), so has nursed 1-2 times every night.  It's worth it to get her weight up, but it's killing me.  I feel that once your baby is consistently sleeping through the night, it's so hard to go back to waking.  We go in for a weight check in a month and hopefully things have improved.  On top of this, she was having tummy issues with her formula, so she is now on Similac Total Comfort formula (tried advanced similac and that was awful for her, and she has been on enamel newborn, but that should only be through 3 months...).  The formula is partially broken down which will make it easier for her to digest.

Her stats are:
Height: 25 1/4 inches- 90th percentile
Weight: 12 pounds - 25th percentile (12th percentile when I check online though...)
Head circumference: 16 1/4" - 90th percentile

Other things that have gone on this past month:

We've started somewhat of a sleep training process.  Really, we are just sticking really hard to the E.A.S.Y. method and trying to get good, consistently long naps.  We also have started really focusing on bedtime and having her always sleep in her crib during naps rather than the swing.

Rolls over but is very content to be on her tummy as well.

She laughs and coos quite often now, especially when on the changing pad after her bath.  She loves getting lotion rubbed on her and the "close up" attention and the faces we make at her while doing this.


She still LOVES attention and if I can predict anything about her future personality, I venture that she will be a little social butterfly.

She gets occasional visits from her brother in her crib--usually in the middle of her nap because Hudson wants a playmate. ha!  in the blink of an eye, he will running her room, climb up and into

She's fitting into 3-6 month clothes, but not really grown out of 3 month yet

She can hold her head up easily and loves to look all around while doing so.  I think she likes the new perspective.

She is starting to reach for toys, but can't really grasp them yet.

She is very aware of her surroundings and will turn to light/noise
My favorite part of Hallie's behavior right now is that she goes to sleep on her own so well--sometimes cries for a minute, but will basically go to sleep on her own! It's the best, and a far cry from where we were with Hudson at this age (who basically would only fall to sleep if nursing.)  She still struggles making it through sleep cycles consistently, but once she get back to sleep, she is known to take 3 2 hr naps in the day and sometimes a catnap in the evening.  We are in such a better place with her sleeping than we were with Hudson at this time.  Starting from birth made SUCH a huge difference.

We love our Hallie girl and the brightness that she brings into our life.

Hudsonisms

Some things Hudson says/does that I don't want to forget.

Many of these have to do with his ever growing vocabulary, his ability to remember the strangest things and repeat them, and his mispronunciation of words. :)

• When he wants us to lay be him at night he said to us: " Lay by jew" (meaning lay by you, which really means, lay by me, but he got it from us asking, do you want me to lay by you. If we correct him and say, " no, it's lay by me, " he says, "oh! Lay by jew, me."
• Whenever Dad asks him what he did that day, he says, "park!" regardless of wether or not we went.  Sometimes he comes up with extravagant days such as going to the beach and swimming in the warm ocean.  If only we lived in his imaginary days.  
• In the morning he will come into our bed and often say "breakfast!"  We have started asking him what he wants for breakfast.  One day a few months ago, he responded for the first time and said pancakes, so by golly, we had pancakes.  Now he always responds with "cinnamon..." and then goes on to name breakfast foods, or my favorite is when he starts saying things like "cherry pie, chocolate cake" which he picked up from reading The Very Hungry Caterpillar.  Cinnamon comes from when we have rice and raisins with cinnamon.  He learned there that he loves cinnamon and we now put it on rice and raisins, oatmeal, applesauce, and all things that could use a little cinnamon. 
• Prayers:  Hudson is a good little prayer, and folds his arms and closes his eyes.  He is sometimes a little eye police though and will say "closureyes" (close your eyes-really fast) and often directs this phrase to Hallie.  At the end of the prayer, he follows with "Christ, Amen." He used to just say " amen," but has changed recently.  I think the change came when we had him start to actually say the prayer, and he would say the whole phrase.
• Whenever Hudson has something stuck in his teeth, he says "chicken mouth."  The first time he ever had something caught in his teeth, it was chicken, and thus the phrase was born.  Also, whenever he sees one of those flosser/toothpicks, he calls it a "chicken mouth."