Our little Lila-Pie turned four months old on February 26th! The month of February was a very eventful month for everyone. Luckily, we've finally overcome a lot of the sleeping and scheduling hurdles from the previous months and are on the right track now. We should really be in a good rhythm by the time Daddy gets here in mid-April for his leave -- and then everything will change, haha!
Physical facts:
Weight/height: At her 4-month well-baby visit on February 28th, Lila weighed 13 pounds 14 ounces and measured 25 inches long. That means she gained approximately 1.5 pounds since her 3-month appointment and grew nearly two inches! Impressive, no? I know John weighed 14 pounds 1 ounce at his 4-month visit, but I don't remember how long he was, and his baby book is packed away so I can't check.
Size: Lila is now completely into the 3-6 month and 6-month size of clothing. I think I may have to get her a few more outfits and sleepers to wear for the next few months because it's still pretty cold and she only has a couple of cold-weather outfits in these sizes. Hopefully it will warm up soon and I won't have to buy anything extra.
Hair/eyes: Lila's eyes are still blue, but there is a tiny speck of brown on her left eye that tells me she will soon share her brother's (and her Mommy's) eye color. I am so curious to see how long it will take them to completely change colors, since I didn't notice it happening with John. Her hair is growing like crazy, which is great for several reasons -- she no longer has a noticeable bald spot in the back, and her little hair bows stay in longer than a few seconds.
Milestones: Some big milestones Lila achieved this past month are:
1) wanting to put weight on her legs to stand up, which she started February 13th
2) squealing (loudly!) in delight, which she started the week of February 21st (see video)
3) rolling over from her back to her tummy, which she started March 3rd (still trying to get a video of this)
I am so amazed by the fact that she is already rolling over (I don't remember when John started doing this, but I'm almost certain it wasn't this early). I didn't see it happen the first time because my mom was watching her while I was at the doctor's office with John. My mom called me right after it happened and I couldn't believe it! Then, when we got home from the doctor, Lila did it again while I was on the phone with Ross. It was so cool to see it happen while Daddy was on the line! I was shouting in excitement, hehe.
Sleeping: This was a rough month in terms of sleeping. Just when it seemed like she was finally starting to sleep for longer stretches at night (the last week of January), Lila suddenly began waking up four or five times a night. Lila and I were both so deprived of sleep that for two weeks in mid-February Lila slept in her car seat for her naps and at night as a temporary solution to give me time to regroup and figure out what was going on.
I again consulted my sleep book and figured out that every time Lila went through a complete 90-minute sleep cycle at night and reached the shallow sleep stage, she'd wake herself up completely instead of starting a new cycle because she wanted me to pick her up and hold her (since I had been doing that up until then). I decided to be much more disciplined about going to her at night. Normally Lila wants to eat around 11 p.m., so I go to her then, of course. If she also wakes up around 4 a.m., I go to her then, too, because she is hungry again. But if Lila wakes up at other times, I now practice a "graduated extinction" approach by going to her to check that she hasn't pooped, soothing her WITHOUT picking her up, leaving the room, and waiting 2 minutes (then 5 minutes, then 10 minutes) to go back in to her. This is working really well so far, thankfully. It is so hard to listen to her cry, but she is learning to put herself back to sleep.
Schedule: So, Lila's schedule is now pretty well established. She wakes up between 6:30 and 7 a.m. and has her first feeding around 7. She is ready for her first nap approximately 1.75-2 hours after she wakes up, usually between 8:30 and 9. Her first nap still varies widely in length. She sleeps 45 minutes, sometimes 2 hours. Her second feeding is around 10:30 or 11. Then she is ready for her second (and longest) nap between 12:00 and 1 p.m., depending on when she woke up from her first nap. This second nap tends to overlap John's nap a little bit, meaning that Mommy has a little window of time to eat in peace and/or just relax and read the newspaper.
Lila has her third feeding whenever she wakes up from her second nap, but usually around 3 p.m. Then, since John's always awake by then too, we head out for an afternoon excursion. It works really well to have Lila take her last nap in the car on the way home from wherever we've gone for the afternoon (around 5 p.m.). She only sleeps for a half hour or so, but that's all she needs to get her through the rest of the evening. She nurses again between 6:30 and 7 and is ready for bed by 8 p.m.
Here are some more photos from the month of February:
Practicing sitting up with Mommy's help.....
Hanging out with Grandma in one of her new gray onesies.....
Showing off her toes, which look just like Daddy's......
Propped up on her Boppy for some quality tummy time.....
Checking herself out in her mirror.....
Wearing her cute 0-3 month-size cardigan for the last time.....
Relaxing in her bath tub.....
Looking pretty in purple.....
I FINALLY took some photos of Lila in her nursery, so I will be posting those sometime in the next few days. She is wearing this adorable gray cardigan sweater that I am in love with. She's already worn it twice this week!
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