claire - four months old!

Claire at four months - April 24, 2012

Weight/Height: Big girl weighed in yesterday morning at 11 lbs, 7 oz! That is definitely an improvement. She's still smaller than most of the babies I know, and is only hovering around the 10th percentile, but we're all happy with her weight gain.

Clothes: Claire is still in 0-3 month old clothes and will be for a while, for the most part. The sleepers fit her perfectly, length-wise, but are a little big in the body. Onesies fit perfectly, and pants are just starting too. She's still too little for some of her 3 month dresses, but Momma's making it work! I've learned my lesson and am now buying a size smaller for those things I buy ahead of time.

Eating Habits: Since I've returned to work, Claire is nursing when she wakes up and right before bed. She takes a 5 oz bottle of pumped breastmilk at school, along with 2 5-6 oz bottles of formula. She has another bottle of formula at home.

Sleep: Claire is a champ in the sleep department - she must take after her daddy. She falls asleep between 8 and 9 p.m. each night and sleeps until I wake her up at 6:30 a.m. We've been surprised to find that she slept until 8 a.m. last Saturday morning. Keep it up, baby girl! She doesn't nap as long during the day, but that's okay.

Eye Color: Still blue-brown.

Biggest accomplishment: Claire is officially rolling over from her belly to back now. She has done it spuratically before this month but in the last two weeks, she had figured out that she can get off her belly just by rolling. Little girl does NOT like to be on her belly. 

I have a cute little video of my brilliant girl, but I can't figure out how to upload it from my phone to here. :(

How We Spend Our Day: With the end of my maternity leave and the beginning of full-time "school," our weekdays are pretty structured. Momma wakes up at 5:30 and gets ready for work. I wake Claire up around 6:30, she eats and then we head out the door around 7:15. After dropping her at school, I head to work. Depending on the day, Bob or I pick her up around 5:15ish. She usually takes a bottle soon after getting home, before Bob and I eat dinner. She hangs out with us while we eat dinner and then plays or snoozes afterwards. Then it's time for bath, jammies, bedtime snack and bed. Then Momma and Daddy straighten up the house, fix bottles for the next day and pack our lunches. Our time together passes very quickly during the week, but we make up for it on the weekend!

Likes:

• "Talking" and being talked to. Claire engages in "conversations" with everyone around her now!
• Toys - she is much more aware of her toys now and tries to hold them, shake them and stick them in her mouth.
• Speaking of her mouth, Claire likes to put EVERYthing in her mouth now. She is drooling a lot and usually has to have her clothes washed purely from the amount of drool she lets out!

Hello, Mr. Bear

 Dislikes

• Being interrupted while eating to burp. Little girl squeals until we give her her bottle back! - Claire is still not a fan of being interrupted while eating.
• Sitting still for too long. Claire wants to be up and doing something!

Favorite Moments: While I do not enjoy dropping Claire off at daycare each day, I do enjoy the smiles we are treated to upon our return. It makes this Momma's heart smile to see how happy she is and hear the teachers talk about what a good baby she is. Just yesterday, Claire accompanied me to two doctor's appointments (hers and my own) and was the hit of both doctor's offices, especially mine. She was passed from nurse to nurse and smiled for each of them...despite just having her four month shots! Bob and I comment often on how lucky we are to have such an easy-going girl. When she gets mad, she lets us know, but most of the time she is her adorable, giggly, smiley self. We just love her so much.


Doctor's Orders: I'm adding this one, mostly so I can remember what Dr. B tells me. Claire should be getting around 30 oz of milk per day, so we will be upping her bottles a bit. Between now and her six month appointment, we are to start introducing solids. We will probably wait closer to five months, but then start with rice cereal or oatmeal mixed with formula. We'll add a meal a week until she gets three solid meals per day, in addition to her bottles. After rice cereal, we can try veggies/fruits - each for about 3-4 days to check for allergies.

Comparison: