(celebrating her 100th day)

Happy Valentine’s Day!  A bit later than usual for Averie’s monthly update but work’s been quite busy and by the time the kids are in bed, I can barely think.  So let me rack my brains and recall what happened developmentally in Month 4:

– Sleeping:  Averie’s nighttime sleeping has continued to be awesome.  Starting the first week of January, she went down between 6:30-7:00 (sometimes even earlier!) and she’s been sleeping until about 7-8am with 1-2 wakings at night (mostly 1).  I know we’re truly blessed with great nighttime sleepers – Aaron goes down around 7:30pm and sleeps like a rock until 6:30-7am.  I can’t recall the last time he woke up at night on his own.  However, we’ve been hit hard with..

– Napping: Nothing’s perfect and Averie’s napping (or lack thereof) definitely attests to that.  She’s never really been as consistent a napper as her brother, and this past month has been pretty bad.  She can go anywhere from 20 minutes-2 hours, but it’s usually about 30-40 minutes and then she’s up.  And she fights naps more and more throughout the day, getting crankier and crankier until she finally passes out at night.  It’s so strange to me how babies can sleep so well at night but poorly in the day.  Short naps seem to be a pretty common occurrence in babies this age, and even has a nickname – the nap intruder.  In a nutshell, she’s having a difficult time transitioning from one sleep cycle to the next, which is why she keeps waking up even though she isn’t completely rested.  Despite trying various tactics, none seems to really jive with her, and I think we’re just going to have to wait until she outgrows this.  I know I shouldn’t complain since she does sleep well at night.

Eating: Judging by the number of her rolls, she’s apparently getting enough to eat and I haven’t had to supplement with formula in weeks.  I’ve been thinking about when to start solids but our pediatrician recommended we wait until she turns 6 months since she’s gaining weight well at this point.  Speaking of rolls, I l-o-v-e them so much!  😀

Other: Developmentally, Averie seems to be hitting most milestones at a good rate.  She’s a champ at holding up her head so we’ve been putting her in the exersaucer, Bumbo, and jumperoo in addition to letting her do tummy time on her playmat.  She grabs at toys (so cute!) and makes funny little faces.  She’s also laughing a lot more now, though her laugh sounds kind of like what a baby linebacker would sound like.  Though she was cooing a lot last month, she’s gotten much quieter this month and doesn’t make as many sounds, perhaps because she’s too busy observing the world around her.  I have a feeling she won’t be as gregarious and outgoing as her brother.

At her 4 month checkup, she was 15.5 lbs and 24.25 inches – growing at a nice rate.  Lately while nursing, she’ll stop and just look up at me with these big, curious eyes and my heart melts.  Watching her grow is such a bittersweet thing – it’s amazing to see all the changes she’s going through, but sad because the time is going way too quickly and soon she won’t be my little baby anymore.  Parenthood brings such mixed emotions!