It Is WELLS With My Soul : 4 Months and ON THE MOVE!

Where has the time gone? I can't believe its been four months! Six months is right around the corner, my baby is growing up!

she is reaching for the camera here!

not amused by this monthly routine!

Height: 24" (30 percentile)
She is considered shorter than average for her age but she is definitely taller than the babies they use to create patterns for 0-3 and 3 month clothing because all the pants in those sizes are too short!

Weight: 11 lb. 13.5 oz (7.5 percentile)
Yes, 7.5, I claim and own that .5 percent! This has been a struggling and very frustrating point for me. I work so hard to help her gain weight despite the breastfeeding issues we have. ( see below and previous monthly posting for more information on that). However, Dr. Hilary isn't concern and says she looks healthy so I am choosing now not to fixate on this!

Head Circumference: FLIPPING HUGE! (93 percentile)
Face it, my kids heading Humongous! Especially considering she is so small in terms of weight. I mean seriously, her head must be half her weight. Its a miracle she can hold it up! But she can, and just fine according to Dr. Hilary. Head control was an area of concern that I had for Miss Beemer going into her appointment. So....I did what any mother who just so happens to have a degree in Early Childhood Special Education would do....I printed off a 4 month ASQ (ages and stages questionnaire) and filled it out. Little Miss passed in all areas with flying colors except for Gross Motor where there were some "red flags." However, I was kind of relieved. I thought, "Ok, cognitively and social communicatively she is great. We can fix gross motor a whole lot easier than we can those areas." At this point I was ready to write an IEP for her but decided to check with Dr, Hilary first. I told her my concerns and the data and observation I had to support it and she checked her out. She said her head control seemed age appropriate. However, her neck flexibility and head shape have cause for mild concern. Upon evaluation at the office Blakely was able to easily move her head to the right but was not able to fully turn her head to the left. AND the back of her head is a little flat. At this point, on the inside, I was FREAKING OUT, things like "torticollis" and "helmet" were flying through my head at a million miles a minute!

NECK FLEXIBILIY: Dr. Hilary said it wasn't horrible, but was still something we would want to work on and get ahead of before it does become a serious issue. She said we could do one of two things, work on it at home or go ahead and go to physical therapy at Children's Mercy. Instantly, I thought, Children's Mercy, now...of course! However once I got home and began to rationalize and realize how much we could work on it at home and decided we would try interventions at home before going to PT at Children's. I have a friend who is a PT for Ottawa Infant Toddler Services and she is going to come over this week and show us some stretches and exercises we can do to work on it. She said she treats this all the time! We have done some easy changes at home to help her out. we have changed the direction she sleeps in her bed and lays on her changing table so that she has to turn her head to the left. We also make sure when playing with her that we keep all stimulus (toys, people, sounds) on the left side so she has to turn that way. I think with these interventions that this won't even be a problem anymore!

HEAD SHAPE: Dr. Hilary said that Blakely's head is flat in the back. I totally agree and will take all the blame! Blakely hates tummy time and because she already tends to be a fussy baby I haven't been good about giving her enough tummy time because I couldn't bring myself to do something I knew would make her cry when she already cries enough! However we are going to be much, much better at forcing tummy time so that we don't end up in a helmet!!!!

Sizes:
She is wearing 0-3 month clothes now and even she can even wear some three month clothes because they cloth diapers make her booty a little bulkier, making pants fit better. We had move her snaps on her cloth diapers to make them bigger. She's a tiny tot, but still growing at a good speed!

Social:
Oh my, does she love to coo and giggle. She is so happy in mornings after I feed her and we head out the door. I will hear her cooing and giggling in the car and she will be just smiling and looking at the toys hanging from the car seat. She loves to play with her daddy! She loves it when he tickles her face and belly with his hairy chin! She is very interested in toys and loves to put them in her mouth! She can get quite the death grip on things. A few days ago I was wearing dangling earrings and she grabbed on to one. Luckily Noah was there to peel her hand off or I am pretty sure she would have ripped it right down and out. Don't worry....this momma learned her lesson, no more dangling earrings!

On The Move:
She's a rollin'! She will roll from her back to her belly and back to her back. Ironically, she doesn't mind tummy time when she puts herself on her belly. Another sign that this girl has quite the opinion and attitude!

Action Shot! In the process of rolling over!

Food:
Still just breast milk and she eats 7-8 times per day. I get her up to eat at 6:30 in the morning and then she takes bottles at approximately 9 am, 12:30, and 4 pm at Mrs. Chrystal (WE LOVE HER!) Then I usually nurse her around 6-6:30 pm and again before bed at 7:30 or 8 pm. Sometimes she needs an extra feed in the evening, which means the evening is like one big nursing session, but after a long day without her I don't mind! Once she is asleep around 8-8:30 pm she will sleep until around 3:30-4 am when she will eat quickly and immediately go back to sleep til I wake her up at 6:30.

I am still having supply issues and having to take A LOT of pills (like 23 a day!) and I am also getting up to pump at 1:30 am, even though she is asleep. I pump three times a day at school (7:45, 11:45, and 3:45) which is great since I miss 3 feeds while she is at daycare but she eats a total 15 oz in that time period and I am only pumping 3-4 oz at a time, so I am 3-4 oz short. When I pump at 1:30 I able to get 5-6 oz. Which give me enough for her to have 15 oz at daycare and some to put in storage. Its totally worth it but I must say it is super hard to get up in the middle of the night when the babe is sleeping!

Sleep:
My kiddo may not be a good nurser, but man can she sleep, thanks to the help of Baby Wise. Have I mentioned I LOVE this book? We begin our bedtime routine around 7:45-8:00 (bath, board book, baby devotional, prayer). Then we will nurse and she is a sleep around 8:30-8:45. She will sleep until 3:30ish when she will wake up and want to eat. However, she does a great job of going immediately back to sleep and sleeps til I wake her up around 6:45 am to get ready for the day. Naps are going wonderfully thanks to our beloved Mrs. Chrystal (we love her!) During the week she will take two really good naps that last between 1-2 hours each. On the weekends, because we are usually out and about in the mornings she only cat naps in the morning but then will take a really long 2-3 hour nap in the afternoon.

What Blakely Likes:
Her two fingers.

Rolling on her playmat!

Still loves to be naked, bath time, ceiling fans and lights, and her bouncy seat!

She now loves toys that are small enough for her to grasp with her hand and put in her mouth. Don't worry they are all toys that are safe and appropriate for an infant :)

What Blakely Dislikes:

She will still scream when she is hungry without any prior warning but she likes tummy time a bit better, as long as she puts herself on her tummy and not me!

Were are slowly but surely growing out of the "colic" stage and getting more and more happy. I think as she learns to sit up independently and is able to look and move around on her own she will be a much more content, and less "high maintenance" child :)