My sweet girl:
It's been said that the first 3 months of a baby's life are like the "fourth trimester" — that human babies should still be in the womb but emerge early due to our large brains. Then, something magical happens around the 4–5 month mark where our squishy babies start to be little upright humans. This transformation has definitely happened with you over the last month!
You are sitting up (albeit a bit wobbly), rolling over both ways, grasping for objects, and babbling like crazy. You also love to pass the time by looking at your hands in amazement. It looks like you are casting spells the way you twirl your hands around and watch them. You remind me that, wow, hands really are incredible.
You still have the sweetest, smiliest little personality. We'll be out and about and people will take a peek at you and be presented with the gift of your smile. I love seeing their reactions. You have a way of lighting up the space around you.
Occasionally you have your freak out moments and scream your head off, and you definitely have cranky moments in the evening like most babies do (parents call this the "witching hour"). When these things happen you are usually made calm again by being walked around or taken outside.
Probably the thing that surprises me the most about you is how talkative you are. I don't remember your brother ever babbling the way you do at such a young age. Sometimes it sounds like you are speaking in complete sentences, with facial expressions to go along with your stories. It is the most entertaining thing in the world to watch you do this.
You still love big brother Hank and watch him in a way that you do nobody else. You give him your full, rapt attention. He loves to be on the other side of your watchful eyes. He is very loving and kind with you, and only occasionally forgets to be gentle. And you don't even flinch when he runs his trucks and toys around you and over you.
This past month was busy for us as we did some of our first long-range travel as a family of four. We traveled to Elysburg, PA for you and your brother's first trip to Knoebels Grove. You were so easy-going and happy as a clam as long as we were outside and you could look around. Then we traveled to Jersey Shore for a few days to visit Nana and Papa's house where you entertained visitors. Overall you were an excellent traveler and pretty much stuck to your schedule/routine no matter where we were.
You had a checkup at the pediatrician today (your 4 month checkup, though you were 5 months old). You weighed almost 16 lbs. (60th percentile), were 26 inches long (80th percentile), and had a head circumference of 43 cm (88th percentile). You are growing and thriving so well, and we got the go ahead to start solid foods.
You still nap 3-4 times a day and sleep for 12 hours at night. You get up twice during the night to eat (around 1 AM and 5 AM) and have gotten very efficient at nursing, often taking only 5-10 minutes to eat. You are not much of a comfort nurser — if I try to feed you when you aren't hungry you get very mad at me. I like that you are all business!
Even though you're the newest member of our family, I absolutely cannot imagine our life without you in it. Being your mama has brought a fullness and richness to my existence here on earth that fills me with honor and gratitude.
Love you baby girl,
Mama
