Keira: 4 months

This sweet girl is now 4 months old. Say what? I keep thinking, Wasn’t it just Christmas?

We’ve definitely moved out of the newborn stage. Keira is reaching out and grasping objects. She plays with the toys hanging from her activity gym, and stuffs anything that makes it into her clutches straight into her mouth. Just a day or two ago I first noticed her getting upset when she dropped her toy, which surprised me. I don’t blame her, it looked like she was having a grand time sucking, chewing, and slobbering all over it. She nearly always has something in her mouth, hand and fingers included. Sometimes she just can’t get enough, and two fists it. Sometimes she goes too far and gags herself.

We’re still waiting for Keira to roll over. She had a short lived, one time, three-in-a-row stint at 2 months old. I haven’t seen anything since. I think she’s close to rolling from back to front. She will crane her neck to look slightly behind her, and sometimes twists her hips up off the floor. She just needs to reach across her body and I think she’d do it.

She may not be rolling, but that doesn’t mean she’s not moving. When someone is holding her in a sitting position she loves to push off with her feet and rock her whole body back and forth. She gets pretty into it and sometimes surprises me with the amount of force she uses. She loves to stand and bounce pushing up and down with her legs. We need to get her a jumper and see what she does. Keira will also occasionally push with her feet and lift her bum up while laying on the ground. She also arches her back while sitting in her bumbo. This girl wants to move.

Keira loves to be held. Whenever I lay her down, I always anticipate a complaint out of her. Sometimes I can distract her by giving her something else to focus on. Other times I end up carrying her around, or listening to her cry for a few minutes while I do whatever it is I need to do. Poor girl. She is also so much happier when I put her in the bumbo seat. If she can see what is going on she’s satisfied enough, for a little while. Keira really doesn’t like to be left alone. If she sees me walk away, she immediately starts crying. The second I come back she calms down. Luckily she does ok at bedtime and naptime, otherwise I think I’d go crazy.

It has been fun to see the differences between Hailey and Keira. Keira does things we don’t remember Hailey ever doing. Like the pushing with her feet and rocking that I mentioned. Keira also sucks on her lips, which Hailey didn’t ever do. Usually the bottom one, occasionally the top one. I haven’t seen her do it as much recently, so maybe she’s phasing it out.

Sleeping and sucking on her lip.

Distractions are starting to become a problem during feedings. Any sudden noise or talking and Keira immediately pulls away and looks around. If Kyle talks to me while I’m nursing, Keira will often stop, look at me and smile. It’s hilarious, she seems to think that I’m talking to her. Kyle will try to get her attention, but she just sits and looks at me smiling. Eventually, after some work, he’s able to get her to take notice of him, and then she smiles for him. I do love her pauses and smiles while she eats. It’s pretty cute. What is not cute is her new biting and pulling while nursing. That I don’t enjoy so much. I don’t remember Hailey ever doing that. She also tends to pinch me with her roving hand while she’s eating. It hurts!

It is pretty easy to get Keira to smile. Usually all I need to do is smile first and she’ll smile back. She is super smiley first thing in the morning. It’s a great way to start my day. Laughing is becoming more common as well. My favorite is when she laughs when I pull her arms out of her sleeves when getting undressed. It must tickle or something. She has also laughed just from me talking to her, not intentionally trying to get any sort of reaction out of her.

Sleeping is so-so. The past few weeks were pretty rough. Keira would sleep about 4 hours and then wake up every 1 1/2 - 2 hours. I felt like a zombie. I just can’t function on so much interrupted sleep. This week has been better. I’ve started cracking down on naptime and bedtime. I didn’t have much of a routine set, but I’ve realized that she just isn’t a newborn anymore and it’s time to stick to more of a schedule to be sure she gets enough rest in during the day, so she isn’t overly tired at night. This week she has sleep about 6 hours, and then gotten up two times after that, which really is way better than getting up 5 times at night.

4 month stats:

• Weight: 14 lbs. 12 oz. (75%)
• Height: 24 3/4 inches (75%)