Please pardon the mess...: May 2013

Dear Harper,

Where has four months gone my Mousy!?! You've been apart of our family for four months and it's been an absolute joy. You are so beautiful, sweet and happy. Your demeanor is so easy going and I am soooo thankful for that because I am still adjusting for being a Mommy of two!

This was an interesting month. I had to go to our storage unit and get out the bounceroo. You are progressing much faster than your sister and I just knew it was time for you to learn to sit and balance using your back muscles. You've spent more and more time in it although you aren't quite sure how to play with the little toys on the bounceroo. We also had an appointment at childrens hospital, more about that later. And you rolled over!!!!

You are really teething pretty badly and have been for two months now. I have tried every trick in the book and I finally broke down and got you a baltic amber necklace which is supposed to help with the pain of the teething. You've had it on a week now and I think I see a improvement but I'm not sure.

Your new baltic amber necklace.

A new bracelet for Mommy intended for teething.

You like to chew on this toy occasionally.

My heart hurts when you can't figure out how to keep things in your mouth to soothe yourself.

BABY STATS:

Sleep:

You have been a very easy sleeper thus far but you've reached that silly fourth month where everything turns upside down. You never woke up much during the night the past four months but now you are waking nightly for a feed and we've had to ween you from your swaddle. Since you have also learned to roll over, you roll onto your tummy and get really upset. I wake up to find you crying because you are on your belly, I roll you onto your back and you roll right back onto your belly and cry! It's a no win, I tell you! Last night I finally swaddled you again because it's the only way to keep you from rolling over! This is your last month of sleeping in Mommy and Daddy's bedroom. We are moving to a three bedroom! You get your own room, Harper!!!! Yay! I am so excited to decorate it for you so you will have a special place of your own.

You always turn your head to your right to sleep, a lot of times grabbing the pillow on your swing to nuzzle your face.

A nap at the beach.

You LOVE your swaddle!

Daily Routine:
You are settling into a routine. Each day you generally take a morning, mid-day and afternoon nap. I'm currently trying to get you on a schedule where you take a 9:30 and 12:30 nap. You are going to bed around 7:30, sometimes earlier.

Feedings: Feedings are difficult. I made two appointments with the pediatrician last month because you wouldn't take bottles from me at all, were arching your back and bobbing your head into the bottles nipple getting formula all over your face, a lot of times you get so riled up you slap me in the face! The Doctor finally saw what I was talking about when you wouldn't take a bottle from me but instantly took the bottle from me when placed in your carseat in the exam room. She noticed you had swallow suck coordination problems and referred us to a speech pathologist for a swallow study at Lurie Children's Hospital downtown Chicago. I had to cancel our first appointment because I had surgery to have my appendix removed. Things weren't improving and I had to wait another two weeks to get you in, We finally made it and the swallow study reflected that formula was going near your airway so they thickened the formula with rice in a couple of different thicknesses and found that with 1.25 teaspoons of rice cereal per ounce the formula was going down correctly. So you have a good amount of rice cereal per bottle now and your feedings are less incremental than they were. They were every 3 hours and now you are going about 4 hours or a little more between feedings.

Weight: 16 lbs

Length:

Diaper Size: Two

Clothes Size:

3-6 months, some 6 month clothes and even a couple of 9 month outfits(ralph lauren runs small)! Still outgrowing your sleepers like crazy!!! Very similar to your sister but a little bigger.

Hair Color:

4 months: dirty blonde

Eye color:

4 months: A gorgeous blue. Your sisters eyes are grey now, I wonder if yours will turn grey.

Funniest Moment:

You love to laugh at facial expressions and a lot of times Maddie and I try to see if we can make you laugh. We do make you laugh a lot and those times are so special to me. It's obvious you get what's happening because you laugh each time.

Milestones:

You are rolling over from back to front and propping yourself up on your arms. Your left arm always gets stuck underneath you. We are still working on more and more tummy time and rolling over from your stomach to your back.

You are reaching and grasping at things when they are in front of you, even sitting in your bumbo.
You are lifting your legs and bringing them into your chest now instead of just laying flat.

You coo and babble all of the time. I love your sweet noises. They are so high pitched and it seems like you are trying to tell us something. Sometimes you mistake giving out a loud coo instead of a cry when it's obvious you are frustrated or your teething is bothering you.
Eye contact - You love to sit in my lap and look at me and you love it when I sing. You love to look out the window at the blue sky. I make you laugh a lot with silly faces and noises.
Mirrors - I showed you yourself in a wall mirror for the first time the other day and you smiled so big!

Your favorite toys: I don't know that you really love any of your toys, you play with what's around. You've outgrown your play mat because you roll over and the legs of it get in the way. I think you like your bounceroo. You haven't learned cause and effect yet. For instance, bouncing and making toys do things, you kind of just hang out and bat at a few toys.

Firsts:

First time in your bounceroo.

First laugh May 2011

First time rolling over May 9

First time to the beach! You did very well. Part of the time I had you in the baby bjorn and part of the time you sat in your shady car seat where you even napped.

I love you Harper. You have such a sweet disposition. Your smile is absolutely contagious. I can't wait to see your personality develop more and more and to see your relationship with Maddie bloom.

Mommy

Maddie's favorite cartoon, Olivia has an episode where Olivia goes to the beach. Maddie started asking me if we could go to the beach, assuming we had a beach near. This would have been a different story in St. Louis but since we are in Chicago and since Lake Michigan is 2.9 miles away I bravely told Maddie we would go. I tried to get Maddie to take an early nap so we could have a picnic lunch there (which she had also been asking to do) but Maddie wouldn't sleep so we ate lunch at home and headed for the beach.

I had done some brief internet research on which beaches were kid friendly and we headed out. We went to Montrose Beach. I found the sandy beach and parked near. I loaded the stroller and both girls. It felt so surreal to be at a beach so near to our home and a beach that really resembled any ocean beach I had ever been to. I had to remind myself we were at a lake. I mean, there were even sea shells!

I was so excited for Maddie to see the beach, touch the sand and water. We made it down the long board walk and parked the stroller at the end. I layed the blanket out on the sand, pulled out the beach toys and helped Maddie make sand castles while I fed Harper a bottle. She had watched Olivia make sand castles and I think Maddie really enjoyed packing the sand in the different shaped toys, turning them upside down and then revealing the fun shapes.

After 10-15 minutes Maddie asked to go to the water. I covered Harper with a blanket in her car seat and took Maddies hand. The water was cold and I thought Maddie wouldn't like it. The last time she was at the lake was last year while visiting Chicago and she hated the sand and water. She was used to the pool. Maddie LOVED the water! She couldn't get enough and wanted to go deeper and deeper and let go of my hand. We made three trips to the water and Maddie even fell at one point soaking her dress and diaper. She whimpered a little bit but I explained to her that we get wet when we go to the beach and then she was okay. We packed everything up and headed back home. Of course, Maddie fell asleep in the car.

All in all it was a great experience and we've been waiting for good weather on a weekend so that we can show Daddy our new beach. I'm hoping to visit the beach often this spring and summer for picnics, sand castles, swimming, walks and sun sets.