{4 Months}

I've been a Mom for 4 months. Seriously? And in those 4 months, my life has gone through the most dramatic and life-changing changes. Ever. And all those cliches? They are ALL true.

This past month has probably been the most exciting one so far with the most changes as well. Harper has become so incredibly aware and intrigued by things. It's as if I didn't realize she was 'real' and would be able to explore. But she does. It completely blows my mind watching her bat, touch, pull, tug, and focus on things. I honestly feel like she understands the cause/effect of some of her toys. Amaze.

Jan. 29, 2011

Weight: 13 lbs (28%) - up from 10lbs 10oz at 2 months
Length: 24 1/2 in. (50%) - up from 22 1/2in at 2 months
Diapers: size 1 Pampers, nighttime diapers size 1 Pampers

Clothes: 3-6 months mostly, can still fit into a few 0-3 month clothes

Eating: 4 oz every 3 hours of Alimentum, except at night and in the middle of the night she gets 5 oz.  We tried to do every 4 hours but it really messed up her sleep in a bad way!

Sleep: Since I returned to work, Harper has stopped sleeping through the night. We tried to keep her daytime routine the same, but she just hasn't! We usually put her to bed around 9:00-9:30 and she will sleep until about 3:00am, and then I wake her and feed her at 6:30am and get her dressed and ready.  We tried not feeding her during that nighttime wake up, but then she would end up waking 3-4 times through the night. She is still in her Rock and Play sleeper in her room.  I just can't seem to move her to her crib yet!

New Tricks: H ROLLED OVER! I was so proud! She's been rolling front to back since Jan. 24th! :) She has also showed us her sweet giggle. Oh my. What a beautiful sound to hear! H also loves to talk. She coos, gurgles, and giggles all the time. It warms my heart when I hear her.  She also loves to put her feet in her mouth and suck on them! She gets this cute proud look on her face when she gets that toe in there! As I mentioned before, she's very aware of things now. She bats, tugs, pulls, etc. on lots of her toys. Her favorite game is to pull her socks off and then let you grab them and she will try to get the socks and pull. The girl is strong!  She also still loves to stand and kind of jump. We've tried her on the Jumperoo with pillows, but she still doesn't quite get it. She does love her 4 month present we got her - the exersacuer. She loves that thing! When H is about to laugh, she raises one eyebrow and then smiles so big and has begun sticking her tongue out when she smiles! ha!

Social Butterfly: Harper still doesn't nap for very long. She's such a GIRL! She hates to feel like she's missing out on something! She loves to just be right in the middle of it all! Her overall personality has really began to show a lot this month. She is such a happy and go-with-the-flow baby. We are so blessed. She runs around with me, we take her out to eat a lot, go to friend's houses, etc. She does great! I must mention too, she really loves her sitter. She does really well there and we are happy with her as well. That helps a lot, but its still hard. But the sitter just loves and holds her all day. It's nice to know.

*Must-Have App: the white noise app. It works like a CHARM!
*Harper has been drooling a ton. Like to the point that she wears a bib now! We think she's about to start teething! Yikes!
*Harper also had her first cold this month! She was such a trooper through the week-long bug!
Changes:
We went through a lot of changes this past month. The biggest one was that I returned to work full time and Harper began a sitter full time. Wow, that was hard. Not only on Harper and I, but on Brian too. He had to realize when he was leaving for work I wasn't taking care of her, someone else was. Our entire routine changed with the mornings, the drop off, getting bottles and things ready the night before, etc. I've had to learn {and am still learning} how to be a good teacher, a good Mommy, a good wife, and a good friend all at the same time. I say good, because I tried to be great at all of these things and realized it wasn't happening and my Mommy Guilt set in. I'm in a place now that I just try and get through hours and minutes. On most days I enjoy being back in the classroom and teaching, and being around adults. But then as soon as the feeling creeps up that I'm enjoying myself, I immediately feel that I'm sad about leaving Harper and not being there. I dunno. I feel like this is normal? But, I don't wish away the weekdays anymore to the weekend. If I do that Harper will just be another week old and I would have wasted that week. So, I'm working on being positive and enjoying all the jobs I am blessed enough to hold.

{PS- with Picnik closing, what free editing site do you all use?!}
{PPS- thanks for reading my very long-winded post! ha}