la dolce vita: Four [and a half] Months

Jane is 4 and a half months old and boy, oh boy, what a difference a schedule makes. Perhaps we would have benefitted from one earlier, but I'm kind of winging it when it comes to being a mom and babies do not come with an owner's manual. hah.

In all seriousness though, I did read that babies wouldn't really accept a routine until they were about 3 months old anyways.

So after 3 months of feeling like I was just barely treading water trying to squeeze everything in, I knew something had to give. From trying to be the world's greatest everything (mom, housewife, chef, jewelry designer, etc.) I was exhausted. It was time to get this baby in a better routine!

It's been about 4 weeks and life for me (and sweet Jane) is much more calm. Jane has always been very consistent with her mornings. About 2 hours after she wakes up she goes down for a nap. I've always thanked her for that dependable two hour chunk of time for me to get stuff done. It was the afternoons and evenings that needed some serious work. Now, after a lot of work, Jane is still taking her morning naps AND taking a shorter nap, usually an hour, in the afternoons, then going to bed between 7-8. We're still working on getting her through the nights. She wakes up between 3-4 in the morning to eat, but honestly I'm up at that time to check on her anyways, so that is just fine with me.

Jane is growing and changing SO fast. She is sitting up like a champ, just needs a little bit of support. She is flipping from front to back and back to front. She is purposefully grabbing for things and bringing them right to her mouth. She has found, and LOVES, her feet. She is cooing and giggling and squealing. Oh how I am loving this stage...so much better than 0-3 months. (Just being honest here. 0-3 months was really hard for many reasons.)

We had her 4 month well baby check up this week. Jane is doing great. She weighs in at a nice 16 pounds, putting her in the 75th percentile for weight, and she is already 26.75 inches tall, putting her in the 97th percentile for height. No idea where she gets the height from, but she was 22 inches when she was born, so still measuring tall for her age doesn't surprise me. We've also had her second laser treatment for the birthmark on her face. Breaks my heart to see her after the treatment, but it is getting lighter each time and really doesn't bother her at all.

Here are some pics from the past few weeks: