Fourth Month

1/13/15

Happy 4 Month Birthday, My Love! Another month of HUGE changes and AMAZING firsts, Ella Bean!

It’s the morning of your 4-month birthday and I am typing this while you lay on your activity mat and play with the owl. {The owl is your favorite by the way, with the apple running a close second}. This has to be my favorite change. You now wake up smiling and happy, happy enough that I can leave you in your crib while I slowly wake-up. Just a month ago, you were waking up crying and HUNGRY and I’d have to jump out of bed and make a bottle as fast as my hands would let me. As a former “hit the snooze button at least 3 times” person, I really appreciate this change!

At your 4 month appointment you weighed 14 pounds and 6 ounces and measure 24 ¼ inches long. This last month you started eating 6 ounces from your bottle, though you go back and forth between 5-6 ounces from bottle to bottle. You like to keep us guessing that way!

Lots of firsts leading up to your fourth month! This month you rolled over from your belly to your back for the first time! At first, it was very random but the last few days you’re doing it more and more! When I go to get you from your nap, I often find you on your back and smiling. You wouldn’t think it, but it’s absolutely adorable!

You seemed to have found your voice this month too. Sometimes you scream for fun. Sometimes you scream to let us know you’re upset but don’t feel like crying. Right now, your daddy and I think it’s funny and cute, but I think that may change down the road ;)

But my favorite first? Your first REAL giggle. You still laugh mostly by squealing, but Daddy got some giggles out of you a few weeks ago and it is just the best. For a little while, Daddy was the only one who could make you laugh, but I figured out a trick to make you laugh too…it involves lots of kisses and raspberries! I can’t wait until your giggles become more and more frequent!

You also celebrated your first Christmas! We had Christmas at our house this year. You were spoiled by your whole family and Santa Claus. You got toys, shoes, and lots and lots of books! You even got your first piece of furniture, a chair with your name on it, from Aunt Ali. You are so, so loved and maybe just a little bit spoiled!

In other news, we hit a major sleep regression L You went from pretty much sleeping through the night to not sleeping through the night, ever! I’m not gonna lie, it’s been very hard on our little family! Mommy and Daddy are tired, and we hope it gets better soon!

Even though you keep us up at all hours of the night, we love you so much! We cannot wait to see what the future brings {besides, hopefully, more sleep}!

Love,

Mommy

Third Month

12/9/14

My Ella,

Hi sweet girl! In just a few days you will be a whole 3 months old!! You won’t understand this for a very long time, but Ella, time is FLYING. It is going too fast!

You weighed 12 pounds 12 ounces and measured 25 inches at your 3-month appointment, you are a growing girl! Dr. John said you would go through some amazing changes this month and he was so right! You have gone from an adorable squishy baby to an even more adorable, more squishy, happy baby that loves to smile and play with her Mommy and Daddy.

You have smiles for miles! Especially when you wake up from a nap. You do this thing where you smile and fold your hands together and it just makes me melt. I hope you stay happy for a long, long, long time.

Let’s talk milestones. Because, wow, have you hit some milestones! Your dad and I are pretty much convinced you’re super-advanced and should be in the record books. You smile, make eye contact, squeal {an early version of your giggles, I’m sure}, you clasp your hands together, you reach for things, follow objects and sounds with your eyes, lift your head up during tummy time, and have the strongest head control of any almost 3 month old I know! And everyone says that, so it must be true ;) !

You are so, so aware. You take it all in, all the time. So much so, that you can make it hard on Mommy when it’s time for a nap. You do not want to miss anything!

You are starting to develop a little bit of a schedule, though I haven’t tried to force anything on you. You sleep through the night about 75% of the time. You wake up around 7:00am HUNGRY. Seriously, you don’t give me much of a grace period when it comes to making your morning bottle {or any bottle}. You eat and we play for a little bit, then you go down for a long morning nap. We kind of repeat this all day and as the day goes on your naps get shorter and shorter. We go to bed around 9-9:30.

We also discovered that you absolutely love baths in your whale tub. You can be cranky, fussy, hungry, or tired but you will sit in the bathtub forever! You love to splash and don’t mind water in your face. When Daddy gives you a bath, he plays music on his phone. When Mommy gives you a bath, she sings songs to you.

We celebrated your first Thanksgiving this month. We went to your Great Aunt Patti’s house and everyone loved you. You wore your adorable squirrel dress and tights! Everyone commented on how alert you were and how good you were. You even took a nap right during dinner so Mommy and Daddy could relax and enjoy all the Thanksgiving food. To think, next year you’ll be eating the same food we do!

I cannot wait to see what the future brings, my love!

Love Always,

Mommy

Second Month

11/13/14

Ella,

Happy two month birthday, sweet girl! You have changed so much in this past month! You started drinking 4 ounces at a time instead of 2-3. Sometimes you’re not as hungry but I am amazed that you’ve doubled what you eat each time in just a month! At your two-month check-up, you weighed 11 pounds, 10 ounces and measured 23 ¾ inches.

You took your first road trip this month! We went to Ohio {where Mommy is from} to see Mommy’s friend, Rose, get married! And boy, were you a ROCKSTAR in the car! We thought the trip would take much longer because we’d need to stop and feed, change, and we assumed, console you. Well, we were wrong! You ate your bottles on the go and we only stopped to get gas and get ourselves some food. We changed your diaper each time and we were back on the road. Your grandma and Aunt Hannah sat in the back to keep you company but you mostly slept the whole time. We told you a million times how much we appreciated what a good girl you were!

In Ohio, you saw your Great Aunt Laura again and met a lot of new people. You met your Great Aunt Chris, cousins Claire & Louise, and Great Uncle Keive. You also met a lot of mommy’s friends and their babies! You met Sheena, Dave & Nolan, Courtney, Chuck, & Caraline, Tracy {and Tracy’s baby in her belly} & Chris, Jen Paglio, and of course, Rose & Chaz!

When we got home from Rose’s wedding you gave us your first smile! Truth be told, both your daddy and I say you smiled before that but the night of October 19^th you were ALL SMILES. We declared it the official date of your first smiles!

You also hit another big milestone during your second month of life: you slept through the night! You and I were staying at Grandma’s because Daddy was in a wedding and needed to get up early and golf by grandma’s house. You slept from 10:00-5:30!! When Daddy woke up in the morning, he said, “Did Ella just sleep through the night?” We were amazed {and well rested}. Since then you sleep mostly through the night. Sometimes you wake up, sometimes you don’t. There doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason to your sleeping schedule, so I’m just going with it for now!

We still have some issues when we feed you. It turns out the medicine we thought had fixed your tummy didn’t quite do the trick. It took a Saturday morning appointment in the pouring rain, but we got you on a new medicine and fingers crossed it works. Speaking of feeding you, you have a new way of telling us you’re hungry….you smack your lips. It’s pretty darn cute!

Time is flying, and before we know it, I’ll be writing your 3-month letter, 6-month letter, and one-year letter! I want to see you grow and freeze time all at the same time.

Love you Miss Ella Bean,

Mommy