Louise Mae - Four Months Old

I am feeling mom-guilt over the fact that Louise's milestones are not being recorded as obsessively as the boys' milestones (or, you know, at all.)

She is already four months old and I haven't told you anything about her!
So here are some pictures that I took of her on Easter. She is such a cheerful, smiley baby! But like most babies, those smiles are replaced with concerned eyebrows when the big camera comes out.
Louise at four months, she has rolled over a few times and can "sit up" for a few seconds at a time- though not as well as August could. She weighs about 15 pounds, and is in the 90th percentile for height, weight, and head size! (For proof, please observe those THIGHS.)



She is so drooly, and loves to have things in her mouth. She grabs things (like blankets, fingers, pacis) and then attacks them with the cutest little baby-lion noises and faces. She chews on things with ferocious glee! And no wonder- she already has TWO TEETH!
The two teeth on the bottom came in at about 3 and a half months. I was so surprised- not only because she is so young, but because she exhibited no signs of discomfort. She wasn't fussy, up at night, or feverish. In fact, she slept better than usual the nights before each tooth popped in! I guess she was using up all her energy being happy while in pain, and needed extra rest.
She is very quiet and observant, rarely fussy or sad. She watches us all the time, her little eyes following everything that we do. She makes all these funny little sounds and facial expressions like she's trying to copy us speaking. And I'm sure that she understands many things that I say, like when I ask: "Are you hungry?" and she starts to hyperventilate in excitement!
When Louise is sad- she SCREAMS. She screams like it's on purpose and she's punishing us for letting her get hurt. She really only screams when she is in the backseat by herself, without any brothers to look at her, or when one of the boys accidentally hurts her- as has unfortunately happened several times.

She hates to be in the carseat, but if a big brother sits by her and hold her pacifier in, she calms down almost instantly and watches him until she falls asleep. She loves her brothers and they can get her to laugh more easily than Travis or I. She often squeals for joy at seeing them and instantly calms down if she is sad. As I am writing this, she woke up from her nap. I know that she is hungry and ready to eat, but instead of helping her- I sent Micah in to entertain her. I can hear giggles from both of them!
Louise is still entirely breastfed. She's a good eater and eats every 3-5 hours, day or night. I'm ready for her to sleep through the night, but she's still so little and nice that I don't mind when she gets up.

Four Months Old

August! This little man is four months old. A fact which I failed completely to remember until a sales clerk said, "Oh! How old is your baby?" and I said, "Three months."

False. He has been four months old for a few days now. He is very much like he was as a three month-old, in that he is a cheerful, patient baby that rarely cries, but laughs and smiles almost constantly. He lets his brothers play, pull, and tumble all over him and rarely complains (in fact, he generally loves it.) He loves the boys so much. He watches them constantly and I know he can't wait to be running off with them. Once he figures out how to move, he's going to be unstoppable (and probably drive his brothers crazy, getting into whatever they're doing.)

In the above pictures, I was trying to get August to look at me, but instead he was watching Grey dance and parade around the yard.

August sleeps really well in some aspects, and poorly in others. For example, he goes to sleep on his own with very little trouble. At naptimes, I usually just lie him down swaddled, and leave the room and he goes to sleep on his own. (Although sometimes he likes to be rocked to sleep, or have me lie with him on my bed for a while.) At night he wakes up, eats, and goes immediately back to sleep without any rocking or his pacifier. But at night he's been getting up to eat every two and a half or three hours. Sometimes I don't want to feed him after so little time, so I just reswaddle him and give him a paci. He will go back to sleep for about an hour, but it's often restless and he'll hum and wriggle in his sleep. So I end up sleeping restlessly, too. Also, he hums in his sleep all the time. It's so annoying, and very hard to sleep through. I'm hoping it's just a growth spurt and he needs extra food, and soon he'll start sleeping in 5-6 hour blocks again, because I am tired. 

He really wants to eat solid foods, and starts hyperventilating, kicking his legs, and gasping with excitement when he sees us eating. I stuck a bit of mushed up banana in his mouth the other day and he was delighted. I'm not really ready for him to eat solids, yet, but I feel it close around the bend. 

August has been chewing on his hands (and anyone else's he can get) like crazy, as well as drooling everywhere all the time. But I seem to recall that the boys were the same way and they didn't get teeth until about 10 months. 

August is so big, weighing about 16 pounds and already wearing clothes that Grey and Micah fit in when they could walk. WALK. I never really thought Grey and Micah were behind developmentally (they weren't really, despite being preemies.) but looking at their four month old update it's crazy to me how different they were from August. They couldn't lie on their stomachs and hold their heads up so high or for so long. They were nowhere near sitting. They were teeny tiny. But they could roll, something August has no inclination to ever do. He only rolled over once in the last month, and I think it was a complete accident and quite surprised him.

He wants to sit up so badly, and can actually sit up for about 15 seconds at a time on the solid ground (if propped correctly, as above). He can sit up on my lap indefinitely (without leaning back against me), but my legs help to balance him- so it doesn't quite count. It's tricky to get pictures of him sitting though, and most of them ended up looking like this, haha:

We all love this boy so much, and I can hardly remember what our family was like when he wasn't a part of it. Isn't it funny how that happens?

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday - Four months

I can make no pretense of being wordless today, but I intend to make up for it by the huge photo dump that accompanies my words today.
My babies are four months old!
Four months, and two days - to be exact.
But since their four month birthday was on a national holiday, I didn't get to come online and write about how awesome they are.
And Dang, are they awesome!

This last month I think they've changed and developed so much, but they hardly look different at all! ({Here} they are a month ago)
But really they are getting less like infants and more like babies every day! They laugh and coo and talk all day long. It's becoming more and more obvious that they can already make choices and decisions.
For example, sometimes when they want to go to sleep (rare), they'll happily coo and ooh and ahh, when I go into the bathroom and turn on the fan and then settle down and go to sleep in my arms within minutes.
Other times, even though they are exhausted, they notice that I'm heading down the hall towards the bathroom and they'll start flailing and kicking and screaming. They're trying to escape me, their swaddle, the bathroom, and -worst of all!- naptime.
They know what they want, and they decide themselves if they'll get it.
They are also getting SO strong.
They hate lying down, and if they're being held they want to be upright, preferably facing out towards the world. They still like to sit by themselves on the couch and watch us.
But they also like to sit on the couch and watch themselves. They'll stare at their hands and feet, and slowly, deliberately move them. They're still not very good at moving their limbs intentionally, but they'll look at their toes and their faces will get red with concentration as they slowly curl and uncurl their toes.
We sat Micah on the couch next to a shiny Cracker Jacks bags and he watched Travis stick his hand into the bag, and followed his hand to his mouth and then would slowly move his jaw - copying the chewing motion that Travis made.
Then he'd look back at the bag and stare at it, slowly moving his hand towards and away from the bag.
Occasionally he'd touch the bag and get really excited. He knew he was close. He was figuring it out.
The boys also like to stand, but their legs stay slightly bowed, and their toes always stay pointed.
Little ballerinas.

They no longer cry and cry and cry if we don't come pick them up when they wake up - but instead they roll over, find their fingers to suck on, and entertain themselves (unless they're really hungry).  The other day I went in to their room and Micah was staring out the window. I guess I was really quiet, because I snuck all the way to his crib and when I said "Hi Micah," he nearly jumped out of his skin.
It was such a grown-up thing to do - being startled by me.
I loved it.

Grey has become really chatty and always is talking and wiggling his tongue. He wakes up and lies in his bed grinning and talking to himself.
Sometimes he'll goo and coo and then laugh and laugh at himself - like he's in his bed telling himself jokes. He also thinks Micah is hilarious, and laughs more at the sight and sound of his brother than anything else.


They are both working so hard at trying to crawl and I think they'll learn really early. If I lie them on their bellies they'll scoot several feet, and if there is a blanket under them they'll pull at it until it's bunched up underneath them and they're lying on carpet.

Every day they become more and more like people, and I just love it.