Baby Nora: 4 Months

Nora's 4 month update is long overdue!

Weight: Nora weighed 14.7 pounds at her check-up yesterday (10 days past 4 months). She's 25 1/4 inches long, which puts her around the 50th percentile for weight and 75th for height. 

Health: The clogged tear duct issues have improved so much over the past couple of weeks. On occasion her right eye acts up a little bit, but overall, much better!

Social: Let's see...We had another visit from the Weir grandparents (and Aunties). We've also gone out more as a family this month. We're still waiting to put her in the nursery at church until cold/flu season is over.

Sleep: Nora is officially swaddle free! We have been through several sleep changes in the past month. Nap times aren't nearly as consistent as last month, partly due to me getting out of the house more, but I think mostly due to a changing girl. Rather than two long naps, Nora is typically taking three shorter naps throughout the day. They vary anywhere from 30 min to an hour and a half. I put her down based on the time of her previous wake up and the length of sleep she had, but they are usually around 10, 12:30, and 3. It's working well for us so far.

She is sleeping (fairly) consistently at night from about 7:30pm - 6:30am, with an occasional feeding around 3:30am. When she wakes up around 6, I usually bring her into bed with us, nurse her there, and let her fall back asleep for another hour. Family snuggles before Matt gets up for work are one of my favorite times of the day.

Nora learned to roll onto her tummy this month. It made for an interesting week of transitions sleep-wise. However, once she gained a little more control (at first she was rolling about 30 seconds after each time we placed her on her back!), she was able to put herself to sleep again quickly. Most nights she sleeps on her tummy, but every once in a while she'll at least stay on her back for at least a few hours.

Diet: I've started researching a little on baby food. We plan to wait until around 6 months before we begin introducing solids, and even then, we will likely take it slow. I'm also reading about baby led weaning. Have any mommas tried this? I'd love to hear some feedback if so!

Clothes: For the most part Nora is in 3-6 month clothes now. She can still squeeze into 0-3 onesies and a few of her pants.

Crying: With the exception of a few nights after she learned how to roll, Nora rarely cries any more. She starts to get antsy if she's restricted from moving for too long (like on my lap for 2 hours at bible study or in her car seat at a restaurant) and fusses if she's super tired. She only cried for about 3 seconds after both of her shots yesterday...she must get her toughness from her daddy because it is certainly not from me! :)

Milestones: Here are some of this month's highlights.

• Loves sitting up.
• Loves locking her legs and "standing."
• Sucks her thumb as she's falling asleep.
• Rolls from back to tummy.
• Laughs!! Her first real laugh was on her 4 month birthday!
• Squeals when we talk to her and still chatters to herself a lot.
• Can push up onto her hands on her tummy. 
• Starting to pull her legs up under her. 
• Puts everything in her mouth.
• Stares at her feet.
• Turns pages of books as we read to her.

We got a few of her first giggles on camera, and I just have to share! 

Happy 4 months, Nora! 
We love you!!

+, Lauren Aiken

One month

Two months

Three months