Emma's 4 months old

Between Emma's 3-month birthday and now, Emma has really developed a lot!  Besides the fact that we spent most of this past month in Australia (and so there were a lot of new "first" experiences for her), I feel like she's really starting to hit some big developmental milestones too.

I'm 4-months-old today!  (And I can nearly sit up too...she kept pulling herself upright and forward during today's little photo shoot!)

Firsts

-Rolling over from tummy to back (just did this today!)
-Laugh (on Christmas!)
-Visit to an aquarium
-Day of daycare

On her way to first day of daycare

-Grasping at (and grabbing) toys hanging in front of her

She learned how to pull her bird this past weekend (Evan learned to do this on our way to the airport to fly to Australia 2 years ago, when he was about this same age).  It vibrates as it shortens back up.  She kept pulling it over and over. 

Growth and Development

Our laughing, smiling, and grasping baby girl is moving right along with hitting developmental milestones.  She seems to be right on schedule for most things as far as I can tell.  She is much more tolerant of tummy time this month than she was last month, so that's continually improving.  She can now prop herself up on her elbow and really look around more when she's on her belly.  Yesterday, in fact, I caught her looking really far upward to find me, which was the first time I'd seen her look up (as opposed to straight ahead) during tummy time.  She also seems like she wants to crawl away when she's in tummy time.  I see her moving her legs in ways that if she just had her belly off the ground, she'd be off in a hurry!

She also rolled over for the first time today!  Prior to today, I was thinking that she was nearly ready to roll over; at least from laying on her back to her tummy, but today she completely surprised me by rolling over from her tummy to her back during tummy time.  One moment I had her in tummy time, then I looked at Evan's latest Mr. PotatoHead creation, and then I looked back to see her on her back!  I tried to get her to do it again, to no avail.  Her neck was getting tired and she wasn't propping herself up as much.  I'll try again later for sure!  Otherwise, we were thinking she was close to rolling from her back because this past Thursday evening I had her laying on her back in her floor gym and she rolled completely onto her side (John had also seen her do this earlier that same day)!  It won't be long now before she'll be rolling over both ways I guess!  Plus, with how strong her stomach muscles are, she'll be sitting soon too.  As of now, she does a lot of "sit ups" by really using her abs to pull herself upright (and even forward when we already have her in a seated position).

Smiling at her snail toy (it has a mirror on its side) during tummy time

I'm pretty sure she weighs at least 15 lbs, but she could be getting closer to 16 for all I know.  We'll find out the official measurements on Thursday at her 4-month check up.  What I do know is that even some of her 3-6 month clothes are starting to be too small!  In particular some of her sleepers, so I may need to start digging out the next size of those soon!  She has completely outgrown her 0-3 month/000 sized clothes.  She was able to wear just a few of that size while we were in Australia.  As soon as I we got home, I packed all of those up to make room for her 3-6 month/00 wardrobe.  She still wears size 2 pampers diapers and sadly we haven't started her on cloth diapers yet. :(

An example of some cute 3-6 month jeans I put on her for the first time and they were too snug around her waist.  A one-time wear.

Emma also really got into exploring her hands this past month; both to look at and also to suck on or stick in her mouth, and she can bring her hands together now too.  In fact, seeing her try to put both hands in her mouth at the same time is not uncommon, and we've heard her gag herself with her own fingers/hands.  I've also caught her staring at her toes and feet too (especially when they were visible due to her being sockless while we were in Australia).

This picture just turned out too funny (thanks to the bright flash).  It was when she was trying to put both hands in her mouth.  What do you think she's saying?  hehe...

Emma's baby hair has started to fall out and change a lot this past month.  She had some cradle cap while we were in Australia and as I rubbed baby oil onto her head, all these little dark baby hairs came off into my hand. :(  Since then, I can see a bit of lighter hair growing back in, although she still has some of her long dark hairs on the top center of her head.  So she often sports either a mohawk look or a come over. Add the bald spot that is still clearly visible on the back of her head and I guess you might say she's having a bad hair month. ;)

How do you like this mohawk!?

Emma is ticklish!  Her first laughs were when I was gently squeezing her cute and chubby thighs while playing with her before bed on Christmas, and besides her thighs she also gets a little giggly when I tickle her chest and neck.  

Meal time/sleep time

Emma is now on a schedule!  And I'm happy to say that the 3-hr schedule/routine she got onto in Australia has been adjusted to our time zone so she is on it here at home too.  It helped out so much for her first days home without me (either with John or at daycare) to be on such a good schedule too.  She's been a great baby so far for John and daycare following her schedule to a tee.  On this schedule, she nurses on both sides during daytime when I'm home with her (otherwise she takes 5 oz bottles), and she takes a pacifier now too.  She started this in Australia and still will take it on occasion to help her fall asleep.  She goes down for bed around 8pm and wakes up around 5am for a quick (one side) feed, and then sleeps until 8am or so (or until something wakes her up, either us or Evan).

Play time

Emma is really getting into toys now that she can grasp and hold onto them.  She loves her ring links since they are light and she can hold them well and bring them to her mouth easily.  She also likes her jingly bug pull toy (though she doesn't pull it yet), her pull bird, the hanging toys in her floor gym (which she usually grabs one in each hand now), and her teething beads.  I've started trying to give her new/different toys each day to help her explore new feelings/shapes/textures.  Yesterday was the first day I gave her teething beads.  They became an instant hit, other than the fact that she couldn't always figure out how to get them in her mouth just yet.

Got em.

 

 Okay, really got em now....and....score!

Mission complete.  Happy baby.

Emma also likes to hear stories, and sits and listens really well when I read books to her.  She even tries to help me read them, since she will start to gurgle when I'm done reading on a given page.  It's like she's copying what I just did, reading the page right back to me.   She likes it when I sing songs too.  Her current favorite (based on how she always gives me big smiles whenever I sing it) is "Splish Splash Splosh", from a CD that Nana made for the kids.  "Babara Ann" also elicited some big smiles yesterday.  She also still really likes the TV.  Note: I do not let her watch it, but if it happens to be on in the background she will find her way to it like a magnet.  I can lay her on her back facing the other direction and she'll crank her neck around so she is looking back up at it.  It's best to just leave it off when she's around I've learned.  She also loves to look at (and smile and laugh at) her big brother.  I can tell she is just itching to be able to run after him and play with him.  I think she is also eager to eat solid foods too, since I see her watching us all very closely at meal times with a longing in her eye.  I had planned to wait on solid foods until closer to 6 months, but we'll see if she starts to get pushy about wanting it sooner.

Other updates

I'm sad to report that her skin rashes are back again, only this time more widespread and very little is on her face (last time it was almost exclusively on her face).  When it all first started (soon after we got home) I figured it was because of being back in the dry winter weather.  However, it wasn't like this before, so I'm not sure what else it could be.  I've been moisturizing her skin with the Eucerin lotion, and even using some hydrocortisone on it the past day to see if that helps.  It's all across her back and her tummy and in some spots on her arms and legs.  She also is rashy under her chin.  This is likely due to her excessive drooling (that continued all this past month), but it seems to be doing better with some hydrocortisone, as well as vaseline to protect it.  If her trunk rashes don't go away soon, I'll definitely be mentioning it at her check up on Thursday.

Just a few other cute photos of Emma this past month (based on her attire you can probably guess we were still in Australia)

This past weekend we moved the crib back into Emma's own room, so Evan is now sleeping in his "big boy" twin size mattress (like he had done while we were in Australia).  This means that soon Emma will be sleeping in the crib in her own room.  A big change for all of us, for sure.  I have a feeling she'll transition very easily; probably more easily than me.