We hit the 4 month mark with a bang! I had heard from other moms & our pedi that most little ones hit a sleep regression during the 4th month, often termed the “4 month wakeful”. It seems that it has something to do with their brain & development. The fourth month is one of the biggest in terms of cognitive development and those little neurons are firing like crazy trying to process all the new things they are learning….interrupting sleep! I had hoped and prayed that we would be one of the lucky ones who skip this “fun” milestone….after all Harper has NEVER been a good sleeper! Unfortunatly though we are smack dab in the middle of the dreaded 4 month wakeful! ::Sigh::
I'm sleepy but I'm not giving in!!
Currently Harper is going to bed at exactly 7:30. Not a minute earlier and not a minute later….it is pretty comical! Our later dinners out have officially become a thing of the past! If we are not home by 7:00 we are headed for a meltdown! She goes down quickly but stirs awake several times before we are ready for bed….luckily a quick trip in to replace the paci or pat the back puts her back down fast! Once we are in bed she seems to sleep a little better, but wakes to eat or comfort nurse every 2-3 hours. Having our crib sidecarred has been a godsend!! If I was having to get out of bed and go down the hall that many times a night I would be a walking zombie! Thankfully I just have to scoot her over a little bit and nurse her right there. I think I do it in my sleep most of the time! 🙂Â
The worst part of our “wakeful” though have been naps! Well…really how they have completly disappeared. Harper wakes up between 7:30 and 8:00 and I am lucky if I can get one semi-decent nap in during the day! By semi-decent I mean hopefully close to an hour. Some days she only sleeps 20 minutes during the day. Only 20 minutes in a 12hr period! Oh.my.word! I love my little girl to pieces but that means I get no downtime…it is a full day of entertaining and playing. It is exhausting! I cherish the days that Dan is off work! Just having someone who can take over for a short time so I can grab a shower or sleep in those 30 extra minutes is truely life-saving some days! Nothing makes a man sexier then him saying “go back to bed, I’ve got the baby!” 🙂
Even with the craziness that has become our sleep cycle it has been so much fun! Every single day Harper changes and gets more & more fun! She has so much personality now and really interacts with everything around her. She is still a crazy little chatter-box, but her voice has changed to more squealing….we think it’s cute….I’m sure others in public don’t! 😉 She smiles and squeals all the time, but laughs are pretty hard to get. We call her our dare-devil though because she loves it when we hold her and do squats. She goes crazy with the drop down.
Other milestones:
- Teething! The amount of drool that one little girl can produce is incredible! I have never seen anything like it! Absolutely nothing can stay away from that mouth. If her little hands can hold it it will be in the mouth!
- Her absolute favorite toy is her crinkle book! Watching her try to cram that in the mouth is pretty comical. She also seems to love her linking rings. Teething rings and rattles are big fails with our little girl!
- Weighed in at 12lbs 14.5ozs and 24.5in long at her 4 month appointment. I was concerned about the small growth between the 3rd & 4th month but the pedi had no problem with it! Could be from the extra activity she is doing now. She was in the 50th percentile for all three measurements! Perfectly proportioned!
- She is getting pretty good at rolling from tummy to back, but has only done back to tummy a small handful of times. She tries hard though!
- She learned to blow raspberries! We were at the mall and I kept hearing this funny sound…..finally figured out it was Harper blowing raspberries over my shoulder! It is her new favorite sound and she does it all.the.time!
- Harper & Holly have finally begun to interact! Holly has always been intrigued by Harper but since we wouldn’t really let her get too close she got easily bored and ignored her. Now though she is loving this loud/active baby! Harper can’t figure out what the heck the big brown thing is but I love watching them together! Harper gets a full doggie bath at least 5 times a day. Holly licks her like crazy and she tries her hardest to catch the tongue! Haha! She has only managed to get it once but it was great!
I love my crinkle book!
- Harper & her big sis!
- I’m getting so big!
- Love my girls!
 We are gearing up for Harper’s first halloween, which will be pretty low-key since candy isn’t really in her diet yet! 😉 I figure we will just dress her up and head to my aunt’s house for a quick trick or treat! We did celebrate today by dressing her up as a black cat and heading downtown for a cute Halloween festival. She wasn’t too crazy about the circus/acrobatic people at first (too loud I think!), but she quickly calmed down & seemed fascinated with the show! We also headed out to the pumpkin patch last week which was a BLAST! Harper was fascinated with all the pumpkins (and kids running around). She kept reaching out and trying to touch all the pumpkins. I tried to get some cute pictures of her in her ladybug costume….but she was pretty grumpy (getting 4 shots earlier didn’t help!) so she looks pretty peeved in all of them! Hehe!
Grumpy girl in the pumpkins!
- My ladybug!
- Little Black Cat
- Mommy & Harper at the Festival
 Holidays are a million times more fun with a little one! I’m already gearing up for Christmas! We have been putting off getting her things that she needs so we can do a big Christmas (without buying a bunch of crap she doesn’t need!). She will also get her first taste of solids at Xmas! Part of me can’t wait (what a fun milestone), but the other part of me is sad that my baby is growing up. She’ll still nurse for most of her nutrients but it will slowly be replaced over the next year. Time goes too quick!
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Passports & Prams 
