Olivia is 4 Months Old!

Oh, Olivia, I don't even know where to begin!  You're four months old already!  I can't believe it!  As much as I enjoyed you as a newborn baby, you've grown out of that stage and are now just my 'baby'.  As much as I love the newborn stage (nothing beats your own newborn baby sleeping on you!), I love this next stage you're in.

At four months old you weigh 15lb 10oz.  I thought you would be more than this as it wasn't your typical weight gain over the prior month, but I guess your increased activity and spitting have slowed your weight gain this month.  You're starting to wear 6-9 month clothes and I finally moved you into size two diapers.

You still have blue eyes!  I love taking pictures that show your eye colour because you're the only one of my children that has blue eyes like me.  Your older siblings quickly lost their blue eyes and now have brown/hazel eyes.  Maybe you'll keep yours?  My blue-eyed girl :)

You love your morning bath.  You just sit there, relaxing, while I prepare Matthew and Kayla's breakfast (Nathan eats earlier, with your Dad every morning).  If/When I talk to you, you quickly give a large smile.  P.S.  I'm sorry for making the bath water too hot some mornings, I just don't want it to get too cold too quick!  Our house is cool in the morning (I drop the heat down to 17 degrees overnight), and some times you're in there for more than five minutes.  You're a champ though, you don't cry, but just squirm until you're used to it.

Nathan knows our "Get Olivia Ready in the Morning" routine because as soon as I lay you on the ground to change you after your bath, he finds the lotion and he puts a dab on your belly.  You don't like getting changed because you don't like it when I have to put anything on over your head.

At the end of November we said good-bye to the swing.  You were growing tired of it, and so you were only in it the occasional evening.  When we set up our Christmas tree I thought it would be a good time to put it back into storage.

You love being in the Bjorn.  You fall asleep so nicely when you're snuggled against me, and you love to face outwards to watch everything around you.  As nice as it is to have when we're out and about, you're getting quite heavy in it!

Olivia, you don't like to relax very often.  When we put you in the bouncy chair (which you're not a huge fan of) or in your car seat, you pull your head away and try to sit.  That must be exhausting!  You've finally learned how to relax your neck and rest your head on our shoulder when we're carrying you and you want to cuddle.  It's really quite nice!

This past week you've really discovered how to play in your exersaucer.  You no longer get bored after a couple minutes, and I often hear toys moving around on there now.

You are really starting to lose interest in your playmat, because why lay on your back when you can ROLL OVER to your front?  That's right, on November 29 you discovered how to roll from your back to your front, and now we can't stop you!  You always roll to your left.  The only unfortunate part of your rolling (other than your declining interest in your playmat) is that now you will spit more easily onto our carpet.  I can't wait to carpet clean once you don't spit as much, as often.

You've discovered how to put things in your mouth.  Your favourite thing to chew/suck on is the knuckle of my index finger.  If you're sitting on my lap, you like to chomp on it.  This also often results in you spitting both drool and puke all over my hand and my lap.  I think I wash my pants after every wear, because of you!  Don't worry, I still love you, puke and all :)

You love your siblings, and they love you.  Kayla loves to lay by you on the ground and talk to you, "It's okay Baby Olivia, Mommy's right there in the kitchen", and Matthew loves to call you, "Chubby Cheeks".  Nathan loves to smother you, with himself or your blanket and his.  You might win the award for being the most-kissed baby.  He's typically really good with you, but sometimes he isn't aware of his size and kicks you with his feet or pushes the toy vacuum cleaner right into your head...sorry sweetie.  He likes to give you your soother, but if you're not crying I explain that you don't need it.  The other day, after I said you weren't crying and thus didn't need it, he hit you on the stomach and said, "Make Owibia cry".  Sorry again.

You've learned your name and will quickly give a smile when you hear someone talking to you.  You have begun to learn how to giggle, too.  The rougher we play with you, the better the chance of hearing a giggle.  There are always risks with rough play though - spitting :)

You (we?) also got rid of the small basinette in our living room right after you turned three months old, and so you started napping in your crib in your bedroom.  You LOVE being swaddled, and often with a few rocks you starting getting sleepy and then I lay you down in your crib, half-wake/half-asleep.  I would love to let you sleep in my arms for a bit, but I want you to become accustomed to falling asleep on your own.  We don't have a set napping schedule, but you typically follow a Eat-Awake-Sleep-Awake-Eat routine.  You typically only nap for 30-45 minutes at a time, so that often makes for a two hour cycle.  Because it's a two hour cycle, you only drink 3.5-4 ounces of formula at a feed.  I look forward to your cycle lengthening, so that we can start having you drink more ounces, less often.  Making bottles is a pain!

Speaking of which, we've stopped using the Dr. Brown's bottles and now use Playtex Nursers with Drop-In Liners.  I tested one out as part of a campaign a friend who's a blogger was running and actually found Olivia did less spitting with it.  Some days are still really bad, but we now get really good days, too.  And it will only getting better, right?!?!

This next month should be another fun month.  I suspect Olivia will learn to sit just after she turns five months, so it will be fun to see her figure that out towards the end of the month.  I also intend to start her on rice cereal at five months old, so that will be fun too!  

{Hanging out with Opa Struik during the Grey Cup}