{ 133 Days }

Little Miss Lainie Bug,

 

Today you are 133 days old. Nineteen weeks. Almost four and a half months. One hundred thirty-three days doesn't sound like very long at all...yet at the same time, it feels like I've said "Good night" and sung you "Jesus Loves Me" hundreds or even thousands of times. There is less and less of the helpless newborn about you; more and more you are a thinking, learning, feeling, exploring, opinionated baby.

 

I still swaddle you up for sleeping. Nighttime and naps.

 

 

You still have the BEST facial expressions!

On October 19, you said "hi" two me--twice--while I was changing your diaper! You hear me say it all the time, and I probably would have thought it was a fluke except that I had just said it to you several times..and you said it back, twice. At your four-month checkup, I told the pediatrician, expecting her to brush it off as coincidence. But she thinks it's entirely plausible; she said you're a very smart baby, and given that you are pretty vocal, it's quite possible that you actually said "hi" on purpose.

 

Speaking of four-month checkups, here are your stats at four months old:

Weight: 11 pounds, 10 ounces {6th percentile}

Length: 24.4 inches {45th percentile}

Head circumference: 16.2 inches {65th percentile}

 

And, just as I was telling the doctor that you haven't quite rolled over yet, you rolled farther over than I have ever seen you do before; the doctor moved your arm up an inch or two from your side, and bam! You rolled onto your tummy! Granted, you had a tiny bit of help, but you looked quite pleased. You haven't managed that trick again, but you lift your head and torso up really high during tummy time. It's super cute. I'll have to take pictures and post them in your next letter.

 

You are still an itty bitty thing, but your brain is growing at an amazing rate! In the past few weeks, you have really started to develop little rolls on your thighs and upper arms, and the "fat folds" around your wrists are getting deeper. Your cheeks are plumping up, and you feel sturdier. Part of that is probably because you l-o-v-e to practice standing and bouncing up and down with someone holding you.

 

You have the classic baby bald spot on the back of your head.

 

You excel at sleeping. Though I wish you weren't such a night owl--you don't usually fall asleep till between 10 and 11 pm--on average you sleep for 12 hours at night, waking up twice to eat {usually between 2 and 3 and again between 6:30 and 8}. As for naps, they are a little more sporadic, but frequent: You fall apart if you're awake for more than two hours at a time.

Speaking of sleep, on October 29 you started sleeping in your nursery. For everything, nighttime and naps. We're all sleeping just fine, in spite of the fact that this makes me feel like I don't have a little baby any more. You're growing up. You sleep in your own room. And you still talk in your sleep, too: On Monday morning I went to get you because I heard you talking. You were still sound asleep--100% Daddy's girl!

 

You laughed for the first time on October 26, the day before your four-month birthday. Daddy was holding you, and I did something that made you produce this deep-throated chuckle that sounded like it came all the way from your belly. Girlie girl, that made our month!! There is nothing like hearing your baby laugh for the first time! For a while, I'd thought you were really close to laughing, and I'd been praying that it would happen when Daddy was home--and it was! Since then you've laughed a few more times, but only for me, and never at the same thing twice in a row.

 

You love to roll onto your left side. Only your left {that was the side you were lying on in the womb, so I'm not too surprised}. You will be on your back, then you stick your feet straight up, hurl them to the left, and scoot yourself up a little {toward your head}. Frequently you will scoot yourself 180 degrees, essentially pivoting your body around your head--once you did a complete circle!

 

You suck on your fingers. All. The. Time. Usually it's just the first two fingers on either hand. And the drooling!! You go through a couple bibs a day!

 

A couple weekends ago, the three of us went on a walk at a park near our house. I only discovered it this fall, and wanted to show your Daddy because there is a trail that goes waaaaaaaay down into a gulch with a creek at the bottom.

 



 

:: you and me at the top of the big hill ::

 

 

:: some of the steps ::

 

 

:: on the bridge ::

 

Enough talking. Let's get to the good stuff--pictures!

 

:: me trying to copy your silly face ::

 

 

:: hanging out with Daddy on a Saturday morning ::

 

 

:: and helping Daddy answer emails ::

 

 

:: having a blast scooting around on the dining room floor ::

 

You love baths now. You smile and coo at the bottles of shampoo and the soaps. You arch your back and smack it back down, making big splashes that delight you. You kick your legs and swish your feet and just have a jolly old time.

 

:: love those baby blues! ::

 

Happy 133 days, Lainie Rae!

 

Love,

Mama