Four Months

Eliana turned four months old on the 4th. I meant to take pictures and post about it then, but I figured I would wait until I had new height/weight stuff from the doctor. Then I forgot. I did, however, take pictures the day after she turned four months and I posted them below. For most of them she is in our borrowed Bumbo chair. She loves to lean forward in it and suck on the side. She also has fun watching the traffic go by while Mommy sews pant hems.

Giving the "whatever" face. You would think she's 13 years older than she really is.

This is her interested face. Sometime I will have to try and capture the one she gets first thing in the morning when she is ready to explore a new day.

She was checking something out here, but I don't remember what.

Eliana's new tricks in the last month include better grasping, extreme drooling, replacement of dark newborn hair with lighter baby hair, keeping her blue eyes, trying to get out of any seat she's in by straining forward or arching her back (where did she learn that?), and using her voice quite a bit. She is a charming little girl and is more and more fun every day.

Ellie has also graduated from the cradle to the crib and that gives us mixed feelings. It's good for her to get used to it, but she doesn't sleep as well at night. She used to sleep through the night occasionally, but doesn't anymore. She wakes up at least twice, but usually three or four times at night. It could be that she isn't swaddled anymore, either. However it works, she doesn't sleep well in the crib between the hours of 2 and 6 a.m. Anytime I put her down in the crib after a late night feeding she waits until I've just laid down and then decides to wake up and cry. Most of the time I'm so tired I just let her stay in the bed with us. I'm trying to get better at making her stay in the crib, because I don't want her to get used to sleeping in Mommy and Daddy's bed.

Here's Mommy and Eliana at work. You can see a few of my mission pictures (and a few of Carrie's) in the background. You can also see that my little girl looks a lot like her daddy. I think her face is mine from the nose down and Eric's above that. Her little bird legs take after her dad, too. She's a slimline baby.

Now for the doctor stats.

Height: 25 inches, which is 88th percentile.

Weight: 13 lbs. 8 oz., which is 55th percentile.

Last time she was 90th percentile for height and 49th for weight. I guess she is proportioning herself a little more. Immunizations were administered and she reacted precisely as I predicted: she screamed and stopped breathing. Poor baby. It's no fun getting poked in the leg three times. At least one of the immunizations is one that she can drink rather than get stabbed with.

To finish off, here is a video of Eliana cuteness. This morning I decided that she should have a bath without the newborn hammock that goes in her baby tub. I figured she was ready for it. Usually during bathtime she just chills in the hammock and will dangle a foot or a hand in the water while we bathe her. This was her first experience being all the way in. It was a lot of fun for her and us, although she is little miss stoneface. I also have to say here to make sure that you never leave your child unattended in the bath. That's not because I did or that anything happened, but just because when she started squirming I saw how quickly she could have had her face in the water if I wasn't watching her like a hawk. It could have happened in the time it would take to turn around and grab a towel or wash cloth that is within arms reach. Just be safe so our cute babies can be safe. Enjoy watching Eliana splash.