4 Months

Dear Baby Girl,

It's hard to believe that you are 4 months old already. Of course I say that every month. How does time go so quickly with you?

Watch me grow! One, two, three, four!

This month with you has been tons of fun. You had plenty of visitors: Uncle Keith, Grandma and Grandpa, and Nana all came to Oakland to visit you. You had fun showing them all of your new skills, because this month you began to giggle at things which is so, so fun. You wake up so happy in the mornings and when you see Daddy or I you get the biggest smile, flap your arms, and squeal with delight. I have to say, it makes mornings really enjoyable.

This month, you are still a fabulous sleeper at night! I'm not quite sure what we did to deserve such a good sleeper, but I'll take it. This month you've decided that you want to lengthen your bedtime routine as much as possible though, so occasionally you will get up every 20-30 minutes for an hour or two until you are really asleep for the night. It makes it hard for Mommy and Daddy to have a conversation though! Naps are still erratic, but we're getting there! You consistently go back to sleep about an hour after you wake up for about 40 minutes, and down for another nap an hour after you wake up from your first nap for who knows how long. You take a couple of other naps throughout the day, and we're really lucky if we get a long one in there, but you generally nap between 40 minutes to 2 hours. 

This month, you found your hands and you are in love. You're always chomping on them and drooling all over. You also figured out how to roll from your tummy to your back and your back to your tummy. You mostly just like to show us that you are fully capable of doing it and stop immediately. You are perfectly content hanging out on your tummy for 15 minutes at a time and then you get cranky. You are getting so strong. You love standing in our laps and collapsing, and you just recently started grabbing for our food. Dinner times are about to get a lot more interesting! You also love giving kisses with a very wide open mouth. They are really slobbery, but pretty sweet.

How you spend most of your day, chomping on your fingers.

This month, you grew a mohawk and a mullet and they are so cute! Your hair is thinning out and growing back in lighter and more red. Your eyes are still a dark blue but they are lightening up a bit. You are solidly in 3-6 month clothes and just graduated to a size 3 diaper when we use throw-away diapers. You're still on your middle setting for your cloth diapers, and I think you will stay there for awhile. You still nurse like a champ and you are beginning to get more distracted when there are other things going on. 

This month, we drove down to southern California to say goodbye to Mommy's Grandpa. While it was hard to see him so very weak, I am so very happy that you got to meet him and I got a chance to say goodbye. Great-Grandpa Wilber is an amazing man, and I wish that you could remember knowing him, but he's struggled long enough. I hope that you will grow to be like him though. He is strong, tenacious, and stubborn. He is the most patient man I know, and he loves his family as fiercely as he loves the Dodgers and Lake Tahoe. We'll go camping in his honor this summer. 

This month is the first month that actually felt like a month with you. I have been trying to slow down and enjoy you when you want to snuggle and to remember on your clingy days that one day I will long for these sweet days again. We've been going to yoga together and that helps me focus on being present with you. There are hard days for sure, but even in the midst of a random crying fit, sometimes you will stop for a moment and smile at me then go back to crying.


Next month is going to be wonderful. I can't wait to see what new milestones you reach and how you will grow to be even more yourself. We will probably head back down to Camarillo at some point this next month for Great-Grandpa's funeral, and hopefully you will get to meet Uncle Scott and Aunt Coco. Let's try to keep it together in the car a bit better this time, deal? You are such a blessing, Cordelia Lynn, and I can't believe that we get to see you grow.