Zara at Four Months!

Life really seems to both slow waaay down and speed waaay up when you've got a baby. It feels like Zara has always been with us but it also feels like she just got here and how can she possibly be four months old already and not the tiny little newborn I brought home from the hospital? It certainly doesn't help that she outgrew that newborn stage really quickly and just keeps on growing. My baby is so big. (Last time I weighed her, she was over 15 pounds and 26 inches long. Her cousin, who just turned a year, is only 29 inches long and 18 pounds. Yikes.)

Here is her four months comparison picture. Now onto the rest.

General Observations, Physical Changes, Etc.

Even before Zara was born, I knew some things about her. I knew that she would be stubborn (not surprising because most women in my family are stubborn). I knew that she would love to move (based on how much she tumbled around in my belly) but I also knew that she was blessed with the gift of laughter. She is--for the most part--a very happy baby. She loves to smile and laugh. Every morning when I go to pick her up from her crib, she greets me with a big smile. It's absolutely delightful.

Zara has become much more aware of her surroundings. She loves to watch people and all the things going on around her. She tries to reach for objects nearby and will shove just about anything she can wrap her little fingers around into her mouth. If all else fails, she just munches on her fingers.

I seriously have no idea what to do with her hair. It just gets more and more wild every day and it's seriously starting to look like a mullet.

Her eyes are a beautiful deep blue right now and we're both hoping they stay this color.
Zara is starting to babble and talk a lot more. Lately, when we're driving and she's just chilling in her car seat, she'll just start making long extended vowel sounds like "eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee" or "uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh." It almost sounds like she's riding a rollercoaster.

She's started to drool a lot more. I wonder if she's going to start teething soon. I'm not really looking forward to that.

Zara has already out-grown several of her 3-6 month clothes and has moved up to 6-9 month clothes. Luckily, I've been able to buy a lot of second-hand clothes for real cheap. Babies go through their toys and clothes so fast that it sometimes doesn't make sense to pay full price for a lot of things, especially when you can find used stuff that looks almost brand new.

Eating and sleeping habits

Since Zara is is more aware of her surroundings, she's also more aware of what I'm doing, especially when she's eating. So now whenever I'm trying to eat when she's breastfeeding, she gets easily distracted and tries to grab my plate or bowl or utensil. She does the same when I try to read while she nurses so I have to limit what I can do while she eats. Apparently, she wants me to focus on just her. Silly baby.

Zara is still a great sleeper although I'd love to get her to go to bed at an earlier hour. Still, our sleeping schedule seems to work for both of us since we're both still getting plenty of sleep.

Zara gets to sleep with me a lot, especially when David works the night shift. I think she prefers being in bed with me over sleeping in her pack 'n play.

Zara still sleeps in the pack 'n play in our room which is already getting a little snug for her, especially since she's starting moving in her sleep. Most mornings, I find her little face pressed up against the mesh siding. I keep thinking it may be time to move her into her crib in her own room, but I really don't want to do that yet.

Zara eats from anywhere from 5 to 30 minutes about every 2-3 hours. She's starting to go longer periods in between her feedings (which is nice) and doesn't need to eat as long though she occasionally likes the nice, long feeding that she falls asleep during. Those are my favorite because she doesn't get distracted while I'm trying to eat or read and she doesn't try to swat things out of my hands and then she sleeps on me for a little while. I love cuddling with my sleeping baby so much, it's a wonder that I ever get anything done anymore.

Zara had a mild diaper rash this month. We determined that the cause was too-tight diapers so we put her in loose disposable diapers for a day or two while we waited for her new cloth diapers to arrive. She nows wears medium sized cloth diapers and size 2-3 in disposables. And for the record, we use Clooth-eez tri-fold cloth diapers and I prefer Thristies diaper covers.

Accomplishments and Firsts
It's been a big month for Zara. First, she amazed us on December 11th by rolling over from her belly to her back several times. Then she wouldn't do it again. But then, a week later, she started rolling from her back to her belly. And now, within minutes of putting her on her back to play, she rolls over to her stomach. The little girl desperately wants to move and crawl but she hasn't quite figured it out yet. But she still manages to scooch herself around her playmat somehow (I have no idea how) and she working very hard on getting more mobile.

She's getting better at sitting upright and can sit for longer periods of time in her Bumpo before she totallys falls over.

She's been getting much better at holding up her own weight when she stands on her feet.

Of course, Zara got to celebrate her first Christmas and New Year's this month. She also saw her first snowfall.

Zara also had her first cold. It was luckily very mild, but we discovered that she really, really detests having her nose wiped.

Baby's favorite toys, places to go, etc.

Being Christmas, Zara got a whole bunch of new toys. We bought her a new foam alphabet playmat (better than having her roll all around our hard wood floors) and I made her a bunch of cloth blocks. She also got her first doll from her grandma and a few stuffed animals. But her favorite new toy is the cloth book her Great-Grandma Hayman sent her. The pages make a crinkly sound when you touch them and Zara loves to hold onto the book and stuff it in her mouth. Eventually, she'll learn that books are for reading and not for eating but I'm just trying to start a love for books--in any fashion--young.

We also received many new children's books. Our collection is growing very nicely. We almost have a whole self-full now. Zara likes to be read to. She seems to really like "Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You?" and "How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight?" Or maybe it's just that those are the books I most enjoy reading to her.

Now for some photos from the month:

Watching Star Wars for the first time. Ha.

Sitting in her Bumpo.




Sleeping with Daddy.




I love this photo of Zara. It so expresses who she is, with the foot kicking towards the camera and a huge smile on her face.