Baby Check: 4 Months

Baby Check: 4 Months

Weight: 12lbs, 11oz (40^th percentile)

Height: 23 ⅔ inches (40^th percentile)

Effy is officially 1/3 of a year old!  Seeing as I use almost anything as an excuse to eat, I can’t believe I haven’t thrown her a little mini party where she sits in her swing and watches me eat a chalupa.

The biggest change this month has been me going back to work – it most certainly hasn’t been easy, but coming home to my wonderful husband and that sweet baby at the end of every day is the BEST.  Plus, I really do enjoy my job.  This would be a whole new ballgame if I was leaving Effy everyday and going to a job I hate. 

Speaking of my job, my mom brought Effy up to school this week.  We had parent/teacher conferences on Wednesday and they went well into the evening, so I thought it would be a good opportunity for Effy to meet some of my co-workers, and it would also mean I could close my door for a few minutes and nurse her instead of having her get another bottle.  She did pretty well with all of the extra attention and only had one sensory overload breakdown moment. This mama almost had a breakdown, though, when a student that I DON’T KNOW walked up to us, picked Effy up out of my arms, and proceeded to give me advice on how to have her stop crying.  I stood patiently for a couple of minutes, took my baby back, disinfected her hands, and planned a bath for when we got her home.  Oh, by the way, we still only give her a bath twice a week.  Is that bad??  I mean, that’s more frequently than I bathe myself, so surely it’s ok.

Childcare: Effy has the best baby sitter around…my mama!  We feel so blessed that a family member is able to watch Effy while Scott and I are at work.  My mom drives 2+ hours everyday which is a lot of driving but she’s getting through some audiobooks and says that being with the baby everyday is totally worth it.  I don’t know how I could have gone back to work while worrying about Effy in daycare somewhere.  I never worry for her well-being while I’m gone…plus my mom sends Scott and I pictures and videos throughout the day, which is the bright spot of my work day.

Spit City: Effy has been one slobbery little baby this last month.  You would think she’d have a tooth coming in or something, but she’s been a little drool factory for a while.  She soaks through bibs and outfits like it’s nobody’s business.  No sign of teeth yet.  Will I feel that on ye ol’ boob?  I mean, when her tooth comes in, will she clamp down while eating or what?  I bet that will feel GREAT.

Tummy time: She used to survive tummy time for 3-5 minutes before she was OVER it.  But now?  She’ll happily hang out on her belly for 10+ minutes and she holds her neck up well.  She’s even rolled over a few times!  It’s easiest for her to roll from her stomach to her back…and it’s also easier to do when she’s in the buff.  I think her cloth diapers (besides giving her some serious camel toe) make it difficult for her to roll, so we’ve just been putting that naked little baby down on a towel for a while and letting her hang out.

Toothless grins: Definitely the best part of parenting is receiving the sweetest toothless smiles.  And this month?  She’s been laughing!  It’s not super consistent yet, but I’d say every day in the last couple of weeks, we’ve heard at least one laugh.  This is a small laugh on the Effy laugh scale, but a captured laugh none-the-less.  *Note: her head looks alarmingly close to the chandelier.  I assure you I was at a safe distance...though I'm sure at some point, we'll bonk her into a light fixture of some sort...but when that happens, I won't post it on the internet.

Here’s the “What makes Effy smile” list:

·       Waking up in the morning…even if it’s me forcing her awake at 5:45 before work to go to my mom’s house for the day, she is super smiley.

·       When her dad beatboxes

·       After she poops (who doesn’t smile after that?)

·       Certain toys (see below)

·       When people make funny/repetitive noises at her

·       Bouncing her on our bed

Playtime: Effy has started to show preference to certain toys, which I think is just the best thing ever.  Any sign of personality and opinions is just great.  I’m sure when she’s a toddler, I’ll complain about opinions, but right not, it’s pretty darn cute.  Below are some of her favorite toys…

Ok, I’m just going to throw this out there, but LOTS of baby products are freakin’ ugly.  Can’t I just have a plain onesie?  Why must the cheap ones at Target have like…”Monkey Princess” or some crap printed on them?  When I was pregnant and researching baby products, I could never find a playmat I liked, so I just never bought one…until we were at Barnes and Noble and Mom and I spotted this beauty from Skip*Hop.  I fell in love, and now, so is Effy!  She will lie on her playmat and talk for a long time and has now started batting at and grabbing the toys.  Skip*Hop stuff is too freakin’ cute…I wish they made more baby stuff.  I’d totes buy it.

One of the first toys we bought when we found out we were pregnant was Sophie.  I had heard how popular this little giraffe was…but when I saw that Sophie was French, I knew my little bun in the oven NEEDED that toy.  Speaking of French…here’s Effy getting to first base Sophie.  My baby’s got game.

Effy and Claire

Just a couple weeks ago, my other mother (one of my mom’s dearest friends) Christine brought Effy a Blabla.  It’s a simple, soft little doll that gets a lot of smiles from Effy.  We have a Blabla named Claire, and Claire and Effy are good pals.  I love that Claire is wearing pea green Mary Janes.  Too. Freakin. Cute.

The best toy of all?  People’s faces and hands.  Making googly faces and weird noises or moving your hands around with spirit fingers really makes this baby happy.  She’s a people person, I do believe.

Baptism: Sweet Effy was baptized this last month.  We love our church and we love our pastors and were so honored to be able to share in this moment with our family and church family as well.  Effy wore her Aunt Kim’s baptism gown and celebrated the way her mama taught her…by going out for Mexican food afterward.

Outings: Unfortunately the end of my maternity leave has meant the end of our daily outings.  Just wait until summer break, people.  Just. Wait.

Future dancer?

My dance team participated in a competition at an area high school this month and made me a proud coach.  My mom, being the awesome lady/mom/grandma she is, agreed to bring Effy up to the competition for awhile so I could hang out with both of them and nurse her but I was able to hand her off to my mama when I needed to act like a dance coach.  If Effy & my mom couldn’t have come, I would have gone from 6am – 9pm on a Saturday without nursing her.  Mama ain’t down with that.  Clearly, based on this picture, she was enthralled and is going to follow her mom’s footsteps and be a dancer someday.  We won’t discuss the point where she had too much of the loud music and proceeded to melt down in my mom’s arms.  Strict high school dance competition rules do not allow for the gymnasium doors to open during performances, so mom had to stand by the door with Effy SCREAMING while on-lookers pointed and said things like, “Poor baby!”  “Oh, they should open the door!”  “Oh my, they need to turn the music down!”  “Oh my gosh, that’s the cutest baby I’ve ever seen!”  Okay, so nobody probably said the last thing…but I’m sure they were all thinking it. Duh.

My dear friend Aly threw her hubby, Nate, a surprise party for his 30^th birthday.  It was 80’s themed, so naturally Effy had a costume.  I’m very sad I don’t have a picture of her in her outfit.  It wasn’t Effy’s finest night.  We decided to forgo a baby sitter and try to take her out after her bedtime.  Umm.  No.  Bad idea.  There were probably 5 or 6 babies at this party, and Effy was the crying one.  Mean mommy and daddy trying to make her socialize past her bedtime.  We went home pretty early that night. Oops.

I have wonderful memories and friends from my years at my dance studio.  3 of those friends I’m still very close with and two of them live close, so I’m able to see them every so often.  We use dance recitals as an excuse to get together but the exciting part this year is that both of these wonderful ladies are pregnant!  I used to get excited for my friends who were expecting, but now that I know how amazing being a mommy is, I was beyond excited to see the girls & hear all about their pregnancies!  Effy didn’t come to the recital, but she did come to meet my friends at a coffee shop (but really, coffee with two pregnant ladies wasn’t so much coffee as it was sandwiches and ice cream).

Scott and I used some Christmas money to buy a much needed new dishwasher…which obviously meant we needed the matching oven.  A new dishwasher was also an excuse to start getting some new dishes.  Ours had just about had it.  We’ve decided to just collect plates and glasses we like at antique stores, flea markets, garage sales, & the like.  That being said, we headed to my favorite antique mall in town and Effy road in the Baby Bjorn very happily for over an hour.  She was very patient with us.

Our new toys!

Okay, the next order of business is a survey I’d lurve for you to take.  I’m hoping to get some blog feedback and such.  Don’t worry, it’s anonymous, so you can tell me you hate me if you want.  You can’t hate my baby though.  That’s not allowed.  Anywho, click here to leave me some feedback.

Happy 4 month birthday to my sweet baby.  Holding your soft face against mine is the best feeling.  Smelling your head, whether it smells like baby shampoo or sour milk, is a delight.  I have missed running around with you everyday now that I’m back at work, but I count down until spring break and summer break everyday.  You are my little buddy and I love love love you.