McPhee and Me: 4 Months Old!

Little Lucy Meg Peg (incidentally, if I were to write a children's book about her, that would be the character's name!) is four months old today and full of spunk!

My big girl!

She has discovered her toes and they are now her favorite toys! She still loves her fingers, and the paci love affair continues. She opens her mouth as wide as she can as soon as she sees her pacifier. Just this morning she hit another milestone: she had her purple pacifier in her mouth with her giraffe wubanub on her tummy. I looked down and she'd swapped the two! She'd put her giraffe paci in her mouth all by herself!! Folks, this is exciting! This means she's one step closer to pacifying herself when she's upset -- particularly at nap and bedtime!

Lucy now reaches for toys, her fingers (or ours), and her toes (or ours). Everything she grasps goes directly into her mouth to further explore.

Toes make her happy!

She is talking more and more and exploring lower tones and longer strings of babbling. She blows raspberries constantly and loves to mimic whatever you do with your tongue. The other day she started clucking her tongue in response to daddy clicking his -- pretty cute!

Lucy is getting more and more independent. At night when it's time for bed, I feed her, change her, and swaddle her, then kiss her goodnight and put her in her crib with her paci. She actually gets mad now if I try to rock her or sing to her. It's rather bittersweet for this mama, but she goes to sleep so much more easily! There are still nights that she cries herself to sleep, but they're complimented by nights she goes down without so much as a peep!! She's also very snuggly when she wakes up now!

In her Easter finery

She has settled into a daytime routine of wake for 90 minutes, eat, sleep, repeat. It's wonderful to have some predictability to her schedule and to have her napping so much more successfully. Most of her naps still only last 45 minutes, but I'll take that over not napping any day!! At night she's gone from sleeping 8-3:30, then up again at 7 or 7:30 to sleeping 7:15-11, then up at 1am, 4am, and 6:30 for the day. That's a bummer and yielding some tired parents. We're hoping this is a phase and she'll soon be back to her sleeping through the night ways!

Lastly, this month she's started holding her head up well enough to sit in the bumbo. She's still not too sure she likes it and I suspect it's because it's a lot of work for her...but she's getting there and sitting up like a champ!

This is a trying age for me. Lucy isn't mobile yet (she still hasn't mastered rolling from back to tummy) and she's more alert and aware of her surroundings than ever. This means she loves stimulation, which translates to face time with mommy whenever she's awake. She's not content to watch me from afar, she wants to be in on the action or else engaging me directly.

She's not snuggly except for a few minutes when she wakes up or after she nurses. I'm learning to cherish these times when she wants to be held and just stop and snuggle her. Other times if she wants to be held, she wants to be doing at the same time. She's easily bored with her toys... It makes for long days when she doesn't nap.

Her cousins have been a huge blessing in providing entertainment for her. Ava, especially, has a knack for reading to Lucy and keeping her engaged! Sarah has been a sounding board for me and a welcome baby-holder when I'm exhausted. I'm so thankful they live close by!

Isaac takes over when he gets home, but he's tired too (my hard working man!) and we're thankful for the loving arms of our MC (Bible study community group) to give us a break on Wednesdays by loving our Lucy so we can eat and have some adult conversation!

This is not to say I don't love her, but it is the hardest month we've had yet, and it's also the most rewarding as she now recognizes us and lights up when we come into the room. She loves to eat (my porky pig!) and she gets excited when she knows she's going to nurse, and often stops to smile up at me as if to say "thanks for the good milk, ma!" She's reaching for toys and exploring her world and mimicking and stealing our hearts more each day! I just want to remember the good and the challenges for next time around and to encourage other mothers who read this that it IS tough, but GOOD, so good!

And now for some gratuitous photos because my baby is the cutest ever: