ada charlotte {4 months}

Dear Little Miss,

I still haven't gotten you to laugh, but you get me to laugh whenever you burst into a big smile; it just makes me so happy! I love spending time with you, playing with you, and taking care of you. My only wish is that I could have more of that time! I love you!

Love,

Daddy 



My dearest little one,

Another month has gone by and you're even cuter :) You would be the most perfect baby if only you would learn to nap! But even though you still aren't napping well, I love you so much and I'll keep you :)

It's so fun watching you learn, grow, and discover. I love every new thing that you do, and I'm so excited for the fun things in your future! Lately I've been thinking about how I'll probably start feeding you some real food soon, and thinking about that makes me so happy because it's another instance of you discovering. In fact, I've already started letting you taste (lick) a few things. Your first taste was an apple slice, and since then you've also tried a butterscotch chip and some chunky monkey ice cream. Haha you will obviously be a lover of sweets like your mama! (And your daddy, really.) I love being involved in your daily discoveries :)

I'm also really starting to feel like you legitimately love me back, which is so sweet :) You are just the cutest, and Daddy and I still say that several times each day. We love our little family soooo much, and we're so happy that you're part of it.

Stats

• You weigh 13 pounds (25%), and you are 24 inches tall (50%). Your head circumference is almost 16 inches. It's still so funny to me how big you started out and how much you've leveled off. I mean, you were like 95th percentile when you were born, and now you're down to 25th! Just goes to show that you were obviously not meant to be such a big baby, and that was all your diabetic mama's fault 🙈

a few days // 16 weeks
note your complete lack of neck since you were a sumo baby!

2 weeks // 16 weeks

• I read in several places that you're supposed to have a growth spurt around 3 months, but I don't feel like you ever did! You're still wearing size 1 diapers and size 0-3 month clothing. Most of your 0-3 month onesies fit pretty perfectly right now, with one that is on its way out and one that is actually still big. The only thing I'm starting to get concerned about are some of the waistbands of your leggings. They don't seem too tight just yet, but soon!

Notable events

• You had your first Christmas! Which, like the holidays that have come before, will be a bit more eventful next year. But I kept thinking about what a wonderful gift you've been for us this whole year, inside and outside of me :)
• You also received your baby blessing. It was so sweet to hear the prayer offered by your daddy :)

Tricks/Milestones

• You did a little bit of rolling over when you were smaller, but I think that was accidental. Now you can roll over on purpose! You first rolled over your left shoulder on 12/19 and over your right shoulder on 1/8. Although you can roll over, you really don't do it that often. You seem to enjoy tummy time, so you're not in a hurry to get off your tummy. However, when you do do it, you sometimes to it several times. One day you did it three times in a row -- like I kept putting you back on your tummy and you kept rolling onto your back. It was so funny and cute :)

• You now hold your head well enough that we can stand you up! Why is it that everything new you do is just stinkin' adorable?! :)
• I've seen 3 month updates about other babies saying that they are laughing, but you didn't laugh until 1/19 -- just a few days shy of 4 months! And in the few days since then, I haven't been able to get you to do it again. I guess I'm just not funny enough ;) But when you did laugh, it was THE CUTEST THING EVER.

• With a little bit of a push from me, you started sleeping through the night on 1/11. It was a great day :) Now I just need to start going to bed when you do so I can catch up from the last 3.5 months ;)

My favorite things

• You seem to love it when I get really close to your face . . . That's how I get you to do a lot of smiling. So one of my favorite things to do with you is give you eskimo kisses because it elicits a lot of smiles :)
• You're making a lot more noise! You make the sweetest singing noises when you wake up from a nap, and you make a lot of other cute noises during your waketime. Daddy and I love having little "conversations" with you :)
• You smile like crazy all the time, and it's just the best. I can't get enough of those sweet smiles :) One of my favorite smiley times for you is when I get you up from a good nap or after you've slept through the night. You often do this thing where you have a mostly straight face, but then as soon as you see me (or Dad), you break into the biggest smiles. 

Random tidbits

• You are one slobbery girl! You are truly always drooling and you're not even teething yet! You also blow spit bubbles pretty often, and you've recently started doing noises with your lips that now involve spit 😆
• You always have something in your mouth, whether it's a burp cloth, your rattle, Todd the Turtle, or a fist. 

• When we unwrap you from a swaddle, it's hilarious how your hand shoots immediately up to your mouth!
• I made a meal for the first time since you were born on 12/28. That's right, I did not cook at all for 3 months. (And I think I've only cooked once since then.) So much for finally getting into more of a habit of cooking before you were born -- that habit is back out the window now 😂 A lot of people brought meals at first, Granny B made us several freezer meals that I've dumped in the crockpot, and I've cooked other from-a-box frozen meals, but I've only done from-scratch cooking those two times. We're also eating out a lot. I might cook more if you'd learn to nap . . . 
• Your fingernails grow like weeds! I have to clip them every 5 days . . . once a week is not enough!
• You have spit up so much in your life, and you have hidden it in your neck folds. And I did not catch it soon enough, so you now have this giant ouchie on your neck :( I started putting ointment on it, but since your neck doesn't get much breathing time during the day, it actually might have made things worse, so I now have a prescription ointment that will hopefully help because your ouchie is just so sad! :(

• For a while there I was leaving you swaddled for every feeding because you kept getting your arms in the way which made it really difficult to feed you. However, lately I've unswaddled you more, and you do all sorts of cute things with your hands while you eat. You grab at my shirt, hold my fingers, touch my palm, and grab your bottle. Your little hands are just so sweet :)

• Luckily, no signs of stranger danger yet! For the moment, you seem to be fine with anyone who holds you. You give more smiles to people you know, but you don't freak out when someone new holds you. I hope Daddy and I are always your favorites, but I also hope you continue to be fine when you're held by other people :)
• You and your daddy together . . . it melts my heart! I love you both so much, and you both love each other so much. You always smile when your daddy walks in the room :) He recently said, "I just didn't know it would be possible to love her so much!" He adores you :) We are all the luckiest to have each other! :)

Love,
Your Mama

always busting your hand out of swaddles!

i loooove spying on you with our new video monitor while you sleep  :)

melt my heart!

you really started playing with your rattle more this month!

sometimes you try to roll over like this . . . it's not very
successful, but it's a good superman impersonation!

after a particularly hard day, I decided to buy you a swaddle
sack to help keep your hands contained. the hard day
is why i chose this particular swaddle sack!