B turns 4 Months Old...and then 5!

The title of this post was almost, "B Stops Sleeping!" No joke. I don't know if it was the 4 month wakeful period, teething, the transition of me going back to work, that she was not eating enough during the day, all of the above??? But good heavens, this mama needed some solid ZZZzzzzzzZzZs! We spent a solid month or so dealing with an off the wall sleep schedule and once she was about to hit 5 months, she fell into her groove. We still have the occasional night of more than one wake up, but for the most part, she may fuss for a bit, fall back to sleep, wake around 2 or 3 to eat, fall back to sleep, fuss for a bit around 5, and fall back to sleep till 7:30 or 8. I can handle this!

She still napping multiple times a day for about 30 to 40 minutes, with the occasional 2+ hour nap. I have to remind myself to leave her in her crib when she wakes around the 30 or 40 minute mark because sometimes she will lay there and talk a bit or fuss a tad and 10 minutes later, she's asleep again.

She goes to bed between 7 and 8 and is up for the day around 7 or 8.
We do wash wash (bath) with both girls every other night.

 

 

It's so fun having them in the tub together and getting them all snuggly warm in their jams on our bed before I take Brynnlee to bed and Bobby takes Jordan to bed. 
About two weeks ago, I couldn't be bothered to swaddle her back up after she had wiggled one arm out, and I started leaving her right arm out of the swaddle from the get go. She took to this as if she knew no different, so after a week, I went for both arms. I still wrap the swaddle around her body because I really think she uses the swaddle as a hug sleep cue. Again, she took to both arms out seamlessly, so now I just need to pull the trigger on the whole thing and stuff those swaddles in one of the tubs under her bed!

I also decided to ditch the pacifiers too. While she took to one and used it on occasion, she was never dependent on it and is more apt to suck her thumb {ughhh} or hand when she needs that extra comfort to fall asleep. So, into the drawer they went. 
Through her fourth month she was getting three 6 ounces bottles while I was at work (every three hours) and in the last couple weeks, I have slowly added more to hopefully help with her night sleep and avoid having to nurse her and give her a bottle at night (I was doing that for a week or so). Now, at 5 months I am leaving three 7 ounce bottles. Yes, I said SEVEN! Dear god, this child is an oinker! It's like a daily challenge with myself to try and pump more than she takes while I am gone (HA!) or to be home before she takes her third bottle so that I can nurse her instead. While I'm at work, I have gotten myself (not that this post is about me...) in a decent routine and I pump three times a day. At 8, 11, and 2. On the rare occasion that I didn't nurse her after 5am or so, I will also pump on my way to work and if I'm being a good girl, I will pump after I put her to bed. Every little bit helps, but dang, my nipples get sore!!

Right around four months, she finally started standing on a regular basis and thought she was so funny while doing so!

She's giggling SO much these days and I find myself in hysterics just listening to her!

The birthmark on her head is now a huge bump that causes her hair to stick up a little, but as with the others, it doesn't raise a cause for concern and should go away on it's own.

At her 4 month appointment she was 15 lbs. 13 oz (82%) and 26 inches (97%) head is 42 cm (79%)

Going back to work was a huge transition for the both of us. Just like her sister, she would get frustrated with the boob when I was home because she liked the instant gratification of the bottle. I ended up ordering these and whether it was the bottles or time that helped, it took a couple weeks for us to find our rhythm. Her sleep was thrown off a bit and she was majorly struggling to put herself to sleep. I was SO upset over this. I am such a sleep nazi and seeing all of my hard work go out the window because I had to go back to work was incredibly frustrating. But, like always, that hurdle was overcome and we got back to where we left off and she seems to nap better for the nanny than she does for me now.

At four months she was wearing all 6 month clothes and now at five months, she has broken into some 6-9 month stuff as well.
She is in size three diapers and, I can't believe I'm saying this, I have already contemplated putting her in fours! AYKM??? I can't do it. I seriously can't. She's not even 6 months old yet. Good grief!

I have been wearing her in the moby with her feet hanging out instead of all bundle up in the fetal position since about 4 months. She stopped sleeping as well in it, but I think that has more to do with how aware she is now, as opposed to the position.

We put the jumparoo together just after she hit four months. It took her a few days to really get it going, but she enjoys it.

Nursing has become an Olympic event in the last couple months. Between her clawing at my chest, craning her neck to watch the TV, coming off the boob to see what her big sis is up to (as I then spray milk all over the both of us!), the days of leisurely nursing are long gone!
Just like J, she enjoys wrapping her tiny little hand around my thumb while she nurses or falls asleep in my arms. This is one of those things that I soak up every bit of. Feeling her silky soft skin wrapped around mine, looking at all of the beautiful knuckle creases and her tiny little fingernails....I wish I could bottle it all up and save it forever.

The cradle cap is still hanging on, but it's not noticeable unless you really inspect her scalp. The bit between her eyebrows (you can see it in the pic below) can be tamed with lotion for now. Just the other night, I tried out some coconut oil before bath time and it seems to have help to get a bit more off, but I'm sure she will still need a few more rounds of it.

For the past two months, she has been trying to sit up on her own while lying down or while in her lounger on the couch, so as of this past weekend, I have officially put the lounger away. She can sit on her own temporarily, but needs a bit more work!
She enjoys laying on our Mickey Mouse blanket in the front yard on sunny afternoons while J chases bubbles, plays with acorns, or draws with sidewalk chalk.

She discovered her feet big time over the past two months and loves hanging out on her back, grabbing her toes and rolling back and forth and watching them move. I just love seeing her feet dance around in front of her face and her chunky thighs getting in the way of everything!

Chunk A Monk,
You have been an absolute joy in these first five months. Your calm, sweet nature is so fun to see and we can't wait to see more of your personality blossom in the coming months. You love to smile and laugh and are so curious about the world around you. Don't you worry, your big sis is so ready to show you the ropes and help guide you along the way. As you approach your half birthday, I can hardly believe we've already known you for almost six months. Keep sleeping, eating and thriving as you have been. Your family loves you to the moon and back, Brynnlee Bear.
XOXOXOX

Brynnlee is 3 Months!

And five days!

After we had Jordan, I was so worried that I had things too easy and that the rest of my babies would be nightmares. Boy was I wrong. Brynnlee started out a bit touchy with the diaper change and cold wipe freakouts and her hatred for the bath and carseat, but once she got over those things, she has been a breeze! I'm probably jinxing myself as I write this, but it's the truth. Aside from the 12 week growth spurt/Wonder Week (I'll get to that next), she has been such a joy. So easy going and rarely cries. She complains some here and there and I have nicknamed her "Squawker" because of it. She just lets out these little squawks letting you know she's not 100% happy, but she's not going to cry about it. 

Around two months, I started working on getting her to sleep in her crib more. I started with naps just because it made things easier with Jordan wanting to play and make noise downstairs, and at 10 weeks I moved her to her crib for nighttime as well. We were consistently getting long stretches of sleep to where I was only getting up with her once before I got up for the day and she was only nursing on one side for that wakeup. I thought for sure she'd really be sleeping through the night at any time. That was until we went to my mom's for Thanksgiving. She slept fine there, but the night that we got home, she was all out of whack and I was up 3 or 4 times with her. It continued for a few days and then I just assumed that it was an early 12 week growth spurt. Seemed reasonable, right? It made complete sense until she really hit 12 weeks and then things got really ugly. I could barely get 3 hours at a time out of her at night and it would take more than just laying her down and walking away to get her back to sleep. She has become so much more aware and I can tell she is actually looking at me and seeing me walk away now. Her naps were still wonky as well and some days she would wake around the 45 minute mark and then go back to sleep, other days she couldn't even make it more than 30 minutes. This all lasted for a full 7 days (SEVEN days of minimal sleep was brutal! I swear the newborn days are NOTHING compared to the random wrenches thrown at you after you've gotten used to your sleep again). But, even though I was frustrated and getting so much broken sleep, I still consider her easier than Jordan because there was no inconsolable crying and not once did I have to analyze every little thing and wonder why she was not sleeping. I'd get up, feed her both sides (dead giveaway for it being a growth spurt), lay her down and rock her with a hand on her chest and then go back to sleep. A few nights were spent in the upstairs guest room just to make it easier on me and hopefully keep from disturbing Bobby and Jordan. Now that all of that is over, she's back to 6+ hour stretches at night and her naps during the day....AH-MAZING! It seems like she occasionally still struggles to get through that first sleep cycle and will cry out or wake up and talk to herself for a bit and then she falls right back to sleep. I'm getting 2 and 3+ hour naps out of her once or twice a day. It's totally thrown my planning for a loop because I like to get out and run errands in the morning and come back for lunch, but now she's sleeping right through that time. I doubt it will last long though, so I'm soaking it up. 

She nurses about every three hours unless she's sleeping and then she could very well sleep right through that mark. When she wakes up in the morning, we come downstairs and she is totally content hanging out and watching TV or Jordan and I know I have plenty of time to get my coffee, Jordan's breakfast, etc before I sit down to nurse her. 

When left with a sitter, I have been leaving 4.5 oz bottles and she seems to do just fine with that.

This girl can also talk up a storm. It is so fun to listen to her coo and babble and her expressions make you think she's just going to start talking any second. And the laughs??? I die. Seriously. It should be illegal to be able to make such a cute noise. I am determined to get a bit of it on video because it is truly something that I want to be able to remember forever.

She is such a smiley girl and will smile at you by just seeing you smile. I have been able to catch so many amazing smiling pictures on my phone, but more recently she has become fascinated with the back of my phone and makes the weirdest face when it pops up in front of her now. It looks something like this...

LOL! She juts out her jaw, purses her lips, and gets her tongue sticking right up against her lips and she kind of shakes her head a little too. It's so random! Needless to say, getting those huge smiles on camera has gotten a bit harder because of this. 

She has rolled from front to back a number of times now.

Just like big sister, she has her share of birthmarks. I thought she was going to get by without any, but one started to pop up on her chest and another one on the top of her head. 

Birthmark just below her cheek/chin

Over the past month, she has had a strange amount of green poopy diapers, but nothing mucousy, nothing frothy, and nothing consistent, so I am not too concerned with it. She has no other symptoms along with it, so I think it just comes with the breastfeeding territory. 

She's still wearing size 2 diapers, but has moved into 3 to 6 and 6 month clothes already. All those adorable tiny little outfits that I was so sad to put away when Jordan outgrew them have barely made an appearance this time around. I think I've managed to get them on her once, maybe twice. 

Her cradle cap is still hanging around, but looking MUCH better that past couple weeks. I'm still using olive oil on it at bath time, but moved to a fine tooth comb instead of the soft bristle brush and I have been able to lift so much more of the dead skin. 

Speaking of bath time, Brynnlee and Jordan shared their first of many baths together the other night while Bobby was working late. 

That last picture should exemplify why I'm struggling at keeping this girl swaddled as well. She's huge. Plain and simple. Hercules busts out of her swaddle every time now. I attempted to get rid of it cold turkey the other night, but after getting up three times before we even reached midnight, I gave in and swaddled her right back up. I may reattempt the process tonight and just give her one free arm to start, but we'll see. 

Clearly, I have already ditched the survey that I attempted from her last update. It's just too boring for me. 

Brynnlee Elaine, you bring more and more joy to our lives with each passing day. As my maternity leave is coming to an end, I am getting so sad to know that I wont be with you all day, every day, but the fact that we get to share you with someone else that will take wonderful care of you helps me get through it. I cherish every day with you and your big sissy, but these last couple weeks at home are going to be spent nom-ing on your cheeks and kissing every roll because I know those adorable things are going to fade faster than we want them to. Keep up the good sleep patterns and the ear to ear grins! We love you with all of our hearts, sweet pea!