Wednesday, January 6, 2016

1/3 of a year old!

The fourth month is such a fun little stage of a baby's life! They're slowly becoming more aware of the world around them and their little personality begins to really show! Macey is definitely enjoying being a part of our family (oh, the smiles she gives her sister!!! SO sweet!) and is really workin' on her smiling game. Sister can melt your heart in a second with her cute little grin! We are loving her new-found awareness and are looking forward to the changes that I'm sure lie just around the corner!

Just for my personal reference, here's a sample schedule of a day in the life of Macey Doodle-Bug:
6:30 am - wake up, chug a 5 oz bottle
6:45 am - diaper change, get ready for school, play for a little bit
7:15 am - leave for daycare and she usually falls asleep on the way (or if we're at home, she goes back down for a nap around 7:30/7:45)
9:30 am - 5 oz bottle
11:00 am - nap? Her naps are rather inconsistent at daycare, but at home this is when she would usually go back down.
12:30 pm - 5 oz bottle
2:00 pm- nap
3:30 pm - 5 oz bottle
5:00 pm - mommy's back! She usually falls asleep again on the way home!
5:30 pm - get home and play "is Macey going to stay asleep or wake up" game. Sometimes she will sleep for 30-45 minutes, other times she just stays awake. This will hopefully be the first nap she drops! It is so inconvenient because this is right when we need to be making dinner, unpacking their bags, etc. 
6:30 pm - another 5 oz bottle
7ish - bath & bedtime routine (including LOTS of cream for her eczema!)
7:30 pm - time for bed! I usually rock her and sing some songs before putting her down. 

Eat = Macey still eats on a 3 hour routine and takes 5 oz each feeding and has 6 feedings a day. She is still getting mainly breast milk with the occasional formula to supplement. I am really proud of pumping for so long and I hope to be able to continue for at least 2 more months, if not longer. We are trying to get her to take one bottle of formula a day so that I am not stressing if I don't make quite enough for her each day. So far my supply has been more than enough, but sometimes she takes 7 feedings in a day and that's when I get behind. And, if I do want to end pumping, I want her to be adjusted to formula for a while so we don't bother her tummy. 

Our adventure in the next month will be starting solids! I'm actually pretty hesitant to go ahead and start, so it'll likely be a s l o w introduction! I'm planning on giving her just oatmeal/rice cereal until 5 months. No need to rush!

Oh, and man... I feel like she's going through a growth spurt every couple of weeks! I feel like Maleah's were more spaced out, but it seems like every time we turn around, Macey's hungry hungry hungry!

Activity = Macey Ellen is quite the wiggle worm! She is trying SO hard to roll from her back to her tummy. She'll get it! She has been practicing overnight as she turns herself around and around in the pack & play. She will seriously make a 360 turn during the night (I get up sometimes and check on her). It cracks me up how she can spin herself around while swaddled! Macey holds her head up quite well and likes to sit upright. She got an excersaucer for Christmas and, although she's still a little too small for it, we'll put her in there for 10-15 minutes at a time and she LOVES it. I can tell she's going to be a busy body. She LOVES toys and loves to play! She will sit and entertain herself for a long time in her bouncy seat!

Sleep = We had a little hiccup over the Christmas holidays with naps. Seems that rocking a baby to sleep really can affect their ability to take a good, solid nap! Since things were so crazy, I was holding her longer before her naps and when she would transition sleep cycles, she would wake up SCREAMING mad and could only be comforted if you rocked her. Then it turned from rocking her back to sleep to not being able to put her back down at all. This was fine for a few naps. But then it was EVERY single nap and it just wasn't working!!! So, we had to nap train her a little and she got back on track. At home, she usually naps in the swing or in her rocker and sometimes needs to be soothed in the middle of the nap, but she's gotten much better about going back to sleep and finishing the rest of her nap. Then she wakes up smiling and happy! 

We are trying to get her to sleep in the pack & play in our room so that we can eventually move her to her crib in the girls' room. She is actually doing really well sleeping in our room, but we're kinda ready to get our room back to ourselves! Plus, their room is literally right next to ours, so she won't be far away at all! Right now she tends to rouse around 2/3am and need to be comforted, so we're going to wait until she's really solidly sleeping through the night before we move her. Honestly, I'm kinda tempted to just put her crib in our room and share the room until she can have a room of her own. We'll see about that. ;) 

Life = We are somewhat adjusted to live with two kids. It's honestly been a really challenging phase. I mean, going from "none to one" is pretty tough, but at least you can get a little relief. If I was exhausted, Blake could take Maleah for a little while and let me nap. That's not the case anymore. We usually divide & conquer - we each take a child and do whatever they need. And then we pass out after bedtime!