Family vacation to Destin

We had a wonderful vacation to Destin, Fl in mid April.  We were joined by the Rohn-Dave family, which made it that much more fun for us and for Jackson, who loved playing with his buddy Cameron! The week was filled with lots of time at the beach, pool, and wonderful memories!

Kate- 5 months old!

Age 5 months

Weight & Length Kate weighs around 15 lbs, which is roughly around the 50% for age.

Clothing size 3-6 months fit for the most part but she is starting to nearly outgrow some of them in length. 

Hair  Her light brown hair is a bit lighter every day.

Teeth Zero, but still drooling a lot and loving to chew on her Solly Baby Wraps!

Sleeping  Kate had a little sleep regression around 4.5 months but seemed to recover from that well.  She was waking up every 2-3 hours for about a week.  Now she is back to being a very good sleeper. She now goes to bed around 7 or 7:30 pm.  Mommy wakes her up for a dream feed at 10:30-11 and Kate goes right back to sleep.  She sleeps most nights until 5 am.  She generally wakes for the day around 7-8 am.  We stopped swaddling her around 4.5 months and she is doing great.  Most days she takes at least 4 naps because many of them are still short (even some are only 30 minutes), but if she takes a longer nap then she may only nap 3x in one day.

Eating  Kate continues to nurse every 2-2.5 hours or so and at least 1 dream feed at night.   She wakes in the early AM to eat as well.   She is a great eater!

Movement   Kate started rolling back to front around 4/13!  She now wants to roll all over the room and gets annoyed if something is in her way. 

Milestones  Kate’s big one is rolling over. She has also flown on 6 planes in the last 2 weeks! Kate has also found her toes in the last month and she loves to put them in her mouth!  She also went in the pool for the first time this month!

Favorite toys/activities     She loves her “fern the fawn” stuffed animal, her kitty cat with lots of interesting textures/rattles, and she is more interested in the jumper than she has ever been. She loves all the lights and sounds and to turn around. She continues to be tolerant of her play mat but really seems to like exploring the toys that hang down, especially the green birds! She is starting to like to read stories and she loves watching big brother Jackson!

Dislikes   Kate doesn’t like to be overtired, but she is a good sport even when she is. She and Jackson did a great job with a long delay in the airport on the way home from Florida earlier this month.

Words & sounds   Kate loves to chat and will strike up a whole conversation with babble.

What we love   Kate is such a smiley baby. We love watching her happily explore new things and charm everyone she meets with her smile.

What we don’t love  As usual, it would be nice if she started sleeping longer stretches again, but we can’t complain too much! 

What we’re looking forward to next month   Sitting up!!

Kate- 4 months old

Age 4 months

Weight & Length Kate weighs 13 lbs 12 oz (37%) and is 25 inches long (70%).  She has been under the weather this last week and not eating as much so I suspect she will be back up to the 50% range for weight at her 6 month visit.

Clothing size 3-6 months fit her perfectly

Hair  Her light brown hair is a bit lighter now but still not blonde

Teeth Zero, but drooling a lot so a tooth may be on its way

Sleeping  Kate is a very good sleeper. She now goes to bed around 7:30 pm.  Mommy wakes her up for a dream feed at 10:30 and Kate goes right back to sleep.  She sleeps most nights until 6 am (or rarely 7 am).  When she is up to eat at 6, I can usually get her to go back to sleep for a little while but she is almost always up for the day by 8.  She is still being swaddled in her halo sleep sac but often breaks out of the swaddle and still sleeps pretty well.  We are experimenting with one arm out of the swaddle this week and working on weaning her out of it.  She typically naps 1 hour after waking and then ever 1.5-2 hours after that. Most days she takes at least 4 naps.  She mostly naps for 40-50 minutes, but rarely will sleep for 1.5-2 hours.

Eating  Kate continues to nurse every 2-2.5 hours or so and at least 1 dream feed at night.   She previously had been sleeping through from her feeding at 10:30-6 am, but over the last week or so occasionally she has been waking up at 3-4 am to eat too (I am hoping it is because she has been sick).

Movement   Kate continues to roll front to back.  She has started to like playing in the rain forest jumper.  She also likes to sit in the bumbo seat and look around. She also really likes to get carried in mommy’s Solly Baby Wraps! She is also very happy sitting in our laps and observing everything going on around her!

Milestones  Kate has been laughing off and on the last month but is now starting to laugh a lot more. All she wants to do is to sit up and participate in whatever we are doing.  She loves to watch her brother.  She has a great grasp and loves playing with taggy baby paper and grabbing all of her toys.

Favorite toys/activities     She loves her winkel rattle and taggy baby paper.   She likes to sit in the bouncer and spin the wooden toys round and round.

Dislikes   Kate doesn’t like to be overtired or hungry. She doesn’t love to be on her back for long- she prefers to sit up! Other than that she is all smiles! 

Words & sounds   Kate loves to laugh- it is so cute!   She also loves to talk to us and goes on and on and will carry on a conversation with cooing!

What we love   Watching Kate observing everything around her—she is such a joy!

What we don’t love  I would love it if Kate would give up these early AM feedings this last week- hoping it is just her cold that she is recovering from that is making her wake up.

What we’re looking forward to next month   We can’t wait to watch her start to learn how to sit up on her own over the next few months, and maybe roll back to front too!

Kate- 3 months old

Age 3 months

Weight & Length Kate now weighs 13.2 lbs and seems tall too!

Clothing size 3-6 months, she already fills them out in length!

Hair  Her light brown hair is a little lighter day by day, but still not blonde like her brother

Teeth Zero

Sleeping  Kate is a great sleeper. She continues to sleep in her crib for 7-8 hours a night.  She used to nap in the swing before going up to bed around 9-10 but she is starting to show us she needs an earlier bedtime.  She continues to dream feed around 10 pm, which lets Mommy get a 7-hour stretch of sleep or so.  She takes good naps in her crib, still in her swaddle/sleep sack, mostly lasting 1 hour or so, with an occasional longer nap.  She still needs to nap after 1-2 hours of awake time (most often after 1 hour), and hasn’t showed signs of transitioning to only 3 naps/day yet.

Eating  Kate continues to nurse every 2 hours or so during the daytime.  She is a bit more distracted when eating as she has started to become more social, so sometimes she will snack every 1-2 hours.  As long as she sleeps through the night we are ok with that!    

Movement   Kate rolled over from front to back at 2 months and 3 days of age (1/30/15)!  She out-did her brother who rolled at 2.5 months!   Kate has great neck strength.  She is really good at holding her head up and seems to like tummy time.  She has sat in the bumbo a few times and looks like such a big girl!!  She is doing a great job grasping rattles, and toys, and baby paper/taggy blankets. 

Milestones  Seeing her roll over was so fun.   She is interacting and smiling at Jackson now too, which is fun to watch.  She is doing great with her nanny Bonnie who takes care of her all day Monday and Tuesday and Thursday afternoons when mommy has to work.

Favorite toys/activities     Kate loves to bat at toys on the activity mat, especially the bird with the wooden ring to grab on to, and the bird rattle.  She likes baby paper, and has started to play with the winkel rattle and Sophie the giraffe.  She loves playing with taggy blankets and has grabbed on to a few stuffed animals and lovies.  She also likes the o-ball rattles.  She is happiest being cuddled and in someone’s arms.

Dislikes   Kate doesn’t like to be overtired or hungry. Other than that she is all smiles!  

Words & sounds   Kate continues to coo and talk to us in her sweet little way.   

What we love   Watching her sweet little personality shine through

What we don’t love  Kate is doing great, no complaints!

What we’re looking forward to next month   We can’t wait to see her get more active and plan to try the bouncer soon!   

We love you Kate!