Grace Elizabeth - 4 Months

About a week ago, Grace turned 4 months. At Grace's appointment she weighed in at 12 pounds 11 ounces (25th percentile) and was 24 inches long (70th percentile). I suspected that she was on the long side, and I was right! According to Dr. Maher, Gracie is right on track with all her milestones and is "a perfect little princess." I happen to agree! FYI - The pictures throughout this post were taken by Grace's great-uncle Bob while we were in The Dells this past weekend.


Gracie continues to be a cheerful little girl full of smiles and squeals; she's such a joyful addition to our life! Some of my favorite moments are when Grace and Olivia start talking to each other. I swear that all Olivia has to do is look at Grace and she's guaranteed a smile! Lately, Grace will just start squawking (for lack of a better word) in order to get attention. She gets the giggles if Olivia squawks back to her - I definitely need to get this on video! Other ways to get Gracie to smile are tickling her belly, raising her up in the air, and just generally talking to her in a cheerful voice. I think she might be one of the happiest babies I've ever been around - of course I might just be a bit bias, but this picture speaks volumes! :)


In the sleep department Grace isn't doing as well, but I still can't really complain. She gets up most nights at some point to eat and generally again around 5. Then, she'll go back to sleep till 6:30 - or later if we're lucky! Napping continues to go well. Typically we get a really long morning nap, a shorter one in the afternoon, and then a little half hour snooze in the evening. I'm debating messing with the morning nap in order to get a longer afternoon one so that she's on track with Olivia, but I'm a little nervous to mess with the good that we've got now too! The weirdest thing Grace has done is to take crazy long naps at daycare - one that was 7 hours and another that was 6! As Grace has conquered her fingers, she's developed the habit of falling asleep with her middle two fingers in her mouth - it's odd, but pretty cute at the same time.


The transition to daycare went really well. Grace's happy disposition of course helped with this, and I didn't feel as much stress about the whole process as I thought I would. I think it really helped to have the transition be cushioned by some time just with family when I initially went back to work. Olivia is very loving to her sister while at daycare and if an almost two-year-old can be proud of a sibling, I think Olivia is. Daycare finally got her saying "Baby Gace" and more recently "Gacie."


Olivia and Grace's relationship is growing in such a fantastic way. Grace is now the first thing Olivia asks for in the morning. She's moved up in front of "milky," a major honor! :) And Olivia frequently says "baby old (hold) her," "baby lap," and "baby see." More frequently, Olivia has begun identifying Grace's emotions with "baby happy/sad/fuss." Olivia entertains Gracie on a regular basis as I already mentioned and always wants to have Grace watch her - this includes having Grace watch her while she sits on the potty. Olivia also carries her baby around on a regular basis and does the same things with her baby that I do with Grace.


Developmentally Gracie has gotten the hang of grabbing objects and bringing them to her mouth. She continues to roll from belly to back and is working at going from back to belly. However, I'm not going to make any predictions on when she's actually going to conquer that milestone as I tend to think things are going to happen much sooner than they do. She's become a pro at sitting in the bumbo seat and has just started trying out the exersaucer. She's holding her head really well in the baby bjorn, and I notice myself holding her a bit more on my hip than I used since she's getting more steady and strong in her trunk (although her favorite position is still facing out hanging). Grace is nearing the excessive drooling stage, so who knows - maybe a tooth will make it's appearance in the next month or two.


Overall, I couldn't be more pleased with how Grace and our family has progressed after 4 months as a family of four. Things have smoothed out into a generally peaceful routine, and I'm so looking forward to a fun summer together!