4 Months

At the corn maze and pumpkin patch with Daddy

 

Wow!  Ellie is already 4 months old.  She is learning and growing every day, and it's such a joy to watch her.  She is 12lbs, 8 oz (25th percentile), and 24 inches (40th percentile).  She also has a labial adhesion, which we're having to treat her for.  Basically, her labia is fusing together.  For the past month we've been using Calendula gel (a homeopathic treatment) to keep it slippery, not sticky, so it won't stick together.  At her four month check up they said it's gotten worse so now we're on to prescription cream to try to treat it.  She has to wear disposable diapers while using this cream, too.  Good for the washing machine, bad for our wallet (those diapers are expensive!).  But we should be able to go back to cloth diapers in a couple of weeks.  Hopefully this cream works.  If it doesn't and it continues to get worse, she may have to have surgery to open the labia back up.

The major even this month was Halloween.  The weekend before Halloween Ellie went with us to a party.  Then, on Halloween we went to my wound care doctor (yep, c-section is still not healed!  I'm hopeful that it'll just be a few more weeks of regular wound care), and afterwards Jeff and Ellie came to my office.  She went "trick-or-treating" in the office (really just going around to show off her peanut costume).  Our students were trick-or-treating too, so it was loud and busy, and I think a little overwhelming for her.  But, everyone had fun seeing her!

Is this not the cutest peanut you've ever seen?

 

She has a very regular routine.  She is an excellent sleeper; Jeff sometimes has to wake her up at 9:30 so she won't sleep the day away!  She usually goes to sleep around 9 or 10, and sleeps until 8:30 or 9:30.  She gets up, eats, plays, then takes a long nap.  She spends her afternoons alternating between eating, playing, and napping.  She loves her exer-saucer (on loan from cousin Drake), and rolling around on the floor.  She also likes to watch TV, especially if football is on.

Watching football together

Here are the milestones we reached this month:

• Rolling over (front to back, and back to front -- usually toward her left side, though)
• Learning how to grab and guide items to her mouth (she's still learning how her hands work, so this is usually an accident)
• Reaching out for things
• Desperately wanting to learn to crawl (I watched her army crawl in her sleep, halfway up her crib, but she hasn't figured out how to do it on purpose -- or while awake! -- yet)
• Sitting up (requiring a little support from us)
• Recognizing Mama and Daddy by sight (nothing makes me happier than to watch her smile as she sees me coming into a room)

Hanging out with Mama!

 

Presley sleeps in Ellie's room most nights, but in our room once or twice a week.  Both dogs love to try to play with Ellie when she's on the floor.  They give her kisses and watch over her.  Yesterday Ellie was on the bed near where Mauja was sleeping.  She reached out and tried to crawl forward, succeeding only in grabbing Mauja's tail and then her foot.  Mauj just opened her eyes, looked at Ellie, then turned her head -- not even bothered by being grabbed at by a baby at all! 

Presley is not sure about this, but Ellie likes it!

 

Next up is the holiday season!  This will be a month of firsts for Ellie (first wedding, first Thanksgiving, first trip to Disney World...). Stay tuned to learn about all of our adventures!