Samantha's 4 Month Update!

Height/Weight: According to our home scale and measuring tape, Samantha is 15lbs 9oz (88%), 25 inches long (78%) with a head circumference of 42cm (78%)! She's gained some height in this past month, but still has her chunkiness! :D <3 Her next appointment isn't until next month, since her shots are off by a month. I'll be excited to see how much she weighs at that point! :D

Daily: Our days have been pretty hectic lately! We are going to be moving at the end of the month and I also started up a new business from home, so everything, including daily routines and schedules, are all over the place at the moment! 
Samantha is always the first one awake, anywhere between 7:30 and 8:30. I usually nurse her first, then she spends some time babbling and squealing on the bed, while I work on waking up haha! I then change her diaper and outfit (NEVER anything white, because she likes to have a blowout at around 11AM haha!) and put her in her swing for a little bit, while making coffee either tending to the dogs or getting Vince up and his breakfast ready. We admittedly have been slacking on tummy time a bit this past month, but Samantha has rolled from her back to her tummy several times unassisted in the past few weeks! Her favorite things to do are snuggle, sit up, watch Vincent play and interact with him, play with Mommy and Daddy and play with her toys. She still ADORES her little horse lovey and cuddles him constantly, as well as other stuffed animals that we've given her to hold. She's become very talkative and loves to giggle, coo, squeal and blow raspberries!
She still doesn't have a set schedule, it's more approximate. We just kind of go with the flow and it seems to work well for her. But I do try to get her down for a nap at the same time as Vincent every day, since that's the one time of day that all is quiet and she is able to sleep without her brother waking her up! We aim to have her down for the night around the same time as Vincent or before 9, otherwise she gets very cranky and overtired. Mike takes care of the majority of Vincent's bedtime routine while I get Samantha changed and dressed for bed and he takes her while I sing to Vincent.  

Sleep: Sleep has been okay. She is definitely going through the 4 month sleep regression period, but thankfully it's nowhere near as bad as Vincent's was! She has been waking up several times per night to nurse, but generally falls right back to sleep. It's been easiest to co-sleep lately, since she has grown out of her napper in the pack n play and we won't get a chance to set up the crib until after the move. She really seems to like the closeness and I definitely don't mind the snuggles, even if it means waking up with a crick in my neck haha! She's also sort of in a swaddle transition period. She hasn't been liking to be completely swaddled lately, so I use a velcro Swaddle Me right under her arms, so that her bottom half is covered and she doesn't get cold. She sleeps best on her side, with her little arms outstretched by her face. <3 I think a huge part of is that she is unable to suck her fingers when she's swaddled.
Naptime - oy. She is not the best napper, honestly! I try to have her down for at least one nap per day, but my goal is to get her to take three, even if they're short. One around 10 or 11, one around 2 or 3 and another at around 5. It seems like she sleeps a lot better at night when she has taken some good naps, which is exactly the way Vincent was. It works best to feed her in the side-lying position in the middle of our bed, then sneak away once she's fallen asleep. 

Eating: I've continued to nurse on demand this past month. I feel like it puts a lot less stress on both of us and doesn't cause me to worry about my supply. She's still gaining really well and producing plenty of full diapers, so I'm not concerned in the slightest! :) I've been trying to offer a little more frequently lately though, since it's become so hot and I don't want her getting dehydrated. She hasn't had a bottle this month and I haven't bothered with pumping. I may go back to it for a couple of days once the milk in the freezer is getting close to expiring, just to switch it out with fresh milk. I think it's pretty safe to say that her latch issue is completely non-existent at this point! I very rarely hear a clicking sound when she's eating and she doesn't get nearly as gassy as she used to. UNLESS she decides that she needs to be sucking her thumb while she's nursing, which she constantly does. It's pretty funny actually! xD Spitting up is still an issue, but I think part of it is due to fast letdown and her drinking so fast! 

Sizes: Samantha is pretty much exclusively in 6 month clothing. There are only a few 3 month outfits that still fit! She's getting close to needing size 3 diapers, too! I wish she'd slow down - she's getting way too big! Vincent is too! :(

Milestones and Changes:

• First 4th of July!

• First roll over from back to tummy
• Matching outfits with Daddy!

• Sat in the high chair for the first time, to snack on some pretend chips! xD She loves sitting in it so much. And it's super convenient for me when I'm working on orders, because she's able to be right there next to me and see what I'm doing!

• This girl LOVES to suck her fingers. She still refuses a binky and I gave up trying to offer one quite a while ago. Thank goodness we bought around 20, because Vince to this day still loves his haha! 

• Sitting up is Samantha's favorite thing. She likes seeing everything that's going on and likes to hold her head up! So she's been favoring sitting in the boppy, the sit me up seat and the high chair!