Here Come the Cummings: Callie is 4 months old!

Okay, the blog has been a little sad lately with only monthly updates of Callie that I'm sure are boring to most people….but it's a great place for me to write everything down and to look back on it. I might be able to start blogging more again now that I have my evenings back (more on that below).
So here is what is going on with this precious one at 4 months!

We went in for her 4 month check up this week and she weighs 12lbs 13oz (22nd%ile) Height: 24.75'' (66%ile), Head: 15.98'' (52%ile). The Doctor says she is growing right on tract though I have been somewhat worried about my milk supply keeping up with her…but she is one happy baby and she sure would tell me if she was hungry.

Eating: I'm still exclusively breastfeeding her and it is going very well. I'm finally at the point where it is actually easy now and I understand what everyone was talking about. I still hate nursing in public as I'm not very good at doing it modestly so that is a little stressful sometimes. I now even nurse her on one side at a time which is a big improvement and doesn't take near as long as before. She nurses about 5 times during the day and usually once at night. It's so nice to finally have a routine. We will probably start some food this month so that will be fun!

Sleeping: Praise the Lord, Callie is sleeping like a champ!! She has turned into a completely different baby this month in regards to sleeping. She used to FIGHT sleep so badly! It was so bad that it would take literally hours for her to go down to sleep for the night. Every.Single.Evening since Callie has been born, Justin and I would take turns holding her, walking around the house, shushing (if that is a word), and rocking her to get her to sleep. The colic was just rough in the evenings and she cried so much. She would usually finally fall asleep in our arms, but then once we put her down, she would wake up. So we would go through about 3 of those cycles every night until finally she just gave up and would stay asleep around 11 or 12am. The evenings were stressful and we weren't able to do anything! But now…Oh.My.Goodness, it truly is a miracle that she goes to sleep completely on her own! No rocking, no walking around…I just lay her in her crib awake, and she turns on her side, sucks her thumb and falls fast to sleep. Every now and then she will cry for about 5 minutes, but that is nothing compared to where we were. It's also a miracle that she is in her own crib and her room and doesn't need to be swaddled. She never slept well unless she was in her rock and play and swaddled. I was even doing research about how to wean your baby off swaddling. This all pretty much happened on her own one evening and she hasn't turned back. The other night, I put Callie down at 8, and Justin and I were able to watch a movie and relax the entire evening. I kept saying "do you remember how awful our evenings used to be? I can't believe we can just relax and watch a movie together!" It has made a world of difference to us, we can actually spend time together again and I can blog or do other stuff I need to get done…woohoo!

After I put her to bed at 8pm, she will usually wake up once at night to eat, around 4-5am but then go back to sleep. She then sleeps until 8am, and sometimes later if she didn't nap well the day before. I have her on a 2 hour schedule so she is awake for 2 hours and then naps for 2 hours (if I'm lucky). So if she wakes up at 8am, she will nap at 10am, 2pm and then a cat nap at 5:30pm. Sometimes she will only nap 45 minutes and sometimes 2 hours depending on the day. We are rarely home all day so then her naps end up being in the car or the stroller.

Milestones: Callie is a pro at rolling over. She can roll over from back to stomach and stomach to back but most of the time she rolls over on her stomach and just stays there. She also started sucking her thumb this month, but mainly when she is sleepy and going to bed. It's awesome that she can soothe her self to sleep. She also moved into her own room and crib, and goes to sleep on her own. She has just started to really interact with Cooper and notice him. Cooper is always giving her hugs and kisses and now Callie will try to touch him and grab him, which Cooper isn't too thrilled about.

Trying to play with her stuffed lamb

Likes: She pretty much likes everything right now. Baths, going for walks, being outside, being around people, her daddy and brother. I think she will be a people person because she seems to always do well around other people and out and about. Good thing she is my 2nd child since we are out and about a lot more than if she was my 1st.

Looking back at Cooper's monthly updates, 4 months was also a very easy and fun age for him. I know once she is mobile, things will get more interesting, so I'm going to enjoy and soak in this sweet age.