The Purcells: 4 Months Old

Miss Tessa is already 4 months old!!!

She is weighing in at 11 lbs 2 oz...still a little bean!

As for sleeping she takes three 45 minute naps and one 2 hour nap most days...sometimes the long nap is in the morning and sometimes it's in the afternoon...depends on the day. She also still takes her naps in different places...I put her in her bed swaddled whenever I can but still try to get one nap in the swing and then she sleeps in her carrier when we're on the go! We tried moving her bedtime earlier and at first it was a flop and she would wake up like she was napping and then it was hard to get her back to sleep so we went back to her bedtime between 9-11 and she just does so much better. After a few nights of major binky issues and having to put it in many many times I decided it was time for her to learn a little bit of self soothing. I took it away at bedtime cold turkey and it took her about 12 minutes of fussing and crying to fall asleep. She is still swaddled at night but I leave one arm out in case she wants to suck on her hand to soothe herself. The first night she woke up 4 hours into her sleep and it took her about 7 minutes to get herself back to sleep and then she was consistently sleeping 8+ hours. After a week or so of this it seemed like her bedtime was creeping up earlier so we just went with it. She was going down between 7 and 8:30 and then I would dreamfeed her around 11:45 and she would sleep until 6 or 7. We did that for about a week but it actually led to less sleep for me because I wasn't going to bed until after midnight each night. So we are back to a later bedtime with a late 45 minute nap and we are all happier. The last few nights she's only been going 6 hours before wanting to eat but then she goes right back to sleep. Things are always changing but all in all she sleeps well and I'm so thankful to be done with being a slave to the binky. She still loves it but during sleeptime if it falls out she has to get herself back to sleep and she seems to be figuring it out just fine!

She's still eating around 6 times a day and I'm going to start her on rice cereal SOON!

She loves baths and I got a new bath so she can take a bath with Riley...they loved that!

Clothes/Diapers: She's in 1-2 size diapers and fitting well in her 0-3 month clothes but starting to be able to get into some of her 3-6 month clothes. She's still in size 1 shoes. I'm just waiting for those little feet to grow...I have TONS of shoes for her!!

She's still such a happy girl and started giggling this month. She is super ticklish and her little ribs are my favorite spot to tickle her in. She started playing in the exersaucer and loves it. I have to put a blanket behind her to keep her from bobbling around too much!

I also started carrying her facing out in the Bjorn carrier and she loves that. She's sitting like a big girl in the jogging strollers and doing great! Sometimes it just wears her out!

She squeals at an octave that is sometimes ear piercing. This girl like to talk and be heard! She's a drooling mess and loves to try and get any or all parts of her hand in her mouth...maybe some teeth on the way? She loves to be standing up...it's her preferred position. She tries to sit up and must have some great ab muscles with the way she pulls herself up all the time.

Riley has just this past month taken out some of her jealousy on Miss Tessa. My neighbor who has 4 girls within 4 years (they are all adults now) shared with me that it was always at the 3 month mark when they older girls were ready to get rid of the new baby..haha! Riley still adores her sister and loves singing to her and playing with her and carrying her around. We have seen some pouting when Tessa is getting attention and some sweet pats that turn slightly aggressive every now and then. She had an incident one night where she bit Tessa's finger...that was not good!

But the hard times are few and far between...most of the time it's lots of love with these two!