Four Months

(4 Months = August 21 - September 21, 2016 AKA Weeks 14-18)

Month 4 Events and Milestones:

This month I discovered just how much Monica looks like me/my side of the family - look at this adorable picture of me in a hat and the Monica in a similar hat! Crazy!! Most people tell us that they think Monica looks like me, my dad, and/or my little brother Timothy. There are still people who say that they see Recznik aka Mickey in her, but fewer people seem to see it. She definitely got the skin coloring and the dark hair from him though!

I'm on the Left and Monica is on the Right

On August 30th, Joel-Michael had his written test for the Police Academy up near Cleveland, so we booked a hotel room and Monica and I went with him to hang out and help his study/relax before the test. I thought this big bow was really funny on her.

This next picture really symbolizes how I was feeling by month 4 because I actually had time and energy to bake! Hence the chocolate chip cookie dough....and I probably gained back some of the weight I lost. lol. But totally worth it!

We also discovered that Monica seems to like watching football with Daddy on Sundays. Well, I think she likes TV in general, but Mickey says it's football. We dressed her up in her cute Browns onesies from my friend, Joanie, and she was all set for Sunday Football.

My mom found this adorable walker toy which Monica loves and since we don't currently have one at our apartment, it's great for her to use walker/standing toys at both Grandmas' houses!

This month we spent a lot of time tidying up and organizing our apartment, so here is the giant pile of clothing that I have for Monica from size Newborn - 3T. I only have a few things for the sizes over 18 months, but I can't resist any and all free clothing items that we're given (unless they're flat out ugly or weird) lol so I've been stocking up. Here's hoping we have more than one girl though otherwise they won't get too much use!

But I think the biggest thing that happened this month was that I had a 50th wedding anniversary to photograph so I left her with Joel-Michael for a few hours. He was so great and real champion considering that she wouldn't eat the bottle I pumped for her. But luckily she was only about 30 minutes past her normal feeding time (which she has totally done before and been completely fine) and it wasn't too traumatizing for her!

Chilling with Daddy @ a Flag Football Game while I took pictures

As happy as I am that I have finally been able to get her to nurse very well and very efficiently, because she hadn't had a bottle since week 7 of her life, she is no longer used to taking them. Which is a huge bummer because I can't leave her places. More on this in another post, but it would seem that with Miss Monica the whole "if she's hungry enough she'll take it" just isn't true!

Oh and I almost forgot! Monica started learning to scoot backwards on September 4th (week 16) so that should make life interesting soon!

And I think those are all the big events from Month 4!


Eating and Sleeping Habits:

Eating

• Monica still eats 6 times a day.
• She still eats about 3-4 hours apart
• I moved her last feeding/bedtime closer to 9 or 10 pm though 

Sleeping

• Week 14 she slept 9 hours a night a few days
• Weeks 15-18 she went back to sleeping about 7-8 hours a night

Growth:

Height: 25 inches

Weight: 13lb 10oz


Overall

Life continues to get easier each day with Monica growing and being able to entertain herself (and us!) more and more. I started working on my photography business more, trying to find ways and make time to redo my website and gain more clients. Mom life is great and I couldn't be happier to be staying at home! So grateful for JM and his job which allow me to do so. :)