The Weaver Family: Hattie is 4 Months Old!

I can't believe how quickly time has gone by. Hattie is 4 months old and she's getting more and more fun everyday. The fun changes as she gets older. I used to enjoy all the snuggles while she slept in my arms and nuzzled into my chest. Now I really enjoy listening to her coo and shout while she plays. This month, Hattie has grown so much physically. She's able to roll from her belly to her back, although she doesn't do that very often. She mostly hangs out on her tummy and looks at the world head-on. When she's tired of lifting her head, she'll just lay on her belly and chill out... usually trying to find the magic pictures on the TV. She's also gotten quite close to rolling from her back to to belly. She can easily get to her side, it's just rolling over those broad shoulders that she struggles with. As for her verbal skills, we'll have to see, but she seems just as chatty as Gracie was at this age. Hattie will have some serious conversations with you, if you have time to listen. And I always make time to listen! She's still sometimes nursing and sometimes bottle-feeding. She eats about 26-30 ounces per day and seems to be growing like a weed! Her appointment isn't until next week, so I'll know more about how much she's gained after that.

Probably her biggest accomplishment this month, at least in my book, has been her newfound ability to put herself to sleep and put herself back to sleep, both without much fuss. About a week ago, I was putting her to bed and she'd gotten into a pretty annoying pattern of falling asleep while eating, then once she'd been in her bed for about 30 minutes, she'd wake up and cry for her pacifer. Ryan or I would go in and put it back in and she'd fall asleep. Then 10-30 minutes later she'd cry out again and we'd go put her paci back in and the game continued for about an hour and a half. After some thinking and research, I decided to do some sleep training with Hattie. Now, I must be honest and say that I don't believe in crying-it-out. It's just not my thing for my babies. I wanted to improve her sleep habits, but I didn't want it to be a tearful process. So right around New Years, I started using nap time as a sleep training time. This put the paci back game was also happening at nap times. So I'd feed her and lay her down awake and unswaddled, but sleepy. She'd have her paci in her mouth, but she'd always spit it out and start to coo. She'd coo for up to 25 minutes before she'd get into this cranky shout, just before she'd start to cry. At this point, I'd head into her room and she'd kick and smile, all excited, thinking I was going to get her out of bed. Instead, I'd swaddle her up, put her paci in her mouth, and tell her it's time for her nap. After I left the room, Hattie would usually continue to coo for a short bit longer, but then fall asleep on her own. After about a week of sleep training at nap time, it just sort of dawned on me that maybe part of the problem is that I was still swaddling her. So last Wednesday night at bedtime, I fed her and talked with her a little bit before bedtime. When it was time for bed, I didn't swaddle her, but gave her the paci and told it was time for night-night. Once I left, she cooed for 5 minutes and then got quiet. That was it. She's been putting herself to sleep ever since. And it's amazing because she doesn't have her paci when she falls asleep. I'm just so proud of Hattie for figuring this out so early. It has made a world of difference for her naps and for the bedtime routine. She's a total rock star!