Four Months Old

Wasn't I just pregnant the other day? I guess it's been four months.



(This picture makes me think of when my dear sister Katie was a child.)




My favorite little Hammy Cakes.

Elaina is an absolute doll. She is such a good baby. She is rolling over, using her hands to grab at things, bouncing all day in her bouncy chair, eating like a champion, talking and cooing like she's telling some great stories, sleeping decently, and smiling constantly.

It's funny to me that she only kicks with her right leg, but she sure does get than chair bouncing.

When I'm not holding her or carrying her around in the Baby Bjorn (her favorites), she's pretty content to just hang out in her bouncy chair, swing, or lie on a blanket on the floor.



She loves looking at pretty colors and patterns, and is completely mesmerized whenever we go outside.

I cut dairy out of my diet a couple of weeks ago. It's been hard, because I really do love milk, cream, cheese, sour cream, cottage cheese, yogurt, cream cheese, and ice cream. But alas. Ever since Elaina was a couple of weeks old, I noticed a faint bumpy rash on her cheeks. Then the baby acne hit. But after the acne cleared up, she still had tiny little bumps on her cheeks.

I knew that could be a symptom of dairy sensitivity, but she seemed like such a cheerful kid, I figured she wasn't in any pain. I had also noticed that Elaina's spit up was chunky; like cottage cheese (sorry, I know this is getting into the gross category). Then last month she started spitting up more and more frequently.

Then within the last month came the fussing. After she nursed, she would be quite miserable and almost impossible to console for quite a while. The only thing that seemed to help was putting her in an upright position, and pressing her tummy against something. Sometimes she would gurp up large amounts constantly between feedings. I wondered how the poor thing was gaining any weight.

So I finally decided I'd see if eliminating diary in my diet would help. Babies can be sensitive to the protein casein, found in cow (and sheep and goat) milk. So all forms of milk. Except butter. Since butter is milk fat, it only has a very small amount of protein in it. So I can "cheat" and have a little dairy that way. I've discovered the wonderful world of expensive dairy substitutes, and am very grateful that I like coconut so much. (A little fatty coconut milk in my morning coffee has been such a simple pleasure. And coconut milk ice cream? Wow.)

Within a couple of days, Elaina's cheeks were less bumpy, and she was only spitting up small amounts of slightly chunky stuff. She wasn't as fussy after eating. Now that it's been over two weeks, her cheeks are silky smooth, her spit up is never chunky, and she's the most content and cheerful baby in the whole wide world. So I'm just going to assume that the correlation is strong enough to assume causation. We'll try re-introducing dairy at some point and see what happens.

She does still fuss once in a while, as all babies do. But I do believe the child may have begun the teething process. She's been drooling, and chewing on her fingers quite a bit lately.

We still call her Tiny more than anything else. She also gets Chubs McGee, Chub Nugget, Baby Blue Eyes, Sweety, Sweetheart, Honey, and Smushy. I've started calling both the girls Sugar all the time.

My happy girl, jabbering away first thing in the morning.

She's seriously cute when she talks.


She is much like her big sister when it comes to sleeping routines. We still swaddle her at night, and she goes right to sleep as soon as we lay her in her bassinet. We don't swaddle her for naps, so she squirms around until she finds something to rub her forehead against. If she's having trouble falling asleep, I just put my hand on her forehead and she's out like a light.

Elaina has started using her hands a lot, and likes to grab things: my hair when I lean over to give her kisses. Her clothes or blankets. And sometimes even her mobile.


We actually haven't had any well-child visits yet, so that's why I have't had any accurate measurements since her birth. Sometimes we use the digital scale at Bryan's parents' house, and a couple of weeks ago she weighed in at about 13 pounds. We have her first appointment in a couple of weeks, and she'll get her first round of selective shots.

Elaina loves hanging out with other kids, particularly her sister. I never get tired of watching my girls interact.