Letter to Emery---4 months

Dear Emery,

Happy four month birthday! You weigh 13 lbs, are 23.5 in. long, and your head is 16.5 in. around. Each of those measurements put you in about the 50th percentile.
Yay for a healthy average :)

While your stats may be common, I think your personality is above and beyond :)
These days you love exploring with your hands and are so curious about the world. You reach out to grab onto just about anything---the doctor's examining hands, the dinner plate placed just a couple inches too close to you, my necklace, your own shirt (we see lots of your tummy these days), etc. You love to be held facing out to see the world (unless you're sleepy--then you like to be upright with your head on my shoulder).

This outfit finally fits you! It was the first little 0-3 month outfit I bought when I found out that you were a girl!

You have rolled from your back to your tummy while on my bed, and while propped up slightly on the floor. We'll wait 'til you do it alllll by yourself on the floor before we count it as a new trick---but you're getting close! You love to be propped sitting up and are always using your abs, trying to sit-up better. You also love playing with your little toes and kicking them up in the air, looking at yourself in the mirror, seeing your dad when he gets home from school, and being sung to.

You are smiling pretty well these days and have laughed a few times...at the strangest things. Yesterday I was simply carrying a bucket of wheat around the house and you just thought it was hilarious. Don't ask me why!

The pediatrician is really confident that you have acid reflux and that is what is causing your feeding problems. The only time I can get you to eat for more than a couple minutes is during the night when you're sleepy or sometimes during the day when you're really tired. Sometimes after eating or suddenly during a nap, you start screaming inconsolably. It's sad for me to think you are uncomfortable and/or hungry all the time, and the fact that my milk flows really fast is not helpful. We are working with the doctor to try and find some things that will help you. I hope you get better soon! Your night-time sleep and any good routine/schedule we had going for us is just completely out the window. I spend most of the day trying to help you eat and at night you wake up about 4 times (though you have done two 7-hour sleeping nights since we've been in Georgia). I can't really complain about you getting up in the night, though, because I'm just happy that usually you will eat smoothly at those times!

Your dad and I talk about how it's hard to think back to before you were born---it just really seems like you've been in our family for a lot longer than 4 months! While I look forward to when your reflux is better and your nights a bit longer, I also am enjoying you now. It's such a sweet thing to watch you learn and grow and see how you are discovering this beautiful world. Keep it up little one :)

Love,

Mom