4 Months Part 2

This week started off with a dinner for the spouses of the deployed soldiers here on Fort Leavenworth. I was not comfortable pawning Alexa off on the church staff so I had her chill out with us. After 10 minutes the host of the event took Alexa to the kitchen to hang out with some of the staff. She did well for a little while and then had a major melt down. She has recently started realizing when I am around and when I am not. As flattering as it is to have someone want you so much it has really turned into a challenge.

Monday morning was Alexa's 4 month well baby appointment. The doctor said Alexa appeared to be hitting all of her developmental milestones. She weighed in at 12lbs 12oz, 20% tile; height 24.75inches 55% time & head circumference 16.5inches, 66% tile. So we have an average height skinny baby with a big head... haha! I really do not focus on the percentiles anymore. I have quickly realized how much babies changes and how different they all grow. The important thing to me as that she is growing at an appropriate rate. I discussed with the doctor her eating schedule. She was surprised that Alexa is actually eating more than average (36oz a day) and only gained 1lb in the last month. She gave me the suggestion of putting formula powder in her breast milk bottles. I started doing that on Tuesday. I put 1 scoop (enough powder for 2 oz of formula) in her 6oz of breast milk every other bottle. After 3 days of this she put on 6oz (dermatologist weighed her). So we will see how she does and go from there.

We also had Alexa's shots on Monday. This was the first time I had to take her alone. It was rough on both of us but we survived. Alexa slept most of the day & all night long.

Tuesday morning was our weekly infant massage class. We both really enjoy this class. This week we learned stomach techniques & boy do they work. Alexa was letting out gas right on cue.

This week we interviewed two potential child care providers. The first one lives on post & has two daughters of her own. I got an OK vive from her. The big negative is that she is taking a 2 week vacation the first week of March. The second person is an off post home about 10 minutes from us. They currently have 2 babies & 4 toddles with 2 teachers. I know Alexa would have a good time here and get a lot of attention. The big negative of this one is the commute. I will have to sit in gate traffic twice a day & will spend approximately 60-70 minutes each day in the car. So I am really hoping we get another option next week.

This week we also had Alexa's dermatologist appointment. The measurements showed no growth & the coloring is more gray. The doctor said it appears to be healing quicker than expected and she has no reason to be concerned. Just to make sure it is still moving in the right direction we will go back again in 2 months. As long as it is still improving we will not have to return.

Goals from last week:

Getting Alexa on a better napping schedule (3 or 4 longer naps instead of 6-7 catnaps) SUCCESS, we are down to 4 naps a day.. usually 2 of them are in her crib and last at least 45 minutes. We will continue working on this.

Spreading the daytime bottles to 4hours FAILED, Alexa still wants to eat every 3 hours

Night time routine. HALF WAY, We are not quite to the routine I would like but Alexa does go to sleep in her crib & soothers herself to sleep. We will continue to work on this.