4 Months Old

On the second Tuesday of February 2008 we saw the heartbeat of that mysterious little being growing inside of me for the very first time. On the second Tuesday of February 2009 was that little being's 4 month check-up. It is amazing how much change one year brings. I know what you're thinking...how can Jillian be 4 months old already? I've witnessed the growth daily, and I'm still shaking my head in amazement.

Getting to the doctor's appointment this afternoon was a bit stressful. I was unexpectedly pulled into an important meeting at work that ran late. So I ended up calling Jeramy to have him meet his mom at the doctor's office for the appointment. I hurried to the bus, was lucky enough to make quick transfers, and arrived in time for her shots. The guilty mom syndrome was a bit overwhelming, but I keep reminding myself that it was completely unnecessary given that Jillian had both her dad and grandma present for the appointment.

Of course what you all want are the stats, so let me appease you:

Height: 25" (75th percentile)
Weight: 15 lbs even (80th percentile)
Head circumference: 17.5" (off the charts)

I was glad to see that her height and weight had evened out. I'd hate to start a body image complex this early, after all. And yes, her head is still huge! Good thing that it is such a cute head that you hardly notice.

She has not rolled over yet, probably due to her intense hatred of tummy time. She has developed a tremendous love of her feet through. She loves to lay on back and grab on to them. She also loves to spit and blow raspberries. I've tried explaining that this is a bit rude, but of course she doesn't listen to me. Apparently she did this throughout the appointment earlier today, which Dr. M found quite amusing.

As usual she was not a big fan of shots, although at least this time we knew to give her tylenol BEFORE the appointment. That seemed to help a bit as she slept on the way home whereas last time she screamed for about an hour. This evening she seemed fine, but she just woke up screaming bloody murder. Thankfully Jeramy managed to calm her down by rocking her and cranking up some My Chemical Romance. That seems to be her favorite band. Well that and her musical seahorse.

I know that a lot of people start solid foods around 4 months, but we're going to wait for a bit. Dr. M usually tells people to wait until teeth have started to come in, and honestly I'm not feeling any big rush to start solids. I also still worry about Jillian and digestion issues. She continues to be a rather gassy baby who spits up a lot, and we're trying a switch to soy formula to see if that helps at all. She also seems to have some difficulty tolerating things she is not used to. She puked up several ounces of formula right after they gave her the oral RSV vaccine today. And this evening she puked up at least a couple ounces after I gave her tylenol.

Jeramy was also laid off last Saturday. We knew this was coming, and honestly we are both happy about this. Both of us have been completely stressed out trying to get the old house on the market, and this will make that much easier to have everything done before the open house our real estate agent has planned for February 21st. The list of out of work Pipefitters is quite a bit longer than when he was laid off in November, but we should be okay for a couple months at least. Plus if it looks like he'll be out for a while there are options in terms of having him travel to work elsewhere, but of course we would like to avoid that if possible. We're pretty lucky in that I have a good job, and when we don't have two mortgages to pay we can reasonably live off my income alone. Right now my mother-in-law is still watching Jillian so that Jeramy can concentrate on the house, but after that's done he'll get to spend more time with Jillian. He already is taking on any night wakings, which I'm already thankful for as she insisted on being awake from 2:30 to 4 last night.

I promise pictures of the new house soon. I would take some now, but honestly it is awfully difficult to see the house with all the boxes still in the way. Unpacking on the weekends has been impossible as that time has been devoted to the other house. Unpacking in the evenings has been impossible because well did I mention that I have a 4 month old? By the time she is asleep at night there are just a few precious moments to unwind before going to bed myself. Jeramy would help more but his time at the new house must be devoted to some very necessary repairs, appliance installation and mouse hunting. That's right, our new place has come with some rather unwanted tenants that we are currently trying to kick out one glue trap at a time.

So in lieu of house pictures here are a couple more of Jillian. You can get a glimpse of the new place in the background of the second pic, and she is awfully cute after all despite her enormous head.