Four months!!!!

Our sweet baby is 4 months old! She had her well-child check up yesterday and did very well!

Here are her stats:

Height 24 1/2 inches (50th percentile)

Weight 14lb 10oz (75th percentile)

Laura is growing! She did really well with her immunizations (and I didn't come nearly as close to passing out this time! Let me just say that it is much easier being a physician than being a mommy!). She has a slight fever today, but doesn't seem to be bothered by it in the least. Overall, she got a really good report from her pediatrician. She does have a bit of torticollis (she tends to tilt her head to the left and rotate it to the right). That's probably because she is a tummy sleeper (I know, I know... we attempted to have her sleep on her back from birth, but she just wouldn't sleep. It's difficult enough to get her to sleep at all, so we reluctantly put her on her tummy and she seemed to sleep so much better. I still advocate back sleeping overall, but this seems to work for us right now. We sure did a lot of praying, though! I'm working with her now to try to teach her to be more comfortable sleeping on her back during naps... no real luck yet. )

I spoke with her pediatrician about introducing some solids, but I still think it's not time. Initially, I was going to wait until 6 months to start cereal. However, she still isn't sleeping through the night (usually gets up 1-2 times!!!!!!!), so I planned to start cereal at 4 months. She doesn't have great trunk/head control yet when sitting upright, so I think we'll wait another month. I'm really excited to introduce her to cereal and baby food! I purchased a food mill and borrowed a food processor with hopes that we'll be able to make her own baby food. Any suggestions or helpful hints from your experience?

Laura's sleeping habits have been a real frustration for me. I've read (and read and read...) blogs, books, websites on infant sleep and I'm still confounded. BabyWise was recommended to me when Laura was about 8 weeks old and we've been attempting to get her on a regular eat, wake, sleep cycle. However, she has not been able to nap for more than 45 minutes at a time for quite some time now. She goes to sleep fairly easily, but wakes 42-45 minutes into her nap (which ideally should be about 1 1/2 hours). Occasionally, I can get her to go back to sleep during her first morning nap, but rarely does she fall back asleep for any of her other naps. Thankfully, she's a pretty content baby, despite lack of sleep. Please pray for us that Laura would begin to nap better and that I would have patience and endurance through the process. It's frustrating, but I try to remember that this is really a short season in light of eternity and one day I'll look back on these days longingly (well, maybe not the sleepless nights!).

One last aside... the other day I was speaking with an administrator from a practice that I might be working for on occasion. When I was sharing with him some of the challenges of having an infant at home, he said, "It's almost like having a second profession, isn't it?" Respectfully, I think that is really inaccurate. Parenting (whether you have to work outside the home or not) is our primary "profession." Loving my husband, managing my home, and mothering our little girl is my full time job and I'm so grateful for the privilege of bearing these responsibilities. The time that I spend away from my home at work, regardless of the number of hours, is by far a distant rank with respect to my chief responsibilities in life. I view my medical profession as tentmaking of sorts. It allows me to bring in extra income to help my husband in financially providing for our family. Although I enjoy it, it pales in comparison with the joy I receive from my other responsibilities.

Thanks for reading! Would you please pray for us? Please pray that Laura's naps would improve, that she would sleep for longer stretches at night, and that I would have the strength and stamina to care for her and for our home while working?

Also, PLEASE leave comments for us regarding your experience with infant sleep/nap patterns. What has been helpful for you? What did your baby do at 4 months of age? I could really use the encouragement and advice. Thank you!