Baby Violet turned 4 months old last Sunday. That's one-third of a year! Wowza. How is it that even though every day feels 80 hours long, 4 months have flown by in a heartbeat? I feel like Erik and I are constantly saying to each other "She's getting so big!" And even though we are so excited whenever she learns a new skill, we kind of want her to stay all itty bitty. Violet is a completely different person than she was a few months ago. I know this because the second she goes to bed at night I get on my computer and stare at all the photos and videos I have of her. (Clearly, I can't get enough). But, yeah, she's really grown from a suckling baby blob into a little infant who sits and rolls and plays fetch. (wait. no not that last one.)
In my last couple of posts I wrote about Violet's First Two and a Half Months and Erik shared his version of her birth story and it's so cool to look back and see how much has changed and how much she's grown since then.
Lately she spends the majority of her waking hours either sucking on her (or our) hands or trying to put any and every toy in her mouth. She wants to be sitting up constantly but can't quite balance on her own yet. Tummy time on her play mat is a pretty big hit and I can usually leave her down there long enough to make a cup of coffee, or have a pee, which is pretty exciting for everyone.
She's constantly cooing and babbling now. In the early morning hours (like 5am early) she lays in the middle of the bed with us and looks at my face and scratches my eyeballs with her fingernails and just coos and mmmms and ahhhs, just letting me know that If I feel like playing, she's good to go on that. I usually just try to 'play asleep' with my eyes open just enough to see her, but she thinks they are closed. She'll stare and babble and then eventually copy me and close her eyes and fall back asleep. I feel proud of myself and my motherhood skillz in moments like these.
She's losing a lot of her hair and it has turned from dark brown to golden red. Her eyes are the most deep chocolatey brown. (As an aside, I thought all babies were born with blue eyes and when she came out her eyes were black. Right after she was born I kept asking the nurses and my doula if she could see. Is my baby blind? Are her eyes supposed to be black?!)
The absolute best part of this last month has been hearing Violet's laugh for the first time. It's like hearing a hundred angels singing. I had to work incredibly harder for it. Probably harder than I've worked at most of my jobs. I make ridiculous faces at her and sing the most hyper, bizarre songs (think of the middle section of Bohemian Rhapsody with the following lyrics "there's a poopy in your diaper, I can smell it, let's check it out! Oh my goodness, why is it green?! Let's clean this up, Bob!")
Anyway, point is, I made my baby laugh and I will try a million more times over the next 60 years because there is no sweeter sound.
I've been breastfeeding for 4 months straight now and it's crazy to think that that's all a baby needs to grow. She's almost 14 lbs now (she was 8 lbs at birth), and around the 50th percentile in weight. It's been an intense breastfeeding journey, and I've loved it even though it's been super hard at times. I can't believe in less than 2 months she'll get to have her first taste of real food. I'm thinking it'll be avocado. I ate my first avocado when I was 21 years old and missed out on so many good years I could have shared with avocado. I don't want to do Violet that injustice.
Anyhow, I know a million jillion people have had babies before me and this might be a boring topic to some, but, to me, it is the most fascinating and rewarding thing I've ever experienced so far. So thanks for sticking it out with me and humouring my gaga-over-baby-ness. Her and Erik are honestly the best things that have ever happened to me and I am so grateful to get to share every day with them. Enjoy winter, y'all and see you next month.
