Davis Family: Avalon at Four Months

Time is really flying! Avalon was four-months-old on April 21. At her check up with our new pediatrician, she weighed 12 pounds, 14 ounces (30th percentile), was 23.5 inches long (25th percentile), and her noggin was in the 25th percentile. She is really good at tummy time and keeps her head up with very little fussing for several minutes. The next milestones are the back-to-tummy roll and sitting up.

Avalon is an amazingly good baby, and is constantly smiling and giggling when her hands aren’t in her mouth due to her teething and constant drooling. She nurses every 3 to 4 hours and goes down for a nap 45 to 60 minutes after that. Due to her brother’s schedule, naps are sometimes very brief and take place on the road. She no longer sleeps anywhere, and usually only sleeps in a moving car or swaddled in her bed. When she is in her bed she naps range from 45 minutes to 3 hours with the longer naps in the morning. The doctor says she should start moving to a 3 naps per day schedule, but so far she seems to need her rest after every feeding, which means as many as 5 naps per day. Getting her down for naps is usually easy, but getting her to fall asleep at night takes awhile. However, once she is she is usually out for the night with one or two fusses, which end as soon as I put in the pacifier. We can definitely thank the miracle blanket for her great sleeping, and I am terrified because the doctor said we need to phase the swaddle out, which I am dreading. She has gone as long as 11 hours between feedings at night, but usually its 8 to 10 hours between feedings. I am a very lucky mom that gets to sleep through the night.

Avalon is not perfect and has some very fussy moments. When we returned from Hawaii she needed to be held constantly when she was awake, which was extremely difficult to manage. That has lessened a little bit, but she is still very fussy and needy at in the evenings, which makes it painful if Aaron or I are gone during Waylon’s bath and bed procedures. For about 45 minutes the solo-parent has to do whatever is necessary to just survive that time! Speaking of Waylon, almost everyone comments on how much they look alike. Its hard for me to see, but when I look at Waylon’s baby pictures I am amazed at the similarities.
The biggest news this month is that I am returning to work next week and Avalon will join Waylon at daycare. It is going to be very hard to put a four-month-old in daycare, but after weighing all of our options I feel safer having her at a facility with so many eyes around as well as cameras. There is no good way to go back to work, but I am trying hard to work with the school for a smooth-as-possible transition.

Our little girl is getting bigger--both taller and wider.

We just started puting her in the exersaucer (aka the Circle of Neglect), but she has barely reached out to grab the toys. Waylon is very interested to see his old toy.

Avalon already has her daddy totally wrapped around her little finger.

I love that tushy!

Avalon is definitely filling out, and we are no longer worried about her being too small. She has plenty of adorable baby rolls.

HANDS!!!!!!!! She has definitely found her hands and makes lots of chewing noises while "dining" on them.

Avalon is losing hair, but her mohawk remains.

Look at those strong neck muscles! We are very proud.

When she is not drooling through multiple outfits and bibs every day, Avalon is spitting up. You cant imagine all of the bodily fluids we deal with each day!