4 months old!

Today, Riley Bug turned 4 months old!  1/3 of a year old.  Wow.  I must say, I think she gets more and more fun each day.  I've said this before, but the first 10-ish weeks of her life were pretty much a piece of cake.  Around 12 weeks/when we returned from our trip to the US, she got quite challenging.  So from about 12 weeks to 16 weeks things were a bit tough.  And while she's still a bit high maintenance, she is getting better each day it seems, and is starting to be so interactive and fun!  And we LOVE it.

4 month accomplishments include:

• smiling ALL the time.  Especially at her mama.
• laughing a few times, but giggling/almost laughing more often each day
• rolling very regularly from tummy to back (to avoid tummy time at all costs)
• not allowing anyone to hold her except for mommy and daddy (as in she will get the biggest pouty face you've ever seen and then cry and cry until back in my arms)
• sometimes crying when strangers get to close/try and interact with her
• only wanting mommy when she gets tired
• loving her jolly jumper and bouncer
• putting everything in her mouth all the time
• drooling constantly, it's as if her mouth is a little fountain
• going to sleep between 7 and 8 every night, but all bets are off after that.  Sometimes she sleeps until 2:30am, and then wakes for the day anytime between 5am and 7am.  Other nights she wakes at 11, 3, 5, and 7.  As I said, she keeps us on our toes.  Mostly me, since Mark sleeps through it all.
• naps. ohhhhh naps.  umm, usually takes 4 naps a day, with an optimal awake time of about an hour and a half from the moment she wakes up to the moment she's back asleep.  Occasionally she'll only have 3 naps, and occasionally she'll have 5.  Sometimes she goes to sleep in under 5 minutes, sometimes she fights it for over half an hour. 
  
• goes through an absurd amount of diapers per day.  It's apparently normal for breastfed babies to only poop every couple of days... I WISH.  Not this little bundle.  Oh no.  She still poops 4-5 times A DAY.  Joy.
• rolls from back to side, but not back to belly
• will happily stay in the baby bjorn for up to 40 minutes at a time, as long as she's facing out
• still needs to be rocked to sleep every. single. time. (except during the night, she goes right back to sleep without rocking)
• loves bath time, but has suddenly developed a fear of her daddy standing over her while she lays on the ground.  We usually lay her on the floor of the bathroom on a towel while Mark gets her bath ready, and all of a sudden she seems to find this totally scary.  Who knew.
• still 100% breastfed, and we don't plan on starting solids any time soon
• gets a bottle maybe every other day or so, although some times she is weird about it and won't take it
• according to our bathroom scale (which has proven inaccurate) she weighs 13.5 pounds! That's a gain of TWO POUNDS in a month! This moves her from the 15th percentile to the 30th for weight!
  
• can sit unassisted for a record of 5 seconds, which was likely a fluke, but we'll still count it
• tries to sit up all the time (in the car seat, lying flat, laying on a pillow, laying in our arms, etc...)
• can stand up (assisted, of course) really really well
• cooing and talking a lot, EXCEPT when strangers are around.
• Longest time she's stayed awake so far has been almost 4 hours, and let me tell you... what. a. NIGHTMARE.
• Has outgrown all size NB clothes and most 0-3 month clothes as well.  Still fits in 3 month and mostly wears 3-6 month!  Also wears size 1-2 diapers.  I'm sure you totally care about that...

The outtakes from our photo shoot...

Mwah.  Apparently I'm funny.

Initially I put her in this outfit from her godparents (her godfather is Irish and this little number came straight from Ireland)....

But, uh, she kept doing this...

Silly baby.  Happy 4 months to her!!