- Anna Ruth went on her first golf cart ride with her daddy, brother, and mommy. She seemed to enjoy it because she fell asleep soon after we started driving.
- She laughed out loud for the first time. First time was at the park during Spring Break. She has done it about 3 or 4 times since then.
- She has turned over from her back to her stomach about 5 times. Nothing consistent. Bless her heart, she isn't on her tummy enough to roll from it to her back because she absolutely hates being on her tummy.
- She and Sumner both have had a forever long cold this month resulting in Anna Ruth pretty much sleeping full time in her swing. I am NOT happy about this, but what do you do when a baby will not sleep unless she is inclined a certain way?
- We brought out Sumner's old exersaucer and let her try it out. She still needs support, so I put blankets around her waist and a pillow under her feet. She was really fascinated with all the gadgets.
- She has just now really gotten interested in toys. She likes swatting at things dangling in front of her and holding on to different textures.
- Anna Ruth still smiles a coos all the time!
- Poor baby is drooling all over the place. When I took her to her 4 month wellness visit her doctor told me she defiantly was teething.
- Eating is still a major ordeal. I guess she still associates the bottle with pain, so even when she is starving I have to force her to start eating. It is terrible. An onlooker who doesn't know the situation would think I was cruel for "forcing" my baby to eat. But what people don't understand is she REALLY is hungry. The proof is when she eventually starts drinking and realizes it isn't hurting her, and gulps down 5 ounces. The trick is getting her to start! Normally she drinks 5 ounces every three hours. However, for some reason she doesn't like to take her morning bottle until after she has been up a while. So even if she woke up in the middle of the night at 3 am to eat, and she wakes up again at 7 am to begin her day, she may not be hungry for a bottle until 9. On average, she drinks 21 oz. a day. She needs about 17 to stay nourished and the target/normal amount for babies at her weight is 30 oz. a day. One thing helping her is she gets a high calorie mix of formula + oatmeal cereal to give her extra calories. For about two weeks she actually was drinking 30 oz. a day so we started mixing her formula the normal way. But, when she started eating less, we switched back to the high calorie way.
- She usually goes to bed around 7 am each night, wakes up around 3 am to eat, and then again around 7:30 am to start her day.
- We moved the straps up on her car seat and switched her to size 2 diapers.
- Anna Ruth wears anywhere from 3month-6 month clothes. It just depends on the style of the clothing.
- This child LOVES the TV. Especially anything on Disney Channel. I do not purposefully let her watch it but it is so hard to keep her from it when Sumner is watching it. I try to turn her away from the TV the majority of the time. When I am feeding her when it is on she will strain her neck to see what is going on.
- She already has a love for the outdoors. Whenever she is fussy we go outside and she calms down.
- Miss Priss doesn't like to keep socks on her sweet feet. Not really... I think her feet is just so tiny they all fall off! I didn't notice it until she quit wearing footed sleepers all the time. Now I put socks on her to keep her toes warm. I don't know why I even bother because she kicks them off about as fast as I put them on. Her foot is so small that when my mama went to buy her first pair of Keds (my Mee-Maw always bought me Keds, so my mama wanted to do the same for Anna Ruth) the girl measured her foot and it was a size 0 (0-6 weeks)!
- Her favorite thing to do is blow bubbles and gurgle at people. So sweet! She will do it forever it seems!
- Sadly, Anna Ruth doesn't like to fall asleep on my chest anymore. I keep trying to get her to go to sleep while I am holding her, but she refuses. She likes to sleep in her room, either in her swing or in her crib. Luckily she does still like to be cuddled and held, just not when she sleeps.
- Anna Ruth likes to be home. ENOUGH SAID. Whenever we go anywhere like a restaurant or someone's home, she gets so ill. When we are at our house she rarely ever acts fussy. But once we leave, it is ON! There have been several instances that I have had to leave the restaurant and sit in the car because she was screaming so bad. She still has the loudest cry of any baby I have ever known. One day for lunch we made the mistake of attempting to eat at Cracker Barrel. Right after we ordered she started screaming uncontrollably. So much so that people were peaking around the corner to see whose baby was making all the racket. I got up and walked out as quickly as I could. The whole way out I was getting pity stares and pats on the shoulder.
- Something I LOVE about her... whenever she is upset and I walk up to her and she catches my eyes, it seems like she looks so deep into them, begging me to help her! I swear it is like she is talking to me without using words. The second our eyes meet she instantly calms down. It makes my heart melt.
- She has found her toes! She spends a lot of time playing with her feet and hands!
- Anna Ruth has started fussing a lot in the car or in the stroller (unless she is asleep.)
- Anna Ruth's 4 Month Wellness Visit went great. She was 24 1/2 inches long (50 percentile). She weighed 14 lbs. 2 oz. (48 percentile). Her head circumference was 40 1/2 (46 percentile). Dr. Griffin said she looked perfect! She got her 4 month vaccines which I was worried about (because she had a reaction to her 2 month vaccines). Before Dr. Griffin came in, Matthew said a prayer out loud asking God to help Anna Ruth tolerate the vaccines and to please not let them hurt her. God answered our prayers in a tremendous way. Anna Ruth did not even cry with the first shot and only cried about 20 seconds with the second shot (last time she cried basically not stop for 8 hours.) Not only did she not cry, I did not see any sign of a bad reaction from her later in the day either. PRAISE GOD! Dr. Griffin said I could start feeding her stage 1 baby food which I plan to try on doing in the very near future. I hope she likes baby food better than milk!
Four Month Check-Up
SUMNER
- Sumner started "school" this month at Northside Baptist Church. He is in the one year old class and loves it. His teachers could not believe how happy he was to be there on the first day. I guess most babies cry when they go to a new place, but he didn't. He was so excited. I knew he would do good because he already gets excited when we pull up to church or the YMCA because he knows he is going to get to play with other children. In fact, he starts clapping as soon as he recognizes where we are. Same thing goes for school. The first day I took him we only stayed for about an hour for me to learn about it. When we got there he immediately let go of my hand and started running towards a line of other children walking to the gymnasium (all the while squealing and laughing.) Then, when we went in the gym to play with the babies in his class he jumped right in on the fun. His school is on Wednesday and Friday from 9-12. I don't know if he will go back to finish the last few weeks because I will be back to work and he will be staying with his Poppy. I am sure he would rather be with Poppy than at school any day!
Waking up for first day of school
Playing 
Leaving
Snack time - Poor baby started the month with a cold. It didn't get better so his doctor treated him for a sinus infection with amoxicillin. After 10 days of being on Amoxicillin he still was congested, running a low grade temperature, had a runny nose, and developing a bad cough. When I took Anna Ruth for her wellness visit I got the doctor to look at him too. She said his ears were fine but he still had a bad sinus infection so she called in Augmentin. She also told me to start giving him Allegra each day for his allergies. We have tried Zyrtec and Claritin in the past, but both medicines made him ill as a hornet. So far, Allegra seems to do better with him. I hate giving him so much medicine, but at the same time I hate him feeling bad all the time.
- Sumner got four new teeth this month. I am not sure what they are called but they are the bigger ones in the corner of his mouth.
- My awesome sleeper has gone through a stage this month where he fights sleep. It started with naps, then bed time, and then waking up through the night. It could have been a faze, or teething, or the cold/sinus infection. For the most part this faze has ended... We still have occasional spells...
- Sumner has always liked brushing his teeth, but is has now gotten out of control. He has learned to pull out a box from under my bathroom sink and use it to stand on to reach his toothbrush. He walks around the house all day brushing his teeth.
Where's my toothbrush? - Sumner's newest favorite thing is playing in the dirt. He can spot a good dirt pile anywhere. The messier the better!
- His second favorite thing is playing on playgrounds. We have been spending a lot of time at the park and Chikfila. He has no fear. From the first time I have I ever took him he never missed a beat. His favorite thing is the slide. The bigger the better!
- Sumner still loves his "ssiisssyy" (Anna Ruth.) He is forever giving her kisses and doing this gently "tickle tickle" game with her. He asks to hold her several times during the day. I pretend to let him, but of course I never let go of her!
Anna Ruth, you are growing so quickly. Part of me wishes I could turn back time just so you would stay small, but the other part of me looks forward what is to come. We have so much to look forward to. The next several months are going to be full of change as we watch you learn so many new things. I hope you know how LOVED you are. It is incredible to think you have only been here for four short months because I honestly cannot remember how we lived without you. It is as if you have always been with us.
Sumner, I know this may sound like a broken record but just when I think I cannot love you more, I do. You are just so so so special. You have the sweetest personality. I can already tell how big of a heart you have. You are so loving and affectionate. You are also so smart. You amaze me everyday with the things you do and understand. I love every minute I spend with you. I cannot believe you will be two in just a few weeks. I really wish time would slow down. My baby boy is growing up way to fast.
I love you both as high as the sky and the ocean is deep and more and more and more!!!!!
Beautiful Pics Amanda!
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