Life with Makena

I can't believe four months have gone by and I haven't blogged much about Makena. I definitely want to remember what my babies are like at each stage and putting it down here is the only way I'll remember. I've gone back to past posts about Karis and realized how much I forget. It's been tough to get a quiet moment to be at the computer for an extended amount of time. Each day is always busy with plenty of things demanding my attention.

Makena is living up to her name -- happy one. She smiles and coos and laughs often. I love when she falls asleep on me at the end of the day and as she's drifting off into deep slumber she starts to laugh. It's such a great way to end the day! My favorite time with her has become during her last feeding around 7 pm. Derek is upstairs putting Karis to bed and the house is quiet. Makena and I hang out on the couch and work on her bottle. We take burping breaks and we end up "talking" and smiling at each other for quite awhile.

Makena's personality makes her a pretty easy-going baby. It took me awhile to realize that at first because each day was so busy and crazy.

It was difficult to get Makena on a schedule. Unlike her sister who was like clock work, Makena's days were quite disorganized for the first few months. She slept for longer periods during the night and to make up for it she would nurse more often during the day. Each day's schedule was different so it made it hard for me to get out since I couldn't nurse Makena in public (with Karis running around loose!). However, her lack of schedule made her more flexible which was a huge blessing. She often had to wait to be fed while I got Karis' lunch ready or changed a dirty diaper.

At four months, she is finally on a schedule! I stopped nursing Makena when she was about 3 1/2 months old. It was a hard decision to make but there were so many reasons why I decided to do it. Nursing Makena was never easy so it was very taxing me and very time consuming.

Makena started to skip a couple night feedings at 8 weeks. She did it for a couple days and then did it consistently at 2 months. Then, at about 3 months she started waking up more at night. I assumed it was because of a growth spurt -- at her 4-month appointment today she weighed in at 16 pounds which puts her in the 93rd percentile! Just recently she has gone back to only one feeding at night. Phew!

My biggest challenge with her right now continues to be the feedings. Even with bottles, she still has issues. She gets gassy and spits up a lot so it's hard for her to finish a bottle. Each night it takes about two hours to get her to finish her extra-large feeding and down for the night. I plan on switching formulas to see if it makes a difference.

She rolled over about a month ago for the first time. She now rolls over and wakes herself up. She loves to show off her strength and stand up. She gets so proud of herself when she does.

One thing Derek and I are enjoying is having an infant that actually likes car rides. If you've been a reader of our blog for awhile now, you might remember how we mentioned Karis used to act like she was in a torture chamber whenever she was in her car seat (click here to read post). Makena doesn't mind the car seat (the same one Karis used) at all!

It's also been much easier to get Makena down for a nap. Karis would always fight taking naps. Makena does too at times, but for the most part it's been pretty easy to put her down.

Here are a few pics of Makena at 3 months and at 4 months.

3 months:

4 months: