Rayah – 4 months

Well, it would seem that Rayah is in the beginning stages of teething, as she constantly drooling and soaking her clothes and bibs. She also enjoys munching on her fingers (her thumb being her favorite), chewing on her tongue, sucking in her top lip, and on mowing down on her clothing and blankets.  Here she is chewing on the fabric of the exersaucer, just like her older brother did.

Apparently Justice is teething too, as I’ve seen a couple of his 2-year molars poking through, so I’m hoping that was the reason he decided to take a big chomp on Rayah’s delectable-looking arm.  The poor girl wailed and the bite marks were so deep that they were still apparent the next day, when I took this picture…

Rayah has been very off-and-on with her sleeping habits and I really cannot predict what she will do from one day to the next.  She has had a few really bad nights where she seemed to be struggling with gas issues and we had to go to her several times to try and comfort her, but then she’s also had several good nights where she’ll only feed once and sleeps fine the rest of the night.  She’s also had days where she’ll nap for 2-3 hours and then days like yesterday where she has 5 catnaps that were only about 40 minutes each!  One of my problems is that when she has a really good day or a really good night, I always start to fantasize that this is the way it’s going to be from now on and I expect the same wonderful sleep the next day, so when it doesn’t turn out that way, I get all bummed out.   I just need to learn to take it one day at a time and realize that she is always changing and that nothing ever lasts forever - good or bad!

Rayah has been smiling lots and so on the verge of laughing!  I might say she’s laughing already, but it’s hard to say – she is definitely squealing and shrieking with joy and cooing and ahhing.  She can get quite chatty and loud when she’s happy!

Rayah is also really starting to grab things – she’ll grab her toys, blankets, clothing, the change mat, my hair, strings on my clothing, and she loves grabbing my sleeves when I’m trying to change her diaper.

She’s getting the hang of standing on her feet and seems to enjoy being in the exersaucer or the Jolly Jumper, which is quite nice, since Justice didn’t really like them very much at her age.

At four months, she’s still a chubby monkey and weighed in at 16 lb. 13 oz., measuring 26 inches long!  Her onesies all get too short since she has a long torso, but her arms and legs are kinda stubby – lol.  She’s got lots of rolls, as you can see in this video where she shows how she loves splashing in the tub!

It has also been so great that Rayah can take a bottle!  Joe and I have been able to go on a couple of dates without any kids and I’ve had a chance to go out with friends and have Joe take care of Rayah for me – so nice! 

Rayah also enjoyed our visit from two of my old roommates, Jen from California and Lisa from Toronto, who both came bearing gifts of adorable clothes for her!  Isn’t she beautiful??