These pictures seriously just make me SQUEAL! Sometimes I just look at our little girl and I feel like I’m going to explode with happiness, love & adoration for her! Funny story, I printed the above pic of Annie for Patrick to put on his desk at work. I gave it to him on Friday night and he literally said, “I wish I was going to work tomorrow just so I could hang her picture up!” … For all of the reasons to want to go into work on a Saturday!? lol.
But anyway, today I’m chatting about something you might remember me sharing months & months ago, the Owlet Smart Sock monitor. Now that Annie is here, we’ve been using it on the regular to give us extra piece of mind each night when she goes to bed. Today I’m sharing my thoughts on Owlet + giving a little update on all things Annie!
Anne is 4.5 months old!
Where in the world has the time gone? These last, almost five months, have seriously flown by. But at the same time, I feel like Annie has always been a part of our lives. Our world has changed drastically thanks to our newest arrival, and I wouldn’t have it any other way! I had so much fun sharing my little weekly bumpdates with you guys, so in the same style as those I’m going to share a bit about what’s been going on with our gal lately.
Size:
These days, I no longer compare this kiddo to fruit or veggies (but I do tend to call her chicken nugget a lot!) Annie is about 15 pounds and squishy as can be. I still actually have no idea what percentile she is in as far as height & weight go. I always seem to forget to ask at her check ups! But at the rate she is growing out of clothes & shoes, I’m thinking she’s going to be a tall one like her daddy.
Looks:
I would say Annie 99% resembles Patrick and maybe 1% myself. ha! I mean, I can kind of see the shape of my eyes in hers, sort of? Right now they’re blue like Patrick’s but I’m convinced they’re going to turn green like mine! But for the most part, she’s inherited her Daddy’s good looks and it’s the coolest thing in the world to see him in her features.
Milestones:
This little girl LOVES loves LOVES to roll over. The second we put her down she just wants to roll all around. She’s reaching for toys, reaching for me, and sitting up while supported. She always wants to be either standing in our arms or sitting in our laps. I can tell she’s desperate to see the world around her and laying down just kinda bores her. Oh and she’s discovered our big golden retrievers too! Their antics are always making her giggle. She’ll try to grab them as they walk by and it just melts me in every possible way.
Sleep:
Ah, my favorite subject. I honestly don’t remember the last time I slept 4+ hours in a row. The four-month sleep regression is oh-so-painful!! But she’s going through many changes & growing like a weed and a little bit of sleep regression is part of that I suppose. I think it’s only hit us as hard as it has because she was sleeping so well (+ through the night) before four-months. Currently going with the flow and running on caffeine!
Favorite Moments:
Annie recently discovered her laugh and its glorious! I love watching Patrick act like a total goof just to get her to giggle. She’s also now sitting in the stroller portion of my jogger, as opposed to riding along in the car seat. I love that she can see the world in front of her as we go on our daily walks. I’m also soaking up each time she falls asleep in my arms. It doesn’t happen nearly as often as it used to and when it does I just want to drop everything and hold her for as long as she sleeps. These are the moments when I think “the dishes can wait, my email replies can wait, and I’ll get to this or that later.” This stage of her life is fleeting and I don’t want to miss a moment!
One thing that has certainly helped with the sleepless nights, and my sanity, is Owlet. For those of you who aren’t familiar, Owlet is a baby monitor that is designed to notify mom & dad if the baby’s heart rate or oxygen falls outside the preset zones. Owlet stands out from other monitors because it uses proven technology called pulse oximetry — most know this as the little red light they clip on your finger at the hospital to track heart rate and oxygen. The best part? It tracks all of this on your iphone! Even while watching TV on the couch after Annie’s bedtime, I can check on her heart rate and oxygen at the touch of a button, easing any sort of worry I might have at that moment.
I really relied on it during her newborn days. I’d always look at her to double check if she was breathing throughout the day. I couldn’t help it! At night while I was trying to soak in some much-needed sleep, Owlet was there to give me peace of mind that everything was okay.
Now that Annie’s Older …
I’m not checking on whether or not her chest is rising or falling every 10 minutes like I did at the beginning. (Thank goodnessssss!) But I have new things I’m worried about that I wasn’t expecting. Earlier in this post, I mentioned that Annie rolls over ALL the time. Well, she does this even in her sleep too. Imagine my shock and surprise the first few times checking her video monitor and seeing that she was sprawled out on her tummy! We’re told “back is best” so I sprinted into her room to turn her over ASAP. She can roll herself back and forth, so the pediatrician said it was okay for her to sleep however she feels most comfortable. But that doesn’t stop me from wanting to go in there and check on her every chance I get.
Thankfully her little foot is tucked inside her Owlet sock (which they’ve just updated! Annie’s wearing the new model in the photo on the left!) and we’re able to see she’s doing just fine without popping in the nursery to disturb her! {Waking a sleeping baby is not always fun, ha!}
I’ll definitely try to do more of these “Annie Updates” as she gets older! Writing this one was so much fun and I know I’ll really enjoy looking back on them later. As always, thanks for stopping by the blog! And big thank you to Owlet for sponsoring this post. All opinions are my own.
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xo, alice
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photos by Lauren Rathbun
