Please Excuse Me: Mara's 4 Month Mark (and then some)

It's possible that I have way more pictures of Mara than any of my other babies. But, she's likely my last so, #noregrets. We took her for her 4 month check up ten days ago and she was already 26 inches long and 14 and a half pounds. She is keeping the record as our smallest baby. Her length is (as far as percentages go) not too far behind her siblings. This makes things complicated as most 6 mos clothes are too short for her but the 9 mos stuff is too baggy. Currently, she's just wearing a mix of both sizes. She's in a size 2 diaper. At this point, Reid was already sporting a 4, ha!

She refuses a bottle (like each of her sister, but not Reid -- thus the size 4s). Having breastfed babies who refuse bottles is hard. I can hardly sneak away for an hour without her. I try repeatedly almost every Saturday, but Ben texts me to let me know when she starts howling. We've also had to tell babysitters (who we can only schedule after bedtime) not to go get her if she cries, but to instead just call me and I'll come home. Thankfully, that hasn't had to happen (yet). She's still a pretty good sleeper (barring sutffy nose and diarrhea issues).

Coraline has started to get a bit jealous, so Mara's been a little more beat up this month. They still have sweet moments though. The other day I put Mara in her swing while I made dinner and Coraline sat down in front of her and started reading books to her. I really think the two of them are going to be close buddies.

It's getting harder to leave her while I do things around the house. She rolls off her mat and gets angry, and she has to be strapped in tight to her swing. I'm sure we'll break the jumperoo out soon. She does like sitting in the bumbo, but only lasts about 7 minutes before she gets mad that she can't scoot herself out. Girl loves to kick her legs and try to move around!

She responds to tickles and showers us with giggles during diaper changes. She cries when she wakes up from naps, but the moment I open the door and say "I'm here," she calms down. I don't even have to pick her up right away (I can put away laundry, tidy up books, etc), but as long as I'm there she stops crying immediately. She mostly coos and does happy shouts when she wakes up in the morning. It's really loud though, so I have to go in right away and start feeding her or she'll wake up Coraline and have to fight for morning snuggles with mom.

I know I say it over and over, but I really can't believe how fast it goes. It seems like most people who say that have long been graduated from the baby stage, so I want to say it over and over as a mother of babies. THEY GROW SO FAST! It's a good reminder for me to calm down and savor at least a few tender moments between laundry, meal prep, clean up, and exhaustion.