Fat Sister

Molly is four months old and had her well-baby checkup today. The little chunk weighed in at 15 lbs, 8 oz and measured 24 1/2 inches tall. She's following her own little growth curve nicely -- she's now 85% for weight and 50% for height and head circumference on the growth charts for her actual age. Since Max has spent so long hanging out in the lower third of the growth charts, it still amazes me that Molly is bigger than a goodly percentage of babies her age, even though she was born earlier and was smaller than most of them. It must be all those good eats at Mom's. ;) Unfortunately, Molly was due for another round of vaccinations, so the visit ended with three pokes and a very unhappy baby. The girl has a really good set of lungs on her and made sure that everyone knew about her extreme displeasure. Aside from not wanting to settle down and go to bed tonight, she seems to be recovering just fine.

Happily, the rash on Molly's face has cleared up nicely. After trying a number of creams that have served us well for other purposes (California Baby, Weleda, A+D, Eucerin), the Aveeno Baby cream was the only one that did the trick -- everything else just seemed to make it worse. I'm glad we found something that worked and that Molly's pretty little cheeks are back to their normal baby-soft condition. I don't think it was really eczema, however, I think it was just some type of irritation caused by rubbing her face in drool, spit, and burp cloths. Max, however, does seem to have some true eczema, so the helpful treatment tips won't go to waste!

Molly has been a little spittier as of late, even with the newly adjusted Zantac dose. I had allowed a tiny bit of caffeine to creep into my diet, so I had to let it creep right back out again (*sigh*). Molly seems to be following in her big brother's footsteps in that respect -- with Max there was always a direct correlation with any caffeine consumption on my part and an increase in the 'gurge. I'm definitely not in any hurry to wean Molly and it won't be happening any time soon, but there's definitely a part of me that is looking forward to being able to drink coffee, eat peanut butter, and have a couple of glasses of wine on occasion! Of course, there's a bigger part of me that will be terribly sad when Molly is finished with nursing, since it'll mean that my baby isn't much of a baby any more.

In other Molly news (since we're all about Molly tonight ... sorry Max), she's getting more and more vocal and a little more mobile. She's able to hold her head up well and is starting to scoot around in her Pack and Play. She loves it when you talk to her (and she usually smiles and squeals and talks right back) and likes to be in the center of the action, where she can see everything that is happening. Her hands are her best new discovery -- she likes to clasp them together, suck her thumb, play with her fingers, and grab on to everything and try to eat it. We're getting ready for her first Christmas, which should be a lot of fun (at least for us, since she'll be oblivious ;).