Tess at Four Months - and - A Bathtime Idea

Yesterday Tess turned four months old.  She is now 24 inches long and weighs 14 pounds 2 ounces, which she carries mostly in her cheeks and thighs. :)

At four months Tess likes to:

• Spit up.  Quite a bit.
• Sleep for 10+ hour stretches at night.  Sweet.
• Sleep with a blanket on her face.  She won't go to sleep without the blanket and no matter what I do it ends up on her face.  (Don't worry, it's very light weight cotton.)
• Sleep with only her legs swaddled - her arms MUST be free or face the wrath of an angry Tess!
• Be held facing outward.  This girl wants to see what's going on.
• Swat at and grab rattles on her playmat.
• Growl.
• Smile a huge, gumless smile whenever I talk to her or pick her up.
• Drink bottles.
• Rub the headbands off her head.

At four months Tess doesn't like to:

• Lie down in the bathtub. (See below.)
• Be held by daddy for too long - he's creepy.  (Her words, not mine!)
• Smile for the camera.
• Have Cole sit on her face.  In fact, she hates that.
• Be on her tummy.  From the sound of it, it's a fate worse than death!
• Be in her car seat for too long.  We don't even bother taking the carrier into church with us because we know we'll just end up holding her.
• Wait.  For anything.
• Nurse.  Well, that's not true.  She usually does like to nurse.  But lately she has really been resisting it in the evenings.  She would just rather have a bottle and she lets that fact be well known.  I have tried everything, but to no avail.  She's just like Cole in that she's kind of a lazy eater and would rather just take a bother than work at nursing.  It's both frustrating and guilt-inducing on my end.  I nursed both Spencer and Josh exclusively, what's up with my last two babies?!  Oh well.  I just keep telling myself not to feel too bad.  I'm doing all I can.  Besides, it's not the end of the world - I was bottle-fed and I turned out pretty okay.  Mostly.

Anywho, as mentioned above, Tess is not so much into laying down in the bathtub.  She just doesn't like it.  Which was fine for a while because I like giving babies baths in the kitchen sink.  But she is so stinkin' wiggly and slippery now that it's almost impossible to bathe her in the sink without Lance being home. 

A few weeks ago I had an aha! moment and put the Bumbo seat in the sink and had Tess sit in it for her bath. This works fairly well and gets the job done, but the seat is just a tad too big and poor Tess's feet are always smooshed against the cold sink.  Plus, she can't really have much water on her because the seat's pretty high, so I think she gets a bit chilly.

So today I figured, hey, why not put the Bumbo seat in the tub?  That way she can have plenty of warm water and space.  I was getting this all set up when Josh and Cole decided they needed a bath, too.  No problem.

Haha!  My plan worked!  I was able to easily bathe Tess, and she LOVED being in the water with her brothers.  She would kick her little legs and just stare and stare at the boys.

Cole was just happy to have been invited.

I imagine Josh giving me this look a lot when he's a teenager.  It's kind of smug and defiant.  (He was being naughty just before.)

They played and played and the tub filled.  Quickly I realized something was amiss - specifically, the Bumbo was starting to float!  I had figured that the seat would float, but I thought that Tess's weight would keep it down.  Nope.  That chair was buoyant!  So I had to hold her in place so it wouldn't topple over.  I also helped her float around and run into her brothers, which they loved.

Eventually my arms got tired and Tess had to get out.  My plan was good, but I don't know how really safe it is to have an infant in a floating chair in the bathtub.  Time to think of another plan.  Or just help Tess get over her hatred of laying in the tub.

Tess got out, dried off, and had a good rub down with baby lotion.  She's the first baby I've had who really does need the lotion, even during humid summer.  I can only imagine how fun this is going to be during the winter!  No matter, is there anything more lovely smelling on a baby than baby lotion?  Oh man, it just makes me melt.

And you gotta love those fat rolls.  They are so cute!  Remember all the fuss with getting her to gain weight when she was born?  Yeah, not so much of a worry now!

 

Oh Tessie-girl, I love you!