When do I have to stop referring to my babies age in weeks? Harper is 17 weeks old (or 4 months)

4 months old!  WOW!  Well, we started out Harper's 4th month on earth with double ear infections.  At first, I didnt know for sure what was wrong.  She was very fussy in the evening hours but was still sleeping through the night.  Then came the screaming bloody murder.  I think it was on a Wednesday night and she screamed her head off and I just rocked her and cried.  That night, she didnt sleep well.  I took her in suspecting the ear infections and I was right.  I really did not want to put her on antibiotics but I agreed because she was in so much pain.  She seemed be be feeling better about 36 hours later.  Got a little better every day and we finished the amoxicillin after 10 days.  A few days after being off the meds, she started getting fussier and fussier.  I took her back in and the ears were just not completely cleared up.  Dr. McDowell put her on Omnicef for another 10 days and I think we may have kicked it this time.  I take her back on September 10th so we will see. 

These days, Harper is just so much fun.  She can fully support her head and follows objects and people as they move around her.  My brothers like to hold their cell phones up and watch her follow them.  She smiles almost all the time and now squeals with excitement.  She rolls all over the floor and can get herself stuck again the edges of her play gym.  She is just beginning to reach for people when they hold their hands out.  Harper loves bright toys and reaches out and trys really hard to get them in her mouth.  I dont feel any teeth yet but she is drooling and chews on anything she can get her hands on. 

Now, the sleeping thing has become a little more difficult.  Since she had ear infections, she has not slept through the night.  She wakes up and cries until I go in her room, put her paci back in and she goes right back to sleep.  She never even opens her eyes.  About once a night, she wants to nurse, so I feed her, and we go back to sleep.  This makes it VERY hard for mommy to function on early mornings before work but we are making it.  We have had a few nights where we have tried sleeping on the couch with Harper, in our bed with Harper, putting her in the swing, in her crib and nothing works.  The nights seem to be getting better now and I am looking forward to getting a full nights sleep again sometime but I am not going to force it on her.  If she needs me in the night, I will get up.  The CIO method (cry it out) is just not for me.  I have read a lot about this subject and there is research that shows that repeatedly allowing a baby to cry for long periods of time can raise cortisol levels (stress hormone) in the brain.  I also believe that some babies, if left to cry will stop crying not because they learned to "self-soothe" but because they learned that you are not going to listen.  I truely believe that babies cry to communicate not to manipulate.  I do not say these things to cause a riot among people that follow this approach.  In 5 years if you line all of the babies up that were allowed to cry it out or not allowed to cry it out, there may be no difference.  I am not a scientist.  The method is just not for me. 

Enough about that,  before I had a baby, I thought "oh, I will never do this or that" but now I realize that above all, my parenting philosophy is this:  "Follow your gut."  If it feels right to me, I do it.  I think parents get to hung up on schedules and rules that they forget to do what feels right for that particular baby.  I remember in the very early days at home with Harper, she would be fussing and I would say "well, it hasnt been 2 hours, so why is she hungry?"  Well, do we really think that babies have that sense of time?  Maybe, but maybe not.  I gave up on the whole timetable thing and we still ended up nursing about 2 hours anyway and I wasnt staring at the clock.  Now, if you are lucky enough to have a baby that sleeps 4 or 5 hours right off, you might need to watch the clock.  Harper had her own internal clock.

Harper is also starting to recognize people other than Scott and I.  A few days ago, my dad took her abruptly from my mom and Harper stuck her bottom lip out and cried!  I cant believe my baby is old enough to prefer one person over the other . WOW!