4 months...ch-ch-ch-changes!

 My 4 month old prince!
What a ham he is...
Definitely the most fun month yet....
He's such a good baby, sitting quietly when we visit with others. The babysitter is so happy at how sweet he is, especially when she has to run errands and he goes along. He just sits and observes all that's going on, making only a few appropriate-for-baby peeps. Everyone is always very impressed. He's a happy baby who laughs and smiles alllll the time. He only cries when hungry, overtired, or wants to be picked up. He drools all the time too...maybe teething? But he's been drooling since we brought him home from the hospital so maybe not...



Height: 24.5"
Weight: 15 whopping lbs - you can still wear mostly 3 month clothes though

1st time in the bumbo (baby seat)

Sleeping: No more sleeping through the night...but you are spacing out to every 4-5 hours, which means waking up around 12 or 1am, and at 5 or 6am. This is do-able. Though I do have friends whose little ones are much younger and they are already sleeping through. We push on. My saving grace is your ability to always go back to sleep. We are grateful for these little things. You're mostly getting up to eat (at least I am getting up and feeding you) but I do wonder if you reeeeeally need to eat or just want to cuddle. Sometimes as soon as I pick you up you go RIGHT back to sleep on my shoulder. It's kinda sweet that you just need a snuggle, though tiring if you do this more than once in the night...which happened two or three times. Some say I should let you learn to put yourself back to sleep. I try this. Daddy does not like it when you cry. Plus it's harder when you're sleeping right next to us. I am confident that me picking you up and holding you til you go back to sleep will not scar you for life. You will not be doing this when you're 14.

Eating: ahh the 4th month...usually people start cereals and whatnot but I still see you as my little babe and cannot imagine you being big enough for food yet. You are noticing us eating however so maybe there is some interest on your part. You're growing just fine, so I'm content with just liquid food for now (still pumping though your getting more formula than milk from me. I am okay with this.)

New discoveries: 1)Everything! You're much more alert now. We went outside to walk Nate and you just starting at the trees blowing in the wind. I realize now just how fascinating it must be for you...to see these super tall things towering overhead, moving on their own. Everything is new. 2) your feet...we see you staring at them...I'm sure they'll make it to your mouth soon! 3) your voice. You like to scream. Just for the heck of it. Not mad-screaming but just yelling to hear yourself yell. It's...sometimes cute but you're getting pretty loud....How do you shush a 4 month old?

reading with Daddy

Accomplishments: Still no rolling over yet. But you hold your head up quite well and you're learning to transfer things from one hand to another. You're also learning sign language from me - so far we're working on milk, mommy and daddy. You seem to understand the milk sign though you haven't repeated it really yourself.

Places I went: no where out of state...or town for that matter. Just a busy month. Though you did make a few stops with the babysitter to gymnastic practices, girl scout promotions, 5th grade/8th grade/residency graduations. You're not so bad to travel with so far.

3 months...

Sooooo I wrote a really long post about how awesome he was at 3 months and I come back to find out it never posted...so this is a slightly abridged version of all of his 3 month awesomeness

Height: 23"
Weight: 13lbs 10 oz!
Sleeping patterns: you started out your 3rd month sleeping through the night. As in sleeping from 9pm-7am. I was ecstatic as I'd JUST started back to work and the next day you were sleeping through. Simply amazing. However! This must have just been a growth spurt thing because you went back to waking every 3-4 hours to eat a few days later. *sigh* But you've always gone right back to sleep so I didn't mind as much. Work in progress...

Eating: still nursing...now I'm pumping...There were grand plans to pump at work and nurse at home but gosh it's hard pumping and working as a resident of a small residency. It was just hard to keep up every 3 hours. So we started supplementing with formula toward the end of the month... You took this well, though I didn't as much. I refused to be the one feeding you a bottle of formula and nursed you as much as I could when at home.

New discoveries: your hands/especially your thumb...I think that was the source of those few nights of long sleep. You'd fuss a little then pop you thumb in your mouth and then ::silence::  =)

Accomplishments: reaching for things/holding toys

Places: You started staying with a babysitter this month. I was nervous about the whole thing...but even more nervous about daycare so we decided to have a sitter, at least until summer time.

New friends: your big cousins - Reed, Sanaa and Kam. Pastor Cowart - who came for a visit one day [one of the greatest feelings was having Pastor Coward pray for you the night before he left. It was a such a blessing to hear those words spoken over you. You are a much loved child]. Babysitter Cassandra and her kids Dylan and Courtney