Four

Four months

(only two weeks late, yay, me!)

Likes: Mommy, Daddy, Brady, milk, Sophie, music, kisses, watching people, laughing, being tickled, holding toys, putting things in his mouth, his hands, toys.

 

Apparently, it gets harder to take pictures of them both as he gets older and Brady looks tasty. 

Sleep: Sigh. Two words. Reverse cycle. He's practically nursing all night. Thank you, cosleeping for making it bearable and luckily, I don't feel more exhausted but he does have nights where he's having a hard time settling. I'm back to swaddling him, with one arm out in hopes to slowly wean him from it. Naps are all over the place but I'm blaming our child care (uh, more on this later and the reason for the reverse cycling) and I'm working on that end. Though, he's now almost 4 1/2 months and things are getting much better a few days after he's been at home (rather than at my IL's who watch him.) 

Dislikes: Still not fond of the carseat, being without Mommy, being overtired, strangers, the Dog's barking at Nana's, loud noises that make him jump, bottles (though he'll take them, he just prefers drinking it from the source!) and pacifiers.

Yummies: Still nursing! I'm so happy we've made it this far. We made it through my first month back at work and though it's been hard with being sick so many times since I've been back, the stress of pumping AND some feeding issues with people who watch him, we are making it. He still prefers mommy but will take a bottle. He generally will drink 2 bottles while I'm gone, sometimes more or less but he really sleeps more during the day, which I'm okay with to keep this going. He eats every 3 hours when I'm home. A typical work day, we'll get up for the day between 530-6 and he had just fallen back asleep. I get up, shower, he's up and I try to top him off before I leave.  He has a bottle or two while I'm gone. I get home between 4 and 4:30, he eats then and clusters the rest of the night before he goes down 730/8. Up again around 10/10:30 (which is new!) and then a decent 3 hours and then from about 2/3 on, he's filling his belly. 

Growth:  I go back and forth on this. This month again, he's in the 5th percentile at 12 pounds 9 ounces and then a few days later at his endocrinologist appointment, he was already 12lbs 13 oz and 25 inches. So, he's growing from his lowest of 6lbs 5 oz and starting length of 20.5. In the great span of things, he's gained 6 pounds since birth so that is great! It's just hard for me since Brady was already high on growth charts and it's hard not to second guess myself sometimes. His doctor isn't worried but sometimes that isn't enough to reassure mommy. He sure makes it disappear when he does a new trick though!

This month, he got baptized. I mean, how cute is this outfit? 

Thyroid stuff:

We finally met with the endocrinologist last week. He will have to remain on Synthroid until he is three. At that point, we can drop it and see if his numbers stay down. If they do, he can stay off but if they go up, well, he'll most likely have to stay on it for most of his life. He is thinking though, since his numbers were just a wee bit high, that he does have transient and won't have to be on it for life. It's the most common thing for babies to have but it still isn't one thing I wish we had to go through. We also went and were tested for the Hemoglobin disease that came back from the newborn screening and I'm sure that will take awhile to come back. Blood draws are so quick (seriously the kid's hospital is amazing) but it still is hard to see him be stuck. We'll see the endo every 3-4 months and do bloodwork every 2-3 for a while. Luckily, the sticks at our children's hospital are so quick, it's been much easier on all of us. It's worth going out of our way and waiting forever to be seen. 

Milestones

Month three to four is like night and day. Newborn no more. We've had several instances where he didn't scream in the car. The first time was when Blake drove him to my IL's and he, GASP, SLEPT in the car. That was miraculous! Then, we ran to Target and he gabbed but didn't scream. Please, let it be nearing the end. Though, we've had some days where he screamed bloody murder again but I'm hoping we are near the end. I've noticed now it's more so when he's really tired and sometimes he'll eventually fall asleep. 

This past month, he started grabbing toys and holding them. He will bring them to his mouth and chew them. I love it. Love, love it! He is really fond of Sophie, much more than Brady ever was. 

Squealing! It cracks me up! 

His first cold. This wasn't too bad other than a runny nose but I've been sick so many times since I've been back at work, which is odd for our family since we never get sick!

Blowing raspberries! His raspberry face is priceless!

Lastly, little laughs. Little laughs that melt your heart. The smiles are plenty and I swear, he has the most amazing smile that lights up the room. That kid, he sure is special and I'm so blessed to watch him grow!