Life with Holden: 4 Months

Stats:

Weight: 13 lbs. 6 oz. (supposedly) 11th percentile. The reason I am doubting this is because I have consistently gotten 14.8 pounds on our home scale. Also, he was weighed by a student so who knows since the scales weigh based on placement. Guess we shall see if he gains a ton of weight between now & 6 months.

Length: 24.5 inches 19th percentile. This I do actually believe. H is definitely shorter then C was at this age.

Head: 41 cm 29th percentile. This I also believe. His head is actually pretty proportionate to his body.

Diaper: Size 2 in disposables & 1st snap setting, lowest rise in cloth. We're still using the bumGenius Freetimes & Pumpkin Bums exclusively. I love them both! We've been in cloth full-time during the day for the last couple weeks! Yay! I decided to just go for it, suck it up & wash my diapers more often for now. I still hope to build up my stash a little, but it's working for them both to be in cloth.

Clothing: Mostly in 3-6 month sized stuff, but still fitting into some 3 month items as well as a few 6 month items. He's definitely in-between sizes still, but at least we have lots of options.

Milestones:

02/06: First big snow! It was a crazy few days & we got about 6 inches where we are. Some areas surrounding us got over a foot. I took him out just for a little bit in the sling & although he enjoyed being in the carrier he was more or less indifferent to the snow itself.

02/07: Started grabbing his feet for the first time. I can't believe he's started doing this already!! I don't think that C noticed his feet before 4 months, but I guess I'll have to go back & check...

02/14: First Valentine's Day!

02/15: Hit 4 months old. =( How is my baby already 1/3 of the way through his first year?!? He's gonna be 6 months & then a year old before I know it.

02/18: 4 Month WCC. He's wonderful & perfect. =) He's also done well with his shots thus far, but we will see how he sleeps tonight.

Nursing:

Still going great other then him being distracted by every little thing. I've started to combat this by taking him into our bedroom to nurse & keeping the lights off & keeping outside stimuli to a minimum. I also wait until I know that he is hungry before we even try to nurse. He's been going about every 2.5-3 hours during the day & then will usually eat before bedtime around 7/7:30PM. Some nights he is up at 10/10:30 wanting to eat & other nights he will go until 12:30 without eating. One night he did go from 7:30 until 2AM without eating, but that is more rare. He will usually go downhill after that & will eat about every 3 hours until 9AM when he is usually up for the day.



Sleep:

He's had a few bad nights lately where he has woken up in the middle of the night & doesn't want to go back to sleep so that's been frustrating, but 4 months is fast approaching & so may the wakeful period. Bah.. We try to put him down for the night at the same time as C, around 7:30PM, but this is only successful about 10% of the time. He usually goes to sleep at this time, but often wakes up 30-45 mins. later & will fuss. Some nights he will wake-up multiple times between 7:30 & 11PM, other nights it's only once. He is still sleeping in our bed full-time for now & probably will continue to remain in our room for several months after the big move. We want to try to make the transition as easy as possible for both of the boys. Naps are hit & miss lately. He has been doing okay with going down as long as I can catch him at the first signs of tiredness. He usually takes about 3 naps a day on average all of which are usually 30-45 minutes or less. I remember that Carter went through this at this age as well so I can only hope that it will improve with time & age. He is still mostly napping in our bed at this point, but we will likely transition in to crib naps in the next month-month & a half. He still loves sleeping in the carrier or in someone's arms best of all. He will always sleep longer then 45 minutes in these situations.

Elimination:

Still irregular & still gassy, but not quite as bad as before. He still isn't going every day, but is at least going more then once a week now. I am hoping that his system is finally starting to regulate a little bit more. Only time will tell on this one though.

Health: 


We've been very lucky thus far to have a very healthy little. I can only hope that he will follow in his brother's footsteps in the health department. He's been REALLY drooly lately & chews on his hands (or anything else he can get into his mouth) constantly. We think teething may be starting a bit early for him & I've already started putting the amber teething necklace on him in hope's of staving off some of the worst of it. Fingers crossed that he teeths as well as his brother did.

Social:

He loves to grab people's faces, hair & clothing right now. He also likes to play with my mom's strings on her sweatshirts. He adores giving gubby open-mouthed kisses still & "talking" to anyone who will listen to him. He makes the most excited noises & gives the biggest smiles to those that he loves, but will still only giggle/laugh for me. He thinks his reflection is the best thing since sliced bread & he loves seeing pictures of other babies especially in books. He finds his brother hilarious & loves when he gives him any attention what-so-ever.

Physical:

He is fascinated with his hands & loves to put them in his mouth...constantly. He also loves to put anything & everything else he can get into his mouth. He loves playing with his toys, especially the musical ones & has gotten really amazing with being able to control them. He can also pull his own pacifier out of his mouth now & put it back in. He loves to roll around on the floor to get to toys that he wants & will now spend more time on his tummy then just a few seconds. He loves to practice sitting up & will try to go from a reclining position to sitting all of the time. He can sit up on his own in a modified tripod for about 10 second increments at a time. His favorite thing to do right now though is to stand up. He thinks being bounced & flown around are the most fun things ever & his Bumbo chair is still his best friend.

Likes: 

Sophie the giraffe, bath time, his taggie blanket, his brother, nursing, momma, giving gubby kisses, sitting up, his brother's giant stuffed tiger, being in the carrier, being nakey & the Bumbo chair

Dislikes:

Having gas, being in the car/car seat, being alone, having to wait, & wearing clothes