J&E's Story: {Watch Me Grow}

Once again I find myself saying....where has the time gone?!? My baby is quickly growing right before my eyes! He is just such a cute lil guy I can't contain myself!! Look at those eyes....Heart Breaker!?

Those eyes are saying " Just try and tell me no Mom!"

Milestones:

Not too much in this department. I'm sure that'll be changing in a few short months!

Language: No words of course, but more and more baby babble. My favorite! He's very ticklish so lots of baby laughs! And even without tickling, it's much easier to make him laugh.

Eating: Still just on Momma's milk. Although, I feel like I'm not able to keep up with him, so I have given him a few mixed bottles of formula and breast milk. The first time I did this, he had just finished off the "good" stuff and I popped the mixed one in his mouth. He started going to town on it and then stopped and gave me a horrific look as to say "What in the hell is this crap Mom?!" It took some persuading, but he did drink it. I've since decided to empty out all of the freezer reserves and then break out the formula again. (I have almost 300 oz in the freezer!) I did finish off the little can that we opened and he was getting more ok and used to the idea of the formula.

I am still pumping during the day and he's nursing at night, as well as drinking part of a bottle when he wakes. He must be in a growth spurt!

He is doing MUCH better in the reflux department and I'm thinking that we may start just giving it to him in the evening. The doc had mentioned that if I thought he was doing better I could stop one of the doses and see how he did for a few days. Time will tell!

Sleeping:

He was doing MARVELOUS with sleeping, UNTIL he got a lovely cold that his sister decided to bring home from school and share with him. While he was sick, he slept very little at night and what little sleep he did get was in the swing. He couldn't breath or stop coughing when he was laying flat.

After his cold was over he went back to getting up one time at night for about a week and since then he has been waking a lot more often. He goes down about 8ish and then will wake shortly there after (1-1.5 hours later). He's been getting up several times at night too and every time he is hungry and eats a fair amount. It's been killing me though since he'd given us a taste of what sleeping was like again. At his 4 month appt, the doctor did say that we could start letting him put himself to sleep. We just may have to try this!

*We are still swaddling him at night and that seems to be the only way he'll sleep. Although, he has gotten his arm out a few times here recently so I'm hoping that we are coming to an end in the swaddling department.

He was so tired that he couldn't last any longer! He slept there for quite a while until a beeping noise woke him!

He still isn't the best napper. He won't stay asleep very long when he's put down in his crib. I'm hopeful that once the swaddling ends he'll sleep in his crib for naps longer.

Travels/Happenings:

We went to Kansas for a few days. He did pretty good in the car considering he wasn't feeling well. But by the 6 hour mark he had pretty much had enough. No bottle was doing any consoling, he just wanted out of that seat! If only he'd take a pacifier, traveling would be SO much easier.

All the 2nd cousins

We also went to the Knoxville, TN area for a wedding. It was A LOT of time in the carseat. We had our not so great moments but not terrible for a 4 month-er!

He got his first cold this month and it was ROUGH! The poor guy was SO miserable. He was so full of snot that would not drain out his nose, but instead down his throat which caused him to cough unstoppably. The only way to make him feel better was to suck out his nose. Fortunately, I had gotten a battery powered "nose sucker" before Will was born and it was a lifesaver. But, he hated it! If he saw me coming with it he would start screaming and whaling before I even touched him. It took someone to hold him down and then me to suck his nose, but afterward he was much more comfortable. This crap lasted almost 2 weeks. There were 2 separate times while we were in Wichita that we were all but loading up the car to head to the ER because he wouldn't stop crying or coughing. I just felt so bad and wished that it would have been me......and then he did give it to me. Another story!

Favorite Toys:

He still loves his play mat. He will lay under it much longer now and play with all the toys. The red bird is his favorite as well as the singing, flashing star.

His other favorite thing is - His SISTER! He loves watching her and seeing what she is doing. I love watching the interaction between the 2 of them and how she is wanting to be more involved in his care. I can't wait to watch them grow up together and hope that they are great friends! They may not be growing up, but I'm hopeful that they will be later in life!