Craft: Four Months Old

Welp, with all of the excitement of going back to work last week I was a slacker on the blog front and didn't get to officially wish sweet Craft a happy 4-month-birthday.

The week was hectic - Dan is in the middle of his busiest few weeks of the year at work while they're trying to pass the budget, plus we had another gala to attend on Thursday evening.  The good news is that no one was seriously injured and I managed to get both children fed and in bed pretty close to "on time" every night so I think we may all be starting to get the hang of things.  Thanks to Auntie Syd for the extra hands - her help has definitely been making our lives much easier!  These update posts are never short, so I'll get right to it.

Weight/Length:  Dan and I had a friendly wager going relating to our big boy's weight, and neither of us won because he ended up weighing less than we thought he did, ha!  Mean mama and Daddy.  Drum roll please…

Height:  25 inches/50th percentile (up from 23.5 inches/50th at his 2-month check-up)
Weight:  18 lbs, 11 oz/97th percentile (up from 16 lbs, 14.5 oz/>97th at 2 months)
Head:  17 inches/75th percentile (up from 16.5 inches/85th at 2 months)

At the doctor for his 4-month check-up!

C was trying to impress everyone with his baby vocabulary.  He was cooing and giggling (loudly) and being a regular little ham while we were waiting to see Dr. G!  

For the record, my guess was 20 lbs and Dan's was 22.  I was surprised to look back at my records and note that Craft isn't actually that much bigger than big sister Lilly was at 4 months old (she was 16 lbs, 3.5 oz and 25 inches long).

Sleep:  We are once again lucky ducks and have another (for the most part) pretty good sleeper…at least until the past week or so, ugh.  Up until this past week, Craft's night sleep was pretty predictable but we seem to have gotten hit by the 4-month sleep regression and I hate it.  If he is being "normal," he goes down between 7:30-8:00 pm and sleeps until sometime around 6:00 am, eats and then goes back to sleep until 8:00 or 8:30am.  For the past week, though, he's decided to get up and eat earlier - most mornings around 4am, but last night he was up at 10p, 2a and 7a.  So weird.  Dr. G said this is totally normal and assured me that I'm not creating bad habits by feeding him when he wakes - in fact she agreed with my opinion that it's a much quicker way to get him to go back to sleep and told me that he'll be out of it soon.  Fingers crossed.

Naps are getting better but still not very predictable.  Again, Dr. G said he probably won't start putting himself into any kind of consistent routine until around 6 months.  Currently, the only thing predictable about Craft's daytime sleep patterns is that he is ready to go to sleep around 2 hours (sometimes less) after he woke up from his last nap.  Additionally, his first nap of the day is typically pretty short - only around 45 minutes or an hour.  Sometimes the rest of his naps for the day are more frequent and only last 45 minutes or an hour, and other days he stretches them out and gives me a couple of 2-hour naps or several 45 minute naps and then one three-hour nap.  The inconsistency makes planning things tricky, but luckily he's still at the age where he'll sleep pretty easily in his car seat or in the baby carrier when we're on the go.

Feeding:  There really isn't a lot of change here from Craft's 3-month update.  He's still eating around every 3-4 hours, usually 4 hours unless it's close to a nap and I force-feed him a little early in hopes for an uninterrupted (and longer) nap.  He is also still spitting up some but again, not nearly as frequently or as much in amount as previously.  

Craft has done really well taking the bottle while I've been at work (hallelujah!), and Syd says he also seems to spit up less on days when he takes bottles, so I'm wondering if I am drowning him when he nurses.  We had a few adjustment days after I went back to work, but hopefully I've figured out the proper amount of pumping because he did better switching back and forth between bottle and b00b as the week progressed.  He currently takes a 5-oz bottle every four-ish hours - sometimes he finishes it, other times he doesn't.

One more exciting thing to note, Craft got the okay from the doctor to start solids!  He got his first taste of oatmeal this week (doctor's recommendation was to skip the rice cereal, I can't remember why but we went with it).  He is pretty good at eating with the spoon but didn't seem too excited with the new tastes, ha!

I can't wait to move on to more fun things in a few weeks (banana, avocado, apple blueberry, etc.).

Firsts This Month:  Oy, lots of these and I'm sure I'll still leave something out.  For one thing, we took Craft to the beach for the first time to visit Grandma Susie and Papa over Memorial Day Weekend.  I unfortunately never got around to blogging those photos, so here are a few of all of the fun we had during the long weekend!

Craft also went swimming for the first time in our neighborhood pool.

Craft has also been sitting up "by himself" in various contraptions such as the jumperoo, door jumper, bumbo and various other seats.  I think that as of his 3-month post he was sitting in the bumbo some, but he's getting much better at it and has been able to sit in other seats as well for longer and longer periods of time.

Poor guy.  Not only does he have to sit in a purple bumbo but he has to endure big sister/Aunt Syd putting bows in his hair!

Developments:  Craft has really started "talking" this month.  He was making noises previously, but lately it seems like if he's awake, he's talking all the time.  He loves to explore his vocal cords - both the different sounds he can make and the varying volumes  (the loudest sounds he can make are his most favorite!).

C is very purposeful now when he is using his hands.  He still "bats" at his toys but it no longer seems accidental.  He can also pick toys up and hold them, and he's very oral because most things these days go straight to his mouth.  He is drooling a LOT, which could be teething but also is just normal at his age.  He has really good head control and continues to roll over from his back to his tummy (he still hasn't gone the other way, probably because he hates tummy time so he rarely does it but his head isn't flat and clearly he has good control of it so the doctor didn't protest).  Dr. G was particularly impressed with that trick, which he demonstrated while we were visiting her on Friday.  She said it's much harder for babies to roll from back to tummy, especially chunky babies with a lot of weight to get over.  Overachiever, just like his sister!  Also, Craft freely gives smiles and we have witnessed (quite a few of) our first belly laughs.  I tried to get it on camera last week but he has the hiccups so you can't really tell he's laughing, but gosh it is the best sound and SO cute.  It is amazing the silly things we will do over and over again to hear that sweet giggle!  He thinks that Lilly is the funniest.

I wrote in Lilly's four-month update that around this time she started consciously finding her thumb some instead of just chewing on her whole hand, and I speculated as to whether she would be a thumb sucker (yes).  Craft is doing the same, so we'll see what that means.  I have been feeling like he loves the paci more than Lills did at this age, but according to photos that is not the case, so we'll see!

Likes:  Not a ton of changes here: bath. sleeping. eating. bumbo. door jumper. jumper. Lilly. Layla. Daddy. Aunt Syd. Carney. being outside. walks. swinging. being worn. ceiling fans. drooling. putting things in his mouth. his paci. talking/babbling/exploring his vocal cords. belly laughing. kicking his legs. singing. snuggling. more eating.

Notice I left the piano mat off this month - C has decided he hates it.  I think I figured out that the toys hang down too low/close to his face, because if I take the toys off he doesn't mind it as much.

Dislikes:  Again not too many changes.  Craft is truly one of the happiest babies, and is pretty good unless he's hungry, tired, has a poop or is gassy.  He is also getting better with the car seat, thank the Lord!

What I'm Thankful For:  Carney and Aunt Syd!  They take such good care of my babies for me and were so good about texting me and sending me pictures and videos last week.  It makes my days at at work a little easier knowing that everyone is happy (for the most part) at home!  Also my coworkers, family and friends for checking in on me throughout the week.

What I'm Looking Forward To:  We have lots of fun things coming up over the next few weeks: a neighborhood food truck rodeo, birthday parties, LOTS of pool time, Mason's first birthday party, and a trip to the mountains.  Yay!

Next Pediatrician Appointment:  August 6 for his 6-month appointment with Dr. V.

I'm off to finish laundry, bottle and pump part washing, etc. but I shall leave you with some more photos from our little 4-month photo shoot.  

Hope your weekend was great!