4 Months!

Sweet Luv,

You are 4 months old!!! I am late in posting this, as well as late in taking your monthly pics!! I plan on doing it today!!
You see, I am still a working Momma. Things, ( a lot of things!) don't get done on time these days. I am behind at work, as well as with housework, taking your pics, posting on here, and haven't started a lick of Christmas shopping. Oh, and have to get our Christmas cards together and mailed! Things move so fast. Some days I wish I could stop time and just sit and stare at you. I hate having other obligations which take me away from you.
You are so much fun! You are smiling ALL THE TIME, and... every now and then, laughing! Laughing is still just a rare treat we get. It's not everyday by any means. Sometimes you'll chuckle, and do a little bit of laughter. You tease! You laughed really loud and hard for both me and your daddy, (Daddy's first time to hear it!) during a bath a couple weeks ago. (on 11-19-11... wrote that date down!) We tried something new during your bath. Before, I would use a wash cloth and squeeze the water out over your body and head to get you wet. Then one day, it dawned on me that I should use a cup! So simple and obvious, don't know why we didn't think of it before! So much easier and gets more water on you faster! So we pulled out a cup and started pouring it over your tummy and you started laughing! It was the sensation of warm water being poured over you in a fast stream for the first time! You LOVED it! You locked eyes with me and of course I was squealing and talking to you in a high-pitched Mommy voice, and you were belly laughing out loud! Your eyes SPARKLED! Honestly, it was like your soul was shining through your eyes. They were so happy and full of light and life! I am so SO happy Daddy was there to witness that. It was magical and made your little self come to life.
One thing I want to remember though, during that bath, when the laughs started, I didn't know if it was laughs or crying! You were tired, and sort of delirious! At first it sounded like crying, but then definitely turned in to laughter and belly laughs! It was so funny though because at first we kept saying, laughing or crying?! So fun! (the laughs!)
It's weird. Up until now, you do cute things that are baby-like and make us say awe, but for the most part, you are still in your own little world. You stare at things and bat at things (will talk about that next!), but we are just getting to where you want to interact with us and make us a part of your world. It's like you are a different baby when you interact! You are not just this (sweet!) little lumpkins we take care of, you are your own little person with thoughts and feelings and you are FUN! Everyday is so fun. You have been cooing and "talking" for a while now. You have your own sounds and facial expressions that we love to see. It's hard to write out your sounds... but I definitely know your voice, and in a room with other babies, I think I could pick you out just hearing your voice!
You are definitely at the point of batting and reaching out for objects! If we hold a toy in front of you, you purposely reach out for that toy and bring it to your mouth. It's in slow motion though. You are not a fast grabber - you slowly stretch out your arm, open up your fingers, and grab on to the toy. Then everything goes in to your mouth! You are always gnawing on something, whether a toy, your pacifier, but most often, your hands!
When I go in to get you in the night, usually you have gotten your arms out of your swaddle, and your little hands are cold because they have been in your mouth!
Because of this new, constant gnawing, you have started to drool a lot! We asked the doctor, and she said that you are just in the early stages of teething! (OMG, help me.... nursing....)
So yep, your little shirt is starting to get wet from drool, so we'll have to bust out the bibs soon!
You also love to stand and bear weight! We stand you all the time on our laps and you just lock those legs and look all around, happy as can be! Strong little guy! It's so cute to see your plentiful leg fat rolls, and your fat knees! I love the rolls of fat on knees!!! Even your feet are starting to become those chubby baby feet, with fat on top of your feet.  LOVE.
So, at your 4 month doc appointment, you weighed 14 lbs, 14 oz. and were 25 inches long. Our scale at home must not be accurate, because when I do the step on the scale with you, step off with out you, and figure your weight that way, it says 16 lbs, but at the doc, you were closer to 15!
You can wear some 3-6 month clothes, but only in disposable diapers. In your cloth diapers, you are all in 6 month size clothes. (you wear disposable diapers only when you go to the babysitters.)
You eat anywhere from 3-5 (sometimes 6!) ounces. It really just varies. I never know how much to put in a bottle for the babysitters! I usually try to put in about 5 oz, because you usually eat at least 4 oz, but often 5 oz at a time.
AND! We started cereal! On 11-20-11 we fed you rice cereal from a bowl for the first time. A few nights before that I put one tablespoon in your bottle and you kind of chewed on it, but didn't just suck it down. It also kind of clogged the nipple a little bit, so I don't know if that is why you were having trouble. (The goal/hope in putting cereal in your bottle was so it would fill you up more and you would sleep longer! This was only for your night time bottle, once a day. You are still breast fed, but we would purposely have a pumped bottle ready, so we could add the cereal, hoping you would drink it up and sleep longer!) But so, you didn't love the bottle, so then we decided since you are now a big 4 month old boy, to try to actually spoon feed you the rice cereal. You HAAAAATED it. We have it all on video. Tears and all! So we only tried the rice cereal once, and then asked your doc, and she suggested to try baby oatmeal. She said to help with constipation (this will embarrass you later, but the rice cereal slowed down your digestive system...), to mix the oatmeal with apple juice. We tried that first, and you were not so happy. I thought it would be sweet and you may like it, but we only tried it that one time. After that, we now instead mix the oatmeal with breast milk. We have done this for the past 4-5 days here lately. You still spit that out, but it seems you hate it less. (no tears!) The doc said that babies your age just have a tongue reflex that pushes out food, so you pushing it out isn't necessarily that you hate it, (however the grimace on your face would say that you are not loving it!) SO! Our solution to that.... I give you a bite of oatmeal, and immediately after, Daddy puts your pacifier in your mouth! It's so funny because... so I put the food in, you grimace, then once the pacifier is in, your grimace turns to serenity and you just suck away like there is no foreign food in your mouth at all! So the oatmeal ends up everywhere, all over your face, the pacifier, and the bib you wear, but I think the majority gets in your mouth! And using the pacifier, you actually eat it happily! I think we'll stick with the oatmeal/breast milk combo and forget rice, and also forget mixing with apple juice, and hopefully we'll get to the point where you eat with no pacifier persuasion!
It has worked though, because the past few nights, you have slept in 7 hour stretches!!! PTL!
Your sleeping habits have totally changed. You now go down for a "nap" around 6:30-7, then sleep for 1.5-2 hours, then wake up and at that point, we feed you the cereal, then you go down for the night around 10pm, and then sleep for about 7 hours! (where as before you would go down for the night around 7:30-8, then wake up in 4 hour stretches.) It's amazing how it naturally, all by itself, your sleeping times totally changed. We did nothing to encourage it!
You still take several naps through the day. At least 4, maybe 5. You are still on the "sleep, eat, play" routine, so I just base when you go down for a nap on that schedule, once you get fussy after a time of playing, I know it's time for sleeps! Your naps are about 45 mins long.

I still have much to write, but I will save that for the next post!
I love you baby boo!!
(will share pics soon too!)