4 Months

It's amazing how quickly babies grow. Nathan has grown both physically and developmentally this past month. Where is my baby going?!?!

They say that the rate of growth will drop after this, but I know it will still be really fast. The big thing for us this month is rolling. Nathan is definitely rolling. He seems to prefer to roll from back to front. He doesn't really seem to roll from front to back. I just think he doesn't like to be on his back very much. He has been rolling to his side pretty quickly even at 3 months, when we put him on the floor, but now he most definitely rolls right away to his stomach, lifts his head up, and looks around.

Because of that we stopped swaddling at night cold turkey. I found him one morning flipped over and smushed into the corner of a crib and worried about doing that and not being able to breathe. That made for a very hard transition for us sleepwise. I hope that was the dreaded 4 month regression- it happened at about 3 and a half months. We'll see. He went from consistently waking up once per night to nurse, to waking up at least 3 times- every 1.5 hours. It drove me crazy.

Along with this leap he is also much more attentive, looks around a lot more, likes to play peek-a-boo, and grabs things with his hands now. He had discovered his hands a few weeks ago but now he will actually take toys in his hand. They go straight to his mouth (no surprise there).

Uh oh, already discovering the sticker

Nathan is trying to mimic noises and at the point that I can have a "conversation" with him. I say something or ask a question, and he babbles a little. Then I respond, he babbles more, and so on. I love this. I love this age. He's starting to get more alert but also cuddles and falls asleep in your arms.

He was getting tired of pictures

Sleeping wise, we still don't have a pattern yet, with naps or anything. On the weekends I now put him in his crib to nap but it's not on a schedule yet. It's just when he falls asleep; wherever he is I take him upstairs. Bedtime routine is a bit harder because we also have Neil, but Nathan seems to go to bed between 8-9 and usually closer to 8. I think he could handle an earlier bedtime but then that means I don't get to be a part of Neil's bedtime so we haven't moved Nathan up yet. I tried once to move Nathan up to around 7 but that was too much of a jump or something and it made him stay up even later than usual.

So bedtime "routine" if you can call it that, is bath (with Neil often) as necessary, then change diaper, then read with Neil as part of his routine, and there is sometimes nursing in there if Nathan is impatient. Then Nathan comes downstairs with us and we try to read cues. When it seems like he's not quite so alert, we put him in pajamas (used to swaddle, now we don't), I nurse him, and we put him in his crib. Some nights Dave holds him downstairs while I go to bed and others I just take him up myself.

It's hard to get him looking and whoever else is in the picture not looking bored. ;)

Nathan is a really happy baby. He loves to smile and laugh, and wow does he stick his tongue out. If you play peek a boo he seems to really like that. He's also drooling whole lot and chewing on things and his hands. We tried a wubbanub but he doesn't seem to care for it yet. It might not be a bad thing if he never wants it.

Sometimes when he wakes up he'll go back to sleep on his own.. That's why I assume if he's crying in the middle of the night that he's actually hungry and I nurse him. He consistently goes about 10 minutes (other than the regression I talked about above) and then I can get him back in the crib. So I shouldn't really complain. I have to say, I'm tired, but that mommy instinct is still there. I often am at his crib picking him up before I even know what I'm doing (i.e. I'm sleeping, hear him crying, and react without fully waking up right away).

I couldn't resist this one, both with hands in the mouth!

Eating wise, it's still nursing minus the bottles at daycare. I'm also ok with Dave giving a bottle but try to avoid that. This time around I'm much more comfortable nursing in public. However, Nathan is getting distracted so I nurse in the car at times just to get him to actually eat instead of looking around at everything.

Nathan prefers to stand at times. Sometimes he fusses but he just doesn't want to be laying down. So we either hold him upright or put him in the bumbo or jumper. We're also at the point we take the bumbo to restaurants to let him sit in it because he doesn't want to sit in the infant car seat.

Clothing: I am just now cleaning out his drawers for onesies and pajamas and moving him to 3-6 months or 6 months in Carter's brand. His pants are still 0-3 months although with the heat we're really going more with shorts or no pants.
Diapers: Size 2
Shoes: None yet
Weight: I will have to add this later
Height: I will have to add this later.