Month Four

It's that time again! Or, actually, two weeks past that time. The bug had his 4 month birthday on September 10th and of course I'm just now getting around to posting his update.

Jaxon,

This month we've kind of settled into more of a routine. This was my first full month back at work and your first full month with your grandparents. Mimi and Papa keep you about 2/3 of the time and Gugu and Pop keep you the other 1/3. I want you to know how blessed you are that both sets of your grandparents are willing to do this. A lot of people (me included) don't get to know or have a good relationship with all of their grandparents, so I never want you to take the time you have with them for granted. They each have so much they can teach you and they love you so so much.

At your 4 month doctor visit you weighed 17 pounds, 13.5 ounces and you were 25 inches long. So, you grew an inch this last month but only gained about 10 ounces. You're definitely losing that little potbelly but you're still in the 95th percentile for weight. Dr. Wood said you're very muscular for a baby and he knew your daddy would be happy to hear that, which he was! We've been amazed by your strength since you were born. You were holding your head up and looking around the first day we met you! Daddy and I like to think you'll be an athlete like he is, but of course we'll let you pursue whatever interests you have even if they don't include sports. (And Mama would really appreciate it if you didn't particularly want to play football. That would make me sooo nervous.)

We were able to get you out of your first pair of orthopedic shoes this month. I was so ready to get them off of you, I had a countdown going in our kitchen! What I didn't know was that the second pair of shoes we have to put you in are just as ugly or uglier than the first! The good news about them is that you don't have to wear them 24 hours a day. We have a little more flexibility with them so if we ever have a special event, Daddy and I just leave them off. You'll probably need to be in these for a couple of months and I'll probably start my countdown for them soon! When you have your shoes off, you looove your feet. It's like they were a hidden treasure that you're just now able to discover and enjoy, and you're just the cutest thing when you're playing with them.

Here's one last picture of you in your first pair of "special shoes."

This month you've seemed to grow by leaps and bounds, and when I say that I don't mean physically. You don't miss a thing. You're constantly observing your surroundings. It's so fun to just watch the look of wonder on your little face as you take everything in.

You're super interested in whatever we're doing when we're holding you. You reach your cute little dimpled hand out to feel anything else we happen to have in our hands, and you definitely know what your bottles look like. You've all but jumped out of our arms to get to them before! And speaking of bottles, you've been able to hold them by yourself for quite a while now but I always forget to mention that. It makes me a little sad because you're just growing up so fast already! I feel like before long, you won't even need me anymore! But at the same time I'm so proud of how smart you are and love watching you learn and grow.

During tummy time, you've started rolling over both ways! I made quite the fool of myself shouting and dancing and running for the video camera the first day you did this! Daddy just laughed and shook his head at me but of course he was super pround of you too. And from the look on your face you seem pretty proud of yourself!

Everything goes into your mouth these days and you're drooling more than ever! You've definitely been teething for a while but we're not sure when you'll actually pop your first tooth out. In the meantime, we just make sure we have a burp cloth nearby to wipe your face lots!

You "talk" more than ever now. You have the sweetest little voice and you love to hear it as much as Daddy and I do! You'll talk to anyone who will listen and many times, just to yourself. If you're playing with your toys or your feet and we've stepped out of the room, we can still hear you going to town, having the best conversation with yourself. It's such a joy to hear and always makes us smile. If I had to guess, you'll probably be a very talkative guy.

I don't think I've mentioned this but you've been sleeping through the night since you were about 10 weeks old and we're VERY appreciative of this. Your first couple of months, you slept in a pack-and-play in Mama and Daddy's room. It had a little newborn sleeper in it that kept you nice and snug. Around 10 weeks, we had two big transitions for you. We moved you to your crib and we had to switch you to formula because of an allergy you have. We're not sure which change caused you to sleep through the night. Or maybe it was both. Either way, we're SO happy for it. Most nights you go to sleep between 8:30 and 9:00. During the week, we have to wake you up at 5:00 in the morning because of our work schedules. Daddy does a wonderful job getting you ready for the day while I get myself ready! On weekends, you sleep until about 6:00 or 6:30.

You get bored easily and don't like to be in one place for very long. You usually don't spend more than about 15 minutes at a time in your Bumbo or jumper, or on your activity mat. We think this means you'll be a very active little boy, curious and into everything. We're sure you're gonna keep us on our toes! And you love interacting with people. If you're by yourself and start to fuss, you often start smiling as soon as someone walks over to talk to you.

All of this means that unless you happen to be sleeping, you HATE being in your carseat. I have an hour (or more, depending on traffic) commute to work and while you sleep most mornings, most afternoon rides home are torture for both of us. You scream and scream to get out of the carseat and my mama heart breaks when you're screaming and there's nothing I can do to help you. Mimi plans to start coming to watch you at our house one day a week, to give you and me more of a break from those awful car rides.

We're almost certain that your eyes will be brown- probably a darker brown like Daddy's than a greenish/hazely brown like mine. We've been curious for quite a while about your eye color so it's fun to finally think we know what color they'll be!

As you know, your Daddy and I love you more every day and can barely remember what our life was like without your happy little self in it. You're my dream come true and I am beyond thankful for you.

I love you to the moon and back,

Mama