Four Months Old

My baby boy is FOUR months old, and I know I say this in EVERY monthly post, BUT this age has to be the most fun. He's so interactive, loves to smile, and his giggles make my heart leap! I think he's grown more this month than he has in any other month. I can't wait to get his latest stats at his next doctor's appointment in 2 weeks.

 Hands are always in the mouth.

 Thumb sucker :)

 That right eye always waters...could be a clogged tear duct but his pediatrician said it's nothing to worry about, and it'll probably clear up on it's own. 

 He looks like he's imitating his bear here :)

 Each month these pictures get more and more difficult to take...he's so squirmy!

Other tidbits I'll want to remember (some of these I probably already mentioned in the 3.5 month post)

• He wears size 3 diapers and has been in those for a while.
• Mostly 6-9 month clothes and some 12 months (Wowzers)
• He usually goes to bed between 7 and 9pm. The past month or so he's been waking up one time in the middle of the night to eat (usually around 3am) and then he sleeps until 7ish.
• He sleeps on his tummy. 
• He actually enjoys tummy time. Grant claims he's rolled from tummy to back but I've only witnessed back to tummy.
• On days he's home with me, he usually naps for 1-1.5 hours in the morn and then again in the afternoon.
• His teachers at school continue to tell me that he's one of their easiest babies - always does my heart good that he's happy at school!
• I primarily carry him on my hip now that he has full neck control. 
• He can grip his toys with his hands. 
• He likes to watch Baby Einstein videos on the laptop. This was Grant's idea. 
• Loves his exersaucer/jumperoo. 
• Not a huge fan of the bouncer anymore. He'd rather be held or entertained in another piece of equipment. This apartment looks like Babies R' Us!
• His hair is starting to come in more. Some say it looks red, others brown, and some blonde...we shall see.
• He's always chewing on his hands or his clothes and drooling a TON. Not sure if we'll see some teeth coming in soon. I dread that! 
• His cough and cold has persisted, but it doesn't seem to phase him at all.

Granny was in Birmingham this weekend to visit, and we loved seeing her. We are thankful she's doing some consultant work in Jackson, MS and able to come to Bham frequently to visit. We had a fun day on Saturday and enjoyed celebrating mine and Grant's birthdays Saturday night. It's hard to believe I'm almost 28 and Grant is 30!!! I hope to have Grant a big party once we get settled in the new house. 

Swingin'

This afternoon, Grant and I took William to Overton Park to test out the swings. As you can tell by the pictures below William wasn't sure what to think of it!

William at 3.5 Months

Grant and I are loving life more than ever with our baby boy. Each day he reminds us of God's grace and abundant blessings. As Grant's mom says, William is learning and doing something new everyday! She couldn't be more right. He's got quite the little personality and loves flashing you his gummy smile if you squeeze his chunky thighs or push that little button nose. Recently we were in the grocery store and William was giggling the entire time. Every person that walked by had to check out the giggling baby. It was pretty funny!

A few things I'll want to remember. At 3 months, 2 weeks William is wearing a size 3 diaper and has been for a couple of weeks. He drinks 5 oz. (4 oz. of milk, 1 oz. water, and a scoop of formula) every 3-4 hours during the day. Grant and I started adding formula to his bottles when he was 8 weeks old and have ever since. He usually takes 3 or 4 bottles at school. It depends on when I feed him before we leave the house. Since he's had this little cold, he's been waking up in the middle of the night again to eat. It's not terrible but he hasn't slept for his usual 10 hours/night the past couple of nights. He's wearing all 6-9 months clothes. He wore one of his 3-6 month onesies the other day and he looked like a sausage :) He only naps at daycare for an hour or two, but on his days home with me he naps around 4 hours/day. I think he's having too much fun at school and wouldn't dare miss out on any action! He always gets really excited when Grant gets home from work. As hard as it is to admit, Grant is his new favorite :( Maybe he'll go back to being a mama's boy one day. 

He still loves his hands and usually has one hand down in his throat at all times :)

We love you baby William!

Jumperoo

William got a new toy on Saturday - an exersaucer! To say he likes it is a huge understatement! His teachers at school told me they were thinking about letting him try it out this week, so I had to go out and buy one before they got to witness him jumping first. His feet don't quite touch the floor (Crazy, huh?!) so we put a book under his feet and he just jumps away.

 SO happy :) 

 Focused

The first time we put him in it he got a little overstimulated after jumping around for 10 minutes, but he's quite impressed with his new toy.

iPhone Pics...Again

Some of my favorite pictures of William are from my phone so I can't help but post them to the blog!

 My mom kept William my first day back at work and texted me this picture mid-morning. 

 "Oh my! The Olympics are so intense!"

 Tummy time aka torture!

 William wore this to church one Sunday. He started crying so I took him out of the sanctuary to the narthex. There was an 80 year old man sitting in the narthex so we ended up talking the entire service. He's been a member of our church for 50 years. He loved talking to William but told me he looked more like a beautiful Willamenia in his gown :) 

 Dreaming about milkshakes

 So alert!

 I love this picture. This was William after his first day at school.

 My sweet baby boy

I could stare at this sweet face all day long ;)

 Hanging out at my new house while Mommy and Daddy look at rugs :)

Afternoon nap

The "Emergency" Sniffle

Well, never in a million years did I imagine I'd be sitting in the ER with my own baby on the opening night of the Benjamin Russell Hospital for Children (the BRAND new Children's Hospital of Alabama). I've been anticipating the opening of this state of the art hospital for the past 3 years because that's ALL people have talked about at work. William came down with a little cold on Friday but didn't seem phased by it at all. By Saturday afternoon/evening he was a little more congested, had a little bit of wheezing and had a strong odor coming from his right ear. We started his bedtime routine around 7pm and at 11pm he was still awake and pretty fussy. This is not the norm for William. Around 10pm we decided to go ahead and call the pediatrician. After answering about 15 questions, the nurse said because he's just over 3 months and having some wheezing take him to the ER to be evaluated.

We debated whether to follow the nurse's order because we knew he was fine, but I knew I wouldn't sleep a wink if we didn't get him checked out. We arrived at the brand new ER at 11pm. By this point William was sleeping soundly in his carseat and dreaming of milkshakes, so we felt really crazy for having a sleeping, happy baby in an ER. Since we were already there, we decided we may as well see a doctor and get them to check his ear. I was convinced he had an ear infection. While we were waiting in the ER waiting room, one of my cancer patients arrived, which was an instant reminder of how thankful I am for a healthy happy baby. Anyway...we finally got to a room at midnight and the doctor showed up about 45 minutes later. She checked his ears (full of wax, no infection), listened to his chest, and diagnosed him with mild bronchiolitis, which is a big medical term for a cold. There is nothing you can do but ride it out, and the virus usually lasts 3-5 days. We got back home at 2am and left William sleeping in his car seat in our room. We are all pretty exhausted but thankful that it is nothing serious. I guess William wanted to be one of the first children to ever step foot in the new hospital, and his mommy and daddy will always remember this!!

 Cooing up a storm in the ER

In the ER room

3 Month Check-Up

William had his THREE month check-up with his pediatrician on Thursday. He weighed 16 lbs. 11 oz. (97th %ile), 26 inches long (97th %ile) and I don't remember his head circumference, but it was in the 90th %ile. We have a BIG baby boy! Other news this week - sweet William ROLLED over on Tuesday night. Grant and I were watching him on the monitor around 8 that night and watched him roll over to his tummy. He quickly started grunting and flailing around so I went in and flipped him back over. Not even 5 minutes later he was back on his tummy grunting, so I went back in again and flipped him back to his back. He did this 3 or 4 times before he fell back asleep. Also, this morning he was sleeping soundly on his tummy when I went to peek on him. He's also really been sucking on his thumb this week. It might be the most precious thing I've ever seen.

 He loves wiggling around on the paper at the doctor. 

 He will have to get his next round of shots at his 4 month check-up. Already dreading that. 

 He's also discovered his tongue.

 "Mommy, get that phone out of my face!"