Happy 4 Months, Sweet Collier

Today, my sweet little baby is 4 months old! It blows my mind that he's been in our lives 1/3 of a year, already. Please bear with me as most of this post is for personal record and may not be all that interesting to you; I just don't want to forget these details. I love this age as we are getting to see his little personality blossom and watch him learn new things. He is a very happy baby and rarely fusses or cries. He smiles all the time and has a precious little laugh. He's ticklish and will giggle outloud if you touch his little belly or rib cage. He now rolls over from his back to his belly regularly and has rolled from his belly to back, although he doesn't do it consistently. He holds his head steady when upright and when in his bouncy seat or carseat, he lifts his head as though he's trying to pull himself forward or sit up. He loves standing up, supported of course, and he doesn't like being cradled, unless he's tired, as he prefers to be held upright like a big boy.

Speaking of big boy, our guy is weighing in at 15lbs 3oz. I took him in for a re-check on his ear infection (which was all clear) and he had gained 5 ounces in just 8 days. I don't know his length yet, as his 4 month check up isn't until March. I guess we can attribute that sudden weight gain to the addition of solids to his diet. I began giving him a little rice cereal right before he got sick, but quit when he wasn't feeling good. We resumed last week, once he was all better, and he took right to it. He eats from a spoon without any problems and literally sucks the food right off of it! I have also introduced carrots, green beans, pears, apples, and peaches. He has loved every bit of it and fusses at me in between bites; I guess I just don't feed him fast enough. The only food Collier hasn't liked is peaches, which he must get from his brother, as Noah didn't like peaches either. Now that he's had some flavorful foods, he refuses to eat the rice cereal, even when I add a fruit to it. So I currently feed him 1/2 a jar of fruit in the morning and 1/2 jar of a veggie in the evening. He is nursing/taking a bottle 5 - 6 times a day and takes around 5 - 6 ounces each time.

He is still sleeping through the night, however, while he was sick, he would wake up periodically. Once he got better, it only took a few nights to break him of that habit and he was back to sleeping a 9 hour stretch. I normally put him to bed in his crib at 8:30 and give him one last bottle around 10-10:30pm (he normally sleeps through it). He wakes at 7am to eat and sometimes will go back to sleep for an hour. He will still have a few nights, here and there, where he'll wake up but most of the time, goes back to sleep easily... all we do is give him his paci and turn on his mobile, which lulls him to sleep in no time. I'm still swaddling him even though I've tried to let him go to sleep without it, to no avail. I'm hoping to break him of that in the next month, when the startle reflex has diminshed. We are on a flexible (somewhat of a Babywise) schedule now, where he eats every 3 hours (although we are moving towards 3 1/2), has playtime and goes down for a nap after about 1.5 - 2 hours. He'll take anywhere from a 1.5 - 2 hour nap, although 99% of the time, he will wake 45 minutes into his nap. All I do is give him his paci and turn the mobile back on, and he will drift back to sleep within a few minutes.

He has definitely found his voice in the past month and babbles loudly all day long. Even when he wakes in the morning, I can hear him in his crib happily jabbering away to himself. He has also begun using his hands. He reaches and grabs onto toys and brings them up to his mouth to chew on. A few of his favorites are Sophie the Giraffe, his toy key set, and of course, his Wubb-a-Nubb paci. He's now strong enough that he can play in his excersaucer which will provide good entertainment to allow me to get some things done around the house.

We have enjoyed the warmer temperatures this past week, and since it's just the two of us, have gotten out and spent the day doing a little shopping and running errands, something I rarely get to do when both boys are at home. He's been a good little shopping buddy and is content riding along in his stroller, checking out everything around him.

I'm so proud of each of these milestones, big and small. I love every minute with my sweet little boy and I'm so grateful that that the Lord picked me and Jamie to be his parents.










{Brotherly Love}




{I love Sophie!}