4 months

Gray is 4 months old as of October 10th. This month was definitely the biggest for development and milestones so far. It seems like every single day he is doing something different. I have such love/hate feelings about him growing up so fast. His newborn days already seem like a blur (though maybe that's God's way of helping us to forget about his colic so we aren't terrified to have another baby one day) and some days I find myself wanting my tiny baby back. I miss him napping on me every day and sometimes I have to "cheat" and forget the crib and rock him in my arms for a little snooze here and there. I miss him falling asleep on me while he nurses, although he still does that every now and then. I get sad every time he has outgrown yet another outfit, especially the ones that looked so big to me when he was first born. But then I find myself so excited for another day; to see what he'll be doing and "saying". I can't wait to see him sitting up, crawling, clapping, waving, walking and a million other milestones, all while soaking up every day and not wishing a minute away.

Here's our sweet boy at 17 weeks

At 4 months Gray...

Weighs 15 pounds, 5 ounces (44th %tile)

Is 26 inches long (79th %tile). That is 4 whole inches he has grown since birth. Crazy!

Has a head measurement of 16 3/4 inches (70th %tile)

Is wearing mostly 6 month size clothes and still wearing size 2 diapers

Is now rolling over both ways! He mostly does this in the crib though, rarely during play time or tummy time.

Started sleeping on his tummy once he figured out how to roll over (this made Mama a nervous wreck at first but he is sleeping even better this way)

Takes 2-3 naps a day, depending on when he wakes up in the morning. He has slept until 9:30 several times! Naps are anywhere from 2 to 3.5 hours long.

Sleeps 11-13 hours a night (not straight through yet). Bedtime is around 8:00 most nights. He started waking up 2-3 times a night several weeks ago. At first I think he was going through a growth spurt and was needing to eat more, but then I think it became habit because I'd let him cry and he would go back to sleep after 5-10 minutes and sleep for a couple more hours before waking back up again. So I am only feeding him once now, about half way through the night. If he wakes up much before that or after that he has to cry it out. I hate letting him cry and some nights I want to give in because I could have fed him and been back in bed before he stops crying, but I want to continue teaching him to sleep and self soothe. After talking with his pediatrician today and knowing he has enough weight on him, I am going to start weaning night feedings and hope to have him sleeping through the night sometime in the near future.

Started eating rice cereal at night in a bottle a couple weeks ago. We are going to start trying to feed it to him with a spoon for a couple of weeks and then move to baby food after that. I can't wait to see what he likes. If he's anything like his Mama and Daddy, he won't be picky at all!

Is starting to hold his bottle. He can't completely hold it by himself yet but almost always puts both hands on it and will even pull it out when he is finished.

Has almost total head control and can sit in his bumbo, although he doesn't love it and he leans forward to try to put it in his mouth!

Pretty much only fusses when he's tired. He stays awake 2 hours at a time and is ready for a nap almost to the minute of 2 hours since he woke up last. If we are away from home, half the time he just falls asleep without a fuss, the other half he puts up quite a fight until he gets home to his bed.

Is very content to be in the car and out and about these days, unless we hit the 2 hour mark and he just can't fall asleep without being in his bed.

Has just started laughing! It is the sweetest thing and brings us so much joy to see him that happy! He will also squeal when he gets really excited. He is cooing and babbling a ton and has just become quite the vocal little booger. I can't get enough of his sweet sounds!

Is obsessed with his hands and anything else he can get in his mouth. Nursing has become quite challenging sometimes because he is so focused on putting his hands in his mouth. I read at the doctor today that that kind of behavior is very normal at his age and could be from here on out. So long effortless nursing days ;) He also loves to suck and chew on little blankets and will do some damage to Mama and Daddy's fingers.

Is still liking his paci for the most part and sometimes it is a great distraction for preventing fussiness when he gets really tired while we're out. I am still not giving it to him for naps or bedtime though.
He can put his paci back in his mouth when he is in the car and it doesn't fall too far away. I couldn't believe it the first time this happened. I look in the rear view mirror and noticed his paci was out and the next time I looked he had it again. I thought I was going crazy because it seemed early for him to be able to do that (it happened for the first time several weeks ago) but then the next time we were in the car Paul saw him do it and we even got it on video ;)

Is still loving bath time and will squeal and kick for most of the time. I can't wait until he can sit up and play with toys in the bath.

Loves to be read to. We read books every day and he will just sit on my lap for the longest time looking at the pictures. I hope one day he'll be bringing me piles of books begging me to read "just one more".

***

It's hard to imagine loving our sweet boy any more than we already do, but something tells me I'll be saying that every day for the rest of our lives.