Oliver is 4 months!

On May 8th, Oliver turned 4 months old.  As you can tell, I am way behind on the blog, so unfortunately I probably won't remember everything he was doing and what was new a month ago, but I'll try my best. :)

Since my 3 months old post, Oliver has done so well sleeping overnight and for all naps in his crib in his own room.  We spent a few nights breaking him of the swaddle and it actually wasn't too bad.  We kept him wrapped up on the bottom and just left his arms out for a few nights and then just took it off completely.  I was in a hurry to get him out of it because around 5/2, Oliver was learning to flip from his back to his stomach in bed and quickly realized he LOVED sleeping on his tummy.  I didn't love this fact, but if he was going to do it, I wanted him free from the swaddle at least. 

So he is our tummy sleeper - he sleeps that way pretty much 100% of the time, even though we put him down on his back.  He immediately grabs his toes, turns to the side, and then usually continues to his tummy.  He also loves sleeping with his knees tucked underneath him, with his little butt in the air.  It's the cutest thing.  We just have to make sure to put light pants on him before he sleeps to protect the skin on his knees and use lots of lotion on his poor cheeks from rubbing against the sheet.

Our nights continue to be a little bit rough, with Oliver typically waking up twice at night to eat.  Because he is on the smaller side (AKA skinny), the Dr. told me to continue to get up to feed him if he cries for now.  It's typically around midnight/1am and then again around 3am.  Usually he eats for 15 minutes and then goes right back to sleep.  The only real problem is when the second feeding falls around 4-5am because sometimes it's tough to get him back to sleep.  Oh, and then I get up at 5.45am for work too. :)

And speaking of his weight, Oliver had his official 4-month Dr. visit and here are his stats:

HEIGHT:  26 inches (85%)

WEIGHT:  12 pounds, 6 ounces (2%)

HEAD CIRCUMFERENCE:  16 inches (20%)

 

He's our tall, skinny boy.  The Dr. wasn't too concerned but really wants us to get him to drink about 4-5 ounces every 3 hours and we can go ahead and try rice cereal anytime, just for some more calories.  NNNOOOO - I hate starting solids! :(  Oliver also got all of his shots again, but handled it well and had no reactions, so that was good.

I went back to work on 4/23 and the transition has been pretty smooth.  I was so sad on 4/22, knowing it was my last day with my little guy, but knowing my Mom was going to be watching him made it a little easier to be away.  Also, Ben was really excited that I would be taking him to and picking him up from school again and we needed our breakfast time together again (we eat at his school together every morning).

After the first week, we decided that 4 days in a row every week was too much for my Mom, so now she watches Oliver 2 days and we have a "nanny" come 2 days a week (she works at the in-home daycare Oliver will go to eventually just down the street from our house).  Then Jim and I are off alternating Fridays.  This schedule has worked out perfectly and allows Oliver to stay in our home, sleep in his own crib, and not have to go to a daycare *just* yet. :)

The outtakes - everything goes in the mouth!

We continue to get tons of smiles from our mostly-content baby.  The laughs are still few and far between and take some work to get, but they are worth it.  Oliver loves when I am changing him into his PJ's at night on our bed and I blow raspberries on his stomach and nuzzle behind his ears.  That will sometimes get me a little giggle. :)

Big smile for Daddy

Some other notes about Oliver at 4 months:
- he is constantly putting his feet in his mouth and sucking on his socks
- his teething definitely seems to be bothering him now - before it was just drool, now he bites down on things HARD to try and get some relief
- he still does not want anything to do with a pacifier
- he still doesn't love the carseat but is OK if you are moving
- he's getting better at drinking from the bottle (he had no choice since I went back to work)
- those eyes are still blue as can be

A whole series I had to post of him going after those toes

 Oliver is becoming an expert at rolling from his back to tummy and tummy to back, and gets his head way up now to look around at everything.  He also loves to stand (with support of course - either hands under his armpits or just holding his hands).  He is becoming much more aware and alert and loves watching everything Ben does - playing, running around, eating, anything.



Getting crazy on our bed. :)