4 Months!!

My baby is growing so fast!!  Cooper turned 4 months old yesterday

We took him to his 4 month check up and he weighs 13 lbs 11.5 oz (27th percentile) and is 24 inches long (19th percentile).  I was actually surprised that he doesn't weight more than that, he seems so much heavier to me!  His head went down to the 66th percentile.  He is still not a huge chunky baby but the Doctor says he is growing perfectly and he is just where he needs to be.  Poor guy still spits up constantly and that is probably the most frustrating issue right now. I'm not talking about just a little spit up that you can wipe away.  I'm talking he goes through at least 4 outfits a day because he is soaked and I go through about 3 if I'm home all day.  It's a mess.  I have him wear bibs constantly so that helps a lot.  I'm so ready for the spit up to die down.

 4 months is such a fun age!!  I'm having so much more fun with him and he is such a joy to be around. He has gone from my super fussy, somewhat colic baby to a happy and content baby...for the most part.  I'm always so shocked with the church nursery workers go on about how he is a perfect baby.  Really?  My Cooper?  He sure has changed! I'm so thankful as those first 2 months were rough.  He smiles all the time (but it's almost impossible to get it on camera) and loves to be talked to.  He has started to play with toys now which is fun to watch too.  He can grab them and of course puts them immediately into his mouth!

Sleeping:  Cooper has been sleeping through the night pretty regularly which is such a blessing!  He usually sleeps about 10-11 hours.  There was a week where he woke up around 5 or 6am every morning but would go right back to sleep after I nursed him.  He takes about 3 naps a day but it is still a struggle at times.  It is much better than last month and he will take one long nap but the other 2 naps are pretty short.  He is on a good sleeping schedule which is nice for me to know when his nap time is, but when he wakes up earlier than expected, it can throw off the schedule.  Oh well, I know it will get better.

Eating:  I'm still nursing him every 3-4 hours during the day and sometimes once at night if he needs it.  I still supplement to make sure he is getting enough.  The doctor said I could start him on some solids if I wanted to, now that he's 4 months old.  I was so surprised!  I was expecting to start at 6 months.  I feel overwhelmed about starting him on solids already so I will probably wait another month on that.

Milestones: Cooper is enjoying Tummy Time more and can roll over front to back and back to front, though he doesn't do it every time.  He loves to play with his hands like the picture above and has started to play with toys.  He also does this super cute high pitched scream when he is happily playing.  He'll be in his swing or bouncer and just screaming happily while playing with the toys.  Adorable!  Cooper also started something this month that took me by surprise...he is sucking his fingers!

I used to suck my fingers when I was younger, but it was on the other side.  It's actually kind of nice since he can soothe himself to sleep easily by sucking his fingers, especially if he wakes up in the middle of the night and can go back to sleep after he finds his fingers (unless he's hungry and I have to feed him to go back to sleep).  He always sucks his fingers when he is tired.  He completely stopped taking his paci now so I have already put those away.

I know every mom says this, but I so love this little boy!!  He is so cute and brings so much joy.  I love watching him develop and learn new things everyday and I am so thankful I can stay home with him.  4 months is such a fun age since he has grown out of his fussiness and isn't mobile yet....he is pretty easy right now.  I just don't want him to grow up too fast!