1/3 of the Way Through Will's First Year

Dear William,

Happy 4 month birthday, Little Man! You are now officially 1/3 of the way through your first year earthside. Holy cow! I can't believe it. It was 4 months ago that you entered this world and took your rightful place in our family.

You have grown sooooo very much. I think I say that every month, but it is always just so amazing for me to look back and realize exactly how much you have grown each month. This letter is coming a couple of days late so that we could get formal height and weight stats on you from the doctor. You are getting soooo big! You are 16 pounds, 12 ounces (80th percentile) and 26.5 inches (90th percentile). Your head is still 50th percentile. Doctor C actually said you were big but don't look as big as she would think based on your height and weight because your head isn't also big. We all laughed at your chunky thighs which Doctor C attributed to all the breastmilk. Haha! All that being said, you are entirely out of 3 month clothing. It has ALL been packed up and put away. You have maybe two things that are 3-6 month and we are really pushing it with you wearing those. The pants look like you are waiting for a flood and the one onesie you have in that size barely buttons. We will pack it all away soon. I was just hoping it made it to slightly warmer weather since you only have a limited number of outfits for cooler weather. Other than those couple of items, everything else is 6 or 9 months and the 6 months outfits are getting too small too quickly. How is my 4 month old baby in 9 month clothing already?!? This is ridiculous. Stop growing so fast! Anytime we are out and someone asks how old you are they are always astounded when I say 3 months (now it will be 4). Most people tell me that they figured you to be at least 6 months. We almost feel like you are slimming out some though. I think maybe you are just getting taller pretty quickly. You are certainly gaining weight with no issues so your height must be helping you look slimmer. You also seem to be keeping a lot of that hair. You lost quite a bit initially, but everything is hanging on now and even seems to be getting a bit thicker and longer. If this keeps up, you might actually need a haircut before your first birthday. You are still missing that hair in your little bald spot on the back of your head, but the spot seems to be getting a bit smaller. Your umbilical hernia looks like it might already be starting to heal. We don't know if it will heal completely on its own or if you might require the umbilical repair surgery one day (years down the line, hopefully) but we do know that it is nothing like Kenzie's was so we are definitely not that concerned with it. Most days I think we forget you even have it. I sometimes forget to test it to make sure it goes in okay at every diaper change but it is so minimal, that I don't think that is even necessary anymore. Doctor C actually said today that it was a "normal umbilical hernia"... we are all so used to freaking out about Kenzie's that we forget that "normal" ones exist. We have been given the okay for beginning solids, but we are planning to wait until 6 months regardless. You just don't need them yet, so Doctor C said we can start if we want. She isn't pushing them and we aren't either.

You still love to eat. You eat about every 3 hours during the day now. The issue we now have is that you have hit the distractable stage. You either take forever to eat because you have to stop to look around or talk to whomever is nearby or you won't eat because too many exciting things are going on around you. You finally took your first bottles last week! So exciting! We wanted a date night so Nana came and took care of you and Kenzie. You took a bottle but it was still a bit iffy. If you are not 100% ready to eat... you won't. You also apparently cry sometimes when being given a bottle until you realize what it is and then you will drink down a couple of ounces with no issues. Once you are full you get upset if anyone tries to put the bottle in your mouth. You definitely know your limits and what you want to eat and when. I am going to that conference this week so we will see how you do all day with a bottle.

As for sleeping, you have been doing better in the last couple of weeks. You take 3-4 naps a day. Your awake time is still hanging around an hour and a half to two hours between naps and most of your naps are only 45 minutes (hence the need for 4) but sometimes you grace us with a longer nap. I never count on that happening though. Usually one of your naps takes place while we are out and about. You love to sleep in your carrier while I wear you. We have changed your night schedule so that you are now in bed before we do Kenzie's bath. It wasn't working out to keep you up through her bath and it was making life pretty difficult for all of us. At night, we try to get you down by 7. You get a bath every other night so you are sometimes a bit later on those nights. You always (almost always) seem to wake up about 45 minutes after being put down. You like to top off (eat) and then go right back to sleep. The last few nights you haven't done that though, so I'm not sure if you are growing out of that. You are getting better at sleeping for 4 hour stretches though. That means that you are only getting up 2-3 times a night depending on when you went down. At 3 months you were doing longer stretches but this pesky 4 month sleep regression is getting the better of you. I will take the 4 hour stretches though over the 2 hour ones you were doing a few weeks ago (right after I jinxed myself mentioning that you were sleeping long stretches at night in  your 3 month letter.) You are usually awake for the day between 7 and 7:30. Typical for going down at the time you do. It also works out well because of Kenzie's schedule. I can nurse you before she gets up or before we get her out of her bed each morning. Doctor C actually thought you were doing well with your sleeping patterns, especially for being exclusively breastfed. That makes me feel better. =) You sleep at night in your crib now. It was really the best thing for you to be moved to your room. It was getting difficult for you to sleep with us making any noise near you and you were waking so often at night that we wanted to try your crib. You are definitely doing better in there. Very similar to how Kenzie was. So, you are now taking all naps (except the one that usually happens while we are out) in your crib and sleeping all  night in there. You will be in a pack n play next weekend though when we go to Mississippi for a few days. I hope you do well with that. We tried to wait, but it just became obvious that it was going to be better to move you. While on the topic of going to Mississippi, can I mention that it is a 10 hour drive?!? We will see how all that plays out.

You are also making great strides in your physical development. You rolled from belly to back for the first time shortly after turning 3 months old. Finally! Or so I thought. You have only done that again maybe twice after that day. About a week ago you officially rolled from back to belly... and that you have done numerous times since. That is supposed to be more difficult, but you decided to do it first. I think going the other way is harder for you. Maybe it is your weight or something. I think I wrote in one of your earlier letters that I wouldn't be surprised to see you go back to belly first. You didn't do it first, but it is definitely a more developed skill. You are also almost sitting. You can tripod sit for about 10-15 seconds. It is quite impressive to see you do this so early. Eventually you either tip to one side or the other or fling yourself forward or backward. I think you might have this sitting thing down pretty soon. I have noticed that you can sit for longer if you are watching Kenzie and she is at a level that doesn't require you to lean back at all to see her. Maybe even this month you will turn into a serious sitter. I love watching you conquer new skills and this is one of my favorites so far because you love to play with Kenzie and sitting will allow you to do that more easily. I am thinking that we might be packing your swing away soon because you get frustrated not sitting up straighter. You either want to lay down or sit up. That reclined thing isn't really your thing. You love your bumbo and sitting to read books or play near/with Kenzie but we try not to rely on it too much because overuse isn't good for you. You are also loving your doorway jumper. You giggle like crazy and swing all around in it. We finally broke out your circle of neglect stationary jumper thing this past week. (Our pet name for it because it is so easy to use it as a place to put you and ignore you while we do other things. We don't do that, but it wouldn't be hard to end up doing that.) You love it as well. You are definitely a fairly active baby when you are awake. You also found your feet this month. You haven't yet started to put them in your mouth (though I am sure that stage is coming), but you love to just sit, hold them, and stare at them.

As for other developments, you talk so very much. You love to tell us all about your day or whatever babies talk about all the time. Kenzie loves when you talk to her and she always tells us, "Will talking to me!" You give her (and everyone else) the biggest smiles. You are such a smiley baby. I used to think Kenzie was smiley, but I think you have her beat. You are also quite the giggler. This week you also gave us your first belly laugh. You haven't done it for Daddy yet, but I can't wait for him to hear it. Between the baby laughs, the talking, and the smiling, you are such a charmer. You make friends wherever we go. You are definitely a little flirt. Those big blue eyes and that huge grin of yours makes you hard to resist. Your dimples are becoming a bit more prominent too. Those chubby cheeks and toothless gums also help.

Speaking of toothless gums... you still have them but I am seriously beginning to wonder about you. I thought I saw a speck of something white on your gums a few days ago and now I can almost see the outline of both of your bottom teeth sinking in a bit. Combined with the immense amounts of drool you have, the random biting while you nurse, and the constant chewing on your hands... I find myself wondering if you are actually teething this early. I know this can go on for quite some time before we see a tooth, but it is getting a bit ridiculous. We bought you these adorable bandanna bibs to try to catch some of the drool. If you aren't wearing one you tend to require numerous outfit changes because you soak shirts in a matter of minutes. Besides... who wouldn't want to combat drool lone ranger style?

You don't look amused... but I was. These are too cute!

I just can't believe you are already 4 months old and growing so fast. You are learning new things every day and I am loving watching you assimilate all of that.

Happy 4 months Little Man!

XOXO,
Mommy