Thomas: 4 Months

Little man is now four months old. "Toms," "Tooty," "Mr. McTooterson," "Tooter," and "Tom-tom" are some nicknames he goes by. Still no Tommy.

It was hard getting him to stay on his back long enough to take his four month photo because now that he can roll back to belly, he can't seem to stop doing it. Then he gets on his hands and knees and rocks back and forth. He hasn't figured out what to do with his arms, though, so sometimes he'll push himself forward from his knees and land on his chest, pinning his arms underneath him. It looks like he'll crawl early like big brother Joe.

Remember how, in my pregnancy announcement post, I talked about how Tim was looking forward to having a little buddy to take with him on his errands? Last Saturday was the first time that happened. The timing worked out where he had just nursed but didn't want to go back to sleep (but I did!), and Tim was ready to head out. It went well -- he doesn't hate the car so much anymore. And I look forward to this becoming a habit.

This week at his well visit, he weighed in at 16 lbs 6 oz, and was 26-point-something inches long. He's over a pound heavier and an inch longer than his brothers were at the same age. He's about the same size Annie was at four months. Way to grow, Thomas! His pediatrician wasn't impressed, because he had fallen a little on his percentiles. But he's still on track to double his birth weight by six months, so there's that. He's still in size 2 diapers and 3-6 onesies, the same four on rotation for weeks on end. I got him a new footed sleeper in size 6-9 that has cute little pumpkin pie slices all over it, but from the way he's filling it out right now, I have a feeling he'll outgrow it by Thanksgiving. 

The quality of his nighttime sleep has not been the best this last month. He goes to bed pretty reliably around 8, and I put him in a super absorbency nighttime diaper now too at this time. He lasts till maybe midnight, sometimes only till 10, then he wants to nurse. If it's only 10, I nurse him and lay him back in his bassinet, but even then he still only lasts till midnight. Then I nurse him and keep him in bed with me the rest of the night. I remind myself he won't be this little for long. I get sad when I think of how much he's changed already, how different his little body feels next to me in the bed. He's so much bigger and stronger now, and he moves his arms and legs a lot. I remember when he was just a tiny bundle calmly sleeping, and the only movement was the rise and fall of his belly. In addition to the growing baby, we've had Joey coming into our bed at some point in the night for many months. Recently we finally admitted that a queen bed doesn't serve our needs anymore, and are upgrading to a king.* We've got the bed frame, sheets, bedding and pillows all ready to go; it's that mattress and box spring that are taking their sweet old time getting here. 

As far as daytime goes, he is usually up for the day around 7, goes down for his first nap around 8, and then the rest of the day is: nap, up for a while and happy, down for another nap maybe around noon. That nap could last anywhere from 45 minutes to a couple hours. After that he has one or two more naps still, and then starts to get cranky and want to cluster feed around 5:30 or 6. He is pretty high maintenance from that point until he goes to bed around 8.

As much fun as it is to watch him grow and change, I sometimes want to cry at the way time is flying. I guess that's how it always is with a baby.

 

*The old Tim and Rachael would simply not allow children in the queen size bed. We held that line for a long time.😄