4 Months Old

Matthew is 4 months (and 1 1/2 weeks :-) old!!! I LOVE this age...and, other than one REALLY rough week and a half, Matthew's 4th month has been great. He has changed SO much and is just so interactive and fun. I forgot how great this stage is. Here is what Matthew has been up to:

***As you can see from his outfit, he drools. A lot. I can only assume he's teething. Caroline didn't get one tooth until she was 10 months old (then she got 10 at once ;-) so we'll see if he follows in his sister's footsteps. Based on the drool, I'm betting he gets teeth a lot sooner.

***Matthew had his first cold this month (compliments of big sis) and it was awful. It totally threw him off of his schedule and he was waking up at 4:30 a.m. every night for 1 1/2 weeks. I was freaked out and didn't know if this was his "new normal" or not. Thankfully, it was just the cold and as soon as Matthew started feeling better, he started sleeping again (whew)

***Speaking of schedule, Matthew has a great one down (I remember Caroline's schedule really 'clicking' at 4 months too...part of why I love this age).

***Matthew's day looks a little like this: he wakes up anytime between 7-8 a.m. and drinks his first bottle; then he plays for a little bit and goes down for his morning nap around 9 a.m. He usually sleeps about 1 1/2 hours for his morning nap and is up and ready to go sometime between 10:30-11. Matthew is eating about every 3 1/2 hours during the day now so around 11:30 it's time for bottle #2. Then some more play time, usually with big sis, until about 12:30. Matthew then goes down for his afternoon nap which is his long nap...about 2-2 1/2 hours (love it!). He wakes up around 3 for bottle #3 then plays until time for a catnap around 4:30 or so. Once he's up from his 3rd nap, he's up until bedtime! He has dinner (bottle #4) around 6:30 then bath, bedtime routine, and down for the night by 7:30. We still give him a 'dream feed' (he eats in his sleep basically) around 9 or 9:30. We're trying to move this bottle (#5) back slowly so he no longer needs the dream feed. Hopefully, we'll be there soon. Oh, he's also eating around 30 ounces/day. So that's a day in the life of Matthew at 4 months!

***Speaking of sleep, Matthew LOVES his crib and really won't sleep anywhere else (other than his carseat for VERY short periods of time). This makes it difficult to go anywhere, but I just try to do the best I can and balance his need for sleep in his crib with our crazy schedule. I shoot for Matthew to get 2/3 of his naps in his crib and that usually seems to work really well.

***Our sweet big boy is already wearing 3-6/6 month size clothes and a size THREE diaper!! He breezed through size two diapers and only wore them for about 2 weeks before they started leaking. I can't wait to see what Matthew's stats are at his 4 month check up this week. I think he might be off the charts :-)

***This month, Matthew started squealing at the tops of his lungs, esp if he's content, happy and playing. He is LOUD. I usually have to be in a different room from him if I'm on the phone or I can't hear. He is also quite the "talker" and coos a lot if we're at home (anywhere else, he's pretty quiet and observant...also just like big sis).

***Matthew's favorite places to play are still the bumbo seat and exersaucer. This month, he started sitting up for short periods of time with just the boppy around him. He is one strong little dude and loves standing on our laps.

***We love seeing Matthew's personality develop more and more everyday. He's SO sweet and smiley. All you have to do is just look at him and he breaks into a HUGE grin. He smiles at anything and everything. He's still not a big "belly laugher" but likes to chuckle and giggle a lot. He's also a big cuddler which is my favorite. He's really only fussy if he's hungry, tired (this is the main cause of any fussiness), or we forget his reflux medicine (oops!)

***Matthew still has big blue eyes and is starting to get a little teensy bit of hair. There is too little of it to tell what color it is. It looks dark but any hair would look dark on my pale little guy, ha!

***Matthew is really into grabbing his toys and putting them in his mouth right now. He actually tries to put everything in his mouth and likes our fingers the best. He doesn't like pacifiers though and has found the joy of his own fingers. He sucks his fingers to soothe himself to sleep...just like sister.

***Another favorite thing the little mister does...he squeezes my finger (so tight) everytime he eats. He won't eat if he can't hold onto my hand. I love it!

***He's still quite a momma's boy ;-)

***Caroline and Matthew are CRAZY about each other...so much so, it deserves a whole post with some sweet pictures of their brotherly/sisterly love. Coming soon.

I'm definitely sad that Matthew is growing so fast. But I'd be lying if I said I preferred the newborn stage to this stage. It's been a great month and I'm just enjoying my little boy so so much. I know it's only going to get more fun from here. Matthew, you bring us so much joy every single day. We love you so much!!!