And Then There Were Four: Slammer Sammer

Sam turned 4 months old on the 14th! To me the 4 month mark begins the next stage of babyhood. You start to think about things like solid food (not until 6 months), sitting up, playing with toys. Bigger baby stuff:)

I took him to his 4 month appointment this morning and he is growing well! He weighed in at 16 lbs 12 oz which put him in the 80%. He was 26.5 inches long which is in the 93%. And his poor head is still lagging way behind in the 10%! Although, I don't think the nurse measured it quite right. I think it's a bit bigger then that. He does still have some "pronounced flatness" of his head according to Dr. P. She said it will not effect him except cosmetically and so we are going to wait until 6 months before making a decision about whether or not he should get a helmet (ugh!) If you think of it, will you pray with me that God would cause his head to round out correctly in the next 2 months?

I picked the title for this post because "Slammer" is the nickname my dad has given to Sam and David and I have been calling him Sammer lately. He also gets called Sambo, Budster, Samson, and Chicken Little by various people:)

Sam is lots of fun these days! He has become quite a conversational "cooer". If I make gurggling sounds to him he will make them back to me and smile. He chuckles now if I play peek-a-boo with him and he loves for us to "eat" his neck/belly/face while making silly sounds. He is rolling tummy to back and even rolled back to tummy once during "naked time" the other day! He is staring to bat at and grasp toys and LOVES chewing on his hands including sucking on his right thumb for a few seconds at times (come on buddy!) He is quite wiggly and wants to be sitting or standing. He arches his back or struggles hard to sit up if he's back against a cushion. I have to watch him in the Bumbo seat because he arches his back so much that he almost falls out! I think maybe he is going to be more of a tantrum thrower then Kate. I get lots of comments about how laid back he is and it's true most of the time, but if he gets upset, watch out! He is very social and wants to be held lots and if he's not being held he wants to have Mama and Daddy in his sights. He is a little afraid of Kate because she's very loud these days and is still having trouble treating him gently. I look forward to seeing their relationship blossom as time goes on though! I just have a feeling that they are going to have a very sweet bond. I have felt more then once (maybe impressed by the Lord?) that Sam is really going to care for, protect, and lead Kate. We shall see.

Our biggest accomplishment of the last week has been that we've gotten Sam to start taking naps with no pacifier! He was beginning to show signs that it was disrupting his sleep and I would really be glad for him to not be attached to one. It took 3 days but he now goes down for naps with almost no trouble! He was really struggling with not having it at night and has also not been on a great night schedule so we are still letting him have it at night for now. We'll work on getting rid of it at night after he turns 6 months. It's also very helpful for him to have the paci in the car or when he is getting bored/fussy.

*This next part is probably only interesting to me. I'm just including it for future reference.*

As far as night sleep. It's a work in progress. With my two children I have learned that babies aren't necessarily born knowing how to sleep well! I recently decided to feed him for the "last" time at 7:30 pm and put him to bed right after. I had been getting him back up to eat again at 10:30 pm. He was then waking back up at 3:30 and then not getting up until 8 or 8:30 (well, he actually wakes up again around 6:30 needing a paci or position change then going back to sleep) which is later then I would like him to start the day feeding schedule wise. I know with only feeding him at 7:30 he'll be back up between 12:30 and 2 but I don't mind that. It's really nice to lay him down around the same time as Kate and know that David and I have the rest of the evening and I can go to bed whenever I want rather then having to stay up for that 10:30 feeding. I also dropped his 3rd nap (the evening one) to enable him to be ready for sleep around 7:30/8. That makes for some fussiness in the late evening as he gets tired but it's manageable and sets up a much better pattern overall.

Ok, enough information! Here are some pictures.

Little buddy was dealing with his first bit of diaper rash the other day so I gave him so extended "naked time" to help dry his skin out. You can't use diaper rash creams with cloth diapers and I was hoping to avoid having to put him in disposables to get it cleared up. It seems to have mostly worked! He only has a small patch left and it's not bothering him.