The Summerlin Family: 4 Months

Jared is 4 months old... how is that possible?? He is definitely growing, but I continue to call him "My Little Jared". He's so sweet and cuddly and still so little :) He's the most chilled out baby I have ever seen. He just likes to look around and is happy as long as he is being held. He makes the funniest faces, too. He's sturdy enough now to sit in the exersaucer and the jumperoo. He moves the toys around, but you can tell he's just doing it to pass the time. Once he sees someone's face he lights up and starts smiling and talking. He's laughed a couple of times now. He likes to watch little kids and he laughed today when Larry started throwing him in the air. However, once we got the video camera out he stopped laughing and started looking at Larry with his "Please stop now, I'm over it" look. He likes to watch Isaac move around, but he doesn't laugh at him. I think Isaac still makes him nervous. Isaac absolutely loves him and wants to play with him and hug him. He doesn't realize he's 3 times as big and his hugs are crushing.

Nursing is going really well, too. I'm pumping at work and nursing at home. I remember with Isaac I was exclusively pumping and was ready to stop at 4 months. Larry convinced me to wait until Isaac was 6 months old. It's so much better this time around because I can nurse. I have no desire to stop at this point and that is such a relief! The doctor said anytime between 4 and 6 months is fine to start cereal. We are waiting until Jared is 5 months old to start rice cereal. He's still a little wobbly when he sits up in a chair and he needs to be more sturdy before starting solids. We like to keep in mind that he was 3 weeks early with milestones like that. There is no need to rush him when he just isn't ready yet. Having said that, we did realize when he turned 3 months that we were definitely babying him! He's gotten a lot stronger this past month simply because we are giving him more playtime on the floor to gain his strength. A week before he turned 4 months he rolled over for the first time! It happened in the middle of the night, so Larry thought I just laid him down on his back. But the next day we both saw him do it. He's so cute because he sticks his little booty in the air and uses that to propel himself over. I love it!

He's the sweetest little thing to hold and will just lay his head against you when you walk around. I have to be careful though... on more than one occasion he started sucking on my neck trying to eat. That was a weird feeling!

He's been sleeping in the pack n play in the playroom at night. His crib is in Isaac's room, but he is still waking up twice at night to eat, so he's not ready to be with Isaac yet. I kept waking up at every little sound he made at night so we did have to move him out of our room. He doesn't mind the pack n play, though, and does well there at night. My hope is that next month we can start weaning him off of one of his nightly feedings. He goes to bed around 8 and wakes up around 1 and 5:30 to eat before getting up for the day around 7 or 8. We don't have him on a strict schedule at all because it's just easier to let him sleep when he wants to because of Isaac. He takes 3 naps a day at this point and they are getting more consistent with their times, but if you feed him and put him in the car seat he'll fall asleep there as well. It's nice to have a more flexible baby in that sense! You can tell when he's tired because he keeps his eyes half open as you walk around with him. He doesn't fuss a whole lot... unless he's hungry or Isaac is bothering, I mean loving, him. ;)

Here are his stats to this point:

11/9/09 (First appointment)

Weight: 6 lbs, 3 oz -- 8%

Height: 18 1/2 in -- 8%

Head: 13 1/4 -- 11%

12/10/09 (1 month appointment)

Weight: 9 lbs, 1.5 oz -- 24%

Height: 21 1/2 in -- 39%

Head: 14 1/2 in -- 17%

1/6/10 (2 month appointment)

Weight: 11 lbs, 11 oz -- 50%

Height: 22 3/4 in -- 43%

Head: 15 in -- 13%

3/5/10 (4 month appointment)

Weight: 15 lbs, 1 oz -- 55%

Height: 25 in -- 56%

Head: 16 in -- 14%

He's growing, so I'm happy!

Here are some pictures from the beginning....

20 weeks pregnant...

The night we went to the hospital. We had the bags packed and I was having painful contractions, but I still made Larry take a picture of me before we walked out the door at 1 AM!