4 Months Old (...and still growing...)

Alex enjoyed a visit from Nana and Pepaw last weekend! They came in on Thursday afternoon. We enjoyed Santo's for dinner on Thursday night. On Friday afternoon, Alex had his 4 month old check up. And Nana came with us to the Dr.!

Alex weighs 15 lbs 1 oz (60th percentile for weight) and is 26 & 3/4 inches long (95th percentile for height). Maybe we have a little basketball player in our family! We discussed introducing solids to Alex at his appointment. His Dr. explained that at this point, his main source of nutrition is still his bottle and that any cereal we wanted to introduce would just be for "fun". Until he loses the tongue reflex completely, she said he probably wouldn't accept a spoon. If he starts acting interested when Mark and I are eating our own food, then it would be OK to try a small TBSP of rice cereal. (I think I am secretly happy that it's not time to start solids yet. This means that my little boy is still little! Although, it's not quite a secret, huh? I just told my family & friends who read my blog.) Alex's Dr. was happy about our progress with his head development. He also had his 2nd round of immunizations, for which he and I both cried (again...) We go back for his 6 month old check-up on Oct 21.

On Friday night, we took Nana and Pepaw to B.A. Sweetie's candy company, and got both sets of grandparents together for dinner at Texas Roadhouse. Although when we got to Sweetie's, they were closing in 5 minutes! We rushed all around the store looking for candy to show Mom & Dad, and I think we stayed past store closing time. I carried Alex all around the store. He was so cute looking all around. I told him that he would love candy someday. I saw that my Dad picked up all kinds of gum with old-fashioned labels. It was really cool. I bought some Bazooka!

On Saturday morning, I went for a long walk at the lake-to-lake trail in Middleburg/Berea area with Mom & Dad. That afternoon, we took them to Lake Erie and got some ice cream at the Honey Hut. Mom watched baby Alex on Saturday night while Mark and I went out! On Sunday, we had our traditional breakfast at Katherine's before Mom & Dad drove back home. All-in-all, it was a great weekend! I truly appreciate how my family has made a huge effort to visit us often at such a special time in my life!

On to more Alex developments: His 4 month old birthday was this past Wednesday, and he is officially in Size 2 diapers. (How sad...) He has found his feet and likes to grab them. He is rolling over like crazy now. In his bassinet, we use an infant positioner to keep him on his back, but I woke up this morning, and he had kicked it down to the bottom. Don't know how much longer we will be using that infant positioner!! And he likes the Noggin channel A LOT!

Mark and I celebrate our 1 year anniversary this coming Sunday. I have a surprise planned for Saturday afternoon, and Alex is staying with Grandma Candi and Grandpa Greg on Saturday night. We are having Alex's 4 month old pictures taken on Sunday, our actual anniversary. So, I will have more formal pictures for everyone soon.

He is almost 18 weeks old and eating 5 1/2 -6 oz. every 4 hours. We're officially entering the stage of only using the bigger 9 oz Born Free bottles. And yet another baby product retires to my storage...

We Might Be Teething

What a week! Baby Alex has had too many messy diapers lately. Just about every diaper change is messy. We've called the doctor twice now. Once on Wednesday, and again on Saturday. She doesn't seem concerned at all. If he's giving up on his bottle and more lethargic than normal, then she wants to see him. In the meantime, we are giving him Pedialyte in between his bottles, so he doesn't get dehydrated. And we're going through diapers, Destin, and baby powder like crazy!!

He discovered his fist this past week. When I take it out and offer him a paci instead, he spits it out and in goes the fist again. By today, he was a little drool monster. I've never seen him drool before, but the poor little guy was slobbering and his little outfit was soaked. So, Nana might be right -- we might be teething. A milestone that Mommy didn't want to reach just yet. He just keeps reaching them. Instead of being happy, I am sad to see them fly by. :-(

Which brings me to another one: He rolled over on 8/5 (at 14 1/2 weeks old)! On 8/5, I bought him a crib kicking toy since he loves to kick so much. But instead of loving the toy, he flops over onto his tummy about 4 times in a row. I get so excited and tell Mark: "Get the video camera!" And we captured his little milestone on tape. I was really happy about this milestone!

Alex was finally exposed to Yo Gabba Gabba. (Oh no!) I told Mark months ago that Alex would not be watching that show, but when Jack Black is running around with these characters, it's got to be good, right? I love Jack Black... Mark's friend Todd gave us a bunch of Baby Einstein videos. Alex started watching them yesterday. We have also added the Noggin channel to our favorites on the cable box. (And I said there would be no TV watching... I wanted toys, books, and learning with Mommy & Daddy.) But he just loves the colorful images. I guess that I will need to compromise and let him watch limited TV. We'll see how long that lasts until he learns how to cry to get his way with Mommy & Daddy.

Other toys/baby items we've been using lately: The Bumbo seat -- to teach him to sit up. He is doing really well in that little chair. What a great invention! And he finally enjoys Big Al, the alligator toy I bought for his car seat. He used to ignore it in favor of Mr. Ribbit, but now he focuses in on Big Al. Now he knows that Big Al jingles, and that's a good thing. We brought out the car walker a few weeks ago and the Exersaucer this past weekend, but he is still a little too small for either toy.

He's also babbling and laughing. I heard him laugh for the very first time when we were Indiana -- he laughed at Pepaw. And now, he won't stop. Grandma Candi made him laugh a bunch yesterday. And he always laughs at Daddy when he sings Head & Shoulders, Knees, and Toes. I've noticed that he has definitely started babbling more over the past 2-3 weeks as well.

He also loves to be bounced on your knee. He can hold his head up about 95% of the time now, so he can't stay in one place very long without wanting to be moved around. He had his first Wal-Mart experience a few weeks ago, and I carried him all over the store while he observed.

The joys of being a mother are so much more wonderful than I could have ever expected.

Upcoming events: We would like to schedule his 4 month old pictures at the end of the month, and his next doctor appointment is 8/21, which means another round of immunizations for both me & Alex to cry about!