4 1/2 Months old!

Well, just a few days shy of 4 1/2 months anyway and 19 weeks old. By our estimate he is a tad bit over 16 lbs. He is wearing 6 month clothes now. We will get his official weight at his 4 month well visit on Tuesday. He also gets another round of shots. Justin says that this time I have to be the one that he looks at when he gets the shots...boo! I am not looking forward to that. I am interested to see what the pediatrician says about starting solids. I know babies can start as early as 4 months, but then the American Academy of Pediatrics says that for breastfed babies, other foods, juices, etc. are unnecessary until 6 months of age. Jackson definitely seems to be becoming more interested in eating. He watches both of us eat and starts moving his mouth a little bit. We'll see what Dr. Drew thinks about maybe introducing some rice cereal.

These last few weeks have been so much fun. Justin's mom came to stay with us while Justin was out of town and Jackson did so well with her. He was such a happy baby and he was "talking" to her so much. He did not nap well during the day with her, but I am sure he was just too excited to sleep! Jackson was very happy to see his daddy when Justin got back home from the blizzard in Michigan. It has been great having Justin back home and we finally got our tree up and decorated. Jackson loves to stare at the tree and we got him his very own stocking to hang above the fireplace yesterday.

We did have some sleeping challenges over the last couple of weeks. Jackson has been such a great sleeper since early on. Ever since we made the transition from bassinet to sleep positioner, he started have some periods of fussing in the middle of the night. He never actually wakes up, but he does fuss and it will get louder and louder until I nurse him. I always do because I dont want him to get so upset that he wakes himself up and wont go back down. If I nurse him, he is back in a deep sleep in 10 minutes. Normally it was just once a night, but it had been increasing in frequency as time went on. At one point, he began doing this every 2 hours, which meant that I was sleeping in 1-1 1/2 hour increments! Of all the research I've done, I have found two completely opposite thoughts: Dr. Sears says that you should respond and that the baby is telling you that he is either hungry or needs some bonding time. Dr. Ferber says that by responding every time, you are actually creating negative eating/sleep habits and that you are doing more harm than good. So my dilemma has been: Is he fussing because he is actually hungry? Is he lonely? Is he in some pain from teething? Am I a sucker because he knows that all he has to do is start fussing and I will pick him up and feed him?

Soooo, the first thing we did was get rid of the sleep positioner because our big boy is just too constricted by it. We also moved the pack and play (where he still sleeps) from across the room to next to me...one step closer to his nursery and crib. Then we busted out the pacifier to try and see if he would take it to calm himself down. We tried different things like Justin rocking him, giving a paci, rubbing his back. I dont know what did the trick, but within a day or so, he started only fussing once a night. And it is getting later and later. Now, it doesnt happen until about 5-6 AM, so that is great. Then he goes back down immediately for another 2 hours or so. So I am back to only being up once a night to nurse him, and it is so nice. He does have periods of a little fussiness as his sleep states transition, but he is able to soothe himself back to sleep now. I am thinking a large part of it was that the sleep positioner was not working for him. Now he sleeps from about 9PM-7 AM. Lets hope this continues!!

We also set up his jumper seat and he loves it! He wasnt sure about it at first, but he quickly learned how to make the sounds go off and he is starting to get the hang of jumping in it. He gets so excited and we start clapping when he jumps, which makes him smile and jump even more. He is so cute when he things something is funny, he gives a little chuckle. He is not yet giving us any good belly laughs, and I can't wait until that comes. He has noticed his feet more and starts grabbing at his legs/feet when his diaper is being changed. Yesterday we had to move him to size 3 diapers because his chunky Michelin-man legs were busting out of the stage 2!! We are still working on tummy time and rolling over. He still rolls from his tummy to side, and then eventually kicks his leg to get him on his back. No back to tummy yet, although I think that is just around the corner. I was reading my friend Mandy's blog yesterday and it made me laugh because she was talking about being kinda crazy about making sure that her (beautiful) little girl is meeting milestones and comparing them to other babies. Mandy, if you are reading this I can totally relate and I think every mother must do this at some point! I started to find myself getting a little concerned if I see or hear of one baby laughing/rolling over/etc, and Jackson isnt quite doing it yet. But I am learning more and more that every baby is SO different and unique and they all do things when they are ready. PS Lorelei looks like Brian to me and she is TOO cute! Anyway, Someone said something funny to me the other day. They said that you spend all this time and effort trying to help your baby to walk and talk, and then you spend the next 15 years trying to get them to sit down and be quiet..HA!

I posted some new pictures of Jackson and his perfect little bald head. He is getting some new hair growing in and it looks really light brown. Also, his eyes are still as blue as can be. I wonder if they will stay that way . My dad and both brothers have blue eyes, but Justin and I still think he will be green-eyed. Hope you enjoy the new photos and video. I will update after his appt. on Tues.