Rhett-4 1/2 months old

I am a bit behind on the blog-I still need to write about Jackson's 3rd Birthday party, Jackson 3 year old update, visit with family, and also post Rhett's professional baby photos. I am behind for good reason, though! During my free time in the evenings, I have been planning our vacation to DISNEY WORLD!! We leave in a couple of months. Woohoo! We will be staying for about a week in the Art of Animation resort and we will be in a Cars suite. I have been busy making restaurant reservations, researching how to go about taking a 3 year old and 6 month old on the trip, etc.  I am SO excited to see Jackson's face when we get there. We decided to do Magic Kingdom and Epcot. I think Hollywood studios would be a bit much. Anyway, more on that later! :)

As for Rhett-Our baby is already 4 1/2 months old...hard to believe! Here are some of the new updates over the last few weeks:

-After he got his 4 month shots, he spiked a 102 fever and was so irritable and fussy. His fever went down with tylenol, but then would keep going back up to 102. Justin was out of town that night, so it was a looong night for me up with Rhett. His tummy was upset too. I think maybe it was a little upset from the Rotovirus vaccine. Long story short, I called our awesome friend Dr. Drew (who was on vacation in Vermont at the time, which I didnt know) and he advised me to stop the tylenol and see what the fever did the next day. Dr. Drew called several times to check in on us (what a guy!) and said that although he suspected it could be a reaction to the vaccines, I should probably still take him in since his fever was pretty high and he was under 6 months old. At the dr office, we had a wonderful physican examine Rhett who suspected it was just a reaction to the vaccines since his ears looked fine. To be safe, we decided to take a urine sample to be sure it was not a UTI. Poor little Rhett had to get a catheter twice because they couldnt get urine the first time. I felt so bad for him, but it seemed to be more uncomfortable for him, rather than super painful. Everything came back fine, and Rhett was good the next day so it was just a reaction to the vaccines.

-He is teething in a major way. Some days are better than others, but he just gnaws on the cold teething rings and his hands.

-He is finally starting to sleep a little bit better. I am pretty sure this is due to the fact that he can roll onto his tummy and sleep that way now. I am getting about 3 hour stretches again, so that is nice. We will be moving him into his crib in his room soon, so I wonder how that may change things. Naps are still not as consistent as I would like. He is a little cat-napper. He sleeps every 2 1/2 hours or so for 30 minutes each time. I hope those 30 minute naps will soon evolve into longer naps!

-He eats all of the time! We are going to start solids right after labor day, so he will be 5 months old at the time. I am looking forward to sitting him in his high chair with us at dinner and feeding him. We have already started stocking up on some fun organic baby foods. There is so much more brand variety of organic food than there was when Jackson was a baby.

-He loves being carried around by his daddy in the baby bjorn. He just looks around at everyone and smiles. I love my happy boy. Strangers love to walk up and make him smile. His smile lights up a room!

-He does not enjoy the car as much as Jackson did as a baby. Jackson used to be really easy to take around and would fall asleep almost instantly in a car. Rhett does pretty well, but after a certain point, he gets irritable and fussy. He will only sleep for about 30-40 minutes in his carseat. That may have something to do with Jackson talking and singing next to him, though. With Jackson, he had complete quiet when he was a baby. It will be interesting to see how the trip Orlando goes!

As for me, I am having a raging case of post-partum hair loss. It is so bad! I am getting (almost) bald patches around my temples/forehead. I just got my hair cut to my shoulders a few days ago, so it looks a little bit better, but it has to stop soon. If  not, I wont have any hair left! :)

Church Dedication Pictures

I meant to post these a while back, but here are the photos taken during our baby dedication on Mother's Day. They turned out better than expected considering that Jackson was acting like a caged animal during the whole thing ;) On a related note, I really need a TAN!

Rhett-4 months old!

Wow, has it already been 4 months? Here are Rhett's most recent stats from his well visit last week:

Height: 27 inches-97th percentile!
Weight: 16.5 lbs-75th percentile
Head Circumference: 16.5 in-37th percentile

According to his doc, he is doing great! He is meeting his milestones perfectly and is getting bigger by the day. The pediatrician said we might consider starting solids at this point since he is over 16 lbs. He seems to think that Rhett might sleep better once he gets solids, but we are still going to wait until about 5 months. I don't necessarily think he wakes up to eat-I think he wakes up to be rocked/nursed back to sleep because he is used to it. He is still waking throughout the night every 2-3 hours on average. I.am.SO.sleep.deprived!
I keep doing really stupid things like forgetting the water is running, misplacing things, etc. Tonight I was folding clothes and told Justin that I had three socks leftover without a mate for some reason. A few minutes later he pulled apart a pair of his socks and one of mine was in there with them too. I put three socks together! NO wonder I am missing socks. Duh! :)

Rhett is still getting strictly breast milk and I plan to keep it that way for at least a year. We all know that was my goal for Jackson and I ended up nursing him for 2 years, but I do plan to wean Rhett earlier. Pumping in my car during travel for work is a drag. But it is most definitely worth it. Some new places that I have breast fed Rhett recently: on the beach, multiple restaurants, and on a carriage tour. YES, a horse drawn carriage tour around Charleston. That was interesting to say the least, but hey, it kept from fussing and you know I am not gonna deny my boy food if he's hungry. Of course I use a nursing cover, so I am not flashing boob all around Charleston or anything (like I did in college.... JUST kidding mom! :)

Rhett continues to be a happy, smiley boy most of the time. Sometimes it almost appears as if he has slight dimples, but then again it could just be his sweet little chubby cheeks looking that way right now. He is a drool machine and soaking a couple of bibs a day.

As I have said a few times before, thankfully Rhett is really happy most of time because when he is mad or upset, you better WATCH OUT. The dramatics run high in this one. I told Justin that I am sincerely getting scared for the toddler year tantrums. If his meltdowns now are any indication, we are in b-i-g trouble. Thank God he didn't have colic. I don't know how I would have survived Rhett's screams for hours on end.

He is still a rolly polly and won't stay on his back for long. He also holds his head forward all of the time in his car seat like he is trying to get out. He is exploring more with his hands and grabbing his toys on his toy mat and my face/chest when he nurses.

I catch him sneaking TV when I walk through our living room. I try to keep him from watching as much as possible, but I have noticed that he lights up and starts kicking/jumping when he sees Mickey Mouse. Speaking of jumping, we began putting him in his jumparoo and he really likes it. Jackson showed him how to play with the toys and today Rhett actually began spinning the toys around and making the noises.

Jackson loves his baby brother more and more every day. Many times he will say "I love you soooo much baby brudda. Awww you're so cute!". Also, when Rhett cries, Jackson will say "Mommy, baby Rhett is trying to tell us something. Maybe we should feed/burp/change his diaper". Jackson is such a great big brother. He is now kissing Rhett all of the time and interacting with him more. I hope these two always have a close bond.

Jackson turned 3 years old on 8/8 and am going to work on a blog post about our big boy, his awesome party, and our family that came to visit. Also, we got Rhett's baby photos back from when he was 10 weeks old and I want to post those too. Here are so pictures from the last few weeks:

 Look who found their tongue!