Four Months

Cooper Steven turned 4 months old on February 11, 2014.  It's hard to believe four months has already passed since his birth.  In many ways he still seems like such a teeny tiny baby, almost newborn, to me, and in other ways I feel like it's all going too fast once again! 

Cooper hanging out at his pediatrician's office just waiting for Dr. Scott

 

4 month stats:  Cooper is 25.5 inches long (73rd percentile), 16lbs. 5 oz (79th percentile), and has a head circumference of 42.5cm (58th percentile). 

 

Cooper checked out quite healthy!  He even had his hip x-rays due to being breech (although not in delivery...surprise!), and everything came back perfectly normal!  He's continuing to have some tummy issues lately, and I am definitely wondering if he has a lactose intolerance, but time will tell perhaps. 

 

 Cooper was extra smiley for his 4 month milestone picture.  Big brother was helping get some giggles and smiles out of him!  At four months old, Cooper is rolling from side to side.  He likes to lay on his play mat and just roll back and forth.  He also turns himself in a complete circle.  He's rolled from his belly to his back a couple times.  Bad mama doesn't put him on his belly all that often though, so he hasn't had many chances to prove himself.  Quite a few times I've thought he was about to roll form his back to his belly.  He gets all twisted and like he's ready to push off, but he hasn't made it quite yet.  He looooves having his hands and fingers in his mouth.  I don't think he can decide if he wants to suck his thumb or fingers or if it just makes him mad in the long run, but in nearly every picture he has his hands either headed towards his mouth or already in his mouth.  We've tried leaving him unswaddled in hopes that me might use his hand gnawing to soothe himself, but no such luck.  Cooper naps pretty well.  He still naps 3-4 times a day, usually in his swing.  He falls asleep well on his own in both his crib and his swing, but is doing the majority of his sleeping in his swing still (or again after lots of waking up at night, I should say).  He nurses or takes a bottle of breast milk every 2-4 hours during the day.  His nighttime sleep is rather inconsistent still.  He wakes at least once to eat, but sometimes wakes 3-4 times a night and needs a quick settling.  Luckily he usually goes back to sleep very quickly, but mama is tired from all the up and down!  Cooper is very smiley and giggly lately.  He hates having his shirts put on over his head, but he giggles like crazy when you take them off.  He's ticklish and playful!  He's now wearing 6 month clothes and just upgraded to size 3 diapers.  His hair seems pretty blond and it seems like his eyes will be a bright blue.  He loves bath time and really enjoys being held and bounced. 

 

 

Too funny not to share:  In typical middle-child fashion, not to be outdone by her little baby brother getting all the attention, Charlotte decided to steal the show on the day of Cooper's 4 month well-baby check up.  MJ was still at preschool, but I knew I'd need to take Charlotte with me to Cooper's pediatrician appointment.  She hadn't napped that day and been destroying the house one room at at time it seemed.  I was trying to get us all ready to go, so I decided to get the house all picked up, get Charlotte dressed, and then put her in her room to play while I got Cooper ready.  I knew she'd make a mess but figured it would at least be contained to one room and knew she'd be safe to play on her own for a bit.  I got her all ready and then moved onto Cooper.  I wanted to nurse him one last time before leaving for the doctor's.  Then, after getting him dressed and myself ready, I went to Charlotte's room to retrieve her.  I opened the door to a huge greasy blob.  She'd gotten the Vaseline out of her drawer and used the majority of the tub on her hair and face.  She could hardly open her eyes they were so covered in the goo.  I would have loved to have seen my face when I realized what it was that was spread all over my daughter!  I knew I was already running late to make it to the doctor on time.  There was no time for a bath.  It was either no-show for the appointment or try to clean her up the best I could in about two minutes and hit the road. 

Judging by the greased back hair do you can tell which option I chose!  I wish I would've thought to take a picture of her covered in the Vaseline, but I think I was in mama freak-out mode.  I grabbed some baby wipes and tried to wipe away the worst, changed all her clothes, and set off for the doctor's office.  I was so flustered it was humorous! 

Mat washed her hair for me once we got home.  Her hair was extra curly and extra greasy...

 It took several washes over the next few days to get it out.  I think I'll always remember this story when I think of Cooper's check up, and I'm sure we'll be telling her this one for years to come! 

Cooper finally wears hats without screaming his head off.  :)  He's pretty cute if I do say so myself. 

 He was mama's shopping buddy one night while Mat took the two bigger kids to the library.  They seriously do not make carts big enough for an infant seat plus groceries.  Cooper was looking a little worried about all these groceries surrounding him!

 

With MJ and Charlotte, we held off on cereal until the five month mark, but since Cooper has been struggling more with sleep at night, we decided it was worth a little nighttime snack of oatmeal.  These were his very first bites.  He seemed to like it and even grabbed for the spoon.  He got the hang of it fairly quickly.  Unfortunately, it didn't really seem to make a difference at all with his sleep, and it seemed like it was causing him some tummy issues, so we've backed off for now. 

 

 

 

Today, I bought Cooper a jumperoo and put him in it for the first time.  He was a happy little camper.  I see lots of bouncing and playing in his future!