Dear Grayson (4 months)

This past month has been my favorite so far (I am sure I will say that each month)! You are such a happy little chunker and your smiles are so much fun to wake up to.

You are increasingly more aware and love love love just looking around. We went to the aquarium the other day and you LOVED it! I had you in the bjorn and you checked everything out...your favorite part was walking through the water tunnels and seeing the fish overhead.

You are so easy to get a smile out of. I just ask for one and you give it to me. So easy. You still LOVE standing and sitting up. I can't wait for you to be able to sit on your own and I know that won't happen for another couple of months but I think you will be so happy once that happens. You are so close to rolling over - I think it will be any day now. When we lay you down you rotate on to your side and try so hard to get over - it's that darn arm that you can't seem to figure out how to move to get over it. Tummy time is fun for you and you enjoy seeing the world from that view. Standing up is still your favorite but you tend to bob your head and almost start shaking so I am not a huge fan of it.

I think this might be the age were we have the most baby stuff out. We have your rocker, swing, bouncer, playmats, bumbo, and just got out the exasaucer. Goodness. Along with your brothers stuff I feel like we live in a Babies R Us. Although you seem to love all these items I will be ready to put some of them away soon :)

Eating
I swear you would eat real food if you could. Every time we sit down for dinner you are just staring and drooling. You still spit up a TON...like after you eat and even hours after you eat. The amount of laundry that I do has increased dramatically since you were born - we basically have to wash everything every single time we wear it because it ends up with spit/throw up somehow. I am not sure when that will stop and how "normal" it is but clearly you are still gaining weight so the doctors aren't really concerned. We did start you on acid reflux medicine this month and it hasn't really helped with the spit up BUT the day you started the medicine is they day sleeping better at night....I don't know if that is related or if it's just a coincidence...but I prefer to keep you on it for now :)

Sleeping
So we have made great strides over this past month in this department. I am quite happy with your progress. In the beginning of the month you were still waking up at 11pm, 2am, 4am, 6am ect...seriously?  The only way I could get you to sleep for a longer period of time was if I gave you a bottle - which meant that I needed to pump at the same time. ugh. So Kevin would give you a bottle at 11pm (while I slept) and then I would give you one when you woke around 3ish (and pump at the same time). It was a bit of a pain. But you would actually sleep until 7am so we were happy.

I don't remember how it all happened but one night I just knew there was no way you were actually hungry at 11pm so I just rubbed your back and popped your paci in AND it worked (I had tried this before a few times and it would only work for 20 min or so). ANyhow, the next night you slept right on through that...so I think it was just habbit. Now I was ready to find out how many of your feedings were just habit.

And then I found out that you prefer to sleep on your belly. And that my friend has been a game changer. Now I can put you down around 7:30-8pm and you will sleep until at least 4am. Then I can just nurse you and you will sleep until 7:30am. You actually still wake up around 11pm & 2am but it takes about 2 seconds to go in and get you back to sleep. Oh how it will be nice when you just go back to sleep on your own but I am not sure when that will happen.

Anyhow, much more sleep is being had and that makes us happy. You still have nothing on your big brother but here's to hoping :)

Routine:
Since Ryan's activities and school ended mid December we spent a lot more time at home - which I think helped you get more into a routine. As I mentioned you are up around 7:30/8am and you eat. After you eat I pump and usually get another 4-5oz. Around 9am you seem to get a tired again and go down for a 30-45 min nap (in your crib, otherwise Ryan is too loud). When you wake up I feed you again and then we basically have our window of opportunity (11am-12pm) to get out and do something - it's small but I try and take advantage of it.

Back home to feed Ryan for lunch and put him down for a nap and then we have our snuggle/play time. We typically hang out on the ground and play with toys until you are hungry and want to eat again. I feed you and then you are tired and want to nap. Sometimes you take a nice 2 hour nap (which is AWESOME) but it doesn't happen every day, so I don't depend on it.

I feed you again around 3 or 4pm and then one last time at 5:30pm. You lay on the ground and play on your play mat, or hang out in the bouncer or swing while I attempt to make dinner. Around dinner time is when you are ready to be held...so one of us holds you while we eat. Sometimes you take a mini 20 min snooze and sometimes you don't. At 7 we head upstairs for bathtime and at 7:30 I give you a 6-7oz bottle of breast milk. I hold you upright for at least 15-20 min afterwards to help so you down throw it up and then you are swaddled and put in bed. I lay you on your side and sometimes you flop right to your belly, sometimes you hang on your side.

Sizes:
Weight: 14lbs 15 oz (25%)
Height: 25in (49%)
Head: 42cm (50%)
Diapers: size 3 (you can technically still fit in size 2 but I feel like they give you a muffin top and that's never comfortable)
Clothing: 6-9 months
Shoes: n/a

What have we been up to:
- Your first visit with santa
- North Pole Express
- Christmas with the family

- Aquarium visit

Things you like:
- bath time
- The baby bjorn
- Watching your brother Ryan do anything
- Bjorn Free pacis (they don't make them anymore, and I only have two...amazingly we still have both)
- You always try and find the TV... oddly attracted to it (maybe it's not that odd?) I always turn you away from it and then I see your little head drifting to find it again...

Things you don't like:
- Car seat - sometimes you hate being in here and sometimes you don't mind...never know whats going to happen.
- Being held like a baby. You only like being held straight up - I am thinking that probably has something to do with the acid reflux/throw up thing you have going on

Love you bunches! Can't wait to see what next month has in store for us!