4 Months and Snow

Robert Alan turned 4 months old this past week! I can't believe how quickly time has flown by. It doesn't seem like it goes by quickly on a day-by-day basis, but it's to believe that he's already been with us for 4 months. It is even harder to believe how much he's changed in 4 months. I look back at pictures of him his first week home.....

...and then I look at recent pictures of him....


...and it's amazing to me how small he was in the beginning! I remember wondering in awe when he was born how he could have possibly been inside me, thinking he was so big, and now, well, he's just growing so fast! We are so blessed to have such a healthy boy.

As far as his development goes, I remember the first couple of weeks thinking I would never see a smile or feel like he loved me, and now, I hear giggles every day and I can tell that he loves me and appreciates all David and I do for him. He's starting to love it when we talk and play with him, lighting up with utter joy as soon as he sees us. It's awesome. I remember, too, when all he did was stare at his favorite toy, Mr. Star. Now, he tries to reach up and grab him, getting angry and whining when he can't reach him to put him in his mouth and taste his sweet deliciousness. I remember a couple short months ago when I would work and work to help him get a burp out with him crying the entire time because it was uncomfortable. Now, it's nothing to get him to burp, and he knows it's coming, too, so he no longer cries out of discomfort. Some other things that he likes now.....the color red (he stares at anything that is red), eating anything he can get his hands on but especially rice cereal, cuddling when he wakes up, tummy time (yes, he actually enjoys it now for about 20-30 minutes at a time!), grabbing my hair when I "eat" his tummy, being tickled under his arms and on his stomach, sucking on his first two fingers, doing motorboat sounds, BATHTIME!, dancing, patty-cake with his feet (especially when the part comes where he gets to "eeeeeat 'em all up!"), flying around the house like Superman, reading books (favorites are The Very Hungry Caterpillar, his "crackly" book that he can chew, the Baby Faces color book, and the Wide-Mouthed Frog book, this happens to be my favorite as well---it's hillarious). Some things that irritate him are wanting so badly to crawl and not being able to, rolling over onto his back when he's asleep, getting dressed, and not having an endless supply of rice cereal in his mouth when it's time to eat---I can't seem to feed him fast enough to make him happy!

I'm sorry for the long list, but it makes me happy to even have a list. The first couple weeks, it was hard to imagine that the little blob he was would turn out to have a charming, flirty personality that gets bashful when he sees himself in the mirror. I love the little man he is and can't wait to see how he changes in the next two months. I think maybe the only thing that hasn't changed for the better in the last 4 months is that he has lost the thick hair he was born with. I hope he gets it back soon.....it was so pretty!

The day before Robert Alan turned 4 months old, it snowed a TON. I stayed home that day because I didn't want to get trapped in San Marcos because of weather, and Aunt Brittney came over to watch him while I worked in the office. We didn't get any pics that day, but Gigi took some for us the next morning (his 4-month b-day) when I dropped him off at her house for the day....

RA: "Mom, what is all this bright white stuff?!"

RA: "Hmmm....I'm uncomfortable and cold. Get me inside!"

Maybe when he's 6 months old, he'll look at the camera. :-) Oh well, if he stays as happy and healthy as he is but never takes a good pic (meaning, looking at the camera and smiling), I'll still be a happy and thankful mom.

We go to his 4-month doctor's appointment on Monday. Wish us luck! I'll be interested to see what he weights, measures, etc. and I hope with my fingers crossed that he doesn't react badly to his shots. I'm sure we'll keep you posted....

Lesson Learned

I could kick myself for writing that post yesterday. I should have known better...don't speak too soon! Sure enough, I had barely pressed Publish Post before Robert Alan woke up every 2.5 hours last night. The first was due to his diaper leaking and him having to sleep in a you-know-what-soaked sheet. The second, David and I believe, was because he was confused from waking up the first time and thought that it was time to be in his day-time routine. (This is based on mine and David's extensive research on the baby's thought processes and psyche. Ha!). The third was because he had flipped himself over and was lying in another form of you-know-what. Aye de mi! Thank goodness my parents were in town this weekend. After we all woke up and had breakfast, I was able to take a nap for a couple of hours. Yes, you read that right, I said a couple of hours. It was unbelievable!

Also, my sister just informed me that the video I posted when Robert Alan first giggled has no sound. Oops. Nobody told me! I watched it when I posted it and nothing was wrong, so I'll work on that when I have time....which means I might get around to it this summer.

It's such a pretty day outside. Robert Alan and I took a walk earlier and we both wore shorts! It was wonderful but he started getting sleepy and therefore fussy, so we had to call it quits early. We'll go for another one when he wakes up from his nap. I can't wait for this weather to be the norm!

Okay, short post. Any tips on nighttime routines will be most welcomed. Later gator!

Cereal = Sleep

Since Robert Alan was about 6-8 weeks old, my mother-in-law has been telling me that he probably needed to be eating rice cereal because he was such a big boy and he probably needed some more food. I knew that I wasn't supposed to give him anything but my milk before he was 4 months old because studies have shown that if babies are given "food" before they're 4 months old, they have a better chance of having food allergies. Actually, truth be told, I didn't just know that--our pediatrician told me. Well, Robert Alan hadn't slept in over a week, waking up every 2-3 hours to eat and then wanting to play for 40 minutes after eating. It was awful. I was still having to get up every morning to go to work, so being on my game after 4 hours of sleep a night was getting super hard. We couldn't decide if he was teething or growing, but I knew something had to be done for my sanity. I couldn't go another week without sleep. SO, I texted our lovely pediatrician and asked her what to do. Tylenol? Orajel? Cereal? She told me ex-nay on the orajel-ay (hmm....that's a tough one in pig-latinese), but I could hit him up with some cereal and some Tylenol. Woo-hoo!! So, we fed Robert Alan rice cereal for the first time on Tuesday night this week...

Did somebody say food?! What have you put me in?

Those hands are lookin' pretty good...

Hmmm....I'm not sure about this, Mom.

Whoa! Now THAT'S some real food!

He did a pretty good job eating. I've said all along that the kid loves to eat. We didn't get too messy or anything. He only ate a few bites and then started getting fussy, so David and I decided that we'd call it quits for that episode because we want him to have a good attitude towards eating, not fear the high chair. I'm pretty sure that after he ate and nursed, he spit up everything he had in his stomach. Ugh. He ended up waking up twice later that night. That wasn't good enough for me, so on Wednesday, we fed him, then gave him a warm bath, and then nursed him. He woke up one time later that night. "Progress!" I thought. Thursday night I decided to give him a full tablespoon of rice cereal to see if it would hold him over longer (I had been giving him just two baby spoons full). He ate all of it, took a warm bath, nursed, played a bit, and then went to bed. He slept 10 hours and didn't wake up at all during the night! Woo-hoo!!!!!!! You should have seen me at work the next day. I had so much energy. I had forgotten what it felt like to have a whole night's rest. A-MAZ-ING! So, we've learned that our nighttime routine will now be rice cereal, bath, nurse, play a bit, nurse again if necessary, read a book, go to bed. We'll see how long this lasts. I'm proud, though, of my little boy. He's eating like a champ.

I'm an Ice Guy

Get it? David didn't (love you, dear!). I'll explain later. First, a little background...Robert Alan recently had his first stay in a hotel. I needed to work at Texas State University for two days in a row to make sure I saw everyone I needed to, so I decided that instead of driving back and forth two days in a row, I'd get a hotel. Seeing that I'm nursing, I didn't think it'd be a good idea (or very comfortable on my part) for me to be away from him for two nights. So, I talked my mom into going with us to San Marcos and we headed soutbound on 35 on Tuesday night.

My goal was to be on the road at 4:00. We left at 5:30. Ahh, c'est la vie. Getting such a late start completely threw Robert Alan's eating and sleeping schedule off. That wouldn't have mattered, though, because when we got to the hotel, he was like a 5-year old kid excited about the hotel room. His eyes were wide as saucers (they usually are pretty big, but not this big), and he had to look around the entire place for about an hour before he felt like settling down and eating. He finally went to sleep at 10:00. At least he slept the whole night. The next night was another matter. He woke up at 1:00 a.m. to feed and wouldn't go back to sleep. My mom got up with him so that I could go back to sleep, but he basically threw fits off and on until 3:00 a.m. So much for getting some sleep. He was back up at 6:00 a.m. ready to go again. I tell you, this guy can give me a run for my money.

The last day we were there, when Mom checked us out of the hotel while I was at work, she went to the outlets to get him some clothes (he's grown out of most of his pants--too small in the waist--and his socks--too little in the foot and too tight on the calf--and some of his onesies--too short). She found a onesie at Baby Gap with one of the cutest sayings I've seen thus far.

Can't you tell? There's nothing mean about him!

Except when he bites your finger. Mmmmm....tastes so good.

Almost able to reach the toes. If only they weren't covered with socks!

Anyways, being away from David for two nights really made me realize how much he does and how much I appreciate him. I felt guilty the whole time we were gone whenever my mom would tend to Robert Alan crying because she had been taking care of him all day. It just is so easy to split duties with David. I'm so thankful he helps. It also made me respect single moms all the more. I think I've said it before (if I haven't, I'm about to, and if I have, sorry for the redundancy but I have an excuse, it's called having a baby), but I truly admire stay-at-home moms. Well, I'm adding to that list single moms. I cannot imagine shouldering all of the parenting duties. So, here's to all the single moms out there! Keep up the hard work!

As for Robert Alan and me, we hope we never have to leave Daddy behind again!

"It's so good to see you, Daddy! I love you sooo much!"

Okay, that's it for now. Later gator!