Austin Scott: 4-5 Months

I've recently started reading the book "What to Expect the First Year". (Because, apparently, having one baby has almost no impact on me knowing what I'm doing.) The intro to the fourth month reads: "Your infant is just entering what might be considered the golden age of babyhood when good humor reigns... Sociable and interested, eager to strike up a cooing conversation, to watch the world go by, and to charm anyone within a ten-foot radius, babies this age are an undeniable delight to be around." I have found this to be so true this month! Although there is something precious about a tiny baby, Austin's happy nature shines through his sweet smiles and contagious giggles. He is a pleasure to be around!

Stats: He's pretty small.  He has these darling little rolls on his legs and this tiny double chin - but he's just super little. No official stats - but fits solidly in 3-6 month clothes, and honestly still fits into many 3 month clothes. (The only things that he can't squeeze into are his 3 month footie jammies.) Size 2 diapers. 

Some things from this month: 

--He reaches out and tries to grab everything. It's so neat to see him learning and growing. His grabbing skills are still new and fairly jerky. You can tell that he has to work really hard to grab something. He'll look at it intensely, then concentrate and try to swing his arms in position to grab the object. The other night I was holding him while eating my dinner and he reached out to grab my plate and knocked the whole thing over onto the floor. I was surprised because he hadn't been able to do anything close to that before! I felt so proud of him for reaching such a great developmental milestone. 

--Now that he can grab things, he likes to grab and pull his toys toward his mouth. His favorite toys? His hands. He chomps and sucks on his fingers all day long. 

-Still sleeps swaddled. We bought a Woombie (the orange striped sleep sack below) and it's been great. I don't know that it magically makes him sleep better - but it does cut down on my irritability at night-time when I can't handle the blanket unwrapping while I'm trying to get him back down to bed. Also, I know you aren't supposed to have blankets in the bed, but he doesn't sleep well at all with just a big empty space around him. I have this blanket rolled up for him to snuggle against and he really likes it.  

--Speaking of sleep. We aren't doing fantastically on that front. I've taken to sleeping with him in my chair all night long and not even attempting to go back to my bed. Half the time I'm waking up every hour with him (just enough to get him latched on to nurse and then to fall back asleep with him). If I lay him down in bed, he'll often wake up after only a half hour. He got pretty congested this month and so when he is sleeping somewhere other than my arms - he's been sleeping in his bouncer. That's been our best sleeping bet lately. However, a rough outline of our schedule is as follows: 

8:00 am - Wake up

9:30, 10:00, or 10:30 - Take a half hour-ish nap. 

Noonish- Half hour-ish nap. 

2:30ish- Hour nap

5:00- Half-hourish nap. 

7:00- Bedtime

10:30-11:30- Wake up and start the "wake up every hour or-so" process.

Bah. I would co-sleep except Austin will have none of it. I pretty much hate every sleep training book I've read. I feel like no matter what, I'm going to ruin his life. (Cry it out? You are a terrible person. Rock them to sleep every night? They'll be obese and terrible sleepers. Etc... I hate it.) This isn't our everyday schedule, sometimes I'll get a couple of good hour-naps in there. And sometimes he'll sleep for 2 hours or so.  And sometimes he won't go down at all. I really have no idea what makes the difference though.

Moving on... 

- Still not rolling. This is probably my fault. I usually lean him up in a sitting position on the couch or stick him in his bumbo if we are just hanging out. He doesn't love the floor, and I don't love making him lay on the floor. I've been trying to do better about getting him down there - and I'm looking forward to him figuring this out.

-He nurses on left side more than right. I often have to consciously force him to feed on the right side for fear that I will completely dry up and he will be dependent on the left side for the next six months. (On this same note - I pumped a 4 oz bottle of milk the other day! It may not seem like much, but I am incredibly proud of myself. I think that my stress about not being able to pump interferes with my letdown and it's only made worse by doing things like hot compresses and hand expression. The only way I've been able to figure out how to do it is to start pumping and then start reading a book. For some reason, when I'm completely absorbed by my book and I'm not thinking about it at all - I'm able to pump at least a little!  

-Still sleeping in the pack and play, but I think he's ready for a crib. I'm ready for him to be in a crib and I wonder if he'd do better sleeping on a real mattress. However, Lydia is still in the crib and when we broach the topic of sleeping in her own bed, she make it clear she does not love that idea. We can't handle both children not sleeping, so we figure better to leave her in the crib where she sleeps well and feels comfortable.

-Laughs and giggles. I love it when he laughs, it makes me feel like all is right in the world. 

--Sometimes he reminds me of a baby beagle puppy.

-Both he and Lydia like it when I put him in her bed after naptime for a couple of minutes. 

-He loves to kick his legs. Kick, kick, kick.

--He likes to stand up and support his weight on his legs. His head and legs are super strong and when you pull him up to his feet, he grins from ear to ear. 

-He's starting to sit up a little bit. He can't do it on his own even for a few seconds, but if you prop him or hold him - he does pretty well. It makes him look so big. 

-He loves Lydia and tracks her with his eyes almost non-stop. She loves him too and makes sure that he's always being taken care of. 

--We love this little boy so much.