Month 4

Thursday was Sean’s four-month birthday and his 4-month pediatric appointment. He officially weighs 15 lbs 4 oz and is 25.5 inches long. As usual, everyone thought he was super cute and he entertained with smiles, laughter, and lots of chatter.

Sorry for the recent pause in blogging. Things have been a bit hectic here. Two weekends ago we did, in fact, do some professional photos with a friend of mine. Just got the photos this week and they are splendid. We had a very nice Mothers Day, with Sean gifting me a lovely night’s sleep and Ben cooking me a special breakfast and a special dinner.

Then on the Monday after Mothers Day Sean came down with a nasty stomach bug, with fever and throwing up and diarrhea — the whole nine yards. The little guy braved it well, though he was clearly perplexed about why he felt so terrible. The illness was rough on the parents, too. I had to breastfeed him only a little bit at a time so he wouldn’t throw up and become (more) dehydrated. So every half-hour that he was awake, I’d put him on the breast for about a minute or two and then pull him off to screaming protest. I was in tears; Ben would try to soothe the screaming boy for a half-hour until the next mini-feeding. Eventually he’d fall asleep for a couple hours. Repeat. It was rather awful.

Wednesday was the last day of serious illness and by Thursday we had some smiles and playfulness, though it was clear he was still rather tired. I thought, ‘whew! we’re through it,’ but what no one told me was that illnesses mess up everything. So his sleep schedule was all off and we literally couldn’t put him down in his crib without him screaming. Breastfeeding was all wonky; he was super hungry, but was fussy and flipped out if he came off the breast at all — ever. He started clamping down at the end of feeding, presumably so the nipple wouldn’t go away. So the next week or so was additionally exhausting trying to get the sleeping and feeding back to where they were pre-illness.

On top of the exhaustion and lack of sleep, Ben lost a precious lab day and I lost a field-season prep day caring for Sean when he was sick, so we’ve working to catch up on that front. And our two-day-a-week nanny’s last day is next week, so we’re working to find a replacement for her. Eek!

That’s what’s been up here. Needless to say, we haven’t taken much in the way of pictures or videos the past couple weeks. I’ll post some of the professional photos soon(ish) — maybe this weekend if I have a chance.

Also new in the past couple weeks: Increased talking. And grabbing things. So many new skills!

Batting at things. Just a couple weeks ago, he started reaching out and gingerly touching his Sleep Sheep and my hands and clothes, fascinated by the fact that what he was seeing somehow weirdly coincided with a feeling of touch. Now he gets real enjoyment from his bouncer, which changes sounds when he hits the hanging plastic animals:

Sean’s been developing new skills at a rapid pace this past week and a half. He’s managed to get one fist to his mouth, instead of having to control it hand with the other:

Fist in mouth

Hand in mouth (vertical pose)

And, he’s almost there with the neck strength and can start to sit facing forward in the carrier (which makes him very happy, as he likes to see what’s going on in the world).

Facing front

We’ve come a long way. Sean absolutely hated his first several baths. And now they’re so much fun! (We’ll have to wait until hot summer for good pictures of the bath itself, as our bathroom gets all steamy when we heat it up and the pictures come out foggy…) But drying off after bath is fun, too. Sean is quite interactive now and enjoys games like peek-a-boo and throwing-off-the-towel…

Throwing-off-the-towel game:

There’s been a delay in the pictures we were going to have taken this weekend. They’ll happen next week instead. Sorry ’bout that.

There’s been a recent real interest in the mobile, which can captivate Sean for minutes at a time.

On Sean’s 3-month birthday, I got an unofficial weight (on our bathroom scale) and height/length (with a tape measure).

He is currently about 14.4 pounds, and 25 inches.