4 Months

Jacob has been so much fun this month! It's like he just took off with his learning! I've loved it so much. 4 months old means another set of vaccinations. We have all been a little bit sick so I wondered if they would even want him to get them. But after a look over they said he was well enough to get them. All of the nurses kept commenting on how well behaved of a baby Jacob was as well as how cute he is. One even said that when she started having kids she hoped they would be like Jacob. Now I'll take that as a compliment because I know she sees a LOT of babies! Jacob took his shots like a champ! He did so good! He just cried for a few seconds right when they gave them to him, but then as soon as I picked him up again he was fine. The next day or two he was a little more fussy then normal but all in all was great! As for his weight, the doctors aren't thinking he's doing as well now. He weighed 14 lbs dropping him to the 25th percentile. And his height was 23" (again!). But for like the third time in a row I don't feel like the nurses have done a very good job at measuring him. Last time

ALMOST Jacob's pouty lip face...

Scott was changing his diaper when they measured him and his legs were hanging off the edge of the table so they just put a mark somewhere down below as a estimation. And this time the nurse just held the measuring tape up to him while he was on the scale getting weighed and just eyeballed it! So the doctor is freaking out because his height is in the 5th percentile and he doesn't think Jacob has grown in 3 months! Well I know he has because I measured him myself when I got home and he was 24 3/4" tall. Plus he is growing out of his clothes so I know he is getting taller. Anyways, enough about the nurse rant. So now they want us to come in at 5 months to do a height and weight check and in the mean time this month I'm supposed to be making sure he is eating 4-6 ounces every 4 hours which means pumping because it's hard to tell how much he is eating when your nursing. It's a huge pain and I haven't really been doing it to be honest. I'm not nearly as worried as I feel the doctor is. Instead I've just tried to make sure Jacob is actually finishing the milk on one breast and getting the hind-milk before I switch him over to the other. We'll see how it goes. The doctor says I might have to start supplementing if I can't get his weight up, but I don't know if I will. My mom's kids were all like this. Starting in the 75th percentile then dropping to the 10th-25th percentile within the next few months after birth. It just runs in the family to have small babies and it's ok!

So although Jacob's weight and height might be dwindling, his learning development is not! I've loved how much more alert Jacob is. Instead of me having to do all the work in trying to get Jacob's attention, now it's him trying to get me to give him attention! It is so fun when he seeks me out. And I love when he sees me a huge grin breaks out on his face! Jacob is a smiler for sure! He smiles at everyone! He also loves watching me do things around the house and watching Cricket play. In fact, Cricket, not me or Scott, was the first (and only) one to get Jacob to giggle. And that giggle was probably the cutest thing I've ever heard in my whole life. I don't know what it is about a baby laughing, but it's like music to my ears. Especially when it's your own! I was playing tug of war with Cricket next to Jacob and Cricket was growling. I wasn't even really paying any attention to Jacob at all. Jacob was watching us play when all of the sudden he giggled! So of course I went to grab the camera so I could record it and was very happy when I got him to giggle again!

He hasn't laughed again since then. I've tried doing everything! He smiles a lot! But I just can't get him to break into a laugh. I'm sure it will happen. I just can't wait because I love the sound so much! Another thing Jacob has started to do is yell. Or talk very very loudly. It almost seems like he's talking to you, but something isn't right. He's just on the verge of being upset or something. It's pretty funny, but can also get very very loud.

He definitely lets you know if something isn't right, or if he is upset about something. That is when he is the MOST vocal. Jacob can also now put all of his weight on his own two feet and he really likes to stand on them. He has also started grabbing toys and putting them in his mouth, turning his head toward sound and learning how to anticipate things. We've started playing little anticipation games with him and he loves them! We've stopped swaddling him at night because he always breaks out of them and it just seemed like he hated when I would pin his arms down to his side. So I just decided to stop. I was worried because I thought it might make his sleep worse, but so far I don't feel like it's affected his sleeping. So that makes me happy! Jacob also rolled over from his back to his tummy for the first time! He doesn't do it very consistently yet, but he is getting there!

Jacob's Likes this month:

-Anticipation games

-Watching Cricket

Dislikes:

-Scott's beardy face when he kisses Jacob.

-Being swaddled

I feel like Jacob's sleeping patterns have been all over the place recently. It's been kind of frustrating sometimes because I just want to sleep! He's been getting up like 4 times a night when he used to just get up only twice a night! I'm not sure what's going on but I'm ready for it to stop! I'm not really a huge fan of the cry it out method, not that I care if someone is, I just don't think I'm built for it. We tried it out a few nights in a row and only once was I able to actually let him cry it out. I know if your going to do it then you have to be 

consistent and I obviously was not able to be. So I am not doing it anymore. I might try again when he's older, I just feel like he is still so young. And what if something was really the matter, or he starving and I just don't know it! So I will just continue to get up with him. :) His napping schedule is getting a little better I feel like. For the past couple months he'd take like 5, 45 min naps a day. Now he takes 3 or 4 with 2 or 3 short naps and one long one which I feel is working a lot better. During the day I feed him every 3-4 hours. I'm thinking of starting to add some rice cereal into his diet soon. So I will see how that goes.

Random facts about Jacob:

- Hair: For the past few months we have been getting more and more comments about how red Jacob's hair looks! I don't know if it's just his baby hair and it will change, or if we are going to have a red headed child! You can mostly see a red tint to his hair when he's in the sun. It will be interesting to see what it looks like.

-Eyes: Jacob's eyes are still gray. It's funny because when he is around a kid his same age that is definitely going to have blue eyes, his eyes look like they are going to be brown. But when he around a kid that's definitely going to have brown eyes they look like they are going to be blue.

- Jacob is currently wearing size 3 month clothes.

All in all I just love watching Jacob grow and develop every month. It's so fun! Each month just keeps getting more and more fun as he learns new things and interacts more. We sure love him and glad he's apart of our family!