Garrett - 4 Months

Diapers

Still in size 2’s for now.  We have a TON of 2’s from our diaper showers so I’m hoping he stays in them for a while!  Diaper showers are the bomb folks.  We had a really big one with Carter and with Garrett, I told our friends that wanted to host showers that all we wanted was diapers.  We haven’t spent a dime on diapers for Garrett yet and still have about 200-300 size 2’s left along with several boxes of 3’s, so it will be a while before I have to spend money on diapers!!  Carter stayed in size 2’s until he was 7 months old.  I can tell you right now that Garrett will NOT stay in them for that long!

 

Shoe Size

He doesn’t wear shoes yet so I have no idea!

 

Clothes

We are in a weird transition with Garrett’s clothes.  If I were to go out and buy him new clothes, he’d be 3 months.  But if he’s wearing the clothes Carter wore that got passed down to him, he’s closer to 6 months.  It’s because of how many times Carter’s clothes have been washed and dried.  Carter’s clothes have shrunk a lot since he’s been in them.  But regardless, he’s technically wearing 3 month clothes if they were bought new.

 

Feeding

Garrett is still doing great on feeding!  He still eats about every 3 hours during the day.  He could go 4 if I wanted him to, but before I stretch out his feedings that way, I want him to drop the dreamfeed all together, which we’ve pretty much accomplished at the end of February.  Last month, he was getting fed around 7:30 and then to bed at 8:30 and Justin would wake him up at 10:30 for a dreamfeed to tank him up to sleep through the night.  Now that he’s sleeping through the night consistently, we’ve begun to push that feeding back.  As of now, we feed him around 8-8:30pm (depending on when his day begins and how his schedule goes) and put him down for the night between 9-9:15pm.  Most mornings I have to wake him up to eat around 8:30am.  We will steadily back up the night feeding (or the ounces at the feeding) from 8:30 until we just feed him at 7:30 and then he goes down for the night with no extra food.  It’s likely that this adjustment will be made within the next couple of weeks.  I also made my third deposit at the milk bank.  I am now up to 803 ounces donated for preemies.  I’m hoping that by the end of the month I will break the 1,000 ounce mark!

Now that he’s hit the 4 month mark, the pediatrician gave me the ok to start solids, however I am going to wait.  I waited with Carter until he was 6 months because he thrived off of just breastmilk and Garrett’s thriving even more than he did!  Once Garrett turns 6 months old, I will start him on oatmeal cereal for a couple of weeks before beginning the awesome, yet time-consuming, process of making his baby food from real foods.  With Carter we started with orange and yellow foods and we will do the same with Garrett.  We will begin with sweet potatoes, carrots and squash and once he’s ok with those, we’ll move on to fruits and then to the green veggies.  I can’t believe I’m already talking about this with Garrett.   I feel like I just gave birth to this sweet boy.  I’m not ready for him to be eating solids :(

 

Schedule

This kid is awesome.  He does great off of his 3 hour schedule (feed, waketime for an hour or a little more, and then nap for 1.5-2 hours) but also does great if he has to be off the schedule.  We went to our church Family Life Retreat this month at Camp Sumatanga and he only had one nap that was 2 hours in his pack-n-play, the remainder naps were 10 minutes here, 15 minutes there and it was either being held by someone or in his carseat.  He didn’t fuss even once while we were there.  He is definitely my low maintenance baby!!!

 

Sleep

You can see the things I have written above, but his naps are roughly 1.5-2 hours (he takes 4 naps a day) and his nighttime sleep is anywhere from 10-12 hours right now.  What we struggled with this month was switching to the convertible woombie with his arms out.  He is so dang close to rolling from back to front and I fear he is going to do it in the middle of the night and won’t be able to breathe, so I transitioned him to having his arms out of the woombie.  Right when I started, it took him a bit longer to fall asleep than normal and it was a 50/50 shot on whether he slept without needing me to put in a pacifier at some point during the nap to soothe him.  At the end of this month, I’m proud to say that all of his naps are with his arms out and he’s doing great (no pacifier needed).  He wakes up from some naps a little early, but nothing that throws off his schedule to an extremity.   I’ve even watched him wakeup about halfway through the nap and not cry at all but just look around the room until he falls asleep again.  YAY!   We also got him to sleep overnight with his arms out of the woombie just days before turning 4 months old.  I am not kidding when I say that this kid is literally going to roll over any second so we just went ahead and took his arms out of the woombie for everything.  When we put him on the floor on his back, this is what he ends up doing…

He gets so frustrated with himself y’all.  He just can’t figure out what to do with that bottom arm and it REALLY pisses him off!  Justin considers this rolling over since he’s technically on his stomach, but I don’t consider it successfully rolling over until he figures out how to get that arm out from underneath him.

Waketime

We do a variety of things at waketime!  I’m trying to use Baby Einstein more and more.  He’s starting to like it a little more than he used to.  He prefers the Animals Around Me DVD.  I want him to like it because I really think that’s where Carter’s base knowledge came from.  He knew things at such a young age that most kids didn’t and I think it’s from watching those DVDs so I’m trying to get him to like them.  He’s also really started to reach for things these days.  When he’s on a mat on the floor with things hanging above his head, he frequently tries to grab them and put them in his mouth.  We’ve also been working on sitting up by being in the bumbo seat or by me holding him in the sitting up position. 

 

Mother’s Day Out

Garrett will start school in June for the summer program for Mother’s Day Out.  Carter will also be going to the preschool summer school.  It will be Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 9-1pm.  Maybe I will actually be able to get things done with them both gone!  Though I must say, I will be very sad to let Garrett go.  He’s just such an angel baby and I love being around him.  That’s not to say I don’t love being around Carter…it’s just that a three year old and four month old are totally different.  Carter always wants me to play with him and with Garrett, he will happily sit in a chair while I vacuum and won’t think anything of it.  I get a lot more done with just Garrett around!

 

**It appears we have us a side sleeper.  Carter, once he was able to roll from his back to his tummy, became a huge tummy sleeper.  I wonder if Garrett will be the same once he rolls to his tummy or if he will continue to choose to sleep on his side.  It’s how he sleeps about 85% of the time.**  

Justin’s Travel

Justin only went out of town once in February so it’s been nice having him home!  He will be out 2 weeks in March and 2 weeks in April.  I’m now used to this new life of 2 kids with a husband that travels a lot and it’s really not bad at all.  It helps that Carter loves his brother and is always helping me around the house.

**This was Garrett’s first snow.  It was barely a dusting, but regardless, it was the first time he’s seen snow.**

Statistics

The 4 month appointment was on March 2nd.  He weighed 16lbs, 7oz which put him in the 70th percentile.  This was less than his 2 month appointment at which time he was in the 75th percentile.  On top of that, the kid ate about 7oz right before we went to the appointment so I think he is likely a little less than 70th.  Height was 24 3/4 inches which I think is wrong.  I watched the nurse measure him and I don’t think she did it accurately.  That puts him in the 30th percentile for height when he was in the 60th at his 2 month appointment.  His noggin is still in the 90th percentile at 17 inches. 

Other things mentioned at the appointment include a mild version of eczema.  Justin and I are lucky to have a pediatrician in our Sunday school class so I didn’t have to pay a co-pay to be told what to do about it.  We started using a 1% hydrocortisone cream on the spots where he had some issues and then used aquaphor on his little forehead that had some dry skin issues.  All of them cleared right up almost immediately.  Our pediatrician said that was exactly what he would have told me to do too.  The doc seemed very impressed that Garrett was in the 70th% of weight off of just breastmilk (with one supplement of formula per day).  He told us to keep doing the formula because it has a great source of iron in it.  He encouraged me to wait until 6 months for solids, but he knew I waited with Carter so I assume he knew I would wait with Garrett too.  He also felt his bottom gums and told me what I already knew, that we would be seeing some pearly whites soon.  Garrett is starting to be a little fussy (of course fussy for Garrett is totally different than fussy for other babies, particularly Carter!) so I’ve been giving him some teething tablets but I am about to start giving him some orajel and buy him a teething ring.  Carter got his bottom teeth at 5 months and that was very early, but it’s looking like Garrett will also be an early teether as well. 

 

Abilities

He’s doing spectacular at tummy time!  He can hold his head up for super long periods of time.  He’s also figured out how to suck his fingers and he does it ALL THE TIME.  He may end up being a thumb sucker like his brother!  At the doctor appointment, the pediatrician felt around his mouth and agreed with me that he’s definitely teething and that we’ll likely see some pearly whites in the next couple of weeks.  He’s already rolled from tummy to back, but I can tell he’s working on rolling from back to tummy.  When I put him on his tummy, he frequently rolls onto his side and kicks his top leg over his body to help him, but he just can’t get that bottom arm to move so the he can roll to his tummy, so he ends up falling back on his back.  This is what Carter did a lot before he finally started rolling over.  I think he was almost 4 months when he rolled from back to tummy, but he did it very early.  Our pediatrician told us that this particular move doesn’t happen until roughly 6 months, so Carter was WAY ahead of the game. **Update – When I went to get Garrett from his crib on the morning of March 4, he was on his tummy with both hands in front of him.  So he can now officially rollover both ways!!!**

 

Teething

See above what the pediatrician said about him teething.  Any time now we should be seeing those bottom two teeth pop out.  The drool is INSANE!!!!

 

Discipline

Again, definitely not there yet!

 

Other Notable Things

Likes

• Sleeping
• Car rides –though he’s beginning to be able to stay awake through car rides instead of falling asleep the second we are out of the driveway.
• Watching brother and the dog walk around and do things
• Being held by momma (he prefers to be held upwards so he can look over your shoulder.  He’s not a fan of being held like a baby).
• Lights and ceiling fans-this probably won’t change for a while
• Seeing himself in a mirror
• When you shake his chest back and forth.  It’s when he laughs!  He also laughs when you rub underneath his chin (of course you have to move around that double chin to get to it!!)
• When I roll my tongue-it makes him laugh hysterically!
• Sucking on his fingers

**This was at Garrett’s baptism that was on March 1, 2015.  I will post a whole separate blog about this.**

Dislikes

• When he gets to the point of sheer frustration because he can’t figure out what to do with that bottom arm when trying to rollover.
• Teething
• That’s about it….I got one happy baby y’all!!!