4.5 Months!

Started this post, well, about 2 months ago, then baby probably woke up...I'm just going to post it as-is, then on with the new!

Quick update...again during baby's naptime :)

Man, the time has flown by.  Even at this point, I'll look back at his newborn photos and think how much he's grown!  Baylor is a happy, sweet little 4.5-month old.  He's been at daycare for a couple months now, and seems to have fallen into a good routine there.  Sometimes he doesn't nap as much due to every baby being on a different schedule (and it can be hard to sleep when a fellow baby is wailing!).  But in general, he seems to do well, Miss Jaimee usually reports that he's smiley and gets held a lot, and we're very happy with our choice!

At his 4-month checkup, he was 13 lbs 1 oz and 25.5" long!  He's in a low percentile for weight but around 75th percentile for height.  Tall lanky boy :)  But we are seeing some little leg rolls still, which is always fun.

He's had a lot of developments already, of course, but lately...he loves to be walked around, and he keeps one hand on Mommy/Daddy and the other stretched out to see what he can reach for.  If he does grasp something, it almost always comes to the mouth for investigation :)  He's not a huge fan of tummy time but is getting better.  No rolling yet, although now that we're sleeping him in the crib sometimes (!) he'll roll from his back to his side while he's being wiggly (and resisting sleep!)

Two weeks ago we started him on rice cereal, as the doctor suggested sometime between 4-6 months and he seemed ready.  (At daycare, Miss Jaimee reported that he saw Carina eating her carrots and seemed super jealous!)  It's typical for the baby to start off with a reflex of pushing the food out with their tongue, but he took to it very quickly.  Now, it's like we can't feed him fast enough!  Whether I nurse him fully beforehand or leave him a little hungry, he always gets super excited when he's eating - a few cautious bites, then he'll start impatiently kicking his legs, even screaming, as I move the spoon away to scoop up the next bite.  I think this boy will definitely enjoy his foods!

He sleeps very well...since about 2 months I think, he's been going 6-8 hours at night.  We've had him in the Rock 'n' Play by our bed but recently started transitioning to the crib in his own room.  Sometimes his arms and legs go wild when he doesn't have the RNP to 'snuggle' him, but sometimes he's pretty chill and falls asleep nicely.

We've gotten great baby smiles for awhile now, and just recently some baby laughs!  It's always something new and different that Mommy or Daddy do to generate that sweet noise, so we get lots of practice acting totally silly.  He LOVES riding on Daddy's shoulders, and while it terrifies me, I have to just not think about it too much and appreciate that he's having so much fun ;)

Now that the weather's getting colder, I'm starting to worry about keeping him warm enough...I've definitely had those winter days when even fully bundled, I still get so cold just being out clearing off the car.  So I worry - will we be bundling baby enough?  It is nice to have remote start, I'm sure that will come in handy.  Just yesterday I had the first morning routine of being frozen out of my car...it seems like way too soon for that!  I'm basically in denial and have been wearing fleeces when it's really coat weather...it's like when I bust out the heavy coat, it's admitting that winter weather really is here.

Baylor has had lots of adventures already, from meeting all of his grandparents, and other family and friends, to going out to parties/game nights with us...we went to a Harvest Festival when Dad and Lucy were in town, and he had lots of fun looking (but no touching!) at all the animals in the petting zoo.  The piggy was his favorite.  The not-so-fun adventure was when he got a really high fever.  He was around 2.5 months...Mema and Poohbah happened to be in town, and they had left for the night and we were watching the Baylor game.  Baylor had been out of sorts meeting them - fussier than usual, not really able to settle down.  He was finally napping in the RNP in the living room with us, but still seemed unhappy.  I noticed he looked a little flushed - felt him, and he was burning up.  Used our forehead scan thermometer to read 103.5.  Eek!  Called the pediatrician right away.  Since it was after hours, we had to wait for the doctor on call to call back.  He chewed me out for not having a rectal thermometer (okay, sorry, but dude, tell me what to do with my sick child!) and had us go to the ER.

We got to the ER around 10:30 pm...didn't leave until 6:00 am.  What a horrendous night.  They first talked about doing chest xrays in case of pneumonia, etc., a urine test, and blood test.  They did the urine pretty quickly, ruled out UTI.  But drawing the blood...was such an ordeal.  The first nurse tried a hand and a foot, and couldn't get it (meanwhile of course he's upset about being poked).  We had to wait an hour for the other nurse to come try...she did the other hand and foot, and finally got something.  They told us it'd be an hour to run it at the lab to see if his white blood cell counts were good.  An hour later, the second nurse is coming in with the kit...starting to get ready to draw his blood again.  Then she says "Oh, did you hear?  His sample clotted at the lab, we need to get another one."  At this point, I was exhausted, had been nursing him on and off all night and holding him when not nursing just to comfort him, it broke my heart to see him hurting, so I excused myself for this round.  I went in the attached bathroom and just cried...Brad stepped up and held him for that blood draw.

While we waited on this sample, the nurse came and informed us that this part of the ER (I guess the children's part?) closed down at this time, so we needed to move him to a new room.  We walked him down several hallways, past sick adults on cots all over, to a new place.  Of course, the new nurse assigned to him had to get a fresh batch of vitals...meaning a rectal thermometer, just as he was starting to get some sleep.

Finally, finally, the blood sample came back and we were cleared to go.  He still had a fever, but with Tylenol it went down later that day.  We were all exhausted.  Mema and Poohbah met us at the doctor for the follow-up that day, it was really nice to have them there for support!