Gus is 4 Months!

Gus is four months old! All in all, he is a very happy baby and very laid back. He likes to be an observer and take everything in. He loves his sister and likes to play on the floor with her. Anytime he hears her voice, he starts looking around for her. He also loves it when she holds him. He will just calmly lay in her arms for as long as she wants to hold him, so sweet! Other things he likes include tummy time for the most part, talking - he is very vocal and making lots of cooing sounds and playing with toys. He also loves to blow raspberries - so silly! He can grab his little boat blankie and get it into his mouth. He also loves Sophie. He can grab her and get her into his mouth. The other day I took her away because I was going to pick him up and he started fussing - he knows what he wants! Thats another thing he loves - chewing on his hands. He does it all the time and it helps him fall asleep. He also still really loves his baths. Now that the weather is getting warm and humid, his hair is getting curlier and a bit unmanageable! His eyes are still blue, so I think they will turn out to be more like Dada's - greenish-hazel.

One area we're struggling with a bit is sleep. He's definitely not as good of a sleeper as Audrey was. By this time, she was sleeping 12 hours straight! With Gus, we're lucky to get a 4 hour stretch at night, which means he's typically getting up twice per night. He has done a few 6 hour stretches, but that's not the norm right now. A few weeks ago, he started only taking 30 minute naps during the day. He was only getting about 10 hours of sleep in total - definitely not enough! So we're been working on teaching him how to fall asleep on his own and that has helped. We can now lay him down awake and he will fall asleep without being rocked! In the last few weeks his naps have slowly gotten longer, typically 45 minutes to 1 hour and a few times he has slept for 2.5 hours!  We're also working on an earlier bed time. As much as I try to get him down early, he typically decides when he goes to sleep. He's a stubborn little guy! I try to get him down about 8:00, but sometimes he fights it until about 10:00. He's typically waking up around 6:30 or 7:00, which is good since that is about when Audrey wakes up. He's still not on a schedule day to day, he just sleeps and eats when he's ready. Hope to get him on a schedule before he starts at day care in August.

I have about a month and a half left of maternity leave, so I'm trying to enjoy the rest of it. I'm still not even wanting to think about going back. Taking him to school will be hard, but I'm glad that we like the place he will go and that sister will be there with him. I think they let her visit him during the day, so that will make him happy.

We went to the doctor for his four month check up and they said he looks great! Official stats from the doctor's visit:
Weight: 12 lbs (5%)
Length: 24.6" (38%)
Head: 16.5" (36)

He had a big growth spurt in his length and has grown five inches since he was born! He still remains on the skinny side. The doctor said he might just be tall and thin like his dad. But she also said since he is still so small, he probably needs to be getting up in the middle of the night to eat. Not the news we were hoping for! So guess we'll have to wait on sleep training a bit longer. Hopefully he will start sleeping more at night by the time I go back to work!

We've still been going to physical therapy for his torticollis. He is making progress but is still a bit behind where he should be with head control. The physical therapist and our doctor thinks he will get there, it will just take a little more time and effort.

When he got his shots at his appointment, he was of course very mad as usual. Once I held him though, he calmed down quickly, but turned to give the nurse a very nasty look. She said she'd never seen a four month old give her the stink eye like that. He was ticked! Lots of personality shining through already. He has brought so much joy to our family, we're lucky to have him!