Jonah at 4 Months

* I wrote this "on time," but it's almost a month late because it lacked pictures. It's almost time for month 5's update and I'm just publishing month 4. Wow--I may never catch back up!*

Dearest Jonah,

Somewhere in-between nursing you every 2 hours and juggling life with 3 kids, you outgrew your tiny newborn stage. I already miss your sweet snuggles on my chest and your ability to sleep wherever you were laid!

Life is finally getting into a good, "normal" feeling routine. I guess I felt that way around 3 months, and it's gotten better since then. You are on a wake/nap schedule that's pretty frequent and predictable. You eat every 3 hours in the day, and you have a fairly consistent bedtime. That makes life a little simpler to juggle!

At around 3 months you were getting up in the morning and staying awake about 45 minutes before you were ready to take the first nap. Now you're awake a good hour and a half before you're ready to go down. Your naps are all over the place. You may nap 45 minutes (more the norm) or 3-4 hours (very rare, but thankful for them!). However, at night you're ready to go to sleep around 6-7. Even though that's early and makes Wednesday nights (and any other night we wanna go out) more difficult, it works well because we have time to play with Drew and Hannah for a few hours, and I can get work done around the house before my body lifelessly crashes on the couch.

Just before you turned 3 months old, I transitioned you into your bed at night. You were eating about twice a night, and I was determined to get some good sleep (albeit, interrupted) since we couldn't sleep the next morning away with two other littles ones needing me. You did really well. Toward the end of August, you slept through the night twice, going 10 hours. Since then you've had a few nights of eating once a night and lots of nights of eating twice a night. (I was dreamfeeding you at midnight before I went to sleep and only waking once in the night. Woohoo!) However, you just hit that 4 month crazy developmental/growth spurt/mental leap period and you're waking up every 3 hours at night. BOO! Mama is tired, but I'm hoping it will be over in a couple of weeks.

Speaking of growth, at your 3 month appointment your stats were: 15 lbs, 8.4 oz, 25" long, and 16 3/4" head circumference. You dropped to the 90th percentile for weight and length and were very healthy. You got your first 2 vaccinations and didn't even cry. The laryngomalacia seems to be flaring up your breathing noises some (which I read was normal), but it seems to be no concern. Obviously it is not affecting your weight gain. ;) At 3 months and still at 4 months, you are in a size 3 diaper and size 6-month clothes. You are drooling EVERYWHERE and sport a bib except when you sleep.

Compared to your siblings (notably,  your brother), you aren't nearly as active. Sometimes you will get excited when we show you a new toy and you'll stiffen your legs and arms and then start kicking/punching, but for the most part you are C.H.I.L.L. You're so chill that it's difficult to make you smile for pictures, hence lots of pictures of you just staring at me like, "Can we get this over with so you quit acting all crazy up in my face?"

Exhibit A

Exhibit B. I could go all the way to Z. He's a tough one.

You are working on grabbing toys and bringing them to your mouth. You're interested in chewing your hands, my hands, and whatever toy you can manage to get between your gums.

With this new developmental stage this past week, we've seen you interested more in patterns on shirts, decor around the house, grabbing toys/items, and just generally becoming more interested in your surroundings. However, with all these new-found discoveries comes a new demeanor sometimes. You aren't as content for as long in your bouncer, and you want to be held more and entertained some. It's made it slightly more work for me, but at this point, it's no stressor. I'm learning to just "go with the flow" and "not sweat the small stuff." This too shall pass. (Maybe I can throw in one more cliche?) I better stop while I'm ahead. ;)

You love: baths, diaper changes, kisses on your ribs/belly, Drew and Hannah (but Drew is the one you're smitten over), nursing, your passy, and the crunchy book.

You're not-so-crazy about: Car rides. You tolerate them, but it's not your favorite. (Sidenote: today we swapped you to the bigger carseat. You did better in it!)

"Jonah-bug," we sure do love you. You are the center of our little family right now, and we love doting on you. You're the perfect fit for us and I'm SO thankful God chose to bless us with your sweet little personality. I often wonder what you're going to be like in 1 year, 3 years, 5 years. No doubt, you'll be an amazing boy and young man. I love you to the moon and back!

Mommy