Jonah: 4 Month Update

Weight: 16 lbs

Length: 25.5 inches

Milestones:

-New syllables, lots of babbling, squealing, talking

-Rolling over, tummy to back

-A couple short solo-sitting sessions

-More alert, interactive, sustained eye contact

-Drooling, spitting-up (Oh, so that’s why we have a huge drawer full of bibs and burp rags!)

-Slept 11 hours!  Twice!  

Woohoo!

Drool bubbles.

Spit up.  That's new.  And disgusting.

Favorite Activities:

-Exersaucer!  (Jake calls it the “command center”) After some deliberation, we decided to get Jonah a bouncer/exersaucer (actually, we borrowed one from some generous friends).  At first, he wasn’t sure about it.  He sort of sat in it reluctantly for a few minutes, then cried. But slowly over the last few weeks he’s decided he LOVES it!  Bouncing, laughing, studying the lights, the whole nine yards.  We get at least 20 minutes per stretch in this thing, which conveniently is about how long it takes for me to make dinner these days.

-Front porch swing: Jake discovered this one.  For some reason swinging on the front porch calms Jonah like almost nothing else (it now rivals the exercise ball). It’s nice sit out front and read in the late afternoons with a calm baby on your lap.  He’s fallen asleep like this several times.

-Walks in the stroller: This is also new. Instead of falling asleep in the stroller (or getting super fussy) Jonah now loves going on walks.  He looks around and gets exciting by the trees passing overhead. It’s great timing, since the weather is cooling off.  Lately we’ve been taking a walk around the neighborhood in the evening, which is a nice way to ward off the evening-fussy hour and get some quality husband-wife conversation in. 

-Bath time: Jonah’s decided that he loves bath-time now, too.  He’s discovered how to splash and he tries to lap up any errant water with his tongue, which is pretty hilarious.  The pre-bath diaper change and post-bath massage are favorites too.  He’s almost manic, flapping and kicking and squealing.  It’s pretty amusing. 

-Being chubby. 

Walks with mom: around the neighborhood and in the grocery store. 

Schedule:

Jonah wakes up around 6:30/7:00am and we start the day with some side-lying nursing in the guest bed (I love the side-lie nursing position, by the way; so comfy!).  After a diaper change and some morning tickles and giggles, Jonah gets some solo play time in his exersaucer or on his playmat while mom gets ready for the day.  On days where I’m home with him, the rest of the morning includes breakfast with dad, an errand and two naps (since they’re still pretty short he usually takes one around 8:30 and another one around 11am).  During naps I try to get some work done (usually emails or reading articles) and tidy up the house.  The afternoon usually includes a walk, some hammock time or some time in the front porch swing.  I try to read him a couple board books each day, but some days I’ll just read to him from whatever I’m reading on my tablet (Bible study, mommy blogs, etc.) We take another 1-2 afternoon naps and sometimes I’ll lie down and co-sleep with him for one of these.  He almost always sleeps longer when I nap with him.  Dad gets home around 5:30 and gets some Daddy-Son playtime while I start dinner.  Then we all eat together, either with Jonah in his Bumbo on the dining room table or us in the living room while he’s bouncing in the exersaucer.  After dinner is our evening walk, then around 7:00 we start the bedtime routine: bath, massage, baby butt straw, mobile, swaddle, nurse, bed. He’s asleep by 7:45pm. Jake and I get some alone time and then we go to bed between 9-10pm.  Lately Jonah’s been sleeping fairly well until about 4/5am, which is when I go in and nurse him and try to get him back to sleep in the crib; although usually I’m lazy and we just co-sleep in the guest bed until wakeup time. 

Swaddled up for a long afternoon slumber.

Jonah's favorite buddy: Glo-B!

Things I want to remember:

Parker and Hannah’s wedding weekend.  We had such a great time in Minneapolis celebrating my brother Parker’s wedding to his gorgeous bride, Hannah! Seriously, they were b-e-a-utiful and the wedding was amazing.  It was Jonah’s first time meeting a lot of family, and we had such a fun time celebrating all together.  I love my family so much!  And I forget how much fun we have hanging out together.  Because Jonah slept in a crib next to us in the hotel, we heard his every peep and squawk (he’s a loud sleeper) and we didn’t sleep so well.  But thank goodness Omi and Opa were next door and kindly took the little guy in the mornings! And our last night there during the reception, Jonah fell asleep in the carseat, so we just rolled the stroller into the bathroom and let him sleep there.  We all slept much better with a bathroom wall between us.

Ready for the big day!

Jonah with his Aunt Caty and Uncle Ian

Meeting Uncle Parker and Aunt Hannah!

Groom, groomsmen and honorary groomsbaby. 

-Being a mom has made me into a shameless performance artist.  Seriously, everyday I make up a new song to sing while we go about our day, which results in some fairly ridiculous songs.  On the Jonah Top 40 these days are:

 “Walking carefully, down the stairs”

“Diaper Change Part 1: That sounded mighty”

“Diaper Change Part 2: Why did mommy wear white pants today?”

“Mommy is so tired, why aren’t you?”

“You pooped a little in your sleep last night”

Katy Perry is inquiring about the rights to that last one.