Parker at 4 Months

Weight: 8lbs 12 oz and 22.25 inches long

Clothes: He's in 0-3 month clothes now.  The cloth diapers have really helped to fill out the pants as otherwise they are a bit big around the waist!

Diapers:  Size 1's although he's mostly in cloth.  I had some leaking issues but have bought some bamboo inserts and they seem to be working a lot better.

Feeding: I feed him on demand so during the day it's usually every 2-3 hours.  But he goes 8-10 at night.  Since he's so small I try to feed him as much as possible, which sometimes feels like all the time.

Sleep: Parker sleeps through the night like a champ.  I feed him around 10 at night and he doesn't get up until 7 or 8 the next morning, sometimes even later.  He usually goes right to sleep without fussing at night. The doctor suggested I wake him around 7 so that he's not going too long, so I'm going to try that out.

Likes: His mommy.  I can bring a smile to his face if he hears me from across the room, and not going to lie, I don't mind that.  He's starting to like bath time finally and is pretty content in the tub.  Being naked!  He loves diaper changes now!

Dislikes:  It's hard to say what he dislikes, he's such a happy little guy!

Milestones:   He rolled over once a few weeks ago and then tried really hard for awhile but wasn't able to do it again.

This past month: Last week mom and Parker both had colds.  Luckily it wasn't too bad for either of us.  When his nose started running he would get unhappy, but other than that he was his normal happy self with some extra coughing and a slight fever.  

He's a very smiley boy, but I get the camera out and he gets serious.  I think he smiles at my face, so if I put a camera in front of my face he stops!

He's at a stage where he is very content and can entertain himself easily.  I can finally leave him on his mat for a bit and he just smiles at the wall and talks away to himself.  It's nice for me because sometimes I can actually do stuff while he's happy.

I feel like he has been in our lives forever and yet the past 4 months have flown by!  He brightens our days and we just love him so much!

My First Mother's Day

Yesterday we celebrated my very first Mother's Day.  I feel so blessed to be a mom to my sweet little boy and am thankful every day that he's mine.  I would do anything for this little boy.

With a young one like Parker, Mother's Day isn't exactly a day that I can sit back and relax.  So my morning started out as it always does, feeding Parker and pumping.  This picture is real life guys.  Opening my gift with my pump sitting on the coffee table.  Ryan and Parker made me a delicious dessert (which we ate later) and gave me a Starbucks giftcard.

Then we went for breakfast.  We thought that by going early we would beat the rush.  We were wrong.  But the wait wasn't too long.  We had planned on going for a family walk after breakfast, but it was rainy, so we just went to Ashanti for coffee instead.  Their backroom overlooks the river and they had the windows open, it was beautiful.

The rest of the day we obviously had to see our own mothers too!  We went out to Ryan's parents in the afternoon and to my parents in the evening. 

 I had a great day celebrating mothers and being a mother.  Even if my little munchkin wasn't always the happiest.  This seems to be a new phase that he's going through and I'm hoping it's a short phase!

 

Some Days Are Challenging

Yesterday started out great.  But then it definitely went downhill.  

All was good until it was time to make dinner, and while in the middle of that Parker got very angry.  And for the rest of the night he was very angry.  

He ate well at 8 and I decided I needed a break and he was going to bed.  He usually eats again around 10 and I put him to bed then.  So far that's been working for us.  Maybe he's at the point where an earlier bed time is necessary, I don't know.  

So off to bed he went.  And then I kind of missed him.  I didn't miss the screaming Parker, I missed the sweet little boy that I'm used to of course.  And miraculously he actually went to bed and fell asleep at 8:30.  (He only slept til 4am so it wasn't all fun and games for mom!)

I know there will be good days, great days and days where he just tests my patience.  I don't like when I'm not able to comfort him.  It was frustrating for both of us.  But I'm lucky to have such a good natured baby most of the time.  Motherhood is about adapting.  Just when you think you have things figured out, their needs change.  But me and the P man are in this together and at least when times are trying I have this sweet little face to remind me that it's worth every second.

Life Lately

We've been pretty busy staring at this baby lately.  We don't really get up to anything exciting, but every day is exciting when you have a smiley baby!

This morning I heard him awake, so I went into his room and he saw me and just had huge smiles.  That makes every tough moment so worth it.  My baby recognizing me and being so happy to see me totally made my day.

Here's what else Parker has been up to:

Parker went out to Daddy's shop for the first time.  Dad can't wait until Parker is big enough to do activities with him!

 He hung out on the couch with Papa.  He's got his blackberry and the remote, what more could a baby need?  

I put him in his bumbo for the first time the other day.  He looks ridiculous because he's so small, but he has the neck strength to do it.  He does get kind of tired after awhile so I haven't left him in it for long.

And since he likes to be part of the party and doesn't want to be left alone, we put him in it at the table so he could be close while we were eating dinner.  He says "I don't know where that beer came from."  Poor baby, we just set stuff next to him for pictures because it looks funny and there's nothing he can do about it.

 The other day I set him down on his mat and went into the kitchen to wash a few dishes.  I was literally gone for about 2 minutes.  I came back and the little guy had rolled over.  He got stuck on his arm so he didn't look very comfortable.  So I've been trying to get him to do it again ever since.  He's gotten close a few times but hasn't been able to do it again yet.

Parker consistently sleeps through the night now.  Once in awhile he will wake up at 5 and want to eat, but then will go back to sleep for another 3 hours.  More often he will sleep from around 10-7.  I'm one happy and lucky mama!