This month has by far been THE BEST! We are having a blast with Little Lion We have graduated from the “newborn” stage, and have a super happy baby who is FULL of personality!


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Eating

LL still has 6-7 feedings a day, nursing and/or bottles of breastmilk. Still no need for formula, thankfully! When he has a bottle he eats between 4 and 5 oz. We have been using a shield since the beginning, and I was thrilled that we were able to nurse without it some this month! Unfortunately I picked the worst time to try to wean him off of it…I am fairly sure we were in the middle of a wonder week AND a growth spurt….so we gave up on that for the time being. Maybe next month!

Sleeping

Sleep is still going pretty well! We put LL down for the night in his crib right after his 6pm feeding, and he usually sleeps until about 2am, then eats and goes back to sleep until 6am. I would LOVE to drop that last night feeding, but I think it may be a while since he is still only 12 weeks adjusted age. I really wish we could do a dream feed and then sleep on through until morning, but the dream feed does nothing for LL. He still wakes up starving at 2am, so we don’t bother with it at all. We still have some naps on the go, and some naps in the swing, but we are moving toward sleeping in the crib almost all the time. He is still taking one short morning nap, one long morning nap, one long afternoon nap, and then a short nap in the late afternoon. Fingers crossed for no 4 month sleep regression!


Uh…Mom, I think I am too big for this….

We have officially dropped the swaddle (WAHOO!!), but he still uses his paci to fall asleep. This has not been a problem as of yet, so we are hoping it will stay that way.  I have also noticed that he sleeps much better with some weight on him, so we are using heavier weight sleep sacks, and a heavy blanket on his legs when he is falling asleep (I pull this out of the crib before we go to bed).

Health

Still no sickness! Hurray! His strawberry hemangiomas are still growing, but slowly. The one above his eye looks considerably smaller, but the rest are much more raised. The doctor said that they will likely grow until he is about a year old, and then they will stay the same while he grows bigger. Eventually they will fade away. They are all small, but they are very noticeable now.

Playing

LL is getting so strong! He can push himself up with his arms now, and is able to hold that position for much longer. He also can put his weight on his legs and “stand” just holding our fingers. He is able to bat at toys with a little more intention now, and is starting to grab for them. If I hand him a toy that is easy to hold, he is able to hang on to it a little easier than before. His movements are much smoother, and it looks like he is doing things on purpose.

He is (finally!) interested in the books we are reading to him, and loves to look at the pictures. He still loves to listen to music and dance around the living room. Mr. Lion is also helping him develop into quite the acrobat…he loves to fly all over the place like an airplane and also enjoys flipping upside down (and every other direction!). He giggles and laughs so much more now, and we can tell he is going to be a talker…he is quite the chatterbox!



Schedule

I give up on this. We may never have a “schedule,” and I become more and more convinced every day that I don’t really want one. Our “routine” works just fine. Eat, play, sleep, eat, play, sleep. It’s a good life, and much less stressful without the pressure of the clock. Bedtime and wake up time are consistent….but the rest of the day we go with the flow. I do wake him up from naps if it has been 4 hours since he has eaten.

Adventures

Another busy month! We went to visit both sets of grandparents, one set at the lake, the other in the mountains! We also did some more hiking…we may be holding off on any more of that until the fall. NC summers are no joke!


Wearing Mommy’s first life jacket, from 1984


Hanging out with Grandma


First trip to the park


Second hiking trip


Hiking with Mr. Lion’s parents


Snoozin’ in the outside swing – Thanks Papaw!