Sullivan: 4 Months

Dear Sullivan,

On June 21st you turned 4 months old! You get more fun every single day and the changes in you this past month continue to astound your daddy and me.  One of the biggest changes is increase in hands free time I have now. You no longer demand to be held every minute of the day, and enjoy watching mommy in the kitchen from your vibrating chair, although you still have your limits for how long you will let me set you down for! I picked up a little wooden activity gym for you from IKEA and I am honestly surprised at how much fun you have under that thing. While you don't reach up to grab the parts hanging down all that much, you love to swing your legs up and down and knock them about that way. It only takes minutes for you to completely rotate yourself around on the floor at which point your head and legs get stuck against the gym. It's pretty funny! I often eat my lunch on the floor next to you while you kick and squeal away. You love to roll from side to side, but haven't figured out how to roll completely over yet as your little arm gets in the way.

 

Last month you wanted to be held facing out, but this month you want to be held facing in as you can now hold yourself up and look over our shoulders, all while also keeping an eye on who's holding you. When daddy or someone else is holding you, you are always looking around the room for mommy, making sure I'm in sight. It's an indescribable feeling knowing that I am your everything. It fills me with so much love and joy and sometimes it makes me hug you a little too tightly and you are sure to squeal to let me know this! You've started making strange with Deda this month, and burst into tears when you see him. It must be his deep accent. I was feeling badly about this, but Deda just thinks it's hilarious.

We started our new mom's group at the beginning of June and we go once a week and you love to look at all the other babies. It will be neat to see which of the babies you become friends with down the road.   I was so nervous for the first class, worried that you'd be the only baby fussing and wanting to eat. Silly me, all the babies want to nurse within the first half hour of the class!

Sully, you are so much easier to run errands with now and I haven't put you in a wrap or carrier in awhile. You love to look around in the grocery store, taking in all the colours and lights on the ceiling and it's no longer a mad dash in and out to get whatever's on my list. You don't care for clothes shopping much though, and that's because the stroller or cart isn't moving fast enough for you. I try to keep those trips to a minimum right now. You no longer cry as soon as we hit a red light while in the car and you enjoy just staring quietly out the windows while we drive around. If you fall asleep, it's usually a few minutes from arriving home, in which case I will drive around to give you an extra 10-20 minutes of nap time as you always wake up as soon as I pull into the garage.

A few days shy of turning 4 months, you weighed in at 13 pounds and 12 ounces and were 25 inches long. You've really filled out this past month, most noticeably in your face and legs. You are still nursing like a champ, although you are much quicker about things now. You will take a bottle of expressed milk if needed (like when Mommy goes out), but you aren't as keen on it as you used to be and it takes several tries before you latch. You've graduated to size 2 diapers and are fitting all your 0-3 month clothes well. Some brands you've moved up to the 3-6 month sizes, mostly just for sleepers as you're too long for the smaller ones. You love when your sleeper comes off in the morning and you're just in your diaper. That's when your little legs start kicking the most. Luckily with this hot weather it's been easy to give you lots of play time in just your diaper.

Sully, you finally laughed your first real laugh this past month and it's one of the best sounds I've ever heard. I can usually get a good laugh out of you if I do squats while holding you. You're definitely much more vocal now, letting out happy shrieks and squeals all the time. It's so easy to make you smile and you have the cutest grin ever. You also love sticking your tongue out and will often mimic daddy when he sticks his tongue out at you. I think you are starting to teethe as you drooling more than normal and you always have your fingers and hands in your mouth. You'll take a soother, but only when you're tired and even then it gets spit out as soon as your fast asleep. You're not that interested in chewing on toys, preferring your hands or a blankie to suck on.

I am still sharing my bed with you, but you go down earlier than I do, usually around 9 or 9:30 p.m. I no longer swaddle you as you seem to prefer to be free when sleeping. Blankets are also out as you kick them off as soon as I place one on you. You've slept through the night once so far, but I'm pretty sure that was my worst night of sleeping! We've got the side nursing thing down pat, so it makes for very easy night feedings. We are both lazy risers and often stay in bed in the mornings until 10 a.m. if we don't have any plans that day. I love our morning snuggles and "conversations". There's nothing better than waking up to a happy, babbling baby. Napping on the other hand, is something we're still working on.

Sully, your daddy and I love you so much and still marvel daily at the fact that we made you - this amazing little being - so adorable, so happy, so perfect.

Love you to the moon and back,

Your Mommy, xoxo