4 Month Stats

We just got back from Jack's 4 month well visit, and he passed with flying colors. A little on the tall side, a little on the slim side, but healthy as can be. Our pediatrician says he's probably just going to be on the tall and slim side and that the slight percentile drop in weight (50th to 40th) is nothing to be concerned about. He also predicts early walking. It will be interesting to see how early, but we're pretty sure it will be earlier than Lauren (approximately 15 months old). We are free to give him any baby foods we want (he already has cereal most days), but he doesn't really need them (nutrition-wise) until he's six months old, so for now it's just for fun, and to help with the reflux (they stay down better than milk). He got some immunizations (very sad) and then passed out in his car seat. All is well!

4 month stats:

Height: 26 inches (90th percentile)
Weight: 14 pounds (40th percentile)

Jack's Birth Announcement

A co-worker friend pointed out that I'd mentioned in Jack's 6 Week post that I took some photos for a special project but never shared what that was. Most of you received it in the mail, Jack's birth announcement. I knew that I wanted to do a superhero birth announcement ever since my BFF Cathy pointed out that pretty much any name with "Power" sounded like a superhero. Then, come to find out, Jack Power is, in fact, a Marvel comic book boy superhero. So there you go. Also, please note that we often refer to Jack as "Jack Jack," who we found out (we're out of the loop) is the baby from "The Incredibles." Interestingly, his name is Jack-Jack Parr, which is pretty close to Jack (Jack) Power. It was meant to be.

I realized that with a graphic design Art Director sister, I had some resources at my disposal, namely one of her artist co-workers. So the wonderfully talented Tait Jeter took the idea and ran, and came up with the above, Jack's birth announcement. He even created some cool address and return address labels for the accompanying orange envelopes. The cards were 5x7, and were technically post cards that I could have sent without envelopes, but I didn't want them to get messed up in transit, so I went the envelope route. I used a website called Winkflash to print them. They turned out so well, I love them.

Jack's New Life

I mean really. Jack is giving Lauren a run for her money in the eyes category, non? So Jack has some new ladies in his life, Ms. Brenda and Ms. Tina, in the infant room at Union Hill. Labor Day was our last day together before I went back to work, and after a week of work (well, a short week), I can say that I think we're both going to be OK. It definitely wasn't as hard as with Lauren, I think because with Lauren I had all kinds of doubts. Will she still love me? Will she resent me? Will she still know I'm her mom? I really thought all of these things. But she does, in fact, think of me as her mom. She does scream "Mommy!" and run to me when I pick her up. And while Jack isn't as vocal, I get an expression like this when I pick him up every night. Jack and Lauren are a sight for sore eyes every evening, for sure.

Jack is changing every day. He's getting a lot better about standing, holding his head up, etc. We bought the "GoPod" (above) with our November trip to St. Thomas in mind (we weren't quite ready to pack an ExerSaucer), and so far we're loving it. Jack doesn't stay in it for incredibly long periods of time, he's still working on his strength, but this little gem keeps him entertained for awhile, and you just strap in new toys to the loops. It collapses, kind of like those fabric camp chairs, so we can take it all over the house. I highly recommend.

Jack loves his binky, but he loves to suck on his two fingers, as above, even more. I kind of prefer the binky because you can take it away...I have a feeling he'll be doing the finger sucking a lot longer. Good thing it's cute.

Jack and Lauren are still pretty big fans of each other. If he cries, Lauren says "ooooohhh, Jacky, it's OK! You're just so little!" and other words of encouragement.

Jack is starting to eat some cereal at school, although I couldn't get him to eat any this weekend while we were at home. He still sleeps through the night, bedtime is at 8pm and then he usually wakes up around 7am or a little before. He plays in his bassinet when he wakes up, just cooing and looking around. I know I shouldn't say these things because new parents might be reading this...it's not fair, I know. But if it makes you feel any better, Lauren was the same way and then put us through hell while I was pregnant with "sleep regression" (that's such a nice way to say it, right? Not so nice in real life). I expect it may happen with Jack, too, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. For now they're on the same bedtime and wakeup schedule, and it's kind of the best thing in the world.

Jack still nurses or has a bottle around 6 times a day, with cereal once a day. Slowly we'll start introducing some other baby foods and the schedule will probably change a bit. Typically he has one long nap in the morning, and a shorter one in the afternoon. He's still happiest being held or carried around when he's awake, but when he wants to sleep put him down, he's not interested in you anymore. Like Lauren, he can almost always be soothed by walking around outside and looking at the trees, although it's not like he's fussy that often. He's still on the reflux medicine and it seems to be working...he can still spit up his own body weight, but it doesn't seem to bother him as much. We go in for a well visit this or next week, I'll share those stats with you when I get them.

All in all, we are making it work as a family of four. Weekends are go time, and exhausting, but we are so very lucky that the exhaustion (yes, you're still exhausted even when you have good sleepers) seems like only a minor inconvenience. We are so thankful for every day we have with these two little creatures.