Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Four Months Old!

Parker, you are now four months old (as of June 25th, of course :)! Mommy is a little late doing this post, but that's okay. Here is what's going on this month:
  • You are wearing a size Three diaper and size Six Months clothes. You are also starting to wear some Nine Months clothes. You are SUCH a big boy!
  • You still really, really love to suck on your hands. You also really love to suck on Sophie, your giraffe, or your burp cloth, or really anything else you can find to shove in your mouth.
  • On June 15th, you rolled over from your stomach to your back for the first time on the floor! You rolled over once before that on the couch, but we have decided not to count that as real rolling, only "assisted rolling." Since you started rolling, we can't stop you! You lay on your playmat and just roll all over. Usually when you roll over, you spit up and end up with your face and arms covered in it. You bunch up your legs and look like you want to start crawling...Mommy is not ready for that!
  • You like to reach for and grab things. You'll lay on your play mat and reach for all the dangling toys. If we lay toys on the floor next to you, you'll roll over to try to get to them.
  • You started "for real" laughing in the same week as the rolling over. It is SO sweet and cute, and it just melts our hearts to hear it! You laugh the most at your niece and nephew doing silly dances and voices, and you also like to laugh at your Daddy when he gets sugar from your neck.
  • We stopped swaddling you on June 16th. For the first few nights, we had you sleep in a "sleep sack" (wearable blanket), but since our AC is messed up, we've been having you sleep in nothing but a diaper since then. You have still been sleeping all night, but we have had a harder time getting you to go to sleep and stay that way. We usually try to put you to bed around 8-ish, but you often wake up about an hour later and take a little bit to go back to bed. As of tonight, we are starting to utilize the Ferber method to have you fall asleep on your own. We'll see how it goes--it involves a lot of crying :(
  • You are SO SWEET when you wake up in the morning. Usually, we hear you waking up and come in to see you. You always get the biggest, sweetest smile on your face. Daddy and I absolutely love to see this. It's a great start to the day!
  • You sit up very well with assistance now. You will sit on our lap facing away from us, and you really seem to enjoy it! It makes you look like such a "big boy." It's nice that you can hold your own head up most of the time now.
  • We have been going in the pool at least once per week, and I think you are starting to enjoy it! The first couple of times, you weren't so sure, but lately you've been a little more calm and have started to splash and kick a little. We are going to make sure that you like the water!
  • You absolutely love your bath! We have been giving you a bath every other night (for the most part), and it's amazing how much it calms you down. You can be fussy, and as soon as I take your clothes and diaper off, you know what's coming! When we put you in the bath, you always take a deep breath, and it's almost like you're saying, "ahhhh, nothing like relaxing after a tough day." haha! You are starting to splash and kick around in there, too.We are loving every minute with you and always look forward to each new day. You are our everything!

Sunday, June 6, 2010

A Good Night's Sleep

Pretty much everyone that knows us knows that we swaddle Parker when he goes to sleep every night. I believe that this the primary reason for the amazingness that is him sleeping all night! In the evenings, we have a pretty good routine going. Parker gets a bath every other night. After his bath (or from the start on non-bath nights), we take him into his room and lay him on the floor with either nothing or nothing but a diaper on.
"talking"

He lays there pretty happy, watching the fan and the light. We talk to him, read to him, and just play with him until he starts to get fussy. Once this happens, we wrap him up nice and tight in his swaddle blanket, turn on the Sleep Sheep, shut the curtains, and turn off the big light. I feed him while walking around his room, and when he falls asleep or finishes eating and is really sleepy, we lay him in his crib. We give him his paci sometimes and other times do not. He sleeps from around 830 until around 630 or 7 the next day. It is so wonderful! He is usually so sweet when we go into his room to get him out of his crib in the mornings. He blinks his eyes when he's waking up and smiles, and it's so cute. He often is half-out of his swaddle blanket and looks like he's wearing a toga.
"Good Morning!"
We hope this wonderful sleep pattern continues for a loooooong time.........

Thursday, June 3, 2010

Splish Splash

This past weekend, Parker went in the pool for the very first time! We went to Omi's pool on Sunday and took him in. He was not so sure about it but also didn't seem to mind it too much. Since they use a solar cover, the temperature was about 85 degrees, so it wasn't too cold anyway. I enjoyed taking him in the water, but it will be much easier when he can hold his head up on his own. I think he'll have more fun that way, too!

Our little rice paddy worker
Right as we got in
Trying to put the hand in the mouth
Love
Relaxing after the big event
Happy boy!
Toy time in the Pack n' Play afterwards

We are definitely looking forward to many more pool sessions in the near future!