4 Months!

Another month has come and gone! This month went a lot slower than the ones before and Im not complaining about that! :) I have to say I am enjoying every stage Brett gets to! Now he has really developed a little personality and is just so much fun to be around. I think he is the happiest baby I have ever known. Even when he starts to pout, we can get a little smile out of him before he remembers that he was about to cry.

I think my favorite time of day with him is in the morning. He usually wakes up around 6:45 or 7 and I bring him in the bed with us and he will snuggle with us. Sometimes we go back to sleep, which I LOVE!

Brett is reaching and grabbing for EVERYTHING now, and the best part is that he reaches out and touches our faces :). He also tries to grab food on my plate if he is in my lap....guess he is ready for solids!

Brett is SO strong! He can almost sit up by himself. If we sit him up he will hold himself there for a second and then slowly sink forward towards his feet. We still use the bumbo, but lately he tries to dive over the side of it...is this normal??? 

He also can bear all his weight on his legs and LOVES to stand up- especially naked! Ha! I guess I would be happy to get a little breeze down there if I had a diaper on all the time.:)

I am getting so excited for summer! I think I am more excited for Brett's summer clothes than mine! Im dying to put him in some cute little plaid shorts like this:



We go to the Dr. Friday but Im pretty sure Brett weighs 17lbs! yeah, he is pretty solid. He is probably 25 inches, but thats a guess. All I know is he is doing very well on mommy's milk :)

Here is our 4 month photo shoot! It was interesting this time since Brett is so squirmy now!

You cant see the 4 very well but its there!

 He sucks on his bottom lip and smacks it all the time!

 Sweetest. baby. EVER!

 Here is where the squirming starts....

What Mom? This is more fun anyways!

 My happy baby!

Love that little tongue!

Sleep Stats

SO I am confused.......Brett is nearly 4 months old and STILL isn't sleeping through the night! I am a HUGE schedule person and I (we) have had Brett on a pretty strict schedule for a while now. BUT, despite our consistencies he is so INconsistent!

Every night ( and I mean EVERY night) we do bath time at 7:30 and bottle/bed at 8. This means even on a Friday night, going out to dinner is scheduled for 6 or 6:30 so we can get back home and start "the routine". Every thing I have read/googled/ or been told says that babies need a routine and this is the key to getting them to sleep through the night. WELL, we have done this and Brett still wakes up 2 times in the middle of the night. Well, actually he will sleep 8-4 one night then wakes up at 1 and 5 the next night, and then he will wake up at 3 the night after that! He always goes back to sleep until around 7, but never sleeps straight through.  This is what I  mean about inconsistent! The only thing I can guess is that he is a growing boy and he is hungry- did I mention he wakes up to eat? And I know he is hungry becuase Im his mom :)

I remember when we were in the first few, glassy-eyed weeks of new parenthood. Brett was always great about going to sleep (and still is) but would wake up every 2 hours. I told myself once we hit 12 weeks he will be going longer...well 12 weeks came and went and so did 13 14 and 15 and other than  a few blissful nights of sleeping 8-5, there has been no "sleeping through the night".

I know this is minor compared to some parents who have babies who have a hard time going to sleep or wake up more than 2 times, but I just thought babies slept through the night by 4 months.  Maybe I'm too idealistic, but I know lots of babies start sleeping through the night earlier than 4 months. I'm just glad that I'm working from home n0w, so when we do have a rough night I don't have to worry too much.

2 weeks ago I was desperate for more than 3 hours of consecutive sleep and decided to try the cry it out method. This goes against everything I believe, but I said I would give it a shot.

Supposedly babies take 3 days/nights to learn something new- and they need to learn to sleep all night without eating. This method said put the baby down after your nightly routine (bath, bottle etc) close the door, and DO NOT OPEN IT UNTIL 7 AM! Yeah- almost cried when I read this, but the Dr's recommending this swore that this was good for the baby and they would be OK.

Well we did this...he woke up once cried for a few minutes and went back to sleep until 7! I was shocked but it actually worked. The same thing the next night and the 3rd night he didn't wake up at all! This continued for 2 nights and then he started waking up again and cried a really sad cry and I caved...I just couldn't do it anymore and I knew there was a better way.

So we are still waking up a few times a night, but I would rather do that than hear him cry :(

Anyways, if anyone has any advice I'm all ears. We have tried giving him cereal, mixing formula in his bottle and just plain feeding him more, but he still wakes up.....

I know he will eventually grow out of it, but I'm hoping its before he goes to kindergarten!

Hidden Treasures

So I have recently discovered consignment stores! Let me just say these are AMAZING! Especially when you have a baby who grows out of things in a matter of weeks.

I have already boxed up newborn, 0-3 month and even some 3-6 month clothing! (and B is not even 4 months old yet!) At this point I think, having another boy would be very convenient financially :) But I don't want to even think about being pregnant again for at least another 2 years!

Anyways, back to consignment stores. Last week I stopped in a store called Kid to Kid in Duluth. I really love this one. They buy gently used clothes from people so they are all in really good shape. (Kind of like Platos Closet for kids!) I bought Brett a cute sun hat, a bathing suit, a plaid dress shirt, a little jumper, and a toy all for 21 bucks! The brands are all really nice too- old navy, gymboree etc.

They also have toys, strollers, car seats, and much more! I recently purchased a jumper for Brett at Toys R Us for $100.....well they have the same jumpers in very good condition, for $35!!! I was kind of sick when I saw this, but now I will check with the consignment stores before purchasing anything full price again.

The next day my consignment store buying continued! I met MrsSouthernBelle and her sweet little boy for lunch. After we ate, we hit up another consignment store near by. I really racked up at this one! All of the items there are donated and the proceeds go to the crises center next door for unplanned pregnancies. WELL, I again only spent $2o but this time I got 8 things! I got 4 pairs of plaid shorts (that look just like daddys!) some more cute jumpers, and some short sleeved polo shirts! Brett definitely has a great start for summer!

Hopefully all  of my finds will fit him when it gets warm.....he is growing so fast! But at least I know I didnt spend very much. :)