William at 4 Months

 Will just had his 4 month pediatric appointment, and aside from getting all of the usual vaccines, his new stats are that he weighs 13 pounds and 12.8 oz (50 percentile), is 25 and 1/8" long, and has a head circumference of 16 and 1/4." 

A lot of changes have been happening lately to our favorite little midget. He recently went through a long growth spurt and put on a few pounds and grew a couple of inches! Before the growth spurt started, he was sleeping about 9-10 hours every night. During the growth spurt he started regressing and waking 2-3 times every night, much as he did as a newborn. I was less than thrilled with this new development and it was a very exhausting couple of weeks for me. Needless to say not a lot got done during that time. Thankfully the growth spurt seems to be over and he is now sleeping 12-13 hours every night! Combined with his naps, this kid sleeps over 18 hours a day! I never knew babies would sleep this much still at 4 months. This has been happening for almost 3 weeks now and I haven't slept this well since the beginning of my second trimester. Its a bloody miracle :)

One development is that his grasping skills have suddenly and rapidly improved. While just a few weeks ago he would struggle to hold anything, he can now grab onto something (usually a toy but this also includes fingers, towels and our hands) and shove it vigorously into his mouth. Sometimes he reminds me of cookie monster, voraciously shoving anything and everything into his mouth. Between that and the constant drooling, I know that teeth are likely near. I have been checking every few days but so far have not seen any sign of them. Thank goodness too as I am none too excited about being bitten. I wake up in a cold sweat some nights, just thinking about it! *shiver*

Another recent development is that he is also smiling a lot more and just laughed his first real belly laugh the other night! I was making dinner and dropped a pan lid on the stove, making a loud clanging noise. Rather than startling him, he burst out laughing instead. Naturally I repeated the clanging several times and was able to elicit deep belly laughs each time. I couldn't help but laugh myself and Michael even got to witness the hilarity. I know that I will never forget that moment! Since then he has belly laughed a few more times but none as fun as the first.

A few weeks ago we went to visit Santa with my mom's group. We took a group picture with 7 moms and their babies, all clustered around Santa, then I got one with just William on Santa's lap. Fortunately he has not yet developed Stranger Danger, so he was pretty nonplussed to find himself sitting on a strange man's lap. Next year I will probably have a crying one year old, confused and scared with Santa! William has been enjoying all the christmas lights that are everywhere right now. He loves to look at our Christmas tree as well as the lights on the outside of our house. We visited a street near us nicknamed 'Candy cane Lane', where all the houses on the street are decorated to the nines with Christmas lights and decorations. So many people go to visit and drive down the street that there are long traffic jams to get in. Luckily we were able to walk there and avoid the crush.

We are so excited and looking forward to celebrating this Christmas with our newest family member. Its amazing for me to remember that I got my positive pregnancy test on Christmas day, 2011! So much has happened in a year, and that time just FLEW by! I can't believe that I have a 4 month old already! I have a feeling that I am just entering the 'Mommy Blur,' and will regularly be amazed at how time has passed. I am trying to enjoy this time as much as I can, and try very hard not to sweat the small stuff. I just feel so fortunate that we are happy, healthy and that I am able to stay home and just be William's mommy right now!