Four Month Visit

Today was Jesse's four-month check-up and shots, and he continues to astound us with his growth. While we were sitting in the waiting room we made bets on how much he would weigh. We knew from our doctor's visit on April 1st that he weighed 14 pounds and 9 ounces, so based off of that, I guessed that he now weighed somewhere between 15.5 and 16 pounds, and James guessed 16.5. Well, we were both wrong, but James was closer. He weighed in at a whopping 17 pounds, which puts him in the 90th percentile! He is nearly 26.5 inches long, which puts him in the 95th percentile for length...maybe a future basketball star?? (Probably not, considering the fact that neither of his parents has much athletic inclination or ability).

I don't know yet how he did with his shots, because he fell asleep on the ride home and is still happily sleeping. He was pretty upset about them at the doctor's office, but if he does like last time, he won't have much of a reaction to them.

Some things I want to remember about Jesse at 4 months:

• He is still a terrific sleeper! Sometime around 2.5 months, he began to sleep 10-11 hours at night. We realized one day that he almost always woke up at the same time, no matter when we put him down for the night, so we decided to try to put him down at 8 and see how long he slept. The first time we tried this, he slept until 6 the next morning, so ever since then his bedtime has been anywhere between 7 and 8. It has been wonderful to have some time in the evenings to spend hanging out together, reading or working on other things that need to get done. I feel totally spoiled and I am convinced that our next child will have to be the complete opposite, because there's no way we could get this lucky again.
• Sleeping 10-11 hours at night comes with a (small) price. In the last two weeks he has begun to wet through his diapers at night, and it's not uncommon for this to happen most nights now. I think I may have finally figured out a solution, but I'm not going to get my hopes up too soon.
  
• Jesse nurses every 3-4 hours now, which usually means 5 times/day. He's a good eater about 75% of the time (maybe more), but the other 25ish percent of the time he can be somewhat of a nightmare to nurse. His first and last feedings of the day almost always go without a hitch, but the 3 or so feedings in between always have the potential to become quite an ordeal. He's obviously getting enough to eat or he wouldn't be gaining weight like he is, but sometimes he gets so worked up about who knows what that he can't even eat. I have gone through a million different scenarios in my mind, and none seems to make sense in every situation, so it remains a mystery to me why he's such a fussy eater sometimes. Am I trying to feed him too soon? Did I wait too long to feed him? Is he gassy? Is he experiencing some kind of pain? Is he too exhausted? Maybe it's just his temperament? The list goes on and on. Who knows...I'll probably never know.
  
• Although he's a champion sleeper at night, he has learned to fight it somewhat during the day. He always takes a long 2-3 hour nap in the afternoons, but rarely sleeps very long in the mornings. He very predictably wants a nap about 2 hours after he wakes up in the morning (he gets really fussy and will typically fall asleep right away when we rock him), but he doesn't usually sleep more than 45 minutes. He sometimes takes another short nap late morning, but not always.
• He is super, super happy first thing in the morning. Depending on what time he goes to sleep at night, he wakes up anywhere between 5 and 7 in the morning, but we usually just let him hang out and play in his crib for 30 minutes or so before I go in there and get him to nurse him. He is so happy during this time, just kicking his legs and making happy sounds, and this gives us a chance to wake up before having to get out of bed.
• He still loves his play gym, and he plays with that almost every morning while we eat breakfast, have our quiet times, and check e-mail. He is really getting good at grabbing his toys.
• When he is upset (or even when he's not), he loves to be sung to. We think he recognizes songs that we sing repeatedly (like 'Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star', 'Old McDonald' and 'Jesus Loves Me') because he smiles more than usual for these.
• He likes to be read to, and seems to really enjoy looking at pictures in books.
• Lately he loves to "stand up" when we hold him, and he also likes to sit up in our laps a lot, facing out towards the world.

I am looking forward to all that lies ahead! It's so fun and amazing to watch Jesse grow and learn more about the world around him. He is such a blessing to us!


On another note, I hope to be writing a "non-Jesse" post in the very near future. We are hoping to have a decision nailed down for our future (namely, where James will be going to grad school in the fall) in the next week. James says he feels like he's been on a teeter-totter over the past month. We have gone back and forth, back and forth, trying to make this decision. I don't want to say too much about it yet, since James hasn't officially accepted at either school, but I am hoping to have more information very, very soon! Until then, we will rest in the fact that God has it all under control!