four months old.

ah, four months old.  i think this is when i start with "this is my favorite age EVER" and continue with that sentiment indefinitely.  it is even more true with hollis.  

physical: a few things.  we are knocking out our barrage of monthly/bi-monthly doctor appointments this week.  we did cardiologist about a week ago and he was 16 lbs. 10 oz., 27 inches long.  we did regular pediatrician yesterday and stats were:

height: 25 inches - 50%
weight: 18 lbs. - 90%
head: 43 in. (maybe 43.5?  i can't remember). - 75%

so.  i think the pediatrician's scale is a little high and the cardiologist's scale is a little low.  my guess is he's somewhere north of 17 lbs and about 25.5 inches.  still big compared to ek, but mostly proportional, i think.  also, miraculously, he is off the heart meds!  we saw a new cardiologist because ours moved and he just wants me listening to his heart with a stethoscope a few times a day to make sure he's not in tachycardia, but he's pretty sure hollis has outgrown the condition/didn't have it after birth but was so cranky no one could really tell.  it is absurdly amazing to not give him meds twice a day.  he's still spitting up, but not too badly at all (definitely way better than ek) and doesn't seem bothered by it in the least.  

likes: somehow over the course of the past month, hollis has gone from being annoyed/mad at everything to being super content and sweet 95% of the time.  i've never seen a 180 like this and i am so thankful.  he loves grabbing toys (especially ones that make jingly sounds) and putting them in his mouth.  gnawing on my hand.  bath time.  getting kisses from emme.  tickles (he is so so giggly).  tummy time.  being sung to while making funny faces and/or dancing like a weirdy.  

dislikes: the only time our boy gets mad these days is if i make him wait too long to eat after bath/before bed.  he will also sometimes pipe up when he's been in one place for too long - the dude likes a change of scenery, who can blame him?  

biggest achievement of the month: rolling over and laughing are both big ones for me.  although the rolling isn't happening too frequently, i know he can so i'm counting it.  also, being off the meds is HUGE!  

biggest challenge of the month: sleeping in longer stretches at night/shifting his milk intake to daytime hours.  

nicknames: hb, hollissey, bittles, babbins, bits, smalls, bg, chublet, chubbins, duder, little bear.

sleep: we have really made some progress here.  still not sleeping all the way through the night, but i now believe that is a possibility in our lives (as opposed to a few weeks ago when i just assumed he would be hanging out with me every two hours for the foreseeable future).  hollis's teacher miss laura called me a couple weeks ago to discuss and make some suggestions.  i love her.  she asked me how long hollis cried before i went to get him/nurse him at night.  i explained that he didn't really ever cry - the second i hear him, i go in and take care of it so he doesn't wake justin and emme up.  also, since i'm the lightest sleeper ever, i will pop up and go get him over ANY squeak.  i knew this was not a great plan, but i needed someone to talk through it with me and laura did.  she said to start with 4 hours, since it's pretty obvious hollis is physically capable of not eating for four hours without wasting away.  ha.  so the first week, if i heard him before the 4 hour mark, i would just go in, check on him (no poop, no limbs stuck in crib bars), then give him 10 minutes to work it out.  the first two nights, he settled himself back to sleep in under 3 minutes.  amazing.  we had a few nights where he woke up twice, but now he is down to only one waking a night - usually around 2.  so he sleeps 7-2ish and then 2:30 until i wake him up at 7:30 or so.  of course i don't sleep all those hours, but i am getting longer stretches and he is waking up in the BEST mood because he's so well rested.  it's really amazing.  i think it will probably be a bit before he drops that middle of the night feed, but this is so manageable for me compared to where we were.  

temperament/personality: what a difference a month makes.  hollis is so smiley and curious now.  he laughs and lights up over any and all eye contact.  he's still a dude who likes his needs met immediately, but he calms down super easily and has a much longer attention span.  he's also super cuddly and loves kisses and nuzzles.  i am a fan of super affectionate babies.  

eating: we got cleared to start him on solids, as per the usual 4-month thing pediatricians do these days.  but i'm going to wait at least another month and probably closer to 2.  i can tell he's not ready and there is no rush.  i started ek right before 6 months, so we'll probably do the same for him.  he's taking in way less milk than the APA guide says he should be for his age, but he's not starving and not fussing, so i'm just letting him be the boss.  

superficial: blue eyes are still here.  fuzzy blonde is still creeping in and he's losing what little brown hair he had at birth.  chubby chubby and a super dimply tush.  cheeks (on his face) that i nibble on multiple times a day.  

motor development: rolling tummy to back when the spirit moves him.  head control is so so so much better -  he's comfortable in the bumbo for decent lengths of time and his "cobra" move is stellar.  he can also use his core to sit up from a recline position in my lap, so i think he's getting there - slowly but surely.  

pictures to be posted soon!