Four Months Already???

Here we are, folks! Benjamin Joel turned four months old on February 15th! He is quite the little stinker and sooooooooooooo much fun!!! I don't know when the time flew by, but he's no longer my little infant. He most definitely thinks he's a "big boy" now, and enjoys spending most of his time upright with me or in his exersaucer, looking around and checking out the world! He especially loves his toys! He's been learning how to reach, play, and most importantly - put it ALL in his mouth!

As you can see, he loves his exersaucer! His little toes don't quite reach the ground, but he loves to play with the toys. His favorites right now are the spinning wheels and the book with animal pages. He spins wheels and turns pages all by himself! What a smartie!

He really is a very happy baby. I'd say most days are spent with him looking like this:

He's just so stinking cute. He loves to smile and laugh. He LOVES to hear songs and dance along with Mom and Dad. He also doesn't hesitate to use his own voice... he likes to hear it, too - big and loud! Benjamin is quite the talker! He's also officially learned how to roll over! He can go back to front pretty easily, but coming front to back is still a lot of tough work! He's done both ways for us, though!

He's still really good with strangers, but you can already tell he's quite attached to his mama. He gets a little nervous if I'm not in sight or if he can't hear my voice. We do all sorts of fun things together all day long! One of his favorites is going for walks outside when the weather permits! He even has his own pair of cool shades! I definitely look forward to Spring's arrival so we can do more of this!

It's safe to say that the whole family is having (almost) more fun that we can handle! We just love having this little ray of sunshine around!

Now to the dark side of Benjamin.... sleep.

I thought we'd fixed our issues. I thought we had something good going on. Nevertheless, things have changed. The boy has decided that it's perfectly acceptable to squawk out loud for me to come comfort him if he wakes himself up in the night. He has completely forgotten how to fall back asleep on his own. Gone are the days (however few they were...) of uninterrupted sleep between the hours of 1:00 and 8:00 AM. I know, I know... This is completely and totally my fault for getting out of bed and answering his every beck and call. Things had just gotten a little crazy with his sleep schedule because he started eating like a madman (I've been told it's the 4-month growth spurt) and so I didn't want to ever deny him in case he was hungry! Now I feel like he's totally taking advantage of the good life, since most nights his calls have become much more "hey Mom, I'd like to be held please!" and much less "I'm starving!"

Don't worry - I have a plan. Things are going to be changing around here. Pray for me... We're in for a rough few nights and potential long bursts of middle-of-the-night screaming. I'll be leaving apologetic notices on all our neighbors' doors.

However, don't let his little sleep issues skew your impression of my little boy! He really is an absolute DOLL 95% of the time! We had his four month appointment last week and here are the details!

Height: 25 inches
Weight: 11 lbs, 15.5 oz
Head circumference: 16.5 inches

Speaking of doctor appointments, we're STILL battling his plugged tear duct problem. We even went to see a pediatric opthamologist to discuss surgery. It turns out we're going to have to wait a few months to even consider unplugging them surgically, and the doctor reassured us that most of the time this clears up on its own. I have noticed a lot of improvement, especially over the last week. We'll see how long this lasts! Poor guy - it looks so annoying to constantly have eye boogies! It's a good thing he's so darn cute!

Before I forget, we got the pictures back from Benjamin's 3-month photo session! They are so darling! You can view some of them by clicking here! Thanks to Chelsey Photography for her wonderful work!