Yep, you read that title right. My little dribbler is now four months old – we’re a third of the way to his first birthday! And now that I’m a smidge over halfway through my maternity leave I’m reminded that every day I get to spend with him is precious. It won’t be long until I have to kiss him goodbye three mornings a week and get home right before his bedtime. Actually, one of those nights I’ll get home after he has settled down for the night, as I’m going back to roller derby tonight. But that’s a story for another post.
It’s crazy reading back my three months update how much he develops on a monthly basis. We decided to ditch the gripe water a few weeks ago and he hasn’t had any trouble bringing up his wind, which is good. He’s still pretty refluxy but as long as his weight gain is steady, nobody’s worried about it. And his weight is certainly fine. He’s stayed in the same percentile throughout and now weighs 18 pounds 6 ounces! People are always surprised when they find out how old he is. He’s still in a few 3-6 months clothes (Marks and Spencers joggers are nice and stretchy) but is in 6-9 months now for the most part. The trousers tend to be a bit on the long side but otherwise the fit is great, so we’re already starting to pick up some 9-12 months clothes to put aside.
He moved into his big boy buggy too (he wasn’t very impressed the first time – see below)! We wanted to make the move to the cot too but it turns out it won’t fit in our room. We’ve had the travel cot downstairs for the the last week for him to get used to during nap time and we’ll move that to our room at the end of the week. I’ve been a bit concerned about where to put him when he naps during the day and thought about taking the arches off his bear play gym and putting him on the floor but we might actually try putting the cot together in the living room. I don’t really want him to nap upstairs when I’m downstairs yet – paranoid mum, alert!
His ‘routine’ is pretty much as it was last month. Sometimes he only wants to nap for half an hour at a time and other times he can go down for two hours or more – it’s a shame I can never tell how long it’s going to be at the time. I get cocky thinking I can crack on with something and then he wakes up alone, cries and when he sees me he smiles, wanting to have cuddles or play. I can never resist that smile though. He’s really chatty too, which I love.
He’s turned into a proper wriggle bum. He can lift his bum clear off the floor now and shift his bottom half 180 degrees but he isn’t rolling over yet. He’s also super-dribbly and wants to chew everything so I reckon it won’t be long until his first tooth comes through. I’ve already stocked up on Bonjela and teething granules in anticipation. I don’t want to get stuck with a screaming baby in the middle of night! Speaking of which, I heard rumours of a four-month sleep regression, which I’m hoping will pass us by. I love that he wakes up for a bottle around 4.30-6.30 and goes back to sleep. Sometimes he surprises me and goes back to sleep until 9am. That extra hour makes all the difference – until about mid-afternoon. Then I hit the slump.
Oh, we finally started swimming! He had his first lesson two weeks ago and loved it from the beginning. My mum came along to take some photos for Luke to see his first time in the water – he has a couple of weeks off at the end of October so he’ll be able to go in with him soon. Jenson smiles and giggles all the way through without a care in the world. It’s terrifying for me! It feels like such a responsibility holding a wriggly baby in water like that, especially when they encourage you to support them with just one arm, or dunk them under water in the first session. I’ve done everything that’s been asked of me though, as I have total confidence in our teacher and I don’t want Jenson to have any problems with water.
The only real issue we’ve had over the last month was when he had he his third lot of injections. Some babies get a fever after their meningitis injection, which we managed to avoid, but he was really grumpy for the next couple of days. Like, practically inconsolable, just wanting to be held the whole time. And he did the most epic poo. I’ve become a master at getting the stains out of clothes though. Turns out the trick is to hand wash straight away, rub in some Vanish and chuck it in the washing machine before it gets a chance to set – not like my old ‘trick’ of bunging the clothes in a scented nappy sack, throwing it in the laundry basket and forgetting about it for a few days.
We’ve treated him to some new toys over the last week too. Logan, my nephew, loved his ball pit so I picked up one of those from Argos ready for when he can sit up on his own, as well as a large play mat (see first/featured image). I wanted something bigger and fun for when he’s rolling over and crawling. This one from Argos is bright and padded with different sounds and textures for him to explore. Right now he’s just loving lying there with his toys, which he’s able to grab and throw around. He constantly surprises me with the size and weight of toys he can hold. He only started grabbing toys at the start of the month and now he has to grab everything and shove it straight in his mouth. It bodes well for weaning in a couple of months. In the meantime I want him to be sitting up and playing with spoons during our meal times so that he understands the links. He’s more fascinated with watching us eat though!
That’s it for this month. Perhaps next month’s update will include a little tooth or rolling over. We’ve got a jumperoo arriving this week and we’re going to get the Bumbo out more, so no doubt his legs and neck will be a lot stronger. In the meantime, check out some of my favourite outfits from the last month – photo taking was almost always followed by immediate puking!
1. I love these dog print trousers from Next
2. Superman hat – gift from my bestie
3. Cute happy little chappy bodysuit – gift
4. I couldn’t resist this ‘follow your dreams’ t-shirt when I saw it in Marks and Spencer
5. Whale sleepsuit from Boots
6. Captain Cool t-shirt from Sainsburys
7. Adorable sleepsuit from my Mum
8. Another awesome superhero gift from my bestie (I was determined to get the poo stains out of this one!!!)
9. I bleddy love this bear jumper which I was handed down from a friend