Jackson at Four Months

Better late than never. Jackson turned four months old last Saturday, when we were in North Carolina for a visit. I remember after Hudson turned four months, I told all of my friends that if they could manage to stay home for that fourth month, they should do it, because all kinds of cool things start happening that month. She laughed for the first time, started reaching for toys on her activity center, did push ups on her tummy, started rolling over from tummy to back, began putting toys in her mouth, and even started sitting up a little bit. I have one very vivid image in my head of watching Hudson staring, transfixed, at the warning label right next to her head on her car seat—I could just see her little mind trying so hard to make something of it.

Jackson’s fourth month has been no less exciting. He, too, is grasping at everything now (and putting everything in his mouth) and is very comfortable doing push-ups on his tummy. He can also pretty reliably roll over from his back to his tummy—a few times when he’s woken up in the night fussing, I’ve found him on his tummy, because he hasn’t yet figured out that he can roll back the other way. He can spin around in his jumperoo and his exersaucer, rather than being stuck in just one position. He found his feet and grabs them every chance he gets, which means whenever he is on his back, his feet are generally up in the air. Thankfully, he has gotten MUCH calmer in the car seat—he still fights getting buckled in (makes me wonder if his sister somehow channeled that plant-and-arch move to him—he’s very good at it), but once he’s in, he only fusses if I keep him in there too long or if he’s too tired. This is such a fantastic improvement-- it makes me much less reluctant to head out with him in the car.

We had a few adventures this month, too.  We were at home in North Carolina on two different occasions, and during one trip, Jackson went swimming in Poppy’s pool for the first time.  We also took a family trip down to Hains Point, a place I wrote about a few months ago where I wish we had taken Hudson.  And he “watched” his first Carolina football game with Daddy.    

Sleep is still a bear.  Nights are tiring, and don’t even get me started about naps. I look back at my Facebook posts from the first month or two and laugh. I actually thought I had a kid who could fall asleep on his own and who might start sleeping through the night on his own, especially since he was putting on weight so quickly. For a while, we had a very good run where he would go down around 8PM and not wake up until somewhere between 2 and 4AM. Right before we went on vacation, we had two nights where he slept through. Who knows if it might have continued if our routine hadn’t gotten jabberwocky? But once we got back from the beach, he started a routine of waking up three times a night, once right around the time Ed and I go to bed, then again between 1 and 2 and then again between 4 and 5. And sometimes, he wakes up even more frequently than that. I have to admit, it is pretty exhausting for me, especially since he’s not in a co-sleeper in our room. But the One Good Thing about it all is that now he also sleeps in, so even though I missed it in the very beginning, when he was so noisy, I’m now getting to enjoy some really good snuggle time with him in the bed after he eats around 7AM. 
And when he wakes in the night, as hard as it sometimes is for me, I get out of bed and stretch my arms, and then I go into his room, pick him up, hug him close to my chest, tuck my nose into the crook of his neck and breathe deeply, remembering how fortunate I am to have him at all.

Here are some more photos of this very exciting fourth month.

(Yes, those are Hudson’s teeth marks on the crib rail. 

Who knows how many little pieces of wood she chewed off? Next time, crib guard.)

This last series was taken at Hains Point, where Hudson was most surely with us.

Jackson at Three Months

Jackson at Two Months

Jackson at One Month