cole is four months old! it’s so weird because some days it feels like he’s been here for years, and others it feels like he’s been here for a hot second. regardless, we are glad he’s here. he brings a sweet and calming energy to our family, giving us the cutest gummy smiles when we all need it most.
eat
cole eats like a champ! he’s still exclusively eating breastmilk (that feels really weird to say … can you eat a liquid? whatever). i’m still doing my best to keep up, and have been prioritizing eating good foods (and blizzards) as well as doing a few other things to help boost my milk supply. i say “boost,” when in reality i should say “maintain” or “struggle to keep.” it’s a challenge every day, you guys, to find the time to pump at work, make sure i can nurse him at home, and keep a supply going that he can bring to daycare. the real game-changer this time around was creating a freezer stash while i was still on maternity leave, because that has SAVED us. not feeling like i had to send a certain amount to daycare very day and struggle to get that amount each day has been great. i’m trying to hold out until he starts solids, that’s my next milestone. nurse until solids. we will see where it goes after that.
speaking of solids, our pediatrician recommended we actually start with oat cereal this time vs. the traditional rice cereal that they start babies on. this goes without saying, but CONSULT YOUR PEDIATRICIAN: I AM NOT A DOCTOR AND I’M ONLY SHARING ANECDOTALLY. we haven’t started yet, mostly because cole isn’t 100% there on holding his head up (our children have huge heads), but you had better believe i ran out and bought some cereal for the day that we decide to try it with him. and by “ran out” i mean stopped at target on the way home from his four month appointment. i’m excited, guys. so excited.
cole is teething already! he began drooling a ton about a month ago and his hands are already in his mouth, so when the doc said he might pop teeth in the not-so-distant future, we weren’t surprised to see the tiniest hint of little toothbuds poking through in his bottom gums. he’s had the low-grade fever on and off that comes with it, as well as being a little fussier, but so far it’s nothing unmanageable. like i told some of my coworkers, i’d almost rather it happen now than him start sleeping through the night and then we revert to nighttime wakeups.
play
i mentioned above, but cole is not quite holding his head up all the way. he can lift it easily, but still needs some support after a few minutes. that’s what happens when you’re in the 99th percentile for head, and only 69th for height and weight. sorry, kids, but you did not win the genetic lottery with head size. logan’s was (is) big for her body, too. luckily they are both really cute heads 🙂
cole is the smiliest little guy you could ever meet, and we are so lucky in that sense. he has a sweet and go-with-the-flow disposition, which is EXACTLY what we needed in a babe. logan runs the show, and cole is along for the ride.
sleep
let’s answer the question everyone is wondering: no, cole is not sleeping through the night. but i also don’t expect him to, since he’s only 4 months old and still sleeps in our bedroom. he’s up twice a night but usually goes back down pretty easily after i nurse him. i tell new moms this all the time, but the second time around it still rings true: you forget how little sleep you can survive on. i also try to go to bed pretty early (like, early guys. so early. before 9p) to help get a chunk of sleep before he wakes up around midnight. otherwise, i wake up late, my morning is thrown off, and all the prep i did to have a successful day is off to a stressful start. i’m also very thankful that cole naps pretty well at daycare, because his weekday routine is great when it comes to bedtime. apparently we are not as skilled as parents at getting him to nap, because more often than not he catnaps at home. part of that is our fault, because we chose to have kids that are very “grab-and-go” instead of sticking to a routine, so we forfeit a nap schedule. i can’t even share what cole’s nap schedule is when he’s with us, because he doesn’t have one! i still try to to follow the “eat-play-sleep” cycle, which has worked much better with cole than with logan as a baby.
in the nature of millennial parenting, i love to share products we have been using and that have worked for us. here’s a list of things we use/have used and loved:
this swaddle. each kid is so different, and while we could swaddle logan with her arms in, cole needed his out. we don’t swaddle him anymore, but we had three of these that he used every night until a few weeks ago.
the dockatot. used it with logan, still using it with cole. it’s great. it’s on sale at target right now, too!
this brand – we especially love the footie pj’s (so soft), and the prints are so cute.
still loving the halo bassinet. probably a top three purchase ever for my kids. sidenote: if you are going to get this, order it online and have it delivered to your house. the sucker is heavy!
i just got a whole bunch of fall items for both kids at old navy. i love their footie pj’s as well as the mix and match tops and bottoms. camo for baby? you bet!
thanks for reading!