4 Months!

We love the progression Shad is making!  It is so much fun to see him learn new things, and it's amazing how fast he can pick up on the next thing once he has something down.  Jeff and I are both totally whooped.  We love making him laugh and smile!  I love when he first sees us in the morning or after a nap and a huge smile spreads across his little face.  This is also when he's the calmest and most cuddly, for 5 or 10 minutes anyway before the wiggles start. 

To sum up Shad's 4th month of life:

(And please ignore all the crappy phone pictures, they're usually the closest thing...)

He's learned to use his hands a little.  He often grabs his feet, and is getting better at grabbing objects hanging over him or next to him. He's also started bringing them to his mouth, including his feet...

We think he's starting to recognize his name, unless it's just our voice inflections... like a dog...

He gets excited and waves his arms and kicks his legs, and coos.  It's the cutest thing ever.  He also laughs a lot more, with full on giggles sometimes!  I also love the squeals that sound like his giggle is stuck somehow in his throat.

He's also starting to react to peek-a-boo:

He loves bath time, whether in his whale tub or in the shower with us, he loves it.  No matter how hungry or tired he is, he's always happy in the bathtub.   

He rolled over!!  On July 3 he rolled from his back to his belly by himself!  And then the next day he did it multiple times!  He still can't get back over to his back yet, but seeing as how he still doesn't like being on his stomach, hopefully it'll be motivation to learn sooner. 

This is the funniest sleep position we've found him in yet!

He has been fighting naps more often than not.  It's definitely been a new struggle to learn how to read when he's tired and to figure out how long to let him cry, etc.  He has a pretty definite eating schedule, but no daytime sleep schedule...

We've given up on breastfeeding.  It's supposed to be a positive, bonding thing, and he's hated it from the beginning.  I've never felt bonded or close to him while breastfeeding, probably because it's been more of a struggle than not.  (If you have questions or want to know more about this decision, feel free to ask.  I don't mind sharing my experience or what I've learned from it!)

We've invested in a decent pump which has provided the opportunity for Shad to still thrive off of mostly breast milk and save us the cost of formula, but having to pump on a regular basis has proven very time consuming.  Although it does provide us the opportunity to leave Shad with a babysitter longer, so that's a plus.

He recognizes his bottle, and will try to grab it and open his mouth when we hold it in front of him.  It's so funny.

He enjoys the doorway jumper and his Bumbo for longer periods of time and doesn't get as tired in them.

He has started to like holding small blankets when he's tired.  They are one of the easiest way to comfort him when he's close to falling asleep.  If we put it on his hands or near his face he'll immediately grab it and cuddle it close to his face.  

He also recently started grabbing our faces when in front of him.  I love it!

 And now for a few recent favorites:

Snuggling with Dad on Sunday afternoon:

(I love how he's holding onto Jeff's shirt...)

Copying Mom: 

(Okay, not intentionally...)

Falling asleep on my shoulder, which he never does!  I love the few rare moments when he's cuddly:

And just an exceptionally happy moment!  I was trying to get out the door and he'd been just sitting in his car seat for awhile already, so I expected him to be fussy by now, and he was just surprisingly happy!  Love that.