{Elijah - 4 Months} | The Paul + Charity Show

Elijah James you are four months old!

This past month has been so much fun to watch unfold. Not to say there has not been hard moments, but your growth and development has been off the charts! Your papa and I marvel every day at what you are doing now. At your 4 month well visit your weight was 14lbs, 9.5oz (30th percentile), your height was 25.25 inches (51st percentile) and your head circumference was 40.6cm (18th percentile).

Watching you grow and learn has made us so aware that everything is new to you and that so many things that we take for granted, you have to develop. Highlights this month include: you picking up your own toys when they are near you, grabbing at things (mostly faces, glasses, and hair), mirroring people (especially when I stick my tongue out at you or when papa raises his eyebrows), rolling from your back to your stomach and most recently from your stomach to your back. You have been enjoying when I hold you up to the mirror more often, you like to smile at your reflection. You recognize your name when we say it and you recently gave mama a preview of your laugh one evening when I was playing with you.

I would say rolling was a huge accomplishment for you! The funny thing is that you were not showing any interest in rolling. And then one night we found you sleeping on your side in the middle of the night and in the morning. Then another day or so, waking up on your stomach. A few days later and you were rolling from your stomach to back on the activity mat. You still find yourself stuck on your stomach more often than not and you are not a happy camper about that!

You are enjoying more and more awake time! You like to sit in your bouncy chair and watch mama do things like cook dinner or wash your bottles. You like having space on the floor to play with your toys and now roll around. You still enjoy your activity mat and looking at the animals hanging from it. And you love being in your swing and staring at the mobile. You also enjoy when we hold you facing out so you can look everywhere! Your favorite toy these days is your taggie blanket that our dear friend Raena made for you. It makes a great crinkle sound, you love hugging it, and chewing on it. You have even rolled over to grab it and then rolled back over to play with it.

Halfway through your fourth month you got your very first cold. It came on very fast and we think you might have picked it up at daycare. It was pretty tough seeing you have difficulty breathing. We kept cleaning out your nose and letting you rest a lot. It took just over a week for you to kick the bug out of you and you are slowly kicking the cough and congestion!

Your sleep this month has been all over the place! Overall you're still a great sleeper and for that we are very thankful. Towards the end of your cold and as we approached 4 months, you started waking up multiple times in the night. You wanted to be comforted and held for a while and then you would go back to sleep. You papa, being as amazing as he is, woke up with you every time to soothe you. We thought maybe this was a sleep regression. After a few days you started to do better. Then you learned how to roll and you will roll multiple times in the night, get stuck on your stomach and then wake up frustrated. These last few nights, we have been putting you to sleep in your crib and keeping you there until you end up waking yourself up on you stomach. Then we'll strap you into your Rock n' Play for the rest of the evening. You have slept really well there, and because it is cozier you do not try to roll in it. You have been sleeping well with this set-up. Mama & Papa sure appreciate this! Well, Papa especially - he takes such good care of you in the middle of the night!

Even with getting sick and having a few rough days sleeping, you are generally such a happy guy! You smile at us so much! It is still hard to capture those smiles, you do not love the camera. I have caught a few blurry photos of you smiling this last month.

Elijah, your fourth month was busy! You started daycare at the beginning of June, or as we like to call it, school. You and I found a great morning routine. I would typically wake you up at 4:45am, after I had pumped, gotten ready and packed the car up. You and I would enjoy breakfast together, a little play time, a diaper change and putting on your outfit for the day. Then we would drive the 45 minutes to daycare. I liked to play with you there for a little bit before heading to work. I think the first few days were rough for you, there was so much that you were not use to. But you adjusted pretty quickly. And even though you will not sleep for us during the day in your crib (longer than 30-40 minutes) you would do great naps at school. In fact the other day Ms. Barbara said she wished all the babies slept as well as you. I let her know that you only do that for them. Your first day at school was tough for me. I had a hard time focusing at work. Thankfully the daycare has an app and I can follow along on your day. I know when you're sleeping, eating, and having a diaper change. It helps keep me connected to you.

We recently celebrated Father's day! You and I decided on a few gifts together. Okay I mostly decided :) We gave your papa a new book to read to you, a fun Ragnar mug that says he is the most awesome dad, a framed photo of you, and matching shirts for you and papa! Daycare also helped make a picture for papa which included your foot prints! We took papa out to church, brunch, and a walk. It was a lovely day.

During your fifth month of life, we think you are looking forward to enjoying summer vacation with mama. This means play dates with your friends, baby massage class, story time at the library and baby jam.

Here are some photos from your fourth month of life: