4 months old + 5 months old

(warning! photo-intensive post)

Baby Jules:

Since your 5th month (from 4-5 months old, that is) was pretty much consumed by the whole RSV thing, we'll consolidate those monthly posts into one (so your 4 months doesn't get gypped).

4 months old: (that is, the month prior to Dec. 10)

-you got your first cold this month (yes, a regular cold)
-your first Thanksgiving! Uncle Stephen took "3 month" photos of you at our house...some real gems! (And we found out that he + Aunt Amanda are going to give you a cousin! During the Thanksgiving prayer, no less. Wheeeeee!)

 (one of my faves)

-you started really loving to grab your feet
-you slept over 12 hours for the first time (you're doing 11 hours consistently, except when you had a cold)
-your nap times are still all over the place, really
-you started taking 6 oz bottles mid-month at school
-you went to the church nursery for the first time!
-at your check-up, you weighed 15.1 lb (75th percentile) and were 25.5" (90th percentile). You are very tall! You wear mostly 3-6 months size, but not for long...the rise is too short!

(Santa booty)

You turned 4 months old on December 10th, and got another cold a few days later. December 17 is the day we went to the ER and you began your hospital stay. While your first Christmas was spent as a patient at LeBonheur, you were taken off the ventilator on Christmas Day, which was a wonderful present for us all!

(my elbow looks weird, I know, but I was trying to hold you upright; during our Christmas card photo time)

Today, as I am typing, you are 5 months old! I don't have a lot of developmental stuff to post since you were mostly sick this month, but I will say that in the past week or so since you've been feeling better, you are LOVING "talking" up a storm and even giggling some when I tickle-kiss your tummy!  Your eating and sleeping patterns have been thrown for a loop, but you have consistently gone to sleep around 7 pm since we've been home from the hospital, and woken up anywhere from 3 am-6 am. So that's not too bad. You are still nursing exclusively, and we may have bought some extra time for ourselves before you start solids. You're now up to size 3 diapers (we changed the morning we went to the hospital), and 6 mos size clothes (but can still fit into a few of your 3-6 mos stuff).

We are still swaddling you, and as much as your paci was a lifesaver after leaving getting off the ventilator, you are starting to only care for it when you're swaddled and falling asleep. You like to maneuver yourself to sleep almost sideways in your crib, goofy girl.

Post photo-shoot, mama got artsy --->



Since we've gotten home from the hospital, we've spent lots of time in the bumbo seat and playing with some light-up toys and your rings. You HATE tummy time (maybe even more so now), and we haven't seen you roll over in quite a while. Hopefully, in the midst of your anger while on your tummy, you will figure out how to do that again.



Since we didn't get to see him before Christmas, Santa Claus came to see you this past Saturday, and Uncle Grant took photos of you and your BFF Elliot.





You did great until he turned you around to look him in the face. Whoops!



We are so thankful that you are not sick anymore and feeling better. We missed your sweet little spirit and sense of humor!

 
(Tiny Toms!)

Amazingly enough, I found this photo on my computer from one year ago today, January 10, 2011:

Snow! (None of that today, that's for sure.)

A whole lot can happen in a year, baby! We love you more than words can SAY!




To m'readers: coming off the emotional roller coaster that was the past several weeks, it's been hard for me to just up and post something light about a craft I want to make or a recipe I tried (haven't been doing any of that recently anyway). This here post is a good bridge to that place of Not All Seriousness. But I'm so lucky and glad to have had this space to post those things while All That Stuff was going on. That is all.