Four Boys and a Lady: Four Months Old And A Visit To The Doctor

The boys went in for their four month doctor visit today to get weighed, measured and a new round of shots. It turned out to be a very eventful morning and let's just say the shots didn't go over so well with them. The timing was a little off since we had to go in at 9:00 and by the time they did all the measurements and we talked with the doctor they were getting their shots around 10:30 a.m which is right in the middle of their normal nap time. We had to wait a while for the nurses to come back to us and both boys had fallen asleep while we waited. So both of them had to be woken up from their short cat naps and stuck with some needles. A little discomfort, but everything should have been back to normal…….

Halfway back to work I get a call from Age. She had taken the garage door opener on a walk the other day and forgot to put it back in her car. On the phone I hear two cranky babies crying and a panicked wife telling me I have to turn around and come open the house. So I make the U-turn, head back home, help feed Jake and we both try to settle Colin down. I made it back to work and Age got both boys down for a nap at 1:00. Nothing is ever easy, that’s for sure!!

As for the visit, everything went well. Both boys are healthy and growing like they should. Jake is gaining quickly on his brother and made a huge jump in weight over the past two months. He put on four pounds and went from 9 pounds/1 ounce to 13 pounds/1 ounce. Colin wasn’t as drastic, but now weighs in at 13 pounds/12 ounces which is up from 11 pounds/7 ounces. Although it isn’t a major concern, the doctor would like to see Colin gain a little more, so we are going to start adding rice cereal to two of his bottles. This also might help with the spit-up.

Their four-month birthday is tomorrow and as discussed in previous posts we have been seeing them notice each other more every day. It’s pretty cool to watch them smile and “talk” to each other. They a demonstrating all the characteristics they should at this age (see more reading here).

Their “tolerance level” is starting to rise as well. This past weekend saw them both in their side-by-side stroller without much of a fuss. We took a good 45-minute walk with them and Scout. Colin smiled and looked around the entire walk, while Jake was good for most of the walk and only started complaining for the last 10 minutes. After a brief protest he figured out he wasn’t getting out of that seat anytime soon, so he resigned to watching the world go by. Although this sounds like such a simple thing, it wasn’t something that we could have done a month ago. Neither of them has ever really taken a shine to their stroller or car seats, but this past month they both have gone on good walks or car rides without much of a fuss.

Both guys are fascinated with their hands. They can pick certain things up, bat toys on the play mat and are starting to explore things with their mouth. They both love to take their favorite stuffed animals (Colin has his lion and Jake has a puppy) and move them around and pull them up to their faces.

We’ve gotten into a good routine at night too and are starting to see better results in both how easily they go down at night and how long they stay down. Around 6:30 or so, we start to get them ready for bed. If you were to drive by our house around that time it would look like nobody was home! We turn down most of the lights, get them into their sleep swaddles, read a little Good Night Moon and then it’s into their room for a little music and rocking. Most nights they are asleep by 7:00. We rarely get complete peace, but the most we have to do as far as consoling goes is putting the pacifier back in Jakes’ mouth or giving Colin a re-swaddle and they are back to sleep. This un-restful period usually lasts between 7:00 and 9:30. Then we can usually count on quiet sleep time until anytime between 3:30 and 5:00 in the morning. This gives us a quality stretch of 5-6 hours of uninterrupted sleep before we have to give someone a bottle.

It’s been very subtle, but you can start to see some definite personalities developing.

Colin loves people and gives a smile to just about anyone that takes the time to talk to him. He can be fussy at times, but most of the time it’s just because he wants to be around people. Put him in his bouncy seat and talk to him and he’ll smile right back at you.

Jake rolls with the punches. The other day Adrianne accidentally got a little too close when cutting his nails and clipped a little skin. I think the parents were more traumatized than Jake! He was crying and while Age was trying to put a Band-Aid on his finger, I was trying to calm him down. In the middle of screams, Jake was smiling and he couldn’t decide if he was upset about his finger or thought the funny faces his Dad was making at him made him happy. So he went with both! A little crying and a little laughing.

All in all, these past few weeks have been a real joy to be these boys’ parents. The rough nights are (mostly!) behind us and watching them change so much from month three to now has been incredible. I know there is much more in store for us and these small, little milestones will seem so insignificant when they begin to meet those major benchmarks, but right now it feels like we have come so far in such a short time.