Happy 4 Month Birthday Reed!

Our little guy is 4 months old today! We can't believe it! The past four months seem to have flown by and we are enjoying every minute of life as a family of three. We had a great holiday together, which I will post about later, but first we must talk about what Reed has been up to the past month.

4 Month Stats
Weight: 15 lbs. (50th Percentile....this is a decrease in percentile from his last visit at 2 months. We are going to try to get back up to the 75th percentile or at least make sure he stays in the 50th. He is definitely a tall, skinny baby.)
Height: 27 in. (95th Percentile)

At 4 Months:

• Reed is starting to figure out how to roll from his stomach to his back. He does this by pulling his knees up as if he is attempting to crawl and then flipping himself over. He still prefers to roll from his back to stomach though.


• He now has two teeth! We think sometimes his cries are a result of him biting his fingers, whoops! They are extremely sharp!


• Has started a new non-sleeping through the night routine that is proving to be exhausting for me and Chris. He will sleep 20 or 40 minutes at a time and then wake up screaming. Our doctor recommended that we try putting him to sleep on his stomach, yikes! We are pretty terrified of doing this but we will try it out to see if it works.


• Reed had his first taste of rice cereal tonight. He seemed to like it although he didn't eat very much. Feeding time is going to become a lot more complicated now that he will be eating and taking a bottle. This should fatten him up quickly though.


• He is so good at grasping things with both of his hands and pulling them to his mouth. This is exactly what he did with every Christmas present he received. He's gotta see how it tastes!


• He has a great love for his feet. If he ever gets a glimpse of them, he tries to get a hold of them. He got mad the other day because he couldn't get his feet up to his mouth.


• He absolutely loves to be just in his diaper. He thinks it is so much fun to be without clothes. He probably loves it so much because he can actually see his toes and grab them more easily.


• He is pretty good at sitting up but prefers to slump over and grab his toes. We hope he will start to straighten up soon, because I know he will love playing from the upright position much more than he does laying on his back.


• He is such a good little eater. We never have to beg him to finish his bottle!


• He has started picking up and slamming his feet down into his mattress to get our attention. This cracks us up.


• He has also started scratching with his fingernails. He is entertained by the sound that he makes.

Below are a few pics we snapped today. Chris was home and helped me out with taking the pics. I think we got some pretty good ones!

4 Months Old!

And thinks he's much older!

Wishing he could grab hold of his toes!

Reed and Daddy

Reed holding Daddy's hand. So sweet!

Me and Reed

"You look mighty tasty!"

He's really concentrating.

"Yummy!"

A little dark, but too cute not to post!

"Enough with the pictures already!"

Santa!

The official photo (the one we had to pay for.)

Last night Reed got to meet Santa for the first time. Reed was unfazed by Santa, but he seemed like he might have gotten a little shy when Santa asked what he wanted for Christmas. We piped up for Reed and said that he needed lots and lots of diapers. I am sure Reed would disagree, lol! We did have to wait in line for an hour for Reed to sit in Santa's lap for a whole 3 minutes, but it was well worth it. I am sure next year will be much more entertaining, probably for us, not for Reed.

Santa and Reed (courtesy of me)

Close-up of Santa and Reed

And another.

Reed standing in line with Daddy.

Is this line ever going to end?

Reed and I continuing to stand in line.

You can't tell much from this picture, but Reed thought that his Daddy's chin was the perfect chew toy! So cute!

He rolled over and..............

fell asleep like this!

We, of course, flipped him over! We just aren't ready for him to sleep on his stomach just yet. We are WAY too paranoid!!! I also found him on the opposite side of the crib this morning around 6 on his stomach. Unfortunately, he was semi-awake and didn't appreciate the rollover. It took some extra effort on my part to get him back to sleep. It seems like we might have a stomach sleeper on our hands, but we are going to try to prevent it for as long as we can.

Oh, what a sweet giggle!

Check out the videos below of Reed giggling! It really does make our day when he is so obviously happy!

We have a tooth!

As of Saturday, December 5th, Reed's first tooth came through. Seriously! Our 3 month old has a tooth! This is insane! He got in his bottom right front tooth. We expect that the the lower left tooth will be coming through sooner rather than later. Take a look below at my best efforts to snap a pic of his new tooth. This thing is really sharp! I dread when he gets more teeth and potentially has the notion to bite!

Look right below my finger. Yes, I did take it while he was asleep and it still isn't that good of a picture.

Our adorable little guy!

O Christmas Tree

We celebrated Reed's first Christmas tree decorating evening by watching Christmas Vacation and eating brownies. It is so special to have him with us this year to decorate the tree. I absolutely love the Christmas season and I know that Reed will too. I can't wait until he is a little more involved in the decorating of the tree!

This is how Reed started off the tree decorating party!

Chris putting the lights on the tree.

Reed hanging the first ornament on the tree with his Daddy.

Reed hanging an ornament with Mommy.

I love this pic with the tree in focus and Chris and Reed blurred a bit. This was not done on purpose, but I appreciate my camera for the photo!

Family Pic

Reed's 1st Christmas Tree

Ferdinand

Last week Chris worked from home a few days before Thanksgiving. It was so great to have him here with us. He, of course, worked all day, but Reed and I enjoyed just getting to look at him! One day, I went out to run a quick errand while Reed napped and he must've known that his Daddy was home because he woke up not too long after I left. Chris decided it was the perfect time to read Ferdinand to Reed. Ferdinand was Chris's favorite book as a child. He was so excited when his parents gave us the book for one of our shower gifts. He has been itching to read it to Reed for quite some time. I wasn't here for the majority of the reading, which I think makes it that much more special for Reed and Chris. I, however, arrived at the tail end of story time in time to snap some pics to put it down in Reed's book of memories. I am sure this won't be the last time that we will see this!

3 Months Old

As of Sunday, Reed is three months old and we can't believe it! We are loving every minute of it and look forward to watching him learn new things.

3 Month Stats (Approximate values as we do not have a doctor's appointment this month.)
Weight: 14 lbs.
Height: 25 3/4 in.

At 3 Months:

• Reed is an expert at rolling from his back to his stomach but only if he rolls to his left side.


• He did attempt the stomach to back roll on one occasion during his 3rd month but has failed to try it again. I guess it's just easier if mom and dad do that part of the rollover work.


• He often squeals with delight when we play with him. This absolutely makes our day to know that he is enjoying us playing with him as much as we do.


• He loves, loves standing up. His little legs are getting so strong. We continue to tell him that he is too little to be so strong.


• He is excellent during tummy time. He can hold his head up at a 90 degree angle for quite some time, but he really has to be in the mood for it. Otherwise, you can bet he is going to scream bloody murder before someone rolls him back over. The rolling from stomach to back by himself would come in handy here.


• He has started teething! Seriously, seriously?!?!? His first tooth will probably emerge very soon. We cannot believe this, but some babies get teeth as early as 3 months and as late as a year or even later. Our little guy just wants to do it early.


• He can hold himself up fairly well in a sitting position when we hold onto his hips. He is still a little ways away from sitting up on his own though.


• He is a talker...especially with his Daddy, who he thinks is hilarious!

I think that covers the majority of the changes we have seen in Reed this past month. I am sure that I am forgetting something though, he never ceases to surprise us! Below are his 3 month rocking chair pics and a few other fun ones.

3 Months Old!

Reed was much more interested in kicking his feet and legs around than he was at sitting still. That's not typical of babies, right? LOL!

Just relaxing with his elephant friend.

"Look at my leg"

He actually got himself in this position. Too funny!

It's very hard to get him to sit still by himself.

He prefers to be wiggling!

Reed hanging out in one of the boxes from his room.

Baby Feet

He's such a big boy! He actually wasn't having very much fun on his stomach, as I mentioned above, but he managed to put on a good face for a few pics.

This is my favorite pic from the day! Such a sweet boy!