4 Month Stats

We took Grant to the doctor yesterday for his 4 month checkup. He has come a long way since his last visit at 2 months. He weighed 13 pounds, 9 ounces, and was in the 25th percentile for weight. That means he gained 3 pounds, 9 ounces in 2 months. He was in the 10th percentile at 2 months, so he is slowly catching up in weight! He is catching up more quickly when it comes to height. He has grown almost 3 inches since his 2 month visit. He is now 25 1/8 inches tall, putting him at the 50th percentile for height. The doctor said if you took his age back 5 weeks since he was a preemie, he would be around the 90th percentile in height! So he is definitely taking after his daddy in that aspect. His head circumference was in the 55th percentile--a jump from being in the 40th percentile at 2 months. So he is on track with all his growth, and it won't be long until he is completely caught up for being born early.

Grant did better with the shots this time as well. After his shots at the 2 month visit, he was extra fussy and wouldn't eat. This time he got the same set of shots, but we gave him Tylenol right away, and that seemed to help. He only needed one dose of Tylenol, and he still ate normal and slept fine last night, so that is a relief.

The doctor doesn't want him to start on solids yet. Many babies will start with cereal around 4 months and then add veggies and fruit, but they don't really need it until 6 months. So since Grant was early, we really don't need to worry about starting that yet. We will talk about it more at his 6 month visit. In the meantime, I think he is happy sticking with the breastmilk. He loves to eat!

The doctor was also happy with his development as well. We weren't sure where he should be at this point, but the doctor said to always think in terms of his "corrected" age--meaning what he should be based on my due date. So he is doing great for a 3 month old, but may seem a little behind for a 4 month old, which is perfectly normal. Some babies aren't completely caught up until after the 1st year. Grant wasn't born too early for him to be much farther behind, so we aren't worried. His is smiling, laughing, following toys, starting to grasp things, and sitting up with support. Hopefully he will start rolling over soon as well. We just get so proud when we see him reach a new milestone, and in the next few months I am sure we will see a lot of that. More stats to come after his 6 month visit!

Grant Laughing

As I promised in the last post from earlier today, here is one video of Grant laughing. This is the first time we noticed a small, real-type laugh and got the camera out. A few days later, while giving him a bath, he was really laughing a lot more! He liked the water being splashed on his belly. This one is a little long since Doug taped most of the bath, so I am having trouble downloading it, but I will keep trying so stay tuned. We can't ever get enough of that sound! Oh, and now that I figured out how to post videos, I will try to do it again soon.

4 Months Old!

Grant will be 4 months old on Saturday, and we can hardly believe it. He has really come a long way in just a few short weeks. We have really noticed changes in him physically and developmentally. He seems to be going through a growth spurt as well, because he is eating more during the day and sleeping more at night--which is fine with us! He has actually offically slept through the night a few times--meaning about 7-8 hours without really waking up. We are hoping he will start to make that a regular event each night, and start sleeping longer and going to bed earlier. Last night he slept from about 10:30-6. He used to grunt and wake up all night long due to his acid reflux, but the medicine must be working because he is doing that less and less. He is so cute in the mornings when he wakes up. We will just peek over his bed when we hear him start to stir, and he will immediately give us a huge smile. While we aren't sure how much he weighs right now since we don't go to the doctor until Monday, Grant is definitely growing like crazy. He has just started to fit into 3-6 month clothes and is almost ready for size 2 diapers. While he is still probably smaller than the average 4 month old, we have no doubt that he will catch up! He has also simply become the sweetest and cutest baby there is--no bias here! He is so happy, and he loves to smile, laugh, and coo all the time. We actually got his first real set of deep laughs recently while taking a bath. We will try to share it with you if we can figure out how to post the video on here. I am so relieved to know that he can be that happy even while dealing with the discomfort of his acid reflux. I will be sure to post all of his stats next week after visiting the doctor for his 4 month check-up.

We had a great time a few weeks ago at Lake Cumberland. Grant went on his first boat ride, which completely wore him out (and Mommy too) as you can see in the picture. He had fun watching everyone go on the slide attached to the double decker pontoon boat and can't wait to be big enough to go! We had a fun few months of traveling, but we were happy to get home and settled as well. It has made it easier to develop his routines when we are not out and about all the time.

Last weekend, Grant helped his Grandpa Gates celebrate his 60th birthday. We went out to a nice dinner, and we also went to watch him and my sister Susanne go skydiving! It was a lot of fun to see, especially since we were safe and sound on the ground. But after they landed safely, I think the rest of us secretly wished we had gone too! Last night, Grant was then able to celebrate with his Grandma Docter for her 70th birthday. Parties all around!

We are now looking forward to a nice, relaxing fall--well, at least we can relax 5 days out of the week when we are not watching Notre Dame or Bengals football. Grant is all ready to help cheer on both teams with Daddy as well as to root the Reds into the postseason. Doug is glad that he is finally starting to fit into all his team gear! It has also finally hit me that I am now a stay at home mom. My school went back yesterday, and it was so weird thinking about not being there, but it made me so happy to wake up and be home with Grant instead. We are very blessed to be able to do that, and we wouldn't have it any other way.

3 months old/Vacation #2

It's already August, and we are still as busy as ever. We returned from Myrtle Beach last Sunday. Grant had a great time with his cousin Timmy and the rest of Doug's family. He went in a pool for the first time and really seemed to like it! He also did really well in the car and slept pretty good most nights. We even had a few nights where he went 8 hours between feedings! He still wakes up a few times in between there, but we are able to get him back to sleep since he doesn't seem hungry yet. It is nice to finally be getting a little more sleep ourselves as well. Grant turned 3 months old while on this trip. I'm sure every month from now on will keep on going just as fast!

We also had gotten word while on vacation that my Grandma Gates had passed away at the age of 84 on Saturday, July 31. She was a wonderful woman and we will miss her. I am sad that Grant won't really get to know her, but we will certainly share stories about her with him. We had her funeral on Tuesday and her burial on Wednesday. I know she is resting peacefully and happy to be reunited with my grandpa in Heaven.

On Wednesday, we had Grant's 3 month photo shoot. The art teacher at my school (who also made our wedding cake) has a photography business as well. The staff at my work gave us a gift card to her studio for a shower present, which was a great idea! So we were lucky to be able to get all kinds of great pictures of Grant. If you would like to view these pictures, go to http://www.juliedoranphotography.com/ and click on Clients. The password is Grant. They will only be available for public view for about a week though. The ones posted here are just a few sample ones. There are a lot more on her website.

We leave for vacation #3 in just a few hours--a weekend at my parents' condo on Lake Cumberland. This time it's with my mom's side of the family. It is just a short trip, but should be a great time. We have spent so much time there over the years, and we are looking forward to sharing it with Grant for the first time. More pictures to come!