4 months - boy how time flies!

Jed is 4 months old today!

It has been such a joy having him in our family. Brian mentioned a while ago that he has brought a new side out from him - a side that has been gone for a long time since the kids have grown up.

 Jed has been so much fun the last month as he has developed his personality. He goes through many stages through the day, but my favorite one is between the awake and pondering stage and the tired stage. This special stage happens right before he gets into the "I'm ready for a nap" stage. In this stage he giggles and smiles so much! He starts to laugh at something you do to him and then he'll start chuckling at his own laugh, then he just keeps going! I love it immensely!

 He likes to be hung upside down - especially by Daddy! He is still a Momma's boy, but when he's in a good mood he loves to play and laugh with Brian.

 He likes to grab things and play with him in his hands. More like pinching/needing in his hands. He will grab anything next to him when he's in those moods - a blanket, stuffed animal, or my arm!

This was this morning, he grabbed the sheet that was next to him.

 In the morning he takes about a half an hour to laugh and talk and kick his legs on the bed. He flails his arms and legs around while yelling out to the air. It's like he is getting everything working after being asleep all night.

 Oh yes, the wonderful nights. He is not sleeping all the way through the night yet. I'm starting the training next week of getting him to fall back asleep by himself in the crib. We'll see how it goes. I really don't like the "cry it out" methods. When talking to Quianna I was able to accurately express my feelings on the matter. It's as if they cry and cry and cry, then finally fall asleep because they gave up on someone coming to help. That's my emotion about it, but I have also read numerous studies stating that letting a baby under a year continuously cry releases a stress hormone that can cause emotional and physical issues as they grow older. So I will be taking my sister's approach to getting him to sleep through the night. She said to rock him (we have a special crib that rocks!) back to sleep while singing to him and patting his back... if he starts to cry too much, pick him up and he'll most likely fall right to sleep because he's so tired. I figure - let's give it a go! 

I've been pretty lucky the last few months. He sleeps pretty well. He wakes up 1-2 times a night wanting to eat and then goes back to sleep very easily. I love cuddling with him in the morning. He has also started a pretty good nap schedule. About an hour after he wakes up in the morning he takes a nap. Then he takes 1-2 naps mid day/afternoon. Sometimes one in the evening and then falls asleep between 8:30-9:15 for the night.

One of my favorite things he has started lately is grabbing my face and giving me big kisses... I love it!!!

 I don't know how much he weighs exactly but I do know he has doubled his birth weight at over 16 lbs! He's a pretty solid and chunky baby. My sister Carrie calls him chubs.

This was his first parade. He fell asleep right before it started and slept through the whole thing.

I love it when he wears a t-shirt and shorts. He looks so grown up!

This was just taken of him. He's sleeping so peacefully.

He loves screens. This was him looking at the TV while Phineas and Ferb was on.

Sorry the pictures are blurry... I don't know why...