4 Months!!!

Our babies are 4 months already...yesterday, actually. I can't believe it!!

We celebrated their 4-month birthday with a trip to the pediatrician for their 4-month well-baby check. Right on time...at least I'm on top of something!!

I gotta brag...I went on my own. When I thought about it beforehand, I thought "Hey, no big deal...I can handle this...they are my kids, after all!"...but I didn't think about all the things you need to do at the Dr...get the kids undressed, carry them to the scale, entertain them for an hour while you wait for the doctor, feed them while you wait for the doctor, juggle them as you talk to the doctor, hold them still while the doctor looks at them, entertain them while you wait for the shot nurses, hold them still while the nurses give shots, get them dressed after shots, load them in and out of the car (without a doubt, the easiest task of the list...that should say something)...I went over the 2-hour range in the parking ramp and had to scrounge for coins in the car. I did not expect it to take that long. They crashed out right after the shots and Owen slept for 2 1/2 hours.

On to the appt recap...

They just got weighed for their RSV shot last week, so the weigh-in wasn't all that exciting. Dylan came in at 15 lbs 12 oz (15 lbs 4 oz, last week, I believe) and 24.5 inches long. Owen was 12 lbs 3 oz (which is weird because I could have sworn he was 12 lbs 6 oz last week and with his ravenous appetite for the rice cereal mush, I would not except him to lose weight...I would not expect him to lose weight without starting rice cereal...not worried, he's healthy) and 24.3 inches long.

There isn't much to report...they are really healthy. We've had a cold running through the little ones in the house so Owen had some visible congestion when the doc checked him out, but that's it. Most noteworthy are their percentiles...hold on to your hats!! These are actually adjusted for their due-date, so percentiles if they were 2 1/2 months, if I understand it correctly.

Owen:

Weight: 50th

Height: 75-80th

Head Circum: 75-80th

Dylan:

Weight: 97th

Height: 90-95th

Head Circum: 90-95th

"He's your football player" the doc said as he read off Dylan's percentiles!! I say, "No, he's my Prop"...We play Rugby in this house (ok, just Daddy does so far)

These percentiles are also very indicative of how much Owen is like Ethan. Add 10 "percentiles" to Owen's stats and you have Ethan's...60th weight, 90th for height and head....long and lean, these two.

*****

Owen is a thumb-sucker...it's so cute. He flails his hand around his face, catches his thumb in his mouth, and then his other fingers are flat against his face. He typically uses the other hand to rub the back of his head. Ethan never sucked a thumb and grew out of the paci around 6 months so this is new to me, but so far, it seems to help him calm down quickly, and to sleep better, so no problem!

Speaking of sleep, we had a few nights in a row of 7 to 7 sleeping...Saturday, Sunday and Monday. Tuesday night they woke up at 1:30am and last night they woke up at 3am. Bottles and then back to bed until 6:30/7. Not a huge deal...now that we are consistently on the fast-flow nipples, feedings take about 10 minutes plus about 10 minutes of cuddle/upright time. We're back to bed and asleep in a flash. However, that being said, I (and I think I can speak for Andy here too!) would much rather just keep my cozy, warm self in bed until morning.

The past two nights it has been Dylan waking up and crying. I go into their room and see little Owen happily snoozing with his thumb in his mouth. I'm not sure if Dylan is waking up because he is hungry, or because he is uncomfortable...though he starts out in the middle of his crib, the past two nights he has been at an angle further up the crib, with his head pressed up against the crib slats. He's still all wrapped up in his sleep-sack and blankets, so I'm not sure how he gets up/over there still in tact, but he does...Houdini. It could also be the hunger issue though, as this one does not seem satisfied after 6 oz of formula and hates the rice cereal mush. We are considering getting some bigger bottles...but damn, those BPA-free bottles are expensive and we need to buy a lot since it stinks to wash bottles all the time and we already do wash them all the time with 12 bottles as is....listen to me rant.

*****

The night we started rice cereal was the night I referred to Ethan as a two-terror, you know, the night when we considered putting him in the garage...just kidding...I only considered it for a second...just kidding...seriously. We made the rice cereal in one of Ethan's bowls, because we don't have bowls for Dylan and Owen only...nor do I think we will, we'll probably just buy more "kid" bowls. Ethan was sitting at the dining room table eating dinner and he turned around and saw that I was feeding the babies out of his Thomas Train bowl and made the most pitifully sad face, tears and all, and said, "They're eating my lunch!"

*****

Last Saturday, before the trip to the Zoo, we decided to give Ethan a haircut. It's been awhile since he's had a "professional" haircut at Kids' Hair. Andy has done the last couple. The first went ok. He sat in his chair with his tray on (to keep him in place) and we sat him in front of the TV and he watched Cars. The two after that were a disaster...tears, screaming, hysterics...the result = a wonky haircut. I like his hair short...he looks cutest with a buzz I think. So on Saturday we tried every bribe in the world (I know, bad parenting) to get him to sit still so Andy could cut his hair. This whole ordeal took over an hour, with several trips to his room to calm down. During one of these trips to his room, Ethan was banging on the door so hard that something in the handle must have turned and it locked him in...from the inside. I tried not to panic, and neither Andy nor I said anything to Ethan about him being locked in. Andy just went to get a tool from the garage while I stayed by the door and talked to him. I tried not to think about what we would tell the locksmith when we called. Andy tried to pick it from the front, to no avail, and finally just ended up taking off the whole doorknob...he was free. Maybe the longer timeout worked, because after that, it was time for the haircut!! Ethan sat on Andy's lap on a chair with his favorite "softy" blanket and I sat on the floor and held his hand. Afterwards he said, "I didn't like it very much, but it was ok"...Then Daddy and Ethan took a shower and washed all the hairy clothes and blankets.