4 months!

We officially have a 4 month old - who seems to be learning LOTS of new things lately, and I think our life is about to get a little crazy!  In the past few weeks he has really discovered his hands, mouth, and feet - he is always chewing on something, and his coordination is getting really good at grabbing toys with 2 hands and taking them straight to his mouth!  He has been rolling from back to side for a few weeks, but now has started going all the way over a few times - exciting, but scary that I can't just lay him down to play while I do stuff around the house.  He is still babbling and laughing up a storm, especially when Matt sings his 'chubby' song!  His hair is getting longer and crazier each month, and I really wonder when we can get that first haircut.  He has a pretty sweet rat tail in the back that everyone loves to point out - it's pretty cute I think!  He also has started his intro to crawling - he can scoot around on a slick play mat, and I think the army crawl will be coming out any week now.  

At 4 months, I also decided it was time to get this boy on a schedule!  No better time to start that than New Years Day.  We now start our bedtime routine - bath or lotion and jammies around 7:15 PM, read a few books, eat our last bottle, and in his crib between 7:30-8:00 PM.  So far it is going really well, and it is SO nice that I now have some time at night to hang out with Matt or catch up on TV.  His 4 month appointment was a little sad, as he had been sick for almost 3 weeks, and it had turned into a double ear infection - ouchie!  

At 4 months he...

- weighs 16 lbs., 7 ounces

- 25.75 inches in length

- FINALLY is sleeping consistently in his crib at night time and nap time - hallelujah! 

- eating 6 ounces every 4 hours

- is still getting up 1-2 times a night, zzzzz

- wearing 6 month clothes

- is as cute as can be - see below!

  Hanging out in his chair from Granna and Big Daddy!

Big smile!

We had an adventurous Christmas break, going all over the place, and it was nice to get back and have a whole week to re-coop before going back to work.  I had a chance to play with a bunch of my girl friends and some of their kiddos, but of course forgot to take pictures.  New Year's Eve we went to the wedding of our friends Kristen and John - we had been planning this 'night out' since they got engaged, and it was the first time we were away from Braden!  My parents came down for the night to babysit, and we along with everyone else stayed at the Omni for the night so we could go straight from the reception to our room and not have to worry about driving anywhere.  The wedding was fabulous, with an awesome DJ and fun bubbles/snow at midnight, plus lots of fun New Years props for all the guests!

                                

We made the trip to Jacksonville last weekend so Braden could meet his great grandmother, MeeMee!  We had a good time hanging out with her for the day, hanging with Granna and Big Daddy, and got to meet up with some great friends for dinner.  Matt's best friend Kraig, is expecting his 3rd little girl - Kendall - at the end of April, and we are already foreseeing a romance between Braden and her.  He even gave her (Kraig's wife Julie) a Valentine's present - a box a pink Little Debbie cakes - what a charmer!

Matt also had the chance for a few duck hunts while we were there, and he killed his first banded duck - a big deal in the hunting world!  He found out that this little duckie had flown all the way from the Yukon Territory in Alaska, before his sad death that morning. :/