All Sorts: Oscar, 0-4 months, gone in a flash!

At 4 Months:

Weight: 13 lbs 13 oz (30%ile)

Tricks: Smiling, giggling, gurgling/cooing, tripod sitting, almost rolling over (maybe made it once?), everything in mouth, reaching for toys with hands and feet, doing crunches to try to get out of his carseat.

Loves: being held, being munched on, his mama, playing patty cake, watching Finn, being held close to dance, whipping his head back and forth with eyes wide, trying not to miss anything, being held up so he can stand, sucking his bottom lip, joining in with the fam by sitting in his bumbo chair to observe, hanging in the bouncer.

First dangle in the bouncer

Hates: being in his carseat, the aftermath of a large meal, swinging in a swing either on his own or with mama, being left out of the action, interrupting a meal to be burped

Looks: It is a good thing that he loves being munched on, because I constantly have the urge to do so. Oscar is utterly adorable; a gorgeous baby. I don't feel funny saying that because I had nothing to do with it! He looks like his papa. He has big and very bright blue eyes--I love to stare into them as I feed Oscar. His hair is brown at the tips and with blonde growth beneath (the opposite of frosted tips). It is soft, fine and fuzzy. We think he may get curly hair at some point since his hair crimps when it is wet. He has super cute dimples on his upper left cheek beneath his eye and on his right cheek next to his mouth. He has blonde and curled eyelashes; a perfect fringe. Can you tell I'm in love??

Nicknames: Little bug, Goldbug, Oz, Ozzy, Dr. O, Meercat (because of his tendency to hold himself upright, stiff as a board, and whip his head around on high alert, trying not to miss anything)

Life so far:

It is hard to believe Oscar has been in our family for 4 months already! It has gone by so fast, but at the same time, it is already hard to remember life without him. As the brother of a 2 year old, he has spent a lot of time adventuring. He's an animal...

Oscar taking in a cable car ride

Forging through the Sierras on a snowy day in May

Oscar has spent a large percentage of his life in the bjorn carrier. Until recently it was his primary mode for napping. He has just loved nuzzling in, his eyes blocked from light, sucking away on his binky. Oscar is a sweet, snuggly little one, and has been since birth.

Oscar at 3 weeks

When he was really little, he would take good, long naps laying down, snuggled right up next to me in bed. It was heavenly, and the perfect way to spend time while Finn was napping. As he got older and more awake to the world, he couldn't stay asleep this way and preferred the motion + snuggle of the bjorn. Unfortunately this meant no more chances for mama to nap and it has been a long few months for my back!!

Oscar developed a great smile between 5-6 weeks and he uses it readily when he makes eye contact with anyone. He loves one on one interaction, and will smile away, giggle and gurgle when I get up close to his face. He's quieter in his noise-making, and less of a squawker than his older brother was at the same age.

Prepping those smiling muscles at 5 weeks

Fully at it by 6 weeks

He's been charming me and flirting with me (and most everyone else) ever since.

8 weeks

2 months

10 weeks

11weeks

12 weeks

14 weeks

16 weeks

4 months

In general Oscar has been a calmer baby. His roughest moments have been when he is tired and having a hard time falling asleep or staying asleep. He's a baby who really needs his sleep, and a lot of it, or he's a fuss-bucket. If he gets it, he is really happy and chipper. He has reflux just as badly as Finn had...we can expect multiple splats of vomit with every feeding. When he started getting pretty fussy with this early on, we started him on a medicine to control the acidity of his stomach. He's responded to this well and stays pretty calm throughout his burping up.

Oscar is the runt of our family so far. He was born just a bit smaller than Finn, and followed the 50th percentile for a couple months, but over the past couple months he has gained slower than expected. At 4 months he was 13 lbs 13 ounces, about the 30th percentile, with his height above the 60th percentile. Of course, given my profession, this has me worried, but he could just be rechannelling to where his genetics dictate. I've noticed that he seems to have a smaller frame than his older brother. I also have a suspicion that he will gain faster when his reflux subsides--he vomits a significant percentage of what he eats! For now, we are just keeping a close eye on his growth, making sure he doesn't continue to fall. With him sleeping longer stretches at night I've started to pump before I go to bed and make sure he gets this milk later the next day when I can tell I don't have as much milk.

Speaking of sleep....this has not been his talent. When he was really little, he did his best stretches and calmed well by being in bed with me. But like his naps, he needed a lot more effort to keep him asleep at night as he got older. He got our hopes up a few times, pulling 4-6 hour stretches between feeds, but then he would revert to his waking every 1-2 hours, far more than he needed to eat. Sometimes he would even scream, and refuse to nurse...he wasn't hungry, he just wanted to sleep! We have been exhausted and his poor older brother must have been so confused as to why mama turned into a monster. Thankfully, now Oscar has grown up in this regard and is waking just 1-2 times per night to eat over his 11-13 hour night sleep period. Mama has a new lease on life and far more patience and stamina for whatever the days hold. Oscar is also learning to take naps in his bed (a plush recliner for his reflux, called the nap nanny). The past few days, his first nap of the day has been 2-3 hours!

Eating. Oscar has been great at nursing and he really enjoys it. He was, however, a serious wiggle worm and liked to writhe during nursing sessions or hold himself in plank position. He is a strong little guy so it has been a balancing act for mama to make sure he holds his latch. More recently he has started to just relax and snuggle in. He struggled to get the hang of the bottle when we started trying to introduce it at 6 weeks, but after our persistence for a few weeks, he realized he enjoyed it when we heated it above body temp. Now he takes a bottle regularly with no problem, to keep in practice for when mama goes back to work.

After his first successful bottle

And here is a peek at Oscar's life, from after his first week of life, through month 4. These are some of my favorite of his photos...he is so cute it is hard for me to resist pulling out the camera time and time again!