Noah is 4 months old!

Noah turned four months a week ago.  He went to the doctor on Tuesday and got his shots - the poor thing gets these huge lumps and bruises where the shots were.  They are still there.  The first night after his shots, he woke up a lot and had a fever, but after that, they didn't seem to bother him.  He is basically huge - he was 50% for height, but weight 17 lbs 11 oz - around 90% for weight.  (He is a big boy, wears 6 month clothes, but 9 fit pretty well too and a size 3 diaper).  His head circumference was around 50%, too, I think.  He is healthy, but the nurse practitioner was concerned about how flat his head was and we are going to see a neurosurgeon (!) to have it evaluated for a helmet.  Sad ... sigh - a bit of a bummer.  It's not very symmetrical - he definitely prefers to turn to his right.  But we did everything we could, so we'll just see what they say about how bad it is.

In other news, Noah still sleeps like a dream.  He is so easy to put to sleep, I just can't believe it.  If all kids were like this ... it would be so much easier!  He sleeps roughly 12 hours at night, sometimes quite a bit more, sometimes less.  He usually wakes up once at night to nurse.  He takes 3 naps a day usually but they aren't at any specific time.  We just play it by ear.  He does not like sleeping anywhere besides his crib or his car seat.  And he sleeps much better in his crib than his car seat, which frankly he doesn't like to sleep in much.

He nurses well - every 3 hours or so.  He does get kind of distracted, but is pretty efficient and it doesn't seem like too much of a big deal or too big a part of the day.  He still spits up profusely all the time.  It's pretty gross, but oh, well.

He does well with the preschool on Friday mornings.  Katsu drops him off at 9 and I pick him up between 11 and 11:30.  He takes a bottle there and has a nap and usually talks and plays with the ladies there the rest of the time.  They really like him.  He always seems a little suspicious of me when I pick him up but he perks up quickly and wants to be held.  He has been babysit once for about an hour while I got a hair cute, as well.  That is about it.

Noah really loves Katsu.  He gets excited when Katsu comes home and wants to be held.  He thinks Katsu is so funny.  He loves to dance and sing with him and also play peek-a-boo.  He will just laugh up a storm - it is really cute.  He likes when Katsu touches his nose, lips and chins, and go "Nose, lip, lip, chin".  He is also quite ticklish.

He also LOVES his brothers.  I can tell that he misses them when they are at school.  He looks around wondering where they are - it definitely is more quiet.  He loves when they sing and play with him.  They all have their little songs and games they play with him - Andrew sings something like YMCA and Seth had cute little songs.  Logan will just tell him over and over how much he loves him.  Of course, generally, they all want to give him love at the same time.  The rest of the time, I am hauling him around with me.

Noah wants to be held pretty much all the time.  He will consent to tummy time for awhile before he starts whining which leads into crying.  He doesn't like lying on his back anymore and really gets bored.  He used to grab things with his hands and such, but now he wants to be picked up and just kind of whines until you do.  He was so done with the swing so we switched it out thanks to our friends for an exercauser, more of like a bouncy one.  He will play with it a bit ... but again just gets fussier and fussier till you finally take him out.  He really likes to be held.  He will sit on your lap or on the floor up next to you and is getting much better at sitting.  And he will play with a toy for a little bit.  He likes to be entertained.  Loved, hugged, sung to, etc.  He stands up pretty well if you hold his hands.

He can roll from tummy to back and can almost roll from back to tummy.

He likes to watch candles, fires, and Christmas lights.

He slept through our Thanksgiving feast which was nice for us - but it wasn't that exciting of a feast due to the stomach flu and following through of plans.  Bit of a bummer of a week, but didn't effect Noah at all.

Fun Things This Month

• Halloween - Noah dressed up as a cow, which he didn't particularly like.  He fell asleep in the stroller at the trunk or treat and slept through the whole thing.  The fall carnival was a little overwhelming for him and we ended up going outside to kind of calm him down.  All the late nights were hard,  too.  On Halloween, we went to a party down the street and then we were going to go trick or treating, but he was pretty much done, so we sat on the porch and handed out candy.  Eventually, I just put him to sleep.
• 100 days - we had rice, fish, and soup.  He spit out the rice mostly and was choking on the fish.  That was about the end of that.
• He came along in the stroller both days we went and fed the homeless with Brother's Kepper.
• Shichigosan - we took pictures in the morning.  We went out to a Japanese restaurant for dinner, but Noah thankfully slept through the whole thing in his car seat.
• Day in Beaufort / Aquarium / beach.  Noah was interested in the beach, until he got sand in his mouth and all over his clothes.  He seemed to like the waves though, of course, we didn't get in the water - too cold.  He liked the aquarium.  He enjoyed watching the otters.  The dinosaurs were still outside, and he though they were hilarious.  Every time they would roar, he would laugh.  It was cute.  He was pretty fussy at the museum in Beaufort, but cheered up after I nursed him.  He was fine on the ride home until we dropped Katsu off in New Bern - then he cried the entire rest of the way home almost.  He can not stand being in the car seat at night.  He wants to be home sleeping.
• Watching brothers' performances at Barnes and Noble.
• Stake Conference in New Bern.
• Thanksgiving - slept through.
• First Sunday of Advent - likes the candles.