4 Months Old!

Nicholas is 4 months old! It seems that just recently we realized how big he is getting. Nicholas weighs 16 lbs, 4 oz and is 26 3/4in long, which puts him in the 90th and 97th percentiles respectively. Dr. Whitaker again said that he is thriving. He received 5 vaccines (only one orally and the rest in his cute/fat thighs). He of course screamed after the first one and continued throughout, but calmed down after not too long. His next doctors visit will be at 6 months, where he will receive the flu shot and possibly the swine flu shot as well.

Dr. Whitaker gave us the go ahead to start solids, starting with cereal, which is good since we already gave him some this past week. Once he gets the process of swallowing thicker cereal (right now we make it very soupy) we can move over to vegetables and then fruit. He is still only getting 6 ounces when he gets a bottle. Right now he is wearing 2-3 diapers. It seems that we aren't running through diapers as quickly as we used to, which is nice. We have yet to use up all the diapers we received at the diaper shower, which is amazing!

Apparently Nicholas is cutting two teeth on the bottom, which explains why he is constantly sucking on his fingers and drooling. I had noticed a white spot in the back of him mouth, which looked like it could be a tooth coming in. I knew that babies cut their teeth in the front first, but I did question this white spot as a tooth. Well, the spot is a gum cyst and Dr. Whitaker said there is nothing to worry about, very common and no treatment needed. So, yes, I was crazy for thinking it was a tooth.

He is really starting to grab at things (including daddy's chest/arm hair and mama's neck - both of which hurt pretty bad). Nicholas loves sitting up (assisted) and when laying on his stomach can prop himself up on his forearms.

He is an amazing sleeper! Most nights we try to get him in bed around 8:30 or so and he will usually sleep until 5-6am, eat and then go back to sleep for several more hours. Some nights he wakes up about an hour after we put him down, but hopefully he will grow out of that. Most days he will have about a 2 hour nap around mid-morning.

Happy 4 Months Nicholas! We love you and your gummy grin!

Another cereal eater in the family

For those of you who really know me, know that I can't go many days without my cereal (a Cheerios girl through and through). Well Sunday, we decided to introduce Nicholas to rice cereal. While most of it did end up on his bib, he seemed to get the concept of a spoon rather than a bottle and by the end kept more in his mouth than on him.

Finally got to try out my highchair!


This doesn't look like my bottle.


I'm not so sure about this stuff...

Trying to not pull my hair out

It's not as it seems. My hair for the past several weeks has just been falling out in gobs. I think at this rate I will be bald by Christmas. I had always heard that when you are pregnant and on prenatal vitamins that your nails get stronger and your hair becomes thicker. My nails definitely did get stronger, but I didn't really notice any change in my hair. I thought this might be the reason for my hair loss, but the crazy thing is that I'm still taking prenatal vitamins. Very bizarre!

Luckily I'm recovering from my cold and Nicholas didn't catch anything. I told Gabe that he shouldn't get sick since he's getting all of my immunities. We have discovered the source of my illness. Apparently every time I work the childrens consignment sale at church, I'm sick the next week. I guess next time I'll just cover myself in antibacterial soap/lotion. The good part about the sale was that I was able to stock up on some Christmas toys for Nicholas (Baby Einstein DVDs, play table, etc) and some holiday clothes, which included the cutest frog costume for Halloween!

Tickle me Nicholas!

After hearing that Nicholas giggled for Mimi and Pop last Tuesday, we were determined to hear it ourselves. So Saturday morning, Gabe starting tickling Nicholas on his changing table (where he always seems to be happy) and he giggled a few times in a row. It was the best thing ever!

At this point, I'm trying to keep my distance as much as possible since I have a cold and don't want to share it with the little guy. So far I think it's working, but I still have symptoms, so we aren't in the clear yet.

Here are some recent pics...

Can you tell it's football season


Love my cousins!


Tummy time!


Daddy's starting him early


Sleepy guy

Georgia on my mind

So Nicholas had his first out-of-state experience this past weekend when we visited our friends Ben and Jamie in Georgia. Gabe went to the Bama/VA Tech game on Saturday with Mumbles and the rest of us watched the Auburn and Bama games back at the Tortorice house. We had a great weekend except when I upset Nicholas by yelling at the Auburn game. I was holding him when LA Tech scored and apparently I was louder than I realized. Nicholas made this horrible face and started crying. Luckily he quickly calmed down. Gabe says that no one would have guessed that of the two of us, I would be the one to upset Nicholas by yelling at a football game. Thanks again to Ben and Jamie - we had a great weekend! We can't wait for Ella to arrive and give Nicholas a playmate!

Nicholas is still doing really well with sleeping at night (with a few exceptions where I think mama drank caffeine that day). Mimi and Pop reported that he laughed yesterday, so mama and daddy are anxiously waiting to hear as well. He loves sitting up now (with assistance) and is still amazed with those things we call feet.

Tomorrow I will get to shop at our church's childrens consignment sale. This is the first one they've had since Nicholas was born, so it will be interesting to see what all I find for the little guy. He already has plenty of clothes, but I have a feeling a few more will be added to his closet.

3 months old!

We celebrated Nicholas turning three months old by having his pictures taken at Portrait Innovations. They turned out so great! Feel free to make your picture request of one of the four below.









We aren't sure of his measurements at this point and he won't actually see the pediatrician again until he is four months. The biggest change this past month was his ability to sleep through the night. Right as daddy was about to put cereal in his nightly bottle, he proved us wrong and started sleeping until around 5am. When he gets a bottle, we generally give him 5-6 oz at a time. The funniest part is when we take the bottle away to burp him mid-bottle, he will let out this really high pitch cry, burp and then calm down. His spitting up is not quite as bad as it used to be, so hopefully that trend will continue.

Nicholas constantly has his hands in his mouth, which made it interesting to get the pictures done (as you can tell from two of the pics they were headed for his mouth). He is able to hold his head up really well now. We love hearing him squeal in delight and can't wait until he really starts to giggle. He is still wearing 3 month size clothes, but they are getting tighter and tighter.

Happy three months Nicholas! Thanks for being such a good sport for pictures!

Truly Sleeping Through the Night

So the past 4 nights Nicholas has been a champ and slept until 5am or so. Granted we have had instances of this in the past, but never this consistent. Mom and dad are keeping our fingers crossed that this trend will continue. He has also been a bit better about spitting up, but we will have to see about that one as well.

Monday was his first day away from Mama. Mimi and Pop are watching him on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays while I work from home. This is such a wonderful set-up and I can't thank Mimi and Pop enough for watching him for us. So far we have received good reports on his behalf. A few people have asked me if I missed Nicholas terribly, and luckily I've had so much work on my plate that I haven't had a chance to think about it too much. Once things slow down, I have a feeling he will be on my mind constantly. The good thing is that he's just down the road and if I ever need my Nicholas fix, I can go visit.