Grady & Wren: 4 Months

Grady's Stats: 11 lbs 13 oz / 22 inches
Normal Growth Chart: 3rd percentile for weight, 2nd percentile for height
Way to go Grady for making it onto the normal charts!

Wren's Stats: 12 lbs  9 oz / 23 inches
Normal Growth Chart: 25th percentile for weight, 39th percentile for height

Grady's Clothing & Diaper Size: Some Newborn clothes that run big and 3 Month clothes and Size 1 diapers

Wren's Clothing & Diaper Size: Some Newborn clothes that run big and 3 Month clothes and Size 1 diapers

Special Outings: On Tuesday morning, August 14, I took you on your 1st walk in the neighborhood. It was a beautiful morning that wasn't very hot so I figured I'd better capitalize on it. I pushed you around for about 30 minutes and you guys slept pretty much the whole time. On Friday, August 17, we went out to eat at McAlister's Deli so I could get out of the house after a busy week at home.  You both sat in your car-seats and were so good the whole time. It was so pleasant due to the lack of fussing. You usually fuss because hate your car-seats, especially you Miss Wren. After dinner we went to Home Depot to get some things and you rode around the store in your stroller just as content as could be.

I went on a special outing, my first time to be away from you both overnight. I went up to Grand Lake for Aunt Blaire's bachelorette weekend. I left Friday evening, August 24, and came back Sunday afternoon, August 26. I originally decided not to go naturally because you are little babies and I wanted to stay with you guys. But your Dad and Grammy insisted that I get away and be with Blaire during this special time in her life. I hadn't been away from you since our days in the NICU and it was really hard to leave you but it turned out to be a great weekend. I missed you SO much! I made Dad text me updates and pictures of you all and we did a face-time call on Saturday night. I was so ready to come home and hold you come Sunday.

Milestones:  Your personalities are really starting to come out. Grady, you're still a little charmer. When I lay you down in your crib and swaddle you for a nap or for the night and you get excited and grin and flirt with me.  Then when I try to put your paci in your mouth you think I am playing and you grin even bigger and just look into my eyes. You make it really hard for me to walk away and leave you in your crib. Wren, you do something similar when I put you down to sleep. You get really excited that I'm swaddling you and just smile and do this laugh where you breath in really big and squeal. I love it!

You are both getting so strong and can "stand" on your little legs when we hold you under your arms. Your arms and legs are always moving and kicking when you are playing on your play-mat or on a blanket.

You took your first bath together on Wednesday, August 29. Daddy and I both had all hands on deck. It was tricky to maneuver bathing you two at the same time. We decided that we will do bath-time one at a time for a little while longer. Wren, you were in the "deep" end of the baby tub and you kept stepping on Grady's precious parts. Grady, you were in the "shallow" sloped part of the baby tub like normal.  You guys didn't seem to mind being in the tub together, but it is clearly not designed for bathing two babies at once.

This isn't a milestone, but definitely worth mentioning...Grady, your sneezes are hi.larious! The wind up to the actual sneeze is so loud and always catches us off guard. It's a BIG "AHHHHH" and little "chooo."  Like this, "AHHHHH-chooo!" It's impossible to describe it in words but I know by recording it here, I will be able to remember it when I read over these updates in the future.

My Thoughts:  I worked really hard getting rid of stuff and rearranging furniture to clear out the front bedroom/office/den. I decided that I wanted to turn that room into a playroom for you. It had become a catch all/storage space and I wanted to utilize it better. After we have the piano moved to Aunt Karla and Uncle Jeff's house, we will gain even more space in there. I am sad to have the piano that I learned to play on moved out of our house, but one day when we have a bigger house and you two are older, we can get it back. Hopefully you guys can learn to play piano on it too. Now we have a designated space where we can put away baby stuff and toys and we can just close the door on it all if we need to.

Routine:

These days our routine looks roughly like this:

6:00am Feed

7:00am-10:00am Nap

10:00am Feed

10:30am-2:00pm Playtime/Tummy time/Nap
2:00pm Feed

2:30pm-4:00pm Nap in crib

4:00pm-6:00pm Playtime
6:00pm Feed

6:30pm-10:00pm Playtime/Tummy time/Cat naps/Bath-time

10:00pm Feed

10:30pm Bedtime

Favorites:  The Baby Einstein Octopus that hangs over the changing pad, Baby Einstein Neptune play-mat, Snug-a-Bunny bouncy seats, swings, ceiling fans, overhead lights, lamps, being talked to, and being snuggled.

Dislikes:  You have gradually begun to tolerating your car-seats better.  And after I tried some different things with your baths, you are starting to like them.  You still don't like tummy time but every now and then you tolerate it.

Food:  You are both still on your special preemie formula, Similac NeoSure. Grady, we stopped concentrating yours due to your tummy troubles. We thought your tummy would do better if it didn't have to digest the extra concentrated formula. You were both eating about 3.5 oz (105 mL) per bottle at your 6:00am, 9:00am, 12:00pm, and 3:00pm feedings. Then at your 6:00pm and 10:00pm feedings, you would eat about 5 ounces. Currently, we are trying to get you used to going to bed earlier and eating every 4 hours rather than every 3 hours. After a few transition days you are now eating 5 oz every 4 hours at 6:00am, 10:00am, 2:00pm, 6:00pm, and 10:00pm.