4 Months Old!

Four months and three days ago, my life completely changed.  Although since then I've gotten a lot less sleep, I don't leave the house much, I feel like I spend 75% of my day either pumping or steaming bottles, I usually eat dinner after it gets cold, I am so glad my life changed on that day!  I would have to say that this past month has been the most fun with Ryder.  He is just growing so fast and doing so much more now.  He makes the most hilarious facial expressions and is really giving us glimpses of his adorable personality, and I just can't get enough!  Today we had Ryder's 4 month check up, and everything is great!!  Here are some of his stats/milestones:
-He weights 17 pounds 5.59 ounces naked which is in the 95% for weight
-He is 27 inches tall which is in the 97% for height
-His head is still in the 50%..ha ha...I guess that's good that it's average!
-He sleeps 10-12 hours a night!  Typically he goes to bed between 8-9 pm and wakes up between 7:30-8:30.  When he wakes up, he doesn't cry.  He just lays in his crib and babbles, coos, and makes all kinds of sounds.  It is the best thing to wake up to!
-He can roll from both tummy to back and back to tummy!  Now he is trying to roll on the changing table when I am changing him which makes diaper changes a bit difficult!
-He also loves moving all over his crib at night, and usually when I come get him in the morning, his head is facing the opposite direction that it was when I put him to sleep.  I guess he's going to be a wild sleeper like his momma :)  The pediatrician said today that it's probably time to take the bumpers off since he is rolling so much, we don't want him to get up next to a bumper and not be able to breathe.  I mentioned my concern about him bumping his head on the rails, but the doctor said he's a little boy and little boys can handle that. ha
-Still wearing size 2 diapers
-He can wear 3-6 months, some 6 months, and he had one Halloween outfit that was just a little big on him that was 9 months!  I almost can't believe how fast I am having to box up clothes that don't fit anymore.
-He loves his puppy dog/blankie toy and his froggy toy.  He grabs his toys and I have noticed that toys on the ground on his mat are usually a motivation for him to roll over...so he can get to them!  So saying that, he is starting to grab at toys while on his tummy.
-He is so observant of our dogs.  He watches them and laughs at them, and I think he really likes them!
-He is so ticklish!  I think his most ticklish spot is on the top of his shoulders, but he is also ticklish on his back, legs, ribs, and feet. 
-He squeals ALL the time.  He loves it.  I think it's his favorite way to express himself.  But he also does all the normal coo-ing that he should at this age, and hearing him laugh out loud is one of the best sounds.
-He takes at least two naps a day, sometimes three.  He takes one long nap in the morning and one to two short naps in the afternoon.
-He wants to have his hands in his mouth 24/7!  He loves eating his hands.  Sometimes he sticks his hands so far in his mouth, he gags himself.  I guess he'll learn eventually that he can't swallow his hands :)
-He is becoming quite the drooler!  Now we keep burp clothes on his gym on the floor because he will drool everywhere, especially during tummy time.  And it seems like once he has a nice puddle of drool on the mat, that's when he decides he wants to rub his face on the mat all in the drool.
-He makes efforts to hold his bottles and he tries to put his paci back in his mouth when it falls out
-His eyes are still blue!
-He is still drinking the breast milk that I am pumping.  I go back to work Monday, so I will be pumping one less time a day.  He will obviously be getting some formula bottles because of this, and by 6 months I plan to be completely done pumping.

Here's a video of Ryder doing a little roll...

The doctor said we can start introducing foods, so this should be interesting!  We will start with rice cereal, then add a vegetable or fruit weekly after that.  How exciting!

For the first couple of months I was really cautious about taking him out.  I didn't want to do it too much, in fear of him getting sick, the fact that I don't trust other drivers, and I didn't want him to get too fussy in public.  But now, I have taken him out a lot!  He has been to two birthday parties, a rehearsal dinner for a wedding, and a wedding.  He has also been to some volleyball games, lots of restaurants, Babies R Us and the mall!  So it took me a while to get him out a lot, but now we are pros!

And to end, I wanted to share one other thing that happened this month. I took Ryder to the doctor last week for something else.  For the past two months I noticed that Ryder had been holding his head slightly to the right.  At first I didn't think much about it, because I figured he was just still building up neck strength.  But it still continued to bother me, so last week when Lance's mom came over to babysit so Lance and I could play in our rec league games for volleyball and softball, I asked her what she thought.  Lance's mom was an ER nurse for years and is now a school nurse.  She felt his neck muscles and said she thought they felt tense.  I took Ryder to the doctor the next day.  The doctor was impressed with how observant I was, and said he had a mild case of something called Torticollis.  Torticollis is basically where there is a muscle in the neck that is spasming or contracting keeping the baby's head to one side.  If you research it, Ryder had an EXTREMELY mild case.  Some poor kids have it really bad, so bad that it can flatten one side of their head or they can't turn their head to one side.  Torticollis cannot be prevented, and a lot of times it develops because of a baby's position in utero or maybe how a muscle was stretched during birth.  The only way to get rid of Torticollis is with physical therapy to do stretches to stretch out that contracted muscle.  After therapy, most cases of torticollis are completely resolved to the point that you would never know it ever existed.  Today was our first visit to the phyical therapist.  They did an evaluation today to see to what degree his torticollis was and to test his other motor skills.  Torticollis can have other difficulties associated with it like hip dysplasia and some neurological problems, so they wanted to check for those as well.  Ryder checked out great!!  His case is so mild that the therapist said we'd probably have to only go back twice.  Usual torticollis kids have to go weekly.  Praise God we don't!  She gave us some exercises to do at home that are really simple.  She also tested all of Ryder's motor skills and he is doing awesome!  She was really impressed that he rolled so early.  She commented on how great and happy he was, how alert he was, how great he held up his head, and just what a healthy 4 month old he was!  As his mom, of course I was very proud.  But ultimately I am very thankful that this Torticollis issue is so small...I definitely have been doing lots of praying!

So that's the latest in our world with mister Ryder!