4 MONTHS!!!

My sons are four months old and amazing babies!!!  William is now 12 1/2 pounds and Mason is sitting pretty at 11 1/2 pounds.  These are both under the seventh percentile, however this is based on full term singletons on formula and these boys obviously don't fit into any of those categories.  They are both growing nicely and developing beautifully.

My favorite things about them right now:
* They make eye contact and smile all the time
* They talk to me all day long  (Well they coo and make noises all day long)
* They have such soft skin.  I love to rub my face all over their faces
* When they cry, I rub their head and they usually calm quickly, making the sweetest noises as they do ( I think this is because I always stroke their head and face as I nurse them so it must comfort them)
* Every morning when I take them out of the swaddle, they stretch their arms above their head and then try to latch on my face as I give them their wake up kisses- it makes me laugh and energizes me for the day no matter how tired I am
* They are starting to grab- mostly just me shirt as I feed them, but I love it
* They know me.  And they know Daddy.  We spend time with them differently- I tend to cuddle and baby them and Aaron just chills with them or plays a little rougher.  They know the difference and they like both and I think that's very important.  I was bathing Mason and walked into the living room to find William like this, thanks to Dad:

And since we have this photo of William, here is one of my favorites of Mason:

Things have changed.  The babies now sleep in their crib.  We won't set up the other one yet because they still like to sleep right next to each other.  The transition out of our bedroom was scary for me but I now feel great about them sleeping in their own room.

(William in white, Mason in green)

Even though I'll miss just being able to peek into the pack and play and have this to look at:

                                                   (Mason in front, William behind him)
They eat 5-6 times a day now unless they are feeling frisky- the other day I swear they wanted to eat all day long.  (It was a little exhausting but I must admit I liked it too).  ;)  It still takes about an hour each baby but it's now more time eating and less time burping and spiting up.  They try to call it a night around 6pm so we wake them around 9:30 and fill them up because we now can pretty much count on six to eight  hours of sleep from them and I much prefer starting the day at 6am rather than 3am.  Also, Aaron is home by this time so we get to feed them together and it feels great to spend this time together as a family.

(Mason)

(William)

It's hard to wake them when they are so cute and peaceful but we're used to waking babies.  We've done it from day one in an effort to keep to a schedule.  And with an extra feeding before bed, they sleep great which makes me happy and GIVES ME REST!!!  I feel like a new person now that I get some sleep.  I confess I'm still tired nearly every day but actually getting more than a few hours sleep a night has been amazing. 

We've had a great four months together.  I love them so much.  I am starting to miss work and getting out but I feel so blessed every day that I get to be with them all day.  Each day gets better. 

(Auntie helping with their daily stretches and exercises)

                                                 (William in green, Mason in blue)

Love,
Jessica