A little late

Sorry it's been so long since I've posted.

Since my last post Jaxon turned 4 months old! What a big boy he is becoming. We had the 4 month check up at the pediatrician's office and he weighed 15 lbs 13 oz and was 25 inches long. Jaxon did really well when getting his shots, he was just a little extra sleepy the rest of the day. Our pediatrician gave us the green light to start solid foods. I originally wasn't going to give Jaxon cereal at all because from my research it was used more as just a filler and I thought if my breast milk was satisfying him then there was no need to add cereal to the mix. Our doctor told us that my milk starts to drop in iron content around this time so if Jaxon doesn't take a iron vitamin then we should start cereal or real baby food because he could become anemic. That really made me think twice about cereal, so I went out and bought a box of organic brown rice cereal because to me that seemed like the healthiest option for him and had the most nutritional value... come to find out rice absorbs a lot of arsenic in the ground! I didn't want to chance it having even a trace amount so we're not using it. I'm glad the boxes of cereal are only a few dollars a piece! So maybe this week or next we'll give him his first taste of cereal and we'll pick up the oatmeal kind.

Jaxon has joined us for dinner now! We used to put him in his bouncy seat on the ground by our dining room table while we ate dinner but I finally put together his high chair so now he can see us better and can see our food. Now that he's higher up  he is SO interested in the whole concept of big people food. He watches us pick up our utensils and put them in our mouth. I gave him a little baby spoon to play with while we eat so it keeps him entertained and to feel a little included.

As far as milestones, Jax is right on track with his development. He's great at rolling over from belly to back and is starting to show interest in rolling from back to belly. He arches his back all the time now like he wants to go somewhere. I don't think I'm ready for him to be mobile yet! I like how I can lay him on his blanket now and know he's not going anywhere, but that will soon change. He has a lot better hand-eye coordination now and likes to put everything in his mouth. His fingers must be mighty tasty because they're always lingering around his mouth.  ;)

Jaxon is still being a pretty bad sleeper. I want him to be able to self-soothe and put himself to sleep. We had been nursing him to sleep and then slowly move him to his crib so he wouldn't wake up, but he really needs to go to his crib awake and be able to fall asleep on his own. Naps are even worse though. He will only nap while nursing so I have to hold him the entire time. If I move he wakes up and won't go back to sleep. If there is some miracle where he does nap by himself he wakes at the end of his sleep cycle which is between 30-45 minutes long so he is just never really rested enough. It's a vicious cycle of over-tiredness. Because of all of this I started sleep training him. It has been pretty awful so far. I haven't seen much of an improvement over the last 4-5 days so I think we'll have to try a new method or tweak ours a bit. I feel bad because Jaxon is asleep when Jake leaves for work and he's only up for maybe an hour when Jake gets home before we start our bedtime routine. So pretty much Jake sees Jax for maybe 10 hours a week (for weekdays) and I feel like a single parent doing this all on my own.

We have another laser treatment scheduled for Wednesday. I'm anxious to see how it'll effect his hemangioma. Last time it made the discoloration in the middle a bit bigger so maybe that'll happen again. We think it might still be growing though, as in puffing out more from his lip, not necessarily getting wider. The dermatologist isn't real accurate at measuring it so they wouldn't be able to tell. I just hope at the end of all this he doesn't end up with a disfigured lip since it's right there on his face. We get compliments all the time about how gorgeous he is but then they're usually followed up with questions about his lip.

I don't have any pictures for this update because Lucy broke the adapter that plugs into the computer so I can't upload any pictures from the camera. Anyone want an American Bulldog???

Until next time,
Alycia and Jax