James is now 4 months old! Time flies.
Here are his photos this month. These were taken a couple days late, but his
dermabond had finally fallen off (last Sunday), so he doesn't look like he has a "huge booger" as a three year old at church pointed out.
This Past Month James has started or continued:
- Sitting up with slight support
- Tripod sitting on Nana's lap
- Imitating sounds (Mmmm and gurgling)
- Tries to sit up when lying down
- Pulls to a sitting position with no head lag
- Pulls to a standing position and supports his own weight while standing. He LOVES to stand up and sit down over and over again.
- He finds random things funny (facial expressions, bumps in the car, his sister)and has great belly laughs.
- He also will laugh if others are laughing but you can tell it is more of a social laugh than other times.
- He is very ticklish and will laugh, squirm and squeal when he is getting dressed or getting his diaper changed.
- Holds his bottle
- Rolls to his side
- Relaxes and goes to sleep if I sing
- Grabs toys and inspects them
- Feels things with his fingers like he is figuring them out
- He smiles and talks to himself in the mirror
- Smiles and talks to everyone (especially his LOVED big sister)
- Watches his sister dance around the room and reaches for her toys if she leaves them near
Sleep:
Right now James sleeps in the car seat because it is portable and keeps him upright in case of reflux. Reflux is really nasty with a cleft palate since it comes up his nose. It is also nice the it keeps him somewhat cuddled. He likes to have his cheek pressed up against the sides of the seat. As a 3 month old James did not sleep very well and I considered trying sleep training, but realized it would be worthless since he was going to have surgery and take a while to recover anyway. He sleeps well with codeine in his system, but otherwise was a little restless all day and night. Luckily that changed the last 2 nights he has slept very well.
Pain Control:
Up until yesterday, James had been demanding Tylenol daily. Ironically the first few days after surgery he had less Tylenol than later on. The last few weeks of the year he would fight eating unless he got 0.1 mL of Tylenol to start off his bottle. I don't know if he just liked the taste after taking it so much, or if he would drink more to get rid of the taste. Last week he had two doses a day (one in the morning and one at night). Yesterday was the first full day without Tylenol, though tonight I gave in and gave him a dose before bed since he just wasn't calming down and had been somewhat fussy for a few hours.
The last couple days I've been having to force him to eat when I know he is hungry. After about 5-10 minutes of fighting him, he finally gives in and eats and gets angry at me if his bottle runs out before he is full. If someone was watching they would wonder why I was forcing my child to eat because he will adamantly turn his head away from the bottle and screams like I'm torturing him. But as soon as he starts taking the bottle he is obviously hungry and gobbles down 5 or more ounces. It's been difficult because I can't feed him while pumping like I would normally do and when he is fussy I just can't get anything done.
I'm wondering if it is pain because his lip will not be fully healed for another 3 weeks. Or could it be that his tummy hurts because he has had a lot of reflux this week. Or is his palate sore and does he need a insert to keep his palate from rubbing too much? I'm going to watch him a few more days and if this doesn't get better I'll have to talk with the doctors about it.
Oldest granddaughter on Trent's side of the family and the oldest grandson on their special day.
My two little ones.
My two favorite boys.
James with Nana and Papa. So glad we could have him blessed with family around. All Trent's brothers were there as well as his Cousin.
Here are the gifts James received in his stocking and two monkeys from Uncle Jake. James loves his wubbanub monkey. He doesn't suck on the pacifier, but prefers tasting the monkeys tail, feet and hands.
Dani gets very jealous if he is on his monkey mat, so she always has to join him.
Here are the presents from their stockings and Santa. James got a water fountain for the tub and Dani got a v.reader. They each got DVDs which Dani has already watched a couple times. Nana and Papa gave me a Beaba baby food maker. I'm anxious for James to be old enough to try solids and may end up making some before he is ready just to try it out. I do have videos we may upload later or pull pics from.
After we were admitted to pre-op, James showed off his adorable smile. He also talked and talked to everyone who came into the room. There were other kids screaming down the hall, but James was happy and cooing. The nurses LOVED it.
I had to get pictures of this huge smile before surgery. I was so worried that it would hurt him to smile and he would smile less afterwards.
laughing away
James fell asleep in my arms shortly after this and just before I handed him over. He woke up when I gave him to the Anesthesiologist.
Surgery went well. We got text message updates as milestones were made which was very nice. The tubes in his ears were placed first. The lip surgery went quicker than we expected and we tried to get him in for his second MRI/CT scan that day, but because of an emergency the scanners were not available. 
I was grateful for Nana's help relieving me for a few hours to not stress over his monitors and to be able to get up and move. I had not slept much the night before, so a short nap was SO helpful.
He ate well when he was hungry. He didn't eat much (as was expected) but he ate, and I didn't have to squeeze out the milk too much.
The morning after the surgery, he was much more alert and you can see the dermabond on his lip.
When the nurse came in he was happy and cooing again. She mentioned that she had never heard a baby talk that much. Such a strong little one!
Each of the girls had a wand and glass slipper at their place setting.
Each girl had her own tea pot filled with pink lemonade. They turned the lid over to let the servers know it needed to be refilled.
They had a yummy looking lunch with a butterfly cut sandwich with a flower on top.
Ice Cream was served in a tea cup for dessert.
At first Dani tried using a spoon
But she would only lick the ice cream off, and refused to put the whole spoon in her mouth.
Eventually she got tired of using a spoon and decided to go directly for the scoop with her tongue.
After dessert, the girls made princess bracelets.
Though the beads kept rolling off the table, the girls eventually completed their pretty bracelets to wear home.
Dani had so much fun being with her cousins that she asked if she could wear her shirt that matched the cousins the next day, even if it meant she had to wear jeans.
