4 Months Old!!!

Reece is 4 months old today and I completely forgot to take a picture of him! Oh well, I guess I'll have to wait until he's 4 months and one day.
Here's what Reece is doing at 4 months...

He's figured out that his hands can grab things and bring them towards his mouth and he gets quite a few things in there.
He's figured out that he can grab his bottle and bring it towards his mouth, although typically it ends up on his face or flipping out of his hands.
He loves his horsey jumperoo and we think that when he squeals in his jumperoo, he's trying to imitate the horsey noises it makes.
He can roll over, he's gone from his tummy to his back quite a few times and from his back to his tummy once. He hasn't figured out that this can get him anywhere... yet.
He still tries to go straight from a sitting position to standing.
He laughs at raspberries blown on his belly, on his legs and on his cheeks.
He laughs when you try to "eat" the same body parts as well as his arms.
He's ticklish on his legs, his ribs, under his arms and occasionally under his chin.
He also loves kissy noises on any body part.
He "talks" quite a bit, for some reason particularly when he's being changed. He's probably thanking us for getting him out of a dirty diaper!
He only has a small tuft of hair left on the nape of his neck.
We think he's learning the "more" sign when he eats. (We are going to try teaching him a few signs to help communicate.)
He typically sleeps from around 8:30 until 6:00, although his bedtime has recently been moving up a little bit. He also still sleeps better swaddled. (We love the Swaddle Me blanket!)
He loves seeing the "other" baby boy in the mirror.
And he loves bath time.

Our 4 month well baby visit is scheduled for next Friday along with his next set of immunizations. So, I'll be posting our new information next week.

A Few Thoughts...

I recently found out that a co-worker of a friend of mine has a 6 month old daughter who was diagnosed with cancer. I've met the co-worker a few times and have compared pregnancy notes via our mutual friend. It's the first child for both of us. Izzie's cancer is called retinoblastoma. From what I've read and heard, Izzie should be ok after treatments are finished. She will possibly be able to keep both of her eyes. I'm sure she and her family welcome any prayers and positive thoughts.

I decided to post this because it has helped me remember to keep things in perspective. I am so thankful for Reece's health as well as the health of all of my loved ones. It reminds me to enjoy the good things and not to take the time I get with my friends and family for granted. These people and these memories are what will get us through the hard times and they are also what we will look back on in the future and smile.
I figure if I can fill my "memory bank" with wonderful times, I won't have any room left for the bad ones. I hope that everyday I'll have at least one thing to look back on and smile, and hopefully most days will be filled with smiles!

A Morning with Reece

I took this video this morning before leaving for work. Reece was in a great mood and playing with his toys.

New Skills!

Check me out! I can hold my own bottle!

Reece is growing so quickly and learning so fast! Yesterday he rolled over from his back to his stomach! He's been grabbing his toys and pulling them towards his mouth. He's also trying to hold his own bottle, he'll actually try to grab it from us when we feed him.
He's doing really well overall. Lately, though he's had a little bit of cradle cap and it's spread to his forehead. We noticed that he was rubbing above one eye pretty often and after a closer look we saw a little rash. I called our pediatrician's office and the nurse assured me that it was just cradle cap and to wash his hair with a dandruff shampoo and to put cortizone cream on his face where the rash appeared. We've done that for about a week and all of the dryness and rash is clearing up nicely.
We've been waiting for this to happen and it finally did... Reece pooped in his tub during bathtime. We were having a great time, he had dandruff shampoo on his head and I just finished washing his arms and belly. I hear a little baby toot and then I see stuff float up to the top of the water. It took a second for me to realize what just happened and then more came! Luckily Tyler was around to help. I lifted Reece out of the tub while Tyler rinsed out the tub and refilled it.

Learning to sit...

So, this is what Reece does when we put him in a sitting position. Is it possible that he might completely skip sitting up and go straight to standing and walking?

Giddy Up Horsey!

Ok, I know I just posted a video of this, but I just had to show how much he's progressed! He's figured out how to make he sound come from the toy, and you can see how much more active he's gotten in it. He's going to town on his blue horsey!

Jumpin around!

Reece is loving his jumperoo! And it' definitely easier on the arms! When we first put Reece in his jumperoo, his feet didn't reach the floor, now a week later he can bounce from the floor. Here's a video from 3 days ago.

And here are a few cute pics.

At 3 months in his horsey jumperoo

Sucking on his fingers and picking his nose...