Guess who!

Guess who slept 7 and a half hours straight last night (9:30pm-5am) and then went back to sleep after eating and slept until 9:00am!!!! Give up? It's Binny!!!! (aka Donovan) We are going to put that on the calender as "First time I slept though the night". I am so proud of him! He did not even wake up and fuss between those times at all! We did feed him cereal right after his last milk feeding last night so maybe that had something to do with it but since we don't know for sure, we are just going to keep doing it. By the way here are some pictures I took the other day of Donovan fussing before falling asleep in his prefered position, which is on the tummy now.

4 month Doctor's visit and recap of the month

And the stats are:

Weight: 16lbs 13oz- 90th%
Height: 26 and 3/4 inches- 97th%
Head circumference: 17 inches- 75th%

So not so impressively massive as last month but still a big boy! Overall the doctor was impressed with his growth and development, she even said "He looks like a 6 month old." We showed her our tricks like how he rolls over (and tried to do so right off the examining table) and how he holds on to my thumbs as I lift him up from a laying position, bypasses the sitting position and goes straight to standing. She said everything else looked great too.

She also encouraged us to keep trying solids, which we had done at that point only about 4 times, none of which were that successful. Since that day we have fed him about a tablespoon of rice cereal everyday and it is going well! The first time I re-tried it was the day of the appointment and he ate all of his food, but I kind of had to trick him into it. He was not very good at opening his mouth so I would have to wait until he threw his head back and fussed and then I would shovel it in at which point he would be very happy. Thursday Tom fed him and he said he was practically diving, mouth open, at the spoonfuls of food. Yesterday was a combo of the two. Here are some pictures from yesterday. As you can see he gets pretty messy, which is why we took a bath directly after meal time was over.



"Nom, nom, nom!"

The frustrating part of the visit was that the doctor basically told me needed to do major work with his sleeping and that we were doing it all wrong. I know she is right but she gives me about 3 minutes worth of advice, which suffice to say, is not enough time or advice for me to feel good about things. I just end up leaving confused, frustrated and feeling like I was leaving with more questions than I came with. So we are on day number 4 of the major Donovan sleep overhaul and it is going very well, but that is for another blog coming soon.

During the fourth month of Donovan's life he decided he needs to see more of the world, so he has said bye bye to lots of mat time, and now prefers to spend most of his awake time being held in a sitting or standing position so he can see things a little better. He still likes his jumper a lot but he loves to sit on your lap, looking out and chewing on his hands. I like it too because he is practicing using those muscles that will help him sit on his own soon. He also has perfected the cutest trick when he looks in the mirror. We call it "handsome man". What we do is, I hold him facing me, then we go look in the mirror together and I say "Who is that handsome man?" and he smiles reallllllly big and then buries his head in my chest like he is embarrassed. It is adorable and we do it multiple times a day.

He still likes his bath time but chooses to relax during it now as opposed to the major splashing he liked to do last month. He is also reaching for toys more including his favorite toys, which are his burp cloths. He just loves to chew on them. As far as eating goes, he is still eating about every 2-3 1/2 hours during the day, but that is ok with me if we start to stretch out our nighttime feedings. He has also decided that he hates binkies. Whenever you try to put one in his mouth he gets mad and yells at you. It is like he is so offended that you would even try to pass off the binky as the real thing.

I say it every month, but every minute that goes by I just love Donovan more and more and he gets more and more fun! He has such the cute, flirty personality that I am totally in love with. I am so lucky to be his mommy!

Friends

This past Saturday we got together with some friends and had another wonderful day hanging out in South City. We had walked to a deli for lunch, and then walked to a nearby park to hang out and enjoy the beautiful weather. All in all a good day.
Donovan's friend Ian getting a "ride" from Malinda (Aubrey's mommy).

Donovan checking out Ian and Malinda while doing some tummy time on the blanket.

My two cardinals fans.

Matt and his daughter Aubrey (10 months), John and Ian (almost 4 months) and Tom and Donovan (exactly 4 months). Matt, John and Tom were all roommates in college. I wonder if they pictured their lives like this when they graduated 7 years ago.

This is Donovan standing, a favorite past-time of his and how he prefers to be nowadays.

Who wants to stand? Donovan: "I do, I do!"

After our day outside we came home and let Donovan have some jumper time. He was talking and jumping for a while, then all the sudden he wasn't. Tom was like, "Is he sleeping?" I thought "no way." Tom was right.

I don't know how this was comfortable. Too funny.

Birthday night

Tonight Tom and I went to dinner to celebrate my birthday and our friends Lindsay and Eric, otherwise known as Landon's parents, were nice enough to watch Donovan for us. They also happened to send us some pictures they were able to snap during the night and it looked like the boys had a great time! Donovan was crying when we got there, but they assured us that other than the last 10 min, he was a happy boy and was not too much trouble. They could have been lying through their teeth, but if they were I don't care, we appreciate the thought that he did well. Thanks for watching our little man guys!
Landon's daddy and Donovan.
"Hey Donovan, look at these! They are called feet and their great!"
Besties.
A new favorite picture of Donovan. Thanks Lindsay!

Frog towel

Nothing to see here, just a frog getting dried off after his bath.


Froggy checking himself out in the mirror.


Cutest frog ever.


Frog and his mommy. (Do these things come in adult sizes? If so, I would like one)

4 months old

Happy 4 month birthday Donovan! Look at this duder, he is so big!



I will write about Donovan's 4 month development after we go to our 4 month doctor's appointment as I am exhausted and need to go to bed for work tomorrow. Also I want to post some cute pictures from today. So stay tuned for a long post mid-week on Donovan's stats and development.

Baby Bjorn with dad

Donovan's first trip to the zoo

Sunday we had intended to go to Tom's brother's house for more swimming but the forecast called for lots of rain so we decided to hit the zoo instead while it was still relatively nice outside. The day started out warm, with drizzles, which was fine. But then Tom and I had to go complaining about the drizzles and mother nature let us have it by taking all the clouds away and giving us a hot, windless day. Needless to say that we didn't spend as much time at the zoo as we had intended on. Donovan stayed awake enough to people watch through the "River's Edge" area of the zoo ("Animals? What are those? I gots people to look at") and then he promptly slept through the rest of the trip until Tom and I got a funnel cake at which time he woke up crying. I think he was just lecturing us on the perils of eating a funnel cake when we are both trying to eat healthier and lose weight. He is so wise.

Dono and I in front of the elephants. Excuse the haze, it was raining and it is St Louis for pete's sake. (Humidity = 138%)

Us again.

Donovan not impressed with his first zoo trip. Note he did wear a monkey onesie for the occasion though.

Last Saturday

This past Saturday we took Donovan to Jenna's apartment pool so we could test out this cool floatie that I got for him. I took Donovan to the pool once before but they wouldn't let you bring floaties so I had to hold him the whole time so he was just ok with the whole experience. This time he loved it! At first he just laid in the floatie, all maxed and relaxed. After about 30 min of this we helped him sit up in it, (I thought he would sit in it like he does in the jumper but it turns out he is still a little too little, turns out he isn't quite the "9 months" the float package thinks he should be) and he just loved it even more! He was kicking, and slapping his arms. He even tried to eat/chew on the floatie but ended up inhaling some water, which he did NOT like. Overall, it was a success! I can't wait to do it again.

Donovan getting ready with Jenna and Tom. I call his swim shirt "Ba-ba-ba-baaaaahhhd to the bone"

♪"Fat man in a little float"♪ (for all you Chris Farley fans)


This picture is titled "Jaba".

Me and Jen posing with the stud muffin.

Talking in the jumper

This is some video from the 14th of Donovan talking in the jumper to his daddy. I think they were comparing their days.