Ethan is 4 months old

He's just beginning to spend some time in the Bumbo

It truly feels like Ethan has always been a part of our family and it's hard to believe that he is only 4 months old. Some of that probably has to do with his sheer size, he's definitely big for his age and is wearing 6-12 month clothing. We noticed a lot of change in him over the holidays. Even during the short time of a week spent in Revelstoke, Josh and I could see differences in him. I still remember the days of trying to get the gas out of him. All the time we spent burping and farting him!! I'm happy to report that those days are behind us now. I've just noticed that I don't use as many receiving blankets/burp cloths now, though I think I'll soon be replacing them with bibs as he seems to be drooling more now.

Some tummy time at Oma and Opa's

The biggest development is in his sleep. For the last 4 months, he's basically slept in a bouncy chair. We found that he had difficulty breathing while laying on his back because his nose would get stuffed up. Since he slept all the time, he's always needed the bouncy chair. We also found that he slept better with the vibrating function on and we've used many batteries in the 'ol chair to keep the vibration going. It's funny because in order to sleep he needed to be swaddled, in a darker, quiet room, in the bouncy chair with the vibration on. With Maddy at that age, she just fell asleep whenever she was sleepy! Anyway, while in Revelstoke we found out, by accident, that he no longer needed the vibration (actually the battery ran out and didn't get a chance to replace it). Then after we got home, I tried to just have him sleep on his back for naps and found that he stays asleep for longer on his back now! Yippeee! Our last hurdle is the swaddle, but I'm happy enough with things now and the swaddle can wait until he has more control of his arms.

Other developments are his beautiful smiles. He's also beginning to give a little giggle here and there. He loves to coo and talk to you in order to see what you'll do. He often does this while nursing so I sometimes have the sit there and ignore the cooing. He can also stand with support and seems to prefer standing up to sitting. If you hold his arms, he can push his legs up to a standing position, it looks like he's doing baby squats. He doesn't yet have full control of his hands but he does like to sit and play with a toy now. We've found that with Ethan, everything is in the timing. We can put him down awake and he'll go to sleep on his own as long as we put him down as soon as he shows some tired signs. The same is with eating. He doesn't go on to nurse if you have him wait too long after he shows he's hungry.

He looks even bigger when he's in his carseat. He won't be there for much longer!

Ethan, you're doing a great job and we're so proud of you. We love you so much, happy 4 months birthday! xoxo