Max: 4 Months update

Our little chubby bubba turned 4 months old on the 30th April, but we were away for a while, so this update is late! It's strange how the first time the first 7 months felt like an eternity, and the second time these first 4 months just flew by.

Height: not sure, he is too wiggly to measure
Weight: 6.7kg

He is now doing the following:

• constantly rolling from side to side
• occasionally rolled from tummy to back and a couple of times from back to tummy
• sucks hands ALL the time, now that he has found both of his hands, he attempts to stick both hands into the mouth at the same time and make very loud sucking noises
• laughs out loud a lot and smiling whenever anyone is paying him attention, such a happy baby.
• when on the tummy, lifts his head and chest 90 degrees to the floor
• able to sit with minimum back support
• loves to stand with a little support
• has a stable routine, eating every 2 to 4 hours during the day, and every 4 to 6 hours at night
• twiddles both hands together and "counts" his fingers
• kicks and bats at toys
• getting louder and louder and makes many different sounds
• his head doesn't wobble at all when sitting or standing, and his head doesn't fall backwards when we pull him up to sitting
• able to hold and shake rattles
• recognises and follows my voice and footsteps around the room
• gets very cranky if left lying flat for too long, he likes to be able to see what's going on in the rooms.
• Blows raspberries and dribbles a lot
• Smacks his lips to make loud smacking noise
• squeals

The 2 kids finally syncronised their midday nap, so I get a couple of hours to myself each day, it is wonderful to get some housework done or just to take a bit of a rest.

He runs very warm! We were down in Albury for a week last week. I had to wear 3 layers of clothes, and had 4 layers of blankets/doonas at night. He only wore a short sleeve onesie and a long sleeve onesie, wrapped, and covered with a single bedsheet, and he still got sweaty sometimes! He hates his little feet getting too warm.

Our routines are getting much better now and it no longer feels like a struggle with the 2 kids. :)

We traveled to Albury to visit the grandparents, and Max traveled very well on the long car ride, rarely cried at all. The trip back to Sydney, he just slept through it all, waking to eat whenever we stopped to rest. He also slept pretty well and stuck with his routine more or less while we were there. It was a great trip. :)

We can no longer leave him in his pram, change table, or rocker without strapping him in properly. When we went to dinner last week, he actually wiggled his way out of the pram and landed on the floor!! He was fully wrapped too... Such a little Houdini.

Kaitlyn, 2 year 2 months update

Weight: 10.4kgs
Height: 87cm

This month passed a lot slower than usual, mainly because everyone in the household has been sick on and off. I was sick with flu and mastitis for over a week. Kaitlyn had the runny nose for a few weeks but didn't seem to bother her, until last week, she woke up one morning after childcare day with a fever. Then for 3 days, she refuses to eat or drink anything. Also, it was quite a task to get any meds into her. Poor girl must had very sore throat and couldn't swollow anything. The doc gave her antibiotics saying that she had secondary infection in the throat and chest while still getting over a cold/flu. The one "good" thing about her being sick though, is that she became very cuddly. It was nice to just sit around and cuddle up to my little girl. Usually, she's always running around all over the house and wouldn't sit still.

She had the swine flu vaccindation a couple of weeks before she got the cold, and she didn't have any reactions at all. She was very brave at the doctors and only cried for a few seconds each time (there were 2 shots).

She also had her 2 years check up at the peadiatrician's. She's growing very well, ahead on most development milestones. She is on 50% on height and head circumference, but only 3% on weight. Doc still thinks she's ok being so skinny, so I try not to worry too much. She still walks on tip toes a lot, so the doc asks us to put shoes on her most of the time and correct her whenever we see her walk on tip toes. He checked her over and said he didn't see any neurological or physical reasons for her to be walking on tip toes all the time, so it's probably just habit for her. If she continues to walk this way in 6 months, we need to go back for another check. Otherwise, the next Peadiatrician checkup will be at 4 years old, before she starts school.

She is adjusting very well at childcare now. She is eager to go every Monday and Tuesday and last week, she didn't even cry when we left. She was sick this Monday and Tuesday but she asked us to take her to childcare to play and we had to try to explain that she is sick and can't go. She looked disappointed. She has made a little friend there too.

We can now have simple conversations with her! I think it's rather cool to find out all the wonderful, funny, silly things that little mind of her is thinking.

She loves to sing and dance, and loves to do the hand/feet actions when we sing nursery rhymes. Although, sometimes it gets a little annoying for me when she insists that we sing "I am a little tea pot" or "incy wincy spider" for the m'th time...

What else... mmm... can't think of anything much at this particular moment (too early in the morning LOL). Will post another time when things come to mind.