The Lang Family: Reed is Four Months Old!

Yesterday, August 11, marked Reed's 4-month birthday! This last month has been a lot of fun. We've traveled to California and Florida to spend time with both the Sherwin/Richardson and Lang/Weisberg families, and we've watched Reed learn all sorts of new tricks. Propping, grabbing, reaching, holding, laughing . . . he's such a different little boy than he was just four months ago!

On another note, this week has been a little bittersweet for me, as it was my last week of maternity leave. I head back to work at American University on Monday and my heart breaks every time I think about leaving sweet Reed. The last four months with him have been a precious gift, and I'm so grateful that my wonderful husband supported my taking as much time as I did. While I wish the stay-at-home mom thing could be a full-time gig, I'm glad that Reed will soon have more interaction with other children and will learn to trust and love other adults besides Jeff and me. Even so, Monday is going to be rough! I'm not sure how much I'm going to accomplish at work, as I know my heart will be with Reed over at Ivy League Daycare.

But I digress . . . Below are all of the things we want to remember about Reed at four months, as well as a few pictures of our fella.

He's still a big boy! At his four-month appointment, he weighed in at 17.3 pounds (88th percentile) and measured 26 inches (85th percentile). He's wearing mostly 6- and 6-9 month clothes, with a few 3-month size pants thrown in the mix.
He takes around a 7 ounce bottle of milk each morning from Daddy. No solids yet, just breastmilk.
At the beginning of this month, Reed began sleeping for 10 hours a night, from around 8:00 p.m. to 6:30 a.m. Needless to say, Jeff and I are in heaven!
While his naps have been spotty this past week, his usual pattern is a long nap (2+ hours) in the morning, followed by two shorter naps (45 minutes to an hour) in the late morning and late afternoon. Depending on how much he has slept during the day, sometimes he'll take a little catnap in his swing in the early evening.
Reed is already racking up the frequent flyer miles! He's flown to California and Florida and was an angel baby on all four flights.
He got to meet his Nana and Papa Richardson, the Sherwin aunts, uncles, and cousins, and Great-Grandpa Eli and Aunt Helaine.
Reed is already showing promising signs of being a water baby like his mommy and daddy. He enjoyed the pool in both CA and FL, kicking his legs behind him when on his tummy.
He is slowly but surely getting weaned from the swaddle blanket. Last week he got used to one arm out and last night he had both arms out. So far, so good!
Reed's eyes are currently dark blue on the outside and hazel on the inside. I'm betting on hazel eyes in the end, but brown is a possibility too!
He likes to bring both hands out in front of himself to grasp objects.
When we carry him, Reed now often holds onto us.
When I hold Reed in front of a mirror, he is delighted and grins and laughs at that handsome little guy in the mirror, but then gets shy and buries his head in my neck.
His new favorite song is the Hokey Pokey, but only when we move his body parts along with the lyrics!
During tummy time, Reed now likes to prop himself up on his elbows.
He likes to hold toys (current favorites are Sophie and his bumble bee) and his pacifier. He's great at taking the paci out of his mouth, but currently only so-so at putting it back in.
Reed figured out how to pull at the toys hanging from his activity mat and likes to pull at them over and over again.
He is starting to turn toward the sound of our voices.
Reed is a little more distractable during nursing these days. He'll often pull off to babble and/or suck on his hands. Sometimes he likes to flirt with Mommy too.
He often giggles when we take his onesies off.