Ewan is 4 months old

The new stats this month are:
Weight: 17 pounds, 87th percentile (two months ago he was 14 pounds, 95th percentile)
Length: 28 inches, 99.7th percentile! (two months ago he was 25.5 inches, 98th percentile)
Head circumference: 17.75 inches, 98th percentile (two months ago it was 16.5 inches, 92nd percentile)
Still growing well!

Ewan's new tricks and favorite activities this month have included:

- Grabbing anything that comes within a six inch radius of his face and trying to put it in his mouth (and getting really frustrated if he can't).

-Rolling over. Ewan is able to roll over from tummy to back when we prop him up on his forearms. When we don't prop him, however, he is more apt to practice his super baby pose, with everything lifting off the floor except his belly, and his arms out to the sides. He rolls easily from his back to his side, and once rolled from tummy to side to back to side, and we thought he might just keep on going. It's only a matter of time.

-Discovering his feet. Last month it was hands; this month it's been feet. He now kicks dangling objects (like in his play gym), and lifts his feet high into the air when lying on his back. He is very close to doing happy baby pose (for you yogis out there), which involves lying on his back and grabbing a foot with each hand (he's managed one foot with one hand so far). One day I also caught him kicking up and admiring his Robeez (shoes) on his feet like he was one of the Sex and the City ladies with a new pair of Manolo Blahniks.

-Playing the bugle. I believe this is technically called "midline play" with his hands, but we think Ewan looks just like he's playing the bugle when he does it. This involves sticking one thumb in his mouth and grasping the thumb of the other hand with the hand that's in his mouth. This other hand has an open palm with his fingers spread wide. To top it all off, he stares cross-eyed at these two hands he's now able to bring together at the center of his body. (We need to just get a photo, huh? We're working on it.)

-Blowing raspberries. I believe this is actually the technical term for this feat, but we also like to call it "making fart noises." This is one of my favorites - so cute, and absolutely hilarious! We're hoping to catch a video of that soon, too.

-Singing. Singing at nap time, singing during nursing, singing upon waking up in his crib at 6 a.m. We think he's a soprano. Or a dolphin.

singing 11/09 from Rebecca Turvy on Vimeo.

- Laughing. We've heard just a few good, genuine laughs in the just the past few days. We can't wait for more!

One of the biggest changes this month has been in the sleep department. Ewan graduated from his swaddle (the aptly named "Miracle Blanket") just after he turned three months. Seeing him sprawled out in his big boy pajamas in his cosleeper without being swaddled like a burrito made us realize how close he was to outgrowing the cosleeper. At the time I didn't even feel close to ready to move him to his crib in an entirely different room, albeit right next door, but we thought doing so when we returned from our New York trip might be a good natural transition. We got to practice when we were in NY, as Ewan slept in a pack-and-play a few feet away from my bed, so I could no longer just reach over and touch him or pull him into the bed. We did fine with that, so I felt a lot more ready when we got back to CA. So, Ewan is now sleeping in his very own crib in his very own room. Not only that, but he has had some record breaking nights. (Actually, record breaking good and record breaking bad.) One night he slept for seven hours straight (the previous record had been six, and that was several weeks prior). Of course I still woke up after he'd been sleeping for six and had to go check and make sure he was still breathing. (He was.) Another night, he woke up a couple times, but Troy was able to soothe him back to sleep without me nursing him, and he went for a whole eight hours without nursing. On the flip side, he still has some bad nights, during which he wakes up as much as a dozen times. We suspect gas is the culprit at these times, but so far we haven't been able to link it to anything I'm eating, and we also haven't found an effective solution. A stuffy/runny nose from his recent cold may have also been partially responsible for a couple of particularly bad nights. Also in terms of sleep, his naps have become a bit more regular and predictable, and it's becoming harder to make it to a lot of our usual activities because they all somehow seem to be during nap time.

Another big change in our lives is my return to work, which officially took place today. Ewan will be in a small home day care around the corner from my work on Wednesdays and Thursdays, and his Nannas will have him on Fridays (I'll still be home Mondays and Tuesdays). I'm really sad about leaving my baby, but think that in the long run, it will be a good thing for all of us. In other crappy news in my life, my hair is falling out. In handfuls. Not cool.

This week, Ewan also met his Papa T (Troy's Dad) for the first time. He's visiting from Ohio for the week, and he is definitely worthy of his own post, so that will be coming soon.

Oh yeah, and all the photos from the month, including more from our NY trip, can be seen here.