Tyson - April 2012 - 4 Months

I forgot how much fun this stage is - the 4 months stage.  You are still mostly content to chill on your back and stare up at the world, your favorite thing to do is grab your toes or chew on your hands, which are both available to you nearly 24/7 (unless you are swaddled), and just about any goofy thing any of us does can get you to laugh.  It's a fun time at the Veater house.  I'm not even going to mention some of the upcoming milestones that may not be so fun (one starts with "T" and ends with "eething") because I am just going to enjoy THIS. RIGHT. HERE.  (Right as I typed those words you started to wake up from your nap.  Good timing!  I put the binky in and turned on your mobile to see if I can't buy a few more minutes to get this written...)

You had your first Easter, and the weekend before we got to go to Grandma and Grandpa Hillier's house to spend a night or two.  It was your first sleepover, and you did really well!  You actually slept from around 8 or 9 until 4 a.m., which is pretty darn good bud!  We had a good time watching conference (although we didn't actually  hear much of it), hanging out, and eating good food with Aunt Lisa and Uncle Joe while we were there.  Dad left for a detail a few days before, so you and I and the big kids stayed an extra night because we were having too much fun to go home.


The next weekend we went to the Pollock Easter out at Kodachrome.  Of course you were too young to enjoy it to its fullest, but you did spend lots of time being cuddled by Aunt Linda, Aunt Bre, Aunt Linda Grandma Veater, and Aunt Linda.  The other women in the Barnhurst family weren't very happy with Aunt Linda when it was time to leave because she had definitely hogged you all to herself!  On a rare break from Aunt Linda Grandpa got to hold you and I snapped this picture when he thought I was done taking pictures. I sent it to your dad who wrote back and said how alike he thought the two of you looked.  I have to agree!

We've gotten into a pretty good eat/happy & awake/sleep routine and one of the times you are awake is when I am getting lunch ready for the older kids before Logan goes to school, so I usually put you in your swing, turn up some music, and dance while I make sandwhiches or mac & cheese.  You are especially fond of the dance Logan, Tess, and I do to "Party Rock" by LMFAO (look it up boy, I guarantee it is probably so ingrained in your brain that it will cause you to involuntarily dance as soon as you hear it).  I wanted to get a picture of how big you smile when we dance, and this is the best I could do since I was dancing adn moving my phone and you were in the swing...swinging.  Most of the others are blurry, but you can definitely tell how much you enjoy our smooth moves.

Aunt Lisa calls this your "Blue Steel" look.  You've gotten into this cute little habit of sucking on your lip.  It's adorable.  You also LOVE to chew on your hands, so much so that they are actually chapped from all the slobber that ends up on them.  In the past week or so you've also decided that grabbing onto your toes and subsequently rolling from side to side is pretty fun too.

The night dad got home I put you to bed around 7 p.m. as usual, but by 8:30ish you were up and NOT interested in going back to bed.  Dad said it was because you had missed him and wanted to hang out with him, so I got you out of bed and granted your wish.  He had you laughing pretty hard.  Even after being gone for 2 weeks you still give him smiles more freely than anyone else I've seen.

The classic "Baby in Sunglasses" picture.  Just to be clear - these are your dad's sunglasses that I started wearing when I lost my smaller ones.  I realize that they probably look SO out of style by the time you read this or maybe it will have been so long by then that big glasses are back in style.  At any rate, putting them on you and taking a picture had to be done.  Wait until you ahve kids, I guarantee you do it too.

The big kids are starting to like holding you a little bit more since you are less breakable and don't just lay there on their laps rendering them unable to move.  The problem for Tess is that you are more than half her size at this point.  You go to the doc next week so I will make sure I put your stats up, but I wouldn't be surprised if you are getting right up there at least in the weight department.  Sometimes at night when I pick you up to feed you the weight of you surprises me, and I'm certain that you have grown and gained weight since the last time I put you down.

Update 5/3/12 - So your stats have flip flopped a little from last time.  Your weight was 14 pounds 4 ounces, which is 50th percentile, but your height is up to 26 inches long, which is the 90th percentile!  Your dad thought you might be a little on the short side, but if you keep up the way you are now you might be a bean pole instead!

Come ON kid, save some adorable for the other babies!

You can't decide if you like your Bumbo chair yet or not.  Your legs already get stuck in it though chubby.  

You got to meet Smokey at Kanab's earth day shindig.  You had refused to take your naps all day and were a miserable, awful beast by this point - hence the zombie look on your face.   You were kind of cuddly though as we walked around, which was a plus since you still have yet to decide that it is okay to put your head on mom's shoulder and snuggle EVER.  Get used to hanging out with Smokey, he's one of dad's bestest friends.

This is later on after we got home from earth day sporting your North Zone fire shirt.  You look happy but you were SOOO not.

You still love your baths though!  I was scrubbing your hair and got a huge smile.  Then I dried you off and got a huge smile.  Then I put the lotion on and got a huge smile.  

And one last one just because.  Yes that's a pink blanket, but it is thinner than your blue silky one and you are so touchy-feely lately that you like the silky blankets up near your face to fall asleep.  The white blanket is the one I have to wrap around you as tight as you can so you can fall asleep.  Most of the time I have to do this 2-3 times before you fall asleep because you are THAT determined to get your hands to your face and pull your binky out.  When I come in to get you after you wake up from a nap you have usually gotten to about this point where your hands have gotten free and you are waving them around all over.  You've rolled over a time or two in both directions but aren't that consistent yet, which I am okay with.  You don't need to rush through these milestones at warp speed just to keep up with the other two I promise.

You are such a fun little guy.  You sleep pretty good for the most part.  You go down to sleep easy.  You eat good.  You laugh.  You like the way I dance.  You only poop once a week (really!).  Really my only complaint is the same as last month - and that is the lack of cuddling.  Help a mama out buddy!  Considering all the other good things you do I guess I will take the lack of cuddling.  We sure love you buddy and, as always, I'm excited to see what new tricks you've picked up when I write this letter next month.

Love you Ty (Moose didn't really stick...),
Mom