Peregrine at Four Months

GROWTH
We haven't had his official weigh-in yet, but Peregrine is bursting at the seams. He's fitting into 9m sleepers and 6m onesies. Even though his cheeks are absolutely squishy and delicious, and he has some baby-chub, he's not super chubby. He doesn't fill out some of his wider onesies. Either way, he's doing great and growing just the way he is supposed to.

SLEEP
Day Sleep: After experiencing the usual naptime bumps in the road, I started swaddling Peregrine before naps. He was livid the first time I did it. He cried for 40 minutes. But I held him, sang to him, and rocked him in my arms the entire time until he finally conked out. He slept for a good 1.5h. Whew. Since then he has adjusted to our new routine. I swaddle him, hold, rock, and sing to him until he falls asleep. He usually still cries for 3-5 minutes, but I'm holding him the whole time comforting him. For awhile I could count on a 40-minute nap from him, but for the past several weeks he's been going longer depending on the time of day. Lately I can count on a 1.5h nap in the morning, a 45-minute nap midday, and a 2.5h nap in the afternoon. While I try not to nurse him to sleep every time I put him down, it has become a pattern for the last nap of the day as the extra feed seems to fuel him for that long nap. It helps tremendously because then I can help the older boys with their homework, read a little to Griffin, and generally clean up and make dinner. I like this schedule and I suspect I can keep it up for at least another month or two until he's ready to drop the third nap.

Night Sleep: As expected, night sleep has changed, too. Peregrine was sleeping beautifully for two months, but when day sleep changed, so did night sleep. I suspect the change is associated with a motor skills milestone. He is now able to grasp and hold things, and I think his brain started practicing in his sleep, and thus waking him up. After two nights of waking every two to three hours, I gave night swaddling a try. Cha-ching! Once again he hates it, but at night I nurse him to sleep which makes it a little less painful, and he'll sleep gloriously with only one waking–if that. Putting him down does take some time because he typically wakes in his light sleep cycle about 45-minutes after falling asleep, but as long as I'm patient I can wait it out and put him down for good after he makes into another deep sleep cycle. Last night he woke at 3am, but the two previous nights he didn't wake at all and I ended up getting him up after getting dressed and ready for the day around 6:30a. Hopefully this continues..

One thing worth noting is that when Peregrine wakes he typically has one or both arms either up by his face or out of the swaddle. I'm hoping I won't need to swaddle him anymore in another month or two. I know that we went through this with Griffin, so I'm not stressing. :)

BREASTFEEDING
Peregrine continues to be a nursing champ. He eats every 2.5-4h during the day and once or less at night. All the other boys started cereal around 4.5m or 5m, but I don't really feel like I'm in a hurry with Peregrine. He doesn't seem especially interested the food that we're eating yet, although he does enjoy sitting on Dan or my lap at dinner and hanging out with us while we eat.

Pictures of Peregrine and me usually have to be selfies ;)

Climbing family! (Auggie was happily spending some solo time playing down in the ravine)

Climbing naptime

MOTOR SKILLS
Grasping is in the bag! Peregrine can reach for and hold toys. It's so nice because he's teething up a storm and loves to chew on toys.

Peregrine is also significantly better at tummy time and will even hang out solo on his tummy looking at toys or books placed in front of him. He seems genuinely interested in his surroundings no matter what they are.

Peregrine rolled from his back to his tummy twice! And he pivots around! One of the rolls was in the big boys' room while I was brushing my teeth in the morning. They were so excited to tell me the news that somehow he was on his tummy when I came back in. Peregrine has three devoted cheerleaders. So far the rolling is not a regular occurrence but that's definitely on the horizon.

TALKING
With a captive audience, Peregrine has so much to say. He coos and ahhs and yeahs. He giggles and laughs, and is such a sweet baby to spend time interacting with.

FUSSING
There's fussing, too. Yesterday Peregrine just couldn't seem to get happy. Maybe it was due to a growth spurt or teething? It's hard to say what was causing the fussiness, but it brought back memories of the older boys being fussy and miserable for months on end while they teethed. Uggh. Ah well. Thankfully he hasn't been fussy today.

A DAY IN THE LIFE
A typical day for Peregrine involves being dressed and nursed before taking his brothers to school. Lately Peregrine hasn't been falling asleep in the car which is great! This morning I was even able to go to the grocery school after drop-off and still get him home awake. He goes down for his nap about 1.5h after waking and sleeps about 1.5h. After that he's awake and we eat, play, read, do laundry, and generally hang out with Griffin. His next nap starts about 2 hours after he last woke. Lately he's sleeps for 45m, then we eat and play a little until it's time to jump in the car with Griffin and go pick up Auggie and Eland. Peregrine doesn't love the car and usually cries for at least part of our drive to and fro. Auggie and Griffin help keep him awake on the way home. He hangs out for a little while longer, and then I nurse him down for his afternoon nap. He'll sleep for 2-2.5h, nurse, hang out while we eat dinner, and then most evenings we go for a walk as a family. Bedtime starts around 8pm after I get a chance to shower. I change him in to his PJs in Dan and my room. Then I nurse him in bed while we watch a movie or TV show on Netflix. This usually includes that waking after 45m of sleep. Then it's bedtime for Peregrine in his own room and hopefully no night waking.

Pretty soon our summer dinner table will have four shirtless stud muffins in attendance

SPEAKING OF BEDROOMS..
We played musical bedrooms this month! I found that I was becoming paranoid every time I rolled over in bed that I was going to wake Peregrine. Yikes, not an awesome way to sleep. So I cleared out my closet and Peregrine joined the ranks of many kids of dear friends of ours who have slept in their parents' closet. It's just what you have to do sometimes! It wasn't a moment too soon because that first night of having Peregrine in the closet, Auggie came into our room around 11pm saying that he had just thrown up in the hallway. EEwww.. Yup. So the timing was good in that we could move around and help Auggie without waking Peregrine. He did wake up eventually–and cry–but it was okay.

However, the next night it rained and we have a skylight in our bathroom. Rain on the skylight is LOUD. Once again I was completely awake with paranoia that Peregrine was also going to wake. Thankfully maybe a whopping thirty raindrops fell, lol, so it didn't actually wake him, but it did help me realize that maybe the closet wasn't going to work after all. Plus Dan showering at night after climbing and both of us getting up in the morning to get dressed didn't work out so well with a baby in the closet.

The next night we moved Griffin into Auggie and Eland's room and Peregrine into Griffin's room. It was a lot earlier than I had expected–we waited 5.5m to move Griffin into his own room–but I will say that this was simply the right time. Part of me is a little melancholy over the move because this means we'll never have a baby sleeping in our room again, but that part of me is very small. The vast majority of me is ready, ready, ready because I sleep so much better with Peregrine in his own room. And while Griffin is now in a too-small Pack-n-play with a stool next to it so he can get in and out, he is so thrilled to share a room with his older brothers that he doesn't get out of bed. He loves it! And the silver lining of an already silver cloud is that now because Griffin is waking too early and going to bed too late with his brothers, he naps at the same time as Peregrine! Mommy SCORE! (I really hadn't anticipated that part, but it's been really good on so many levels.)

Grif in his "Big Boy Bed" aka too-small Pack-n-play

I have yet to move Griffin's clothes somewhere (but where?) and put Peregrine's clothes into his new room. Along with so many other things that need to get done..

HEY GOOD LOOKIN'
Peregrine's eyes continue to be heading in the brown direction as well as his hair. And his smile is made of rainbows and unicorns. This baby smile is so big it fills his whole face. I LOVE IT!!

SELF-SOOTHING
So far, Peregrine continues to not be a finger-sucker. This has its pluses and minuses, but what can I do? I guess we wait.

I guess he did fall asleep once sucking his fingers, but this was before I had to start swaddling him–maybe and indication of finger-sucking to come??

IMMUNIZATIONS & ILLNESS
As I mentioned before, Peregrine was super fussy yesterday. I am thankful that his 4-month visit with our pediatrician isn't scheduled until next week. I'm sure if he had had shots already I would have attributed this fussiness to the shots. He'll get his second DTaP shot next Tuesday, October 17.

Illness has not stayed away from our house this month. We had the slowest moving stomach bug that you can imagine. It was a long and painful two weeks. First Auggie went down on a Monday night, then Griffin got it Wednesday afternoon. Thankfully I was able to read the signs and had towels and blankets ready, but Grif puked 20m before we had to leave to pick up the big boys from school. Oh the excitement. Sunday morning I threw up. Dan felt a little nausea at some point in there. Eland threw up in bed the following Tuesday or Wednesday, and then Dan got a 24-hour flu with a fever on Sunday nearly two weeks after it all started. Thank the Lord Peregrine didn't get sick at all. Whew. That was rough.

BROTHERS
Peregrine's big brothers love him so very much. Auggie helps keep him awake in the car on the way home from school by talking to him and playing with him. Eland loves jumping in front of him and getting up in his face being silly–and gets lots of laughs. Griffin loves his baby brother, too, but I have heard him once or twice telling him to be quiet when he was crying. Hehe.

Auggie with Peregrine in the Fisher Price Sit Me Up chair. Auggie built it for him, but I ended up returning it after Peregrine didn't care much for it. I was kind of hoping it would be a miracle device so that I could put Peregrine down more easily while making dinner, etc. Ah well, that problem solved itself with these afternoon naps.

Brother cuddles!

I talk to Griffin about how he was once a baby and now he's old enough to play, ride a bike, and do lots of things. I tell him that soon Peregrine will be old enough to play cars and trucks with Griffin and be his best friend. It's so cute to watch Griffin process this idea and have an understanding that Peregrine is his best buddy in the making.

Peregrine and his future BFF Graham :)

MONTHLY NOTES
10.05 - After two nights of awful sleep I decided to swaddle Peregrine for a night to see if it would help. Last night he woke up once around 3a, and tonight I'm up once with him at 4a. Thank God for swaddling! He must be learning so much arm and hand control right now that he just can't stop even in his sleep. I remember having to swaddle Griffin at this age.

Peregrine is really getting the hang of things during the day. He seems to know our routine and is fairly easy about going with the flow. Yesterday I timed a quick trip to Hobby Lobby in the middle of two naps. And I faced him out in the baby carrier for the first time. He did start fussing eventually, but I think he enjoyed being able to see everything at the store.

7:11am - Peregrine rolled over! From his back to his belly! First time!!!! So exciting. :)

10.03 - All I can say is that either the 4-month growth spurt is upon us, or Peregrine is nearing a milestone and can't hold his hands still. Could be both. His sleep has been downright rotten and I'm exhausted. Last night he ate at 8:30p, 9:30p, 11p, 3a, and 5a. Tonight it's been 8:10p, 9p, 12a, and now 3a as I write. At least I've made 5h of sleep already--which was cumulative for last night. Ouch.

Peregrine honestly doesn't seeeeeem that tired, so I suspect this is the infamous four-month sleep regression that I've been dreading.

In other news, he's still a peach during the day, smiling all the time and loving any kind of eye contact. He likes to sit up and watch what's going on around him. He's also getting much stronger and can handle tummy time with his head lifted more. It's not awesome yet, but he's definitely getting the hang of it more and more.

Peregrine can grasp beautifully now and bring objects to his mouth. He really loves crinkling his soft book in the car seat, and he enjoys the challenge of one object at a time.

09.29 - Peregrine just rolled from his tummy to his back. Lol. We're in trouble with tummy time now! I accidentally helped him by holding a toy in a way that encouraged him. Oops!

09.25 -Well, it was a good thing we moved Peregrine into the closet, because that night (morning) he woke around 5a to eat, and then I threw up and clearly got the stomach bug that's been going around our household. It was a good time to not have him directly next to me.

The stomach bug day was awful. I started drinking tiny sips of water 2.5h after I threw up, but the first sip made me super nauseous--as well as the second an hour after that. I was dehydrated and made very little milk, so Peregrine essentially nursed all day. I nursed him down for every nap because I was too weak to hold and sing to him while he fussed/cried to sleep. It was a seriously rough day. Eventually I could drink fluids and did so aggressively, but I still wasn't ready to eat much. I couldn't eat much until this morning, after which the weakness finally dissipated.

Last night he woke at 12:30a and again at 5:20a to eat. Not sooo bad considering he was probably pretty hungry due to my poor milk supply, but Griffin and Eland also woke during that time so it felt like a rough night. Oh, and it rained for 30 seconds or so, but enough for me to realize that the closet is not going to work. Rain on our skylight makes a tremendous racket and I was wide awake and paranoid that the baby was going to wake as soon as I heard the first drop.

Enter option 2: Griffin moves into Auggie and Eland's room and Peregrine moves into Griffin's room. Griffin is SO EXCITED about this arrangement. He is absolutely thrilled and he nearly lost it when I started talking about him sleeping in his new room but he thought I was talking about his old room. Hehe..

So tonight Peregrine sleeps in a real crib. I'm still nursing him down in bed in Dan and my room. It's too long of a process to bother doing it in Peregrine's new room.

Nap-wise, Peregrine has started taking about one 2-hour nap a day, and I'm able to transfer him from the car to the guest bedroom in his car seat without waking him less and less often--which is not necessarily a bad thing. He goes about 1.5h to 2.5h between naps.

09.23 - Peregrine has been marking some milestones. He napped for yet another great afternoon nap today: 2.5h. (20m of crying swaddled while I sang to him.) I had to wake him up! He also fell asleep this evening sucking his fingers, so apparently the finger sucking is starting to happen. He tried it a little earlier in the evening and seemed to enjoy it, and the lay on my bed after a bath sucking his fingers and then promptly fell asleep--it could have also been the bath.

Tonight Peregrine is joining ranks with plenty of kids of friends of ours by sleeping in my closet. Lol. The co-sleeper fits, I put in a fan for some air circulation, and we'll find out what happens. Last night Auggie came in asking to see the weather radar after being woken by rain. He wanted to know if he needed to expect thunder. Alas, it woke up Peregrine and it took an hour of two nursing sessions to get him back to sleep. And then this morning Griffin woke him before 7a by crying briefly in his room. That said, I'm hoping my closet is quieter and a good place for him for the time being. It's a temporary solution, but it will have to work because I don't think Grif is ready to share a room with Auggie and Eland, and rather than worrying about Peregrine waking him, I think Griffin would wake Peregrine. So the closet it is. It feels a little lonely sitting here in bed nursing Peregrine with the co-sleeper already gone. My sweet baby. I thought we'd have him in our room for at least another month or two. Ah well, he's just on the other side of the wall.

09.22 - Longest guest bdr swaddled nap to date: 2.5h. He still cries going down, but I was impressed and surprised.

07.19 - It's s working! Peregrine cried for well less than 10m at his first nap, and he didn't even cry--just fussed a little--for his second nap. I nursed him to sleep for his third so that doesn't really count, but he's sleeping for 40m at a time which is great. The swaddle is helping tremendously!

In other news, Peregrine's tummy time skills are improving. He's able to hold himself up much better now and seems to even enjoy it just a little.

Have I mentioned Peregrine's awful cry? He has a shriek-scream when he gets really angry. It's awful.

07.18 - Well, it only took 40m of attempted nursing and lots of singing and rocking, but I finally got Peregrine to fall asleep while swaddled. He was absolutely livid and wouldn't even nurse. He HATED being swaddled, so he essentially cried himself to sleep while I held him. It took a loooong time, and I'm hoping he stays asleep. I think if I keep up with it (a) he'll cry less and get used to the routine, and (b) eventually he won't need to be swaddled. Now to see how long he'll nap for. I'm SURE he'll wake up angry. :/ Gotta stay strong. Sweet boy--he was so beautiful once he fell asleep. Peregrine has such gorgeous round cheeks and baby features. It's such a joy to watch him grow into his face.

Update: Peregrine slept for 1h25m!! Woot woot! And he woke up smiling--I didn't ruin my baby! Okay, so he could have slept that long because the 40m of crying really tuckered him out, however, I'm taking this as a win because it means that we can at least get 40m naps using this strategy. Hopefully the amount of time it takes Peregrine to fall asleep will decrease. I have a whole week ahead without any plans, so the current plan is: Teach Peregrine How To Take Naps Properly During The Day. Boom!

Update 2: Peregrine napped swaddled twice since that first go. The second time I had to wake him at 40m to pick up the boys from school, and the third time he slept for about 30m. And it took 10m and then less than 10 respectively to get him down. Seems like this might work!!

Also, I took his "3 month" photos today, lol.

07.17 - Napping in the Pack n Play was a total bust yesterday. Each time I put Peregrine down (twice), he was up within 10m. Arrgh. A little frustrating when he was totally asleep and thus rested enough to stay awake for another hour and a half, but tired enough to be fussy. I think it's his arms flailing that's waking him, so I washed our velcro swaddle sacks today and plan to use them tomorrow. I don't have any plans this week (!) so I'm hoping to attack naps flat on his back for the win. We'll see..

In other news, Peregrine only nursed FIVE times today. Not a lot. But he ate more each time, so I suspect he can just go longer yet again while still maintaining his typical breastmilk consumption. He ate at intervals of roughly four hours.

09.16 - This little guy is up a whole hour or two earlier to eat tonight. Usually it's been 5:45a, then last night was 5a, and now I'm nursing him at 4a. I hope this trend doesn't continue! I honestly don't mind 4a because both Dan and I can continue to sleep a good amount afterwards and there's still a good chunk to start with, but any earlier would be pretty painful. I think I may have woken him up when I rolled over in bed. Hmmm.. But he also must have been ready. Hard to tell.

09.15 - Peregrine isn't totally able to grasp things on purpose, but he's really, really close. Today he held a crinkly fabric book in his hands in his car seat twice and crinkled it purposefully over and over again. He seemed interested in how manipulating the book caused the crinkly sound.

As I've mentioned before, his ability to focus farther than breast-to-mom is developing quickly. He enjoyed being held facing out after school today, watching other adults talk and kids play.

We had a nap fail today. I nursed Peregrine to sleep this morning (just how the timing worked out) and laid him down in the pack n play in the guest bedroom. He was awake within 15m. However, I was loading things into the trunk with a very loud Griffin, so perhaps all the activity in the hallway despite the sound machine was what woke him up. Peregrine eventually slept in the car seat for nearly two hours. It's just how it has to go, much to my chagrin.

Kendra gave me a new playmat for Peregrine and I think he's going to like it much better than the old one. It's a big square with an X of poles across the top that toys can be hung from. Our current playmat has a narrow space to play in with plastic pieces on the sides that don't allow the baby to roll around. This new one really gives Peregrine space to potentially roll and pivot around--and he did just that today. Not rolling all the way over, but he did roll to his side and pivot around while playing. It's pretty fun to observe. I think he really enjoys a chance of pace, too.

He cried tears in one eye again tonight. Now if I could just remember which one!

09.14 - Peregrine cried an actual tear for the first time tonight--or several I suppose. Just in one eye, though, and I can't remember which!

09.13 - It's been harder to put Peregrine down to sleep at night for the last several nights. Even if he looks like he's out cold, he wakes almost immediately and I have to pick him up and nurse him again. I don't entirely mind because I'm essentially topping him off for a better night's sleep, but it also means I'm potentially up a little later than I'd like to be.

09.12 - Peregrine's second vax appt is today at 9:15a: pneumococcal.

This kid is pivoting some more while playing on the floor. He hasn't been rolling onto his side much, but if I can I like to lay next to him to encourage him to roll to his side. He LOVES eye contact and smiles so much when he sees someone looking at him. Peregrine watched Dan walk around the room and can clearly see farther than before now.

09.11 - Peregrine napped for the first in the pack n play in our guest room. He predictably slept for about 40m. And I didn't put him down until he was out cold--but we'll gradually work backwards.