Update

I have wanted to update and wanted to update and alas, I cannot seem to find time to upload pictures lately, so I'm just going to give you some words and pictures can come later.

Since I last posted, we had some wonderful friends and family come into town (Veretts and Mary); Atticus had his 4 month appointment; I started back to work; Atticus started daycare; Atticus got his first cold; we went to Sanger for my 10 year high school reunion; and we bought a new truck for Vic. Whew. Let me go into a few quick details.

First of all, Atticus is doing really good and growing and changing very quickly. At his 4 month appt, he was 15 lbs. 12 oz and 25 1/2 inches long--in the 75th percentile. At 4 1/2 months, he can roll over very easily from back to front and occasionally from front to back; he can push himself up with his front arms and hold his head up really well while on his tummy; he is playing with toys more now--such as grabbing onto and holding Sophie, his stuffed horses, his "ipod", rattles, his taggy, his caterpillar and still playing with the toys that hang from his rocker; everything goes into his mouth...even your finger if he happens to be playing with it! He is also just now starting to grab his toes. He is playing in a bouncy seat we borrowed from our friends, the Wagners, and loving it! He talks a lot when he is in a great mood and just coos and grins and stares at us for a long time when we have him on his changing table or play with him on the floor. He has been holding his hands up in the air just randomly. And I think he even started to reach out for us this weekend, but it could have just been wishful thinking...I'll keep you posted on that one. He loves to have you hold him up so he is standing tall on his little chunky legs. He is grabbing onto the bottle when he takes it (we are still nursing of course, but he gets a bottle at daycare and Vic noticed this habit when he had to give him a bottle when I worked late one day). He is good in church, but a little noisier than he used to be.

I think he really enjoys daycare; he can be exhausted sometimes when he gets home...so many things to look at and do. I wish I could just sit and watch how he interacts and plays one day without him being around me. I'm so curious. I am very happy with our daycare and hope we continue to be happy. His teachers are just so kind and I feel like they love him, which was the hardest part for me when taking him. I just wanted someone to love him and hold him and take care of him like he was their own. And, I feel like that is what we are getting. He doesn't cry when I drop him off and I feel like he has good days there. I am just so thankful for the people at the WEE School.

He is getting a bigger personality everyday. I love love love the way he looks at us and stares into our eyes or looks around. And his grin just lights up our days. He is at that "put on your hip" stage. I can carry him around and he holds himself up and balances. While I am still cautious and nervous he is just going to flip over backwards sometimes when he gets to moving, I am just so impressed by how strong he is.

He is still eating well, but now starting to want up in the middle of the night at least once, if not also really early for a 2nd time (4:30 or 5:00 ish) to eat again. We are trying to figure out what happened to our 10 hour a night sleeping baby. Partly, he is turning himself over on his stomach. Sometimes when he does that, he stirs and then goes right back to sleep. Other times (most times), he wakes up unhappy. Then that leads to wondering if he is unhappy that he can't turn back over easily yet or unhappy because he is hungry or unhappy because he is stopped up. Either way, it usually means one of us is up to clear his nose and then feed him and put him back down. Even that has taken some time lately; he flips right back to his tummy and then cries some more until we can get him back to sleep. Last night, when he woke up at 1:00 am, I just crawled on the couch, nursed him until he fell asleep and then laid him right beside me to sleep the rest of the night. He slept until 5:45 am when he got hungry again, but I needed a good night of sleep to start the week, and I decided that was the best way to get it last night. Tonight I'll go back to putting him in his bed to sleep after his late night snack....

I am also looking forward to starting rice cereal at 5 months; our pediatrician said to start him then, after he has had a month in daycare. I am hoping that if he is waking up because he is hungry, then this will help satisfy his little tummy longer and let him sleep more in the night. The other bad thing about nursing at night is that I lose a bottle of milk. I typically pump once in the middle of the night to get an extra bottle. But, if he wakes up to eat, then I lose that pumping...good thing we have quite a bit saved in the freezer!

Oh and Atticus got his first cold. 2 days into daycare and he was sick. The good news is that the doctor told us it was just a virus and it would pass. So, after a couple of rough nights, he actually started sounding better and breathing better to the point where he could sleep in his bed and not propped up on me or Vic for the night. (however, I did love that part - he was so snuggly!!). The bad news is that he still has a constant stopped up nose. It seems to be worse at night. So, a call has gone into the pediatrician today just to make sure we are still doing what we need to do. At least he has not had a fever at all or even felt bad after those first couple of days!

I know there are more things to post about Atticus and definitely some pictures to show off, but for now, those are my updates.

Oh, about Vic's truck...he got one! It's a pretty 4 door, 1/2 ton, Texas Edition Chevy. He got it this weekend. His old one was just costing more to fix than a new one's payment would be. I mean, it was 14 years old - his dad's to begin with. So, while sad to see it go, he is pretty proud of this new truck!! It's red and he is still finding a name for it. I forget about naming vehicles. I have never named one of mine. When he started talking about what to name "her", I asked what my traverse's name was. He said "mom-mobile". Nice. He gets something fun like "Red Betty" or "Ruby" and I get "mom-mobile". Actually, I'll take it - because I love being a mommy.