Spear Summary of Month 4

This is the first monthly summary post for Spear!

I finished up his weekly summary posts with his 13th week which happened to end on March 1st so this post picks up from there and covers the entire month of March which is his 4th month of life.

He was 3 months old during this month!

Sleep:

Spear kept busting out of his swaddle so I took the leap and bought a Woombie for him.

It worked AWESOME for like the first week before he started dang flipping onto his side…and then…his belly! Once my babies flip to their bellies that means GOODBYE swaddle!

I’m super thankful I bought this woombie because it converts into a sleep sack!

Woke up one morning to him on his belly. I freaked but he was okay and I just immediately dropped the swaddle cold turkey.

Goodbye swaddle…hello sleep sack! So awesome that ONE product is BOTH!

He transitioned from the swaddle without ANY ISSUES. He slept awesome that very first night. No crying. No waking. NO ISSUES at all!

When I weaned Tess from the swaddle I introduced a breathable lovie in hopes that it would help her avoid finger sucking (after Britt I did NOT want to experience fingers again if I could help it!).

She took to her friend super fast and it was AWESOME. I was hoping the same would be true for Spear so I introduced his breathable lovie as well.

I do want to pause here and say that it’s NOT considered safe sleep practices to have ANYTHING in the crib with a baby.

So you have to decide your own comfort level with things like this. I called the company directly and they stood by allowing these friends in the crib and encouraged me to cover my own face with it to test it’s breathability.

This is the one Kye still sleeps with! The brand is Komet Creations.

Sweet boy! Instantly loved his new buddy!

He did find his DANG THUMB this month (more shortly on that) which did NOT surprise me.

He was always sucking it (or the umbilical cord) in the womb so I had a feeling he’d be a thumb baby. Plus I’ve had a paci, a fingers, and a friend kid so I was due for a thumb 😉

Even though he found his thumb, it’s not a constant. I’ve had many IG followers reach out and say not to give up hope on the lovie because he still may take to it over the thumb!

He also still falls asleep sometimes while eating which is just SO SWEET!

Schedule:

Spear started the month on the 3.5 hour schedule. He started to not seem as hungry when he woke up to eat and I realized it was Daylight Savings Time coming and that it would do a number on him anyway so debated going ahead and switching to the 4 hour schedule.

When I realized I had moved Tess to the 4 hour schedule at 14 weeks old…I decided to go for it.

He had NO STRUGGLES at ALL shifting to the 4 hour schedule.

I made the switch on March 11th. He doesn’t always make it for the full 2 hour awake times (Britt never did either) but he sleeps so great at naps and did fine with eating one less feeding too.

His schedule:

645-715: Awake for day. 6 oz bottle

8:45-9:00: down for nap

1045-1115: Up from nap, 6 oz bottle

12:45-1:00: down for nap

2:45-3:15: Up from nap, 6 oz breastmilk

4:30-4:45: down for nap (this is his best nap of the day which is SO RANDOM)

6:45-7:15: up from nap, bath, 8 oz bottle then straight to bed for night

We had some feeding struggles this month but by the end of the month he was eating quicker (30 min or less) and handling those 90 min to two hour awake times with little to no issues. Life is SO AMAZING on the 4 hour schedule!

Feeding:

His feeding issues from the 13 week summary continued into this month. It was a STRUGGLE for awhile. I tried not to overly stress but it is a bit bothersome when your baby won’t eat!

He was happy and content and sleeping great and having plenty of wet and poop diapers so I never overly worried. But he was taking AGES to eat and not wanting much of his “meal.”

It made me really realize that it’s probably a milestone thing because it’s the same time that Tess had such bad bottle rejection.

Plus SO MANY people reached out to me on IG saying they faced similar struggles around this age. Realizing it may just be a “thing” made me a lot less concerned.

I stayed the course and it worked itself out!

If he did get fussy I’d try to use Colic Ease to help and would hold him up for a bit and it seemed to work?

I’m so thankful he doesn’t spit up as much as my breastfed babies did but dang when he does it’s SO GROSS.

By the end of the month he was fully adjusted to the 4 hour schedule AND was drinking down his bottles SUPER FAST.

So much so that I wasn’t sure if I should bump him up to 8 oz from 6 oz. Most people who replied to my IG Story said it’s typical to just keep around 6 oz so I figured I’d only bump it up at times where he seemed to be needing more, having a growth spurt, fussy after feedings, etc.

Thumb:

Spear found his thumb this month! He instantly started sucking it as soon as he found it.

While he’s not consistent in using it to sleep…he does LOVE it when he finds it.

It reminds me so much of Kye when he had the paci. The paci had this instant calming effect for Kye and Spear is the same way with that thumb. It’s like he instantly relaxes and his little eyes just immidialaty flutter and look so joyful haha!

Tummy time this month became thumb finding practice time!

Found him with the thumb AND the friend!

Aside from just the thumb he’s also started chewing his fingers a LOT so I think it’s teething!

You can see his relaxed eyes!

Britt cracked me up because he sometimes would suck on the same two fingers she used and Britt said it was tempting her to suck her fingers again. I mean a BABY is peer pressuring her haha!

Monitor:

I’ve had the Summer Infant Dual monitor since Tess was born and have LOVED it. And this month it totally crapped out and just quit working.

I was SO frustrated because it’s not that old and for some reason they quit making it. And there really isn’t anything comparable to replace it! Ugh. So. Frustrating.

I ended up decided to buy the same monitor on Ebay. New in box. I already have several cameras for my current monitor and figured buying a new one would give me even more cameras and make it super simple for travel!

I was nervous to use Ebay and, sure enough, I was right in being nervous. The seller messed up their shipping labels and my monitor went OVERSEAS and I got these random toys.

I was super, super annoyed. I ended up getting a refund and just happened to check walmart and THEY HAD IT IN STOCK. I have no clue how I got so lucky but I grabbed that junk as quick as I could!!!

Hair:

Bless. This stage of infancy is STRUGGLE CITY with hair. I think babies who are born bald are in luck because they just grow in new hair rather than losing some of what they had at birth and then having weird patchy bald spots ha!

Spear has struggled some with cradle cap.

I’ve never dealt with this in the past but it tends to clear up just find when we scrub his head with baby wash and a baby brush! (here’s a video) You can see some of the flakes in these pics. It’s never gotten worse than this!

The back of his head though? Hello baldy.

At least he’s not a girl because I remember feeling SO BAD for the girls when they went through this stage! Spear’s is funny though b/c he has a good bit of hair below it and still has this section of LONG hair in the front!

Bath:

Spear still loves bath time! We love our Angel Care tub and so does he!

It’s hilarious because every time we put him in the bathtub he immediately pees all over himself ha!

Awake Time:

It’s VERY common for babies to hit a milestone and then stop doing it. Spear went through a lull where he rolled from tummy to back a couple times but then just wouldn’t do it.

This month he started doing it SUPER FAST. Like as soon as I’d put him on his tummy – BAM! He’d be on his back!

He also rolled from back to tummy this month…in his crib while sleeping.

After he did that I dropped the swaddle but then he never did it again this entire month! He stayed on his back every time he was sleeping!

He isn’t the biggest fan of tummy time but now that he can roll over right away he just does that and it happier about it.

I spent a lot of time this month trying to get him to show me how he could roll 😉

Since he’s awake longer I also pulled out the Little Einstein’s Playmat we have for him to play with.

I LOVE toys like this that all FOUR of my babies have used. Spear wasn’t much of a fan at first!

Spear really enjoys reaching and grabbing things so little links have been AWESOME for him!

He does really prefer to be with me AT ALL TIMES when he’s awake so I’m def working on fitting in more legit independent playtime with him as I think he needs to practice that skill!

On top of really being able to reach and grab things (eye hand coordination) he also started to be very interested in textures this month and likes to rub his hand on the couch when being held or on our clothes while eating.

He also loves when we read to him! Look at that GRIN!

He’s already had like 20 trips to Target but had his first Publix run this month!

He still does okay in the car seat but not as wonderfully as he used to.

He enjoys the bar toy and usually I attach a few links and hand him a toy book and that works to keep him happy and entertained!

I also started playing “airplane” and “Bouncy baby” with him and he loves them both!

It was the first day of Spring this month!!! We celebrated by putting Spear in our backyard infant swing for the first time. He wasn’t quite sure about it especially b/c it was rather windy!

Sweet toes!

Swinging with mama

We also took our first family trip to the park! We forgot to bring Spear a hat so he borrowed Daddy’s 😉

If yall know someone who is pregnant FOR SURE get them a car seat cover. It’s AMAZING for naps on the go and to keep people from touching the baby!!!

Adoption Update:

I received all the paperwork this month saying our social worker recommended for our adoption to be FINALIZED!!!

Now we’re just in a waiting game (adoption is alwayssss a waiting game at each stage ha!) for the courts to finalize it! WHOOP WHOOP!

Siblings:

Spear has THE sweetest siblings. They continue to adore him and love on him and just pamper him. Tessie is especially close to him which I know has a lot to do with the fact that she’s the one who is home the most and around him the most.

She’s sweet and gentle with him and is just an awesome big sister!

She genuinely just loves being around him and playing with him and reading to him!

Even when he’s grumpy she’s patient and loving and kind!

Kye is still very adoring towards Spear as well. He’s just SO eager for Spear to get older so they can LEGIT play together.

It fills my heart with so much joy to have TWO SONS. Having two daughters has been such an incredible experience. I love seeing sisters together and now seeing brothers is just so special.

Spear and I even visited Kye this month for his bday celebration at school! All of Kye’s classmates loved meeting his little brother 😉

Britt is still the least involved with Spear and I’m very intrigued to see how their relationship develops and changes as he gets older as well.

I’m interested to see if her lack of excitement over him is because she’s not a “baby person” or more that she’s just content in having an older sibling and a younger sibling and he doesn’t fill a “need.”

Like for Tess she’s never had a younger sibling and for Kye he’s never had a brother. But Britt has both a brother already and a younger sibling already? So I wonder if birth order influences that bond?

She does light up in those moments when she remembers he exists! ha!

Great thing about older siblings…built in baby sitters when I’m cooking dinner 😉

Even our church family adores sweet Spear! Isn’t Jack the cutest?

Spear is the most bonded with Zach out of any baby we’ve ever had. I think a lot of that is due to Zach being able to feed him and spend so much more quality time with him since I always breastfed the other babies and therefore was the one with them alllll the time.

While he adores his daddy (like legit LIGHTS UP when Zach comes in the room!) he is all about some mama too. He reminds me a LOT of Britt.

He’s a hardcore sleeper like she was and he’s a HIP baby like she was (however his personality is more like Kye and Tess…very happy and easy going). He loves for me to walk around carrying him!