Our little big man changed a lot during this month. For starters he is fake coughing now. It’s pretty cute how he’ll use it to get into a fake cough conversation with me. It’s a totally social thing. He has been coughing right before nursing for awhile now. He’s doing the same coughing thing while watching us eat at the table. I think he’s itching for some solids but the plan is to hold off for another two months.

I’ve been letting him drink water out of a cup this month. He does pretty good! Since he’s pretty much refusing the bottle I’m going to try offering his milk this way for hopefully better results.

Archer rolled over for the first time! I set him on his belly in his crib while I went to rinse the bathtub out and when I came back for him he was on his back tangled up in the crib bars. I missed it! He didn’t do it at all again this month. Several times I didn’t set him on his belly because I knew I’d be running off for a second and didn’t want to miss his second time too.

I noticed this month he is not as interested in sucking on toys/his pacifier/my finger. He’d much rather chew these days. Towards the end of the month we found out why when he cut his first tooth! He was extra slobbery but I didn’t notice any other signs (cranky, swollen gums, cold symptoms, diarrhea). That little tooth is sharp! When he first cut it he’d howl in pain/anger a few times when he accidentally chomped down on his own fingers.

We’re continuing to battle skin rash. I think it’s eczema but I’m not sure. It clears up immediately with steroid cream but I’m trying not to use that but once a month. The day I stop with the cream is the day it reappears. It doesn’t seem to bother him though.

At four months Archer stayed in the church and gym nursery for the first time. He happily watches me leave, not demonstrating any separation anxiety yet. He is pretty much held the whole time I leave him at either place. I felt so weird being apart from him, like I was missing a limb.

I’d heard about postpartum hair loss but didn’t imagine it’d be this severe! I’ve got a receding hairline that is disconcerting to say the least. I talked to my doctor and he said I could lose up to 50% of my hair! I think I’ll be getting it cut shorter soon. So gross walking around the house getting my toes tangled up in hair.

Another not so great thing I experienced this month is blocked ducts. It was getting to the point I’d have one every three days. I read on kellymom.com that lecithin can help some women with this so I made a beeline to CVS. I take four of the horsepills a day. Initially I still got the blocked ducts but they barely lasted half a day. Now I’m not getting them at all! If you stumble across this blog because of a blocked ducts search, run don’t walk to get yourself some lecithin!

Poor Violet hates to see Archer getting so much attention with his “photo shoots”. I crack up every time I see this picture of her popping in to take back the spotlight. Next post will be their 4 year/4 month shoot of them together.

I’ve always loved Violet’s pediatrician. My relationship with her is a little awkward now though. She was supposed to be Archer’s doctor but I really really liked the doctor who visited him while we were in the hospital. Violet’s doctor personally called a week or so after Archer was born asking why we hadn’t been in with him. I admitted I really liked the new doctor. The current arrangement is Violet sees a woman doctor and Archer sees a man. I like them both for different reasons. I hope having the two doctors is feasible. Today we went in for Violet’s four year check up. I had Archer with me and the dynamics were a little weird. If they had the same doctor I might have asked her to take a peek in Archer’s ear or asked about his skin.

I was surprised at Violet’s measurements. I don’t have the actual numbers right in front of me but she was in the 50th percentile for height! She’s never been this tall. She was wearing a bow on the top of her head so the nurse didn’t get an actual measurement. She just estimated what it would be without the bow. Her weight was in the 55th percentile. Usually she’s in the 20th for height, 30th for weight, and 50th for head. They don’t do head circumference anymore.

She had three shots. The nurse said they don’t get shots again until they are 11 years old. Violet was very brave before the shot and cried loudly during it. Afterwards she told me that it wasn’t a little pinch like I had told her, it was a big pinch! She got a temporary tattoo from the doctors and that plus the promise of McDonalds breakfast cheered her up.

We had quite a time celebrating Violet’s fourth birthday.

We started the day off by going to a local Chinese restaurant for breakfast. We had “long life noodles” as part of our family tradition.

Later that day we went to Jungle Java for Violet’s birthday party #1. Six little friends met us there to celebrate with us. Jungle Java is an indoor play place. It was SO hard to get a picture of Violet playing there. This is the best I got of her in action.

Indoors is pretty much where you have to be midday in Texas during August. There were two other parties going on and the place was very noisy. Overstimulation station.

Violet had lots of fun though. You can see how hard she played in this picture.

Violet got to pick where we would go for dinner. Of all places, she chose McDonalds!

A few days later Violet’s preschool teacher threw her a little surprise party at school. This was party #2.

Later that day she had party #3 with family at Grammy and Poppy’s house. I love this expression… Happy Birthday Violet! We love you so much!!

Here are the latest of our little cutie patootie.

He has become obsessed with sucking a wet washcloth at bath time.

What a sweetie boy.

Wild-eyed

And since I couldn’t decide on the cutest p.j. picture, you get another one.

Violet doesn’t talk in terms of “best friends” and I’m glad for that for now. If she had a best friend though it would definitely be Alexa our next door neighbor. Violet’s face lights up like I’ve never seen when I tell her they will be playing together. She often says she loves her and I believe it. These pictures were taken at Alexa’s pool party.

I was so surprised and proud that Violet went down the tube slide in the background of this picture. She hesitated a little on the climb up the stairs, but all the little kids from the party cheered her on and she continued. She is brave!