Walker, you are 4 months old! The months are just flying by with you, buddy! It is hard to imagine life before you joined our family and you are such a sweet happy little baby. We love you very much and thank God for your life! At 4 months you take about 8 4-oz bottles each day, sometimes 9 bottles (you ask for extra every other day or so) and you love your bottles! You are on strictly breast milk and we are having to defrost frozen breast milk every day to feed you because Mama can't keep up with your demands. Luckily we have a deep freezer full from when you were in the NICU so that should hold us over for a while. You started taking Zantac this month for Acid Reflux because you were just really arching your back during bottles and after bottles, and crying and burping a lot while feeding. It has helped some so we are glad for it, but I guess I was hoping for a miracle worker and of course it is not one. You sleep from about 9:30 to 8:30 in the morning, getting up once around 5 and your daddy feeds you every night! Mama gets to sleep! (She does stay up until 12:30 to pump once more though) Walker you are still using your Soothie paci but we're using the WubbaNub ones now so that is nicer, I can actually hold on to the thing and not drop it every minute. You also don't mind a Nuk paci but don't love it as much as the soothie. You're still wearing size 1 diapers and really going up on the clothes sizes. You're wearing a few 0-3, and mostly 3 and 3-6 month clothes already. You have a really really long torso that makes buttoning things very difficult (more on that later). You've lost quite a bit of hair up top this month, but that's ok, you'll get it back. You've really taken off with smiling and cooing and found your hands (which you put directly in your mouth) and wave your arms and kick your feet really well. You love your playmat and grin and wink at it like you are trying to flirt with the light show. It's adorable. Walker, you got to get off your heart monitor and caffeine medicine right after you turned 3 months so you've been without it almost a month and I can hardly remember it at all. You weigh about 13 or so pounds (I KNOW. SERIOUSLY?) and are 23 1/2 inches long roughly. You've got a big noggin just like your sister and your mama, so that's a sure sign you'll be brilliant with that big brain in there.
Just a quick health update so I remember all we went through in the past month: Walker had some tests run for possible forms of skeletal dysplasia. His femur and humerus bones are shorter than average and his torso is very long. Dr. Aaron noticed it more at his last appointment (we've been talking about his short femurs since he was in my belly) and I was glad he decided to go ahead and do some testing. We've seen a geneticist and he said at this time he does not see any reason to diagnose Walker with any skeletal dysplasia! Praise the Lord! We did, thankfully, find out Walker has Rickets, thinning of the bones, and are in the process of figuring out a treatment plan for that. Totally curable and not a big deal, but we wouldn't have probably found it if we hadn't had X-rays done until Walker had another reason for an X-ray or broke a bone or something. Walker might not be 6 feet tall but that is ok! (and maybe he is, but his measurements now don't predict that) Walker also has been seeing a Retina Specialist Ophthalmologist as his retinas had not matured from his early birth, but he has officially had his last appointment and his eyes have matured! Yay! Anyway, lots of wins this month with Walker's health. No skeletal dysplasias, no eye problems, no heart monitor, and no caffeine! And help for the acid reflux and getting help for the rickets.
Pictures!
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| Oh. So we're doing this again. Hm. |
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| Ok, I love you Mama, I'll smile! |
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| Get a close-up of my foot! This one! |
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| Don't forget the monthly yawning photo. It seems to be my thing. |
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| No I was serious about this foot. Close-up. |
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| Ok, whatever, I'm just happy you're making a fool of yourself to get me to smile. It works every time! |
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| Just be thankful no one is here to see your dance moves and hear your crazy voices! |
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| You almost forgot my bear. C'mon Mama. |
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| Here's my best dimple-y smile! |
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| And my best little smirky grin! |
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| And here I am. |
Walker is such a cutie and I love him so much! He is such a laid-back baby and a great sleeper too. I feel very lucky and blessed.