Caiden's first Christmas Tree!

We walked into the Christmas tree lot on Saturday morning and the line was about 15 deep. I was not amused. Thankfully though the line went really quick. I was hoping to carry Caiden in the carrier on me while we picked out the tree but he passed out in the car on the way there so we just left him in his car seat. We got the tree put up and lights on it Saturday night. The ornaments had to wait until Sunday morning...but it's DONE!

See Marc waaaaay in the back waving his arm?!?!

4 months

Caiden has changed so much this past month. To start we finally got his eczema cleared up. We took him to a dermatologist last week and they gave us some oil to put on his skin twice a day. Literally overnight we started seeing a change in his skin. It cleared up and he stopped scratching almost immediately. I'm not sure how long we have to use this stuff but we have a follow-up appointment in a couple weeks and we'll see what they say. At his initial appointment they just said that he has extra sensitive skin and until his immune system gets stronger and can fight off dander and allergies he will have eczema. So not sure how long we will need to use the oil...I guess it's just a waiting game. Anyway, ever since he's had time to do things other than scratch he's become a lot more playful. It makes me sad to think that it could have been delaying him developmentally. He's grabbing his feet (happy baby pose anyone?!?), constantly trying to touch your face and grabbing at anything you put in front of him, including my hair. He seems so much happier than he was before. A few people have told me that these next few months are the best. They are constantly smiling, happy to see you when you walk in the room, when you put them somewhere they can't move and they start to sleep better at night...yes, I said it, sleeping longer at night!

Last week when we started the oil for his skin he started sleeping longer. He was getting up twice per night around 11pm and 3 am before, well now he's completely nixed the 11pm wake up/feeding. We put him down between 7-8pm and he doesn't wake up until 3-3:30am, I feed him and he goes back down until about 8am. Again, fail as a parent, poor kid was so itchy he couldn't sleep. I'm wondering how long until he will sleep all the way through. I'm sure it won't be until he starts eating food in a couple months but until then I will cherish our bonding time as it won't last much longer.

We are still swaddling him at night, which for some reason I feel guilty about because he can't stretch and move around in the middle of the night. But seriously, if we don't he keeps himself up by putting his hands in his mouth and touching his face. I try to only do one arm in when we put him down in the evening, but at 3am he has to be completely swaddled otherwise he won't fall back asleep.

He really only cries when he's tired, which is the only time I give him the pacifier. I really wish we could get rid of it but sometimes it's the only thing that will calm him when he's tired. Some of my friends have warned me that if you don't get rid of it early enough you'll find yourself two years later and still having to worry about a pacifier. I keep telling myself that once he doesn't need to be swaddled anymore and he can suck on his fingers to calm himself that we'll get rid of the pacifier. Till then I've got about 3 of them strategically placed throughout the house for easy access.

He's the bomb at tummy time and doesn't mind it at all. I think it's because he discovered how to roll on to his back. The minute he's over it, he just rolls over. I can imagine in his head he's saying, "haha you fools, I figured out how to get out of this horrid thing you make me do!". He still hasn't managed to roll his way from his back to his tummy but it's just a matter of time. He tries SO HARD and stretches his back so far off the ground, a few times I thought he had it...but not yet.

He's a babbling fool. If it's a quiet room, usually when it's just me and him home alone he'll go at it or if there are a few people in the room having a conversation and no one is paying attention to him he will squeal and squawk and make sure he his heard. Sometimes you have to wait until he is done because he's so loud and you can't hear the other person talking. He's especially talkative in the morning after he wakes up and I bring him in our bed. I will video him almost every morning and play it back for him that afternoon and his face just lights up when he watches himself, it's so cute.

He's ticklish! We just started finding his tickle spots that will make him laugh and laugh until we stop. It feels so tortures but I just can't help myself and love to hear his giggles. It's really the best sound in the world and his smiles melt my heart. Seriously, how do you ever punish your own child?!?! Oh, wait, I'm sure I'll find when he's in his teenage years ;)

{I've been wanting to post this but when I tried to upload more photos to the end of this post I get an error that I've used up all my available photo space on Blogger. Annoying. So I'm just going to post this without the photos and when I purchase more space I'll add them}

Caiden's 4-month check-up

I was not looking forward to his check-up today. He had to get all of his shots again and after his 2-month shots he was up all night and developed a fever. The doctor gave him some Tylenol at the same time as his shots since he got a fever last time. We'll see how this round goes tonight. 

{Update: He slept for 9 hours straight last night! We gave him some Tylenol and put him down at 7:30, at 4am I woke up and watched him on the monitor for about 20 minutes because I couldn't go back to sleep. I was trying to figure out if I should go pump or go in and feed him. I decided to go in and feed him and he pretty much just stayed asleep the whole time and when he was done I set him back in his crib and he didn't wake up until 8:30}

He weighed 16 lbs. 7 oz. (66th percentile), 26 inches long (80th percentile) and his head is in the 91st percentile. He's starting to level off in the weight department like I thought he would, but that head of his is still growing strong! It was another successful appointment, everything looked great. We go in again at 6 months for another round of shots.

Thanksgiving in Virginia

We're back! It was quite the adventure flying to the east coast with a four month old on the busiest flying days of the year. I really was not looking forward to flying on a nonstop 5-6 hour flight with him and everything that goes along with it but...he did GREAT!  No crying until he was tired and nothing a quick few minutes with the pacifier wasn't able to fix.

We arrived on Wednesday night pretty late and he didn't really take good naps that day so he was tired. So tired that he slept from 12:30 to 6:30, it was great! He actually slept great the entire time we were there. Unfortunately last night back at home he reverted back to his old ways. We'll see what happens in the next few days and I'll give an update when I write up his 4 month post this week. We spent the day at home on Thursday and went to Fery's cousins for Thanksgiving dinner. There are about 40 or so people that are always there. They make 3 delish turkeys with all the goodin's. I regret not getting a picture of the spread with the hostess'. They always do so much and the food is always amazing! Caiden was the only baby there so of course he was the star and Fery just loves showing him off. And I have to say he is awesome around a lot of people. He doesn't mind all the craziness or people talking and people holding him, he is just the best!

On Friday Marc and I had some spa time! Marc's mom booked us facials, massages and mani/pedi's at the Saks Salon (pretty sure this was her way to get us out of the house and to have some alone time Caiden ;)...and it worked). It was so nice to relax for a few hours. We also did some shopping and I got myself a couple new pairs of sunglasses at Coach!

That night we went over to Jill & Farhad's (one of Marc's friends from high school) to see their little one. They have a little boy, Jake, that is about a week younger than Caiden. I know I say this all the time, but I wish we lived closer because it would be great for them to be friends. Again, we got home late and Mr. C slept from about 12:30 to 7am!

On Saturday, Soodie, Fery's friend, (who threw my bridal shower and baby shower) had a party and we had to bring Caiden to show him off to all of their friends. Their party's are always crazy with loud music and dancing and he did great once again. I'm really amazed that he doesn't get fussy when there is so much going on.

Wow, writing all of this makes me tired just thinking of everything we did. On Sunday we once again went out to visit friends. This time to Jehan and Andrew's new house in Fairfax. She was my roommate when I first moved to San Diego and has since moved back to Virginia, got married and had a baby! Her little one, Liam, is 3 days younger than Caiden. After that we headed to Alexandria to visit Alexis and Javed. They have Sasha, a little girl about a year and half old. See pics below!

We left on Monday and had another successful flight home. We were even able to bring the car seat on board with us because it wasn't a full flight. It was so nice having a place for him to sleep. I think we'll do this trip one more year, while he's still under 2 years old, then have people start coming to us!

First boarding ticket

Right when we got on the plane Caiden decided to take a poop. He's going at it on Marc's lap in this pictures.

Getting ready to leave the airport in the cold weather

Thanksgiving night

Great Aunt Effi

The Redskins played Dallas on Thanksgiving Day. Marc dressed Caiden in this outfit for the day.

We changed him into this more appropriate outfit for dinner.

He loved this Rainforest chair that shakes. I've had a few friends who's kids loved this one, I think we'll have to get it for the next kiddo.

Caiden and Jake

Persian tea and gaz. Gaz is a sugary, nugget treat with pistachios in it. So good.

Soodie's party

Uncle Bob

Soodie and Caiden

Caiden and Liam, the most smiley baby ever!!!

Caiden and Sasha

He had his own seat for the plane ride home

Where o where has all my hair gone!?!

Seriously his hair is disappearing more and more everyday. He still has a decent amount in the front but the back is pretty sparse. I can't wait until it starts growing back in. Until then it's definitely funny looking.

Sophie the Giraffe

I broke out Sophie today. For those that don't know about Sophie she's a $20 rubber teether that every baby needs to have. The minute I gave it to him it went straight to his mouth.

Visiting Daddy at work

The new boss in town.