4 Month

We had our 4 month appointment yesterday. Yuck. Clay did great! He thought Dr. Weed was the funniest thing - he just laughed and laughed at him. He did not find the lady with the needles in her hand very amusing though. I went to the appointment by myself this time and I actually did well. I just knew that I was going to cry like a baby (ha), but I didn't. (I wanted to, don't get me wrong.) I must have known that I needed to be strong for Clay, I needed to be the one that held it together. When Casey goes with us to the appointments (which we both prefer) he is the strong one and I get to fall apart. At any rate, we both made it. Clay cried for exactly 45 seconds after he got his shots. (And I mean EXACTLY 45 seconds - I timed it.)

4 hours later, however, we were not making it just fine. Our appointment was at 3pm and by 7pm his temp was 101.1 Yuck. He felt awful, we could both tell. He was actually crying and it broke my heart. I wanted to make it better immediately and I couldn't. I did give him Tylenol, but it didn't make things better. I feel awful for the little guy when he doesn't feel good. Nothing fun about him feeling bad.

On a good note - He is now 26 inches long, which according to the growth chart, is long for his sex and age. He is taller (or longer) than 75% of kiddos his same age and sex. He weighs 16.1 pounds, which is average weight for his sex and age. I thought he would be like in the 95th percentile for weight, but he is actually just under the 50th percentile. So, his weight gain has slowed down just a bit. I'm sure that is to be expected with how active he is now, taking in the same amount of calories he always has. Speaking of calories, we are not going to start solid foods until he is a good 6 months young. I have really been researching recommendations (based on valid research, of course) when is a good time to start solids and the general consensus is 6 months. Some studies have shown that introducing solid foods (I use the word "solid" loosely because I am really talking about vegetables that are so diluted with breast milk they may as well be liquid) too early can actually increase the odds of the child developing allergies and diabetes. So, we are waiting. He seems to be growing just fine just having breast milk, so, I am (for once) not worried about it. Have I mentioned I am making my own baby food? (I will save that one for another post.)

This morning has been a little much. Clay feels so bad and I feel so bad for him. He can't even seem to get settled enough to fall asleep. And when he does fall asleep he wakes up 10 minutes later crying. I FEEL SO BAD FOR HIM. If I haven't mentioned it lately - I HATE shots. (We are not using the word hate in our house, but this will be one exception.) His temp has consistently been above 101 since 7pm last night and it is now 10am and guess what - 101.9. And that is with Tylenol in his body. Yuck.

We don't have any pictures from today because every time I get the camera out he cries. (Really anytime I do anything but hold him and breast feed him, he cries.)