1/3 of a Year?!

Today was Mason's 4-month checkup, a week after the fact. We all know he's been a chunk from day 1 but here are his latest stats:

Height: 25 inches (maybe a little more because he scrunched up)

Head: 42.5 cm

Weight: 17lb 6oz. Yowza. No wonder the Baby Bjorn is cutting trenches through my shoulders on even the quickest trip to the store.

Overall the Doc seemed pleased and said we had the green light to start solids but once I told him about the allergy issues, he said it would be fine to wait until closer to 6 months too. It's not like he needs the extra calories, after all!

He also casually mentioned that he should be sleeping through the night. This is exactly what I wanted to hear, and exactly what I didn't want to hear. Remember the last post when I said we moved him to his room? Well the next night he was back in ours... then back in his for a week... and he's been next to our bed ever since. Most people would think the crying at bedtime would be the hardest part to deal with, and let me tell ya, its no fun. But it was all the up and down all night long that did me in.

You see, I couldn't hear him crying over our fan (which freaked me out to begin with) so we left both bedroom doors open. It still took major screaming to wake me up so Matt started going in and bringing him to me. Easy enough, right? Wrong... at least when you have a senile, incontinent little daschund who wakes up and needs to go outside all night too. And did I mention that since the doors were open, said doggie had free access to the green shag rug (read: grass) in baby's room? Add stumbling over a baby gate multiple times in the dark and suffice it to say, it was a circus around here.

I just figured we'd try again in a month or two, once he wasn't waking so often to eat. Then the Doc said he doesn't need to be waking to eat since he's clearly not having trouble gaining weight. Goodbye excuse... It seems my baby has been labeled a "trained night feeder." It also seems that it's not going to be easy to straighten this out. Doc said his child once cried for 2.5 hours straight, almost with a touch of pride. Who does that!? When I said I was thinking more along the lines of 5 minute cries, he gave me one of those "oh, its one of those first-time-moms" looks.

What is it about pediatricians that makes you feel like such a loser upon leaving their offices?

What we know for sure is that the little dude is healthier and happier than the last visit. One positive note (that its not all in my head) is that even the Doc noticed that he is active, busy,and any other cute little word to say that he is a handful. My mom's favorite is intense and she gave me a book about high needs babies. Sounds like this might not be just a phase... Oh joy!

We've definitely got our work cut out for us. Good thing he's cute...