Jude is 4 Months Old!

I'm a date late with Jude's 4 month post, but it worked out well, because today is also a special day for Jude. It was one year ago today that we first learned of Jude's existence! :) That's right, this time last year, I took a pregnancy test and was shocked to see that positive sign. I blogged about that crazy week, but I left out the fact that I discovered I was pregnant on that Wednesday. It's fun for me to go back and read stuff like that. That was such a crazy day. I really didn't think there was any WAY I was pregnant, but I had the pregnancy test already, so I figured I would just take it real quick so I could dismiss the possibility of pregnancy from my mind entirely. Why I thought it would be a good time to take a pregnancy test while I was running around like crazy getting our old house ready for an inspection, I have no idea. I was just THAT sure it would be negative. David didn't even know I was going to take a pregnancy test that day - I didn't even know. It was totally a spur of the moment decision. Aubrey was in her highchair eating breakfast (and wanting down) and I was frantically trying to get our house spotless so we could leave before the inspectors got there. I took the test, and then left the room to do some more cleaning. I absently went back into the bathroom and glanced at the test, and I was shocked when I saw that it was positive! I called David sobbing because I had recently gotten the chicken pox vaccine and was told NOT to get pregnant for at least a month after getting it. (That's why I was so shocked - I wasn't supposed to get pregnant because of the vaccine, so we definitely weren't trying!) You can imagine that David was pretty shocked himself when his wife called him sobbing that she had just taken a pregnancy test and it was positive and oh my gosh the chicken pox vaccine probably killed the baby and we are so irresponsible!! Not exactly the ideal way to tell your hubby that you're pregnant ;) David was very calm about it, though, and made me feel a little less panicked. I somehow managed to finish cleaning the house, load Aubrey up, and leave on time. I called my doctor and went in for a blood test that afternoon to confirm the pregnancy. They assured me that the baby would probably be fine and, thank God, he was! :) That story is funny to think back on now. It makes me SO glad that God is the One in charge of growing our family, and not us. I cannot imagine our family without our sweet little Jude! It also makes me incredibly thankful that God protected our little baby, and the chicken pox vaccine turned out to not even be an issue.

So, today, our little man is a sweet, healthy 4 month old baby! I'm just loving this age. Jude is precious and squishy and cuddly and cute! He is growing and developing everyday. Here are some milestones from the past month:

-We found out at Jude's 4 month checkup that he is in the 75th percentile for everything. Big boy!

-Jude wears a size 6 months in clothes and a size 2 diaper.

-His pediatrician said we could start rice cereal, but we decided to hold off for a while.

-Jude rolls over almost every time we put him on his tummy now. It was actually tough to get the pictures of him on his tummy at his photo shoot. You may have noticed that he was leaning to the side in most of them - that's because he was in the process of rolling over! :)

-He has almost rolled from his back to his stomach, but not quite all the way. He has rolled from his back to his side.

-We recently (as in, last night!) quit swaddling Jude at night. I can't believe he slept swaddled for 4 months. He just really loved it, and it really helped calm him down and go to sleep when we would swaddle him. Recently, he started breaking out of his swaddler, though. Since he is starting to try to roll over, too, we figured it was time to graduate to a plain ole sleep sack ;)

-While we're on the subject of sleep, Jude hasn't been sleeping great the past several nights :( He has been waking up multiple times a night. He goes back to sleep when I give him his pacifier, but it's just no fun getting up at night. That's part of the reason why we decided to quit swaddling him. I think he was waking up when he broke out of the swaddler, so I'm hoping if he isn't swaddled to begin with, that might help. He did do a little better last night. He has also been slightly congested, so that might be contributing to the night wakings, too. I'm not feeding him when he wakes up, so hopefully he will go back to being an excellent sleeper very soon!

-I was just about ready to move him upstairs to his room at night when he started waking up again. I think he would be much more comfortable in his crib than the pack n play, but there is no way I'm walking upstairs 5+ times a night! We'll move him when he starts sleeping through the night again.

-Jude is still very social. He LOVES it when people talk to him. He gets really upset if he can't see anyone. Sometimes when he is crying in his swing, I'll ask Aubrey to go talk to him until I can go get him, and that cheers him up a lot of the time. He loves his big sis!

-He has started grabbing at things. He loves to have something to hold. He loves to hold your fingers. That's another thing that calms him down when he is upset sometimes.

-Jude tried out the exersuacer for the first time a few weeks ago, and he like it for short periods of time. He looks so grown up in the exersaucer!

Jude continues to be a sweet, happy baby. He smiles and laughs all the time, and I just love seeing him smile and kick his little legs. We are just falling more and more in love with him everyday!

Here is the big 4 month old: