Niko at 4 Months.

I finally found our monthly stickers so I guess that means I have to write monthly blog posts, too, huh?  Good idea.  I have lots of good ideas.  There is proof of that in my drafts folder of this blog.  I just need the time to sit down and finish them.  I digress.

Niko is four months old today and man does time fly.  I should copy+paste that and just change the number every month because I don't anticipate the "man does time fly" part changing.  But, these four months really have flown by and they have been entirely different than my first four months with Myra.  I learned a lot in Myra's first four months, but I really couldn't tell you how I survived.

Niko is the world's easiest baby.  He used to be the world's easiest baby who took 1-2 hours of bouncing/walking/slow dancing (but most certainly not rocking while sitting down) around a dark room to fall asleep, but now he is just the world's easiest baby.  What changed, you say?  Well, let's not beat around the bush.  We sleep trained him.  There are lots of feelings about this topic, but I'm not shy.  He's getting heavy, I have two kids, I'm alone at bedtime often, our house is for sale, and most importantly Niko needed sleep just as much as I wanted him to sleep.  So, after trying to put him down "drowsy but awake" with semi-success, we decided it was time.  For the record, sleep training (yes, cry-it-out sleep training) is where we do the bedtime routine, put him in his crib, tell him we love him, and leave.  We do not let him cry all the time and we do not ignore him in the middle of the night if he wakes up.  Night one he cried for 20 minutes then fell asleep (much faster than if I had tried to put him to sleep myself!).  The next day, there was zero crying for any of his three naps.  At bedtime, he cried off and on for 15-20 minutes.  Other than that, putting him to sleep has been a total breeze.  If we have a crazy day and he's over tired, he may fuss a bit, knock his pacifier out and need me to put it back in (he's SO close to being a finger sucker!), but he's just learned how to put himself to sleep and everyone in our house is so much better off, especially Niko.  So, say what you will about CIO sleep training, but it worked great for Myra and proved very effective for Niko, too.

It's a toss up between Myra and me for who wins as Niko's favorite person.  (He loves Daddy, too, but is gaga over us ladies right now) He sure loves his mama, but man does he light up for Myra.  We have had z-e-r-o sibling drama.  No jealousy, no hitting, no nothing.  If Niko gets pretty fired up crying and Myra has no escape (in the car, for example) she will sometimes cry (or do this awful shriek thing), but that's it.  I don't blame her.  Otherwise, she adores him and the feeling is mutual.  Niko is so, so smiley.  This big, giant, whole face smile.

Nursing is going great (minus battling thrush for 2+ months - AHHHH!!! that's one of the posts in my drafts).  He's gaining weight very well, nurses every 4-5 hours and has been waking me two times per night but it's so quick and easy it's really not a big deal.  He still loves to be carried around and 'worn' by me, but is more content in his Rock N Play or on the floor than he was as a newborn.  He actually really likes tummy time and Myra doesn't let me forget to do it.  "Want to do tummy time, buddy?"

Today we went to hang out with some friends+family (they're both, how fun is that!).  Here's Niko looking up at his (second?) cousin.

And here are some random photos from the last week or so.

We know, "Back is Best," this is an informed decision.  Zero sleep isn't good either, so we picked one.

And my 4 month postpartum belly, slowly shrinking!  I gained 50 pounds and at my six week follow up I was down 25.  I certainly haven't lost the rest of that yet, but I'm sure I've lost a little more.