4 Month Well Visit

He remembered this place...in the background he could hear kids screaming, phones ringing, people talking about appointments, a Disney movie, that no one was watching, playing on the TV, the faint smell of Lysol, and kids walking out with Dum-Dum suckers...yep, he was at the doctor's office.

Today we went for Eli's 4 month well visit. As you can tell from his eyes in the above picture, he wasn't too sure of this place at the beginning. We got there and only had to wait a little bit before they called us to the back. While we were waiting, Eli made lots of smiley faces at his Daddy. Eli loves his Daddy! All Josh has to do is look at Eli and he will break out into the biggest toothless smile you've ever seen!

Cheesing at Daddy

When we were placed in our room, we stripped Eli down to his diaper and waited for the nurse to come get us so we could see how much he weighed. The weather may be warm outside, but it was very cold inside the doctor's office. I'm glad we brought a blanket! Josh and Eli snuggled together while we were waiting.

Smiling with Daddy

We took him to get weighed and he moved around SO much I thought he was going to bounce right off the scale. The nurse weighing him made sure she kept one hand on his at all times. He is SO ACTIVE! She went ahead and measured his head, took his temperature, and measured him to see how long he was, too. Here are his 4 months stats:

Head: 16 1/4 in. (25th percentile)
Weight: 15 lbs. 1 oz. (50th-75th percentile)
Length: 26 in. (90th percentile)

I was so glad that he was at least 15 lbs. For some reason, I was worried that he wasn't gaining enough weight. I hear everyone talking about how they can get their babies to take 6-7 oz. of food at a time and I am lucky if he drinks 5 oz.! Dr. Russ reassured me that he was eating just fine. He eats around 4.5-5 oz. every 3 hours (sometimes 2.5 hours) and is definitely getting enough. He's just not a big eater that's all. Dr. Russ also gave the go ahead on rice cereal and even introducing some baby food. I'm so excited about that! I guess it's the new mommy in me, but I am so excited to use a utensil other than a bottle! I got all my bowls and spoons down the other day and they are washed and ready for action! (In fact, we had some rice cereal when he got home today! My dad videoed it, so I will post that later on. It was really cute!)

Hey! I don't look at how much YOU weigh!

While Dr. Russ was in the room discussing his growth, development, feeding and sleeping schedules with us, Eli discovered the FUN paper on the exam table again. This time he went CRAZY! He was thrashing around so much and having so much fun with the paper that he tore it in half. Josh had the fun job of making sure he stayed on the table while I talked to Dr. Russ. He was so loud that several times Dr. Russ and I stopped our conversation to see what in the world he was doing! Dr. Russ was laughing so hard at my little active boy. He was having a GREAT time! (Be sure to check out the videos at the end of this post!)

Mom, can we get some of this paper for our house?

The paper makes noises when I move!

Dr. Russ won't mind if I tear some (I mean, hold some paper gently in my hands).

Wow! Who cares about shots? Just give me more paper!

After successfully SHREDDING the paper on the table, Dr. Russ pulled down a fresh, wrinkle free section and then started examining Eli. Once again, she couldn't believe how much hair he still had. (He's only lost a little in the back). She also was very impressed with how strong he was. She tried to bend his legs and he was not interested in letting her do that. He passed his tummy time test. AMEN! He held his head up so well for her. I was so proud of my baby :) She said everything looked perfect and that we didn't need to come back until he was 6 months old. The dreaded part came next....SHOTS! :( I didn't take any pictures this time. My poor heart (and the hearts of his grandmothers and so many others) just couldn't take it anymore! I hate to see my little boy hurt, but it's for his own good, which makes it a little better. He only got 2 shots today, one in each leg, and cried (of course) but was better as soon as I swooped him into my arms.

Thump, thump, thump...checking Eli's heartbeat and lungs

He's just so darn cute!

Josh and I feel so BLESSED to have this healthy, perfect little boy. He has been so much fun these past 4 months. I can't wait to see how much he is going to grow and change before his next doctor's visit.