4 Months old and in SCHOOL!!!

Wow.  All I can say is wow - where does the time go?  Little man is already... wait for it... FOUR MONTHS OLD.

I love this picture for a number of reasons - he's just so HAPPY.  This is pure joy, folks.   He turned four months on November 3rd.

Of course with that came his four month well check.   Our little chunk is no longer on the preemie charts!!!  His appointment was on October 30th.  On that date, his weight was 13 pounds, 12 ounces... length: 23 inches.   This puts him at 25% of weight, 5% of length, and his noggin is in the 75th percentile.  It's because he's really smart, don't you know?   I have to chuckle at his stats because when he had his first check, he was in the 12th percentile for weight - against other preemies born as early as he.  Not ONLY did he jump the charts here, but he flew onto the normalized chart and hit 25%.  You go, Baby B.

He has something called Torticollis; it's not uncommon for babies who were breech or for babies in the NICU.  Since he was both, well, I guess that increased his chances!  Essentially, you may have noticed that in most of his pictures he has a very cute little head tilt.  Well, that's caused by Torticollis.   Here's a helpful article about it: Torticollis Info.   In summary, think about times when you sleep on your neck wrong... you wake up and your muscles are super tight and you may not be able to turn your head the other direction.  That's what his little neck muscles do... they are very tight and so he has difficulty moving his head to his left side.   With exercises and creative positioning, it generally works itself out.  If, after a month, he does not show marked improvement, we'll look into Physical Therapy for him.  But so far he's already showing signs of good progress!

In other big news...  HE STARTED SCHOOL!!!

Make sure you read what the shirt says.  My sweet friend, Amy, had this made for him. I figured it was the best outfit for him to wear on his first day so there would be NO WAY they would forget his name!
I was very proud of myself, I did not cry - I was sure I would.  But in all honesty, I am so excited about the exposure he's going to have to some things that I don't know the first thing about when it comes to child development.  I really like his instructors, there are four of them, two are full time and two are "floaters".  They are very good to him and every time I have come to pick him up he's very content, as are all the other kids.   They have already taught me a thing or two, and the best thing is that he's SO HAPPY when I pick him up and that mood carries with him as we get home.   We've had some really nice evenings this week. :)  Evidently he's the biggest sleeper in the class right now... they keep commenting on how much he sleeps... that being said, he didn't sleep much the first day or two so I think he's making up for it!  So all is good on the day care front and Ben and I couldn't be more pleased.

We had our first Halloween.   He was a caterpillar.

I was a butterfly.  Ben was an exterminator.  Hmph.  I still think something is inherently wrong with that.  That being said, we did win best family costume at my friend Janet's Halloween party.  GO US! 

I start work next week.  OMG!  I have not worked since July 2nd.  That's a LONG TIME.  I have been trying to stay connected to the office, and I'm glad I have because this way I will not be AS blown away when I step into the office and see that my team has oh, QUADRUPLED in size since I've been out.     I am going to California on Monday for a meeting and leaving Ben and Axel to man the house.    Quick Google tribute... strike a pose, Axel.  

Break for random cute pics:

In other news, the Salt Water Aquarium decided to spring a leak and flood our entire entryway/dining room.  75 Gallons is a lot of water.   Luckily our cleaning girl was at the house and texted me that the tank was losing water and FAST, so Ben was able to leave work and save the fish.  It would have been tragic to come home and find Dori and Nemo... well, I guess you can't say swimming with the fishes when it's a fish that dies.    Regardless, he was able to save them.  We did lose one of our fish, a little pink guy that committed fishicide.  He jumped out of the bucket we had the fish in as we were setting up their new abode.  Guess he didn't like the new home.  

The night after we dealt with this, we got home from a friend's house and found that our dogs got hungry in our absence.  We found the pantry open... and sugar on the floor.  In the kitchen, we find a shredded box of King Arthur Gluten Free Pancake Mix.   The actual mix was still safe in its plastic bag... 

 But then, I have to hand it to my dogs... they not only wanted PANCAKES, but they knew that they needed SYRUP to go on said pancakes.  I mean, really... look at all the stuff in the pantry.  What are the chances that they would go for the pancake mix and the syrup???   Unfortunately they carried the syrup into the living room and decided to drink it on the chaise.  Luckily they are the ones who use the chaise and not us.  Ben was able to get it out (for the most part) but our house smelled like a diner for a few days.

 We went to the park on Sunday with cousins Otto and Ida Pearl.  There is an amazing park in Round Rock called Park for All Abilities that I really wanted Ida to experience.   She loved it.

In closing, I'd like to leave you with a little piece of sunshine.  When we were doing Axel's four month picture, we caught a snippit of him talking.  It made us melt and hopefully it will bring a smile to your face as well.   We're all staying wrapped around this Axel!