4 months of JOY :)

Can you believe this sweet little guy is four months old? It seems like he's done a lot of growing and changing this month. He makes everyday an adventure, always fun. I love him so much.

Milestones
-He learned how to pull on his giraffe toy so that it vibrates and rattles. He does it over and over and smiles.
-May 1st - He now knows how to intentionally pick things up and intentionally give things to me. He's still perfecting this skill, but he has done it quite a few times.
-His laugh seems to be evolving into this hysterical and contagious laugh. It's absolutely adorable.

He is no longer too interested in rolling over, his current goal is to crawl. He's been trying to figure it out the past few weeks. His pediatrician said "don't be surprised if he's crawling by the end of May." So we have money set aside for a couple of baby gates, just in case! :)
He loves when I read to him. I checked out some picture books in English and Russian. He loves Curious George in Russian, and loves the book "Bear sees colors" by Karma Wilson. He always puts his hands on the bear in the pictures. Next time we go to the library I'm going to check out more of the Bear books by Karma Wilson. I actually had the fortune of meeting her when I was in 6th grade. She's so cool. :)
He's becoming very good at playing by himself for a while. This makes things a lot easier on me. I am able to get a lot of homework done and sometimes I can even get ahead. I also get quite a bit of housework done.
He's so well behaved and happy. At the moment he's in his little swing playing with his hands. He's fascinated by the fact that he can fold them together. It's so sweet. I love this little guy.


Stats
weight:15 lbs
height: 25.5 inches
Not much change from last month in that regard but I think his little face has changed a lot and he's growing much more hair.

Here is his official 4 month picture:

Here's his month by month comparison

I think you can click on it to see a bigger version of it. I was going to make a slideshow of all the pictures, but my laptop's video card is crap. So that will have to wait until I get a new video card.

Here are some fun pictures from our adventures this month:

I know his hand is blurry in this picture, but here's another one taken during his little monthly pictures. I love his little face.

He loves playing in his bumbo chair. I think he's going to be sitting up on his own next month!

Another one still in color unedited from our 4 month shoot

This silly boy loves to play with wet wipes. It keeps him occupied during his diaper changes so there's no... ahem... grabbing or pulling.

His first library visit! He loved it. He loves when we read him stories. Some of his favorites are Bear Sees Colors by Karma Wilson, Little Polar Bear by Hans de Beer, and Curious George. April 29th

He started sucking his thumb this month and I adore it. It melts my heart every time. He doesn't like puppy as much anymore, and prefers his thumb. This is when he fell asleep on his playmat.

Look at my abs, oh and watch out... here comes the smolder.

This is a picture taken at the library the day after he sucked his thumb for the first time. One morning he woke up sucking his thumb and he's done it everyday since. This was on his first trip to the library on April 29th. But he started sucking his thumb April 28th.

It's the funniest thiing, he's always trying to get a taste of our food. I have a couple pictures of him now where he's leaning in to try and get a bite or a sniff. This little dude wants real food. We'll probably start him at the end of June.
 

On the first sunday I took him to church by myself. I hadn't done much baby laundry so yes, he was wearing fleece pants, a tie, and a nice shirt. But he looked dang cute.

Another shot from after his four month pictures. I was editing and caught him playing with his teddy bear and smiling.

Mommy and baby going to church together. I melt with that little smirk smile.

Selfie with mommy! I adore this picture of us.

In his little moose shirt playing with teddy while mommy changed sheets in his bassinet.

One of the cutest ones in the four months shoot. I was having a hard time deciding between this one and the one I chose. He's the cutest.

He now sleeps and sometimes plays on his side. Here he is being goofy and telling mommy a story.

and again

Like I said, he loves being on his side. It's really cute.

Smiles :)

I wish this one wasn't so blurry. He's precious.

My little angel sleeping on his belly for the third night in a row.

This picture cracks me up. He was smiling and being so cute while on the phone with daddy. I took a picture while Corry said hi to him and this was the result. He loves his daddy.

Guy time with daddy and Uncle Ben

Sucking his thumb some more.

This month he found his feet and plays with them often. This is on the first day he learned he could grab his feet. He still does it all the time. April 21st.

1 year

 On April 30th, 2015, I was terrified, but only for a second. That second was when I was still sitting on the edge of our bathtub, alone in our tiny one bedroom apartment, staring at that little plus sign that signified the beginning of my role as a mommy.











A year ago on Mother's Day, we announced to the world that we were having a baby. We were so excited, I was only one month along. Barely pregnant enough to be picked up on a pregnancy test. But I was ALL IN. I knew I would be a mom and that this was it.  On Mother's Day a year ago, my husband bought me flowers. I got to tell the world I was pregnant, and I felt inexplicable joy. 

 Fast forward a few weeks later, when I got so sick I had to be in the hospital 7 times. IV therapies, overnight observances, and almost the dreaded PICC line. I lost 30 pounds in those three weeks. More than I lost when I had the swine flu as a sophomore in High School on my 16th birthday. I was sicker and in more pain and physical anguish than I'd ever felt. But I never once throughout that whole ordeal regretted our decision to have our baby. Even though I spent both our 1st wedding anniversary and my husband's birthday in the hospital. Those memories of our "hospital dates" are precious to me and essential parts of my life story. 

I finally felt better on the day we went to get the ultrasound to find out what the gender of our baby was. In the ultrasound room, the technician asked what we thought it was. My husband was quick to respond with "boy!" I agreed. I knew it was a boy. The technician rolled the nasty, goopy ultrasound thingy over my belly and said "Looks like dad's right. It's a boy." We were overjoyed to know the gender of our sweet little one. 

There were lots of fun things we got to do along the way. We went to Idaho for thanksgiving, we went to the Oregon Coast for my dad and stepmom's wedding, we went to Seattle for my husband to attend a Qi Gong workshop, we went to Farmer's Markets, Jamba juice dates, I started my Bachelor's degree online, we moved into our current little apartment, I was spoiled for my 22nd birthday, we were spoiled by friends and family with two baby showers, went to lots of doctor's appointments together, saw the new Star Wars, and we got to see lots of ultrasounds of our little bear.






And along the way, the belly grew... 

And grew...

And greeeewww...

And grew.








It grew until it was time for little bear to be born. I labored for 21.5 hours. I had two stretch and sweeps over the course of two weeks. I was one week overdue. 
I vomited a lot at the beginning of my labor. It was a very intense, but very empowering 21.5 hours for me. It was an incredible experience that taught me never to doubt what I am capable of. 
Then at 8:27 pm on January 12th, 2016, Broc Edward William Meyers was born into the world at 8 lbs, 13 ounces. Corry got to catch him when he came out, and placed him on my belly. As soon as he did, Broc opened his eyes and looked around. He looked right into my eyes and looked until he found daddy. Once he did, he settled his head back down and cried. It was a beautiful moment. 

 

Ever since that day, I've grown immensely. I learn new things almost every hour. I grow in my capacity to love with each passing second, and I get to see this precious, amazing little human being thrive and grow. It's the most wonderful and sacred thing I can imagine. I am so grateful for my family. I love my husband, and my son. My best Mother's Day gift will be getting to spend it with the people who made me a mother. Happy Mother's Day.