Four Months Old and pics from our trip to Mazatlan!

**EDITED April 22 to include photos from our trip!**

I can't believe how fast time flies!
In our last post, Jason had just turned 3 months old.
He is now 4 months old and is continuing to develop at an amazing rate!

He had his four month checkup on Tuesday this week, and we learned that he is now 26 inches long (putting him in the 90th percentile for height) and 16 lbs 3 ozs (putting him in the 75th percentile for weight)! Dr. Rossell kept remarking on how handsome he is and what a good natured baby he is turning out to be. He in turned kept charming her with his winning smile and crinkled up nose every time she talked to him. If it weren't for the shots, we would have thoroughly enjoyed the whole visit!

Speaking of shots, he has reacted more negatively to the shots this time around. Our sweet boy had his heart broken when he got those 4 needles in his legs and was difficult to console for several minutes after the vaccinations were administered. Now, two days later, each of his legs have big red welts on them and he favors his left leg very strongly. We've spent the majority of the last two days holding and consoling him. He also does not have an appetite at all - so we are now really out of whack with his eating routine. I just keep feeding him whenever he shows any interest, hoping that we'll get back to normal in the next few days. I know this will pass soon enough, it just makes me sad to see our happy little boy so uncomfortable.

On to other more upbeat news -

We have now taken our first family vacation! Alberto, Jason and I spent 6 days in beautiful Mazatlan last week introducing Jason to all of his Mexican relatives.

It was a whirlwind of activity from start to finish which was only made more intense by the fact that we had gone during Semana Santa. The craziness outside of our hotel for the holiday was almost nonstop from sundown to sunrise every night. Fortunately, we got a room higher up (on the 7th floor) and the a/c unit drowned out most of the chaos happening below.

Jason was wonderful the whole trip.

He handled the plane well, he handled the constant barrage of attention from adoring family members well, he even handled the nonstop on-the-go lifestyle we had! The family was also very helpful in respecting when he needed to be left alone for his naps. But when he was awake he was always basking in the attention of his grandmother, his aunts and uncles, and all of his little cousins.

He also was able to spend a lot of time with his sister, Jenny, and they took to each other very well. Jenny would play with him and tickle him and he would laugh hilariously and caress her face.

My favorite part of the trip was when I took Jason in the swimming pool at the hotel.


This pool was really cool - it was beautiful with its sparkling blue water and waterfall in the center. The steps into the pool were fashioned like rocks you'd use to walk into a stream. The water was crystal clear but cold!




Jason didn't know what to think at first, but clearly ended up enjoying it!

We got to take some video of our time there, as well as photos on our 35mm camera. I now have 4 rolls of film to develop, so once these are ready I will edit this post with photos from the trip!

In the meantime, we are still working on rolling over (he's very very close to rolling over from back to front!), sleeping through the night (average 50% success rate!) and motor skill coordination (he is now grabbing things with his hands and is very good at depth perception).

Jason is now able to track movement with both his eyes and his head and he is really quick to notice what is going on around him. Yesterday, he noticed Dudley for the very first time and even petted his doggie gently. Dudley was, as always, very patient with him.

And our biggest milestone so far this month -
Jason is now sleeping in his crib in his own room! We started this the night after we got back from Mazatlan, and so far we have had very little problem. Jason is a very happy boy and wakes up in a good mood even though he isn't next to us anymore. Such a big boy!

three month milestone!

I am writing this blog entry on my blackberry from under my blanket so that I don't wake Jason up with the light from the device :)
Jason is three months old today! I can't believe this much time has already passed. He has grown so much in so many ways. Not only is he rapidly on his way to weighing 14 pounds, but he is also developing in a variety of ways.
He talks to us with many different sounds now, including a few different coos, a whispered "ya", a lilting "ah-aa-ah", and screeches. He has become very adept at using the different noises to communicate different things to us including frustration, hunger, impatience and delight. And on March 5 we were graced with his very first laugh!
We have begun experimenting with leaving one or both of his arms out of his swaddle blanket while he naps since he is demonstrating increased control over his arms. He is very cute when he does this as he concentrates very hard on keeping both of his arms elevated over his body in what looks like a ready-to-fight pose. He'll stay like that for a very long time, all the while watching me to make sure I notice and give him encouragement.
And today for the first time he was fascinated with his own image in the mirror.
Jason is an incredibly happy baby as long as he gets enough sleep. This isn't always the case as he seems to have decided recently that he doesn't like to go to sleep and fights it at most naptimes.
Our digital camera has decided to break at this most inopportune time, so I am relying on an old 35mm camera for photos. In the meantime Alberto Jason and I took some family photos a couple of weeks ago that turned out lovely. If I can get them scanned into the computer I'll post some for you to see.
I return to work on March 16 (one week from today) and I am of course nervous about that. My mom will be taking care of Jason during the week while I work so I feel pretty good about the situation, its still just difficult to accept that in 6 more days my life won't center around raising such an awesome kid. Fortunately, I am very lucky to have the opportunity to work from home when I am not traveling so that will make it much more bearable.

We have also booked our family trip to mazatlan, where Jason will get to meet all of his Mexican relatives. We will be there the week leading up to Easter, called Semana Santa or Holy Week. I am really looking forward to seeing mazatlan again. We haven't been there since our wedding in 2006!