Soren’s 4 Month Update

Soren turned four months old on March 19! We can’t believe how quickly time flies by!

Soren’s 4 Month Update

Nicknames: Buddy Boy, Sorensaurus, Guy, Buster, Baby Boy, “Baby Brudder” (that one is from Sophie), Bucky Boy (I kept trying to call him “Buddy Boy” and “Buckaroo” so this goofy one kinda stuck!)

RELATED: Introducing Soren! (+ his birth story + his name)

RELATED: Soren’s 2 Month Update

Size: Soren must be around 14 lbs. by now. (He was 6 lbs. 9 oz. when he was born, and then over 10 lbs. at 2 months.) I wish I had more exact numbers to share here, but we won’t be doing his well-child 4 month checkup for a while. With this coronavirus crisis going on, we will be staying home.

Soren is a lanky, long boy! Both Bjorn and I are tall (Bjorn being 6’3″ and me being 5’6″ – and my own brother is also 6’3″) so I think Soren is destined to be a tall guy! He can still technically touch his arms together over his head! I love the fact that he has those darling chunky baby thighs, though!

Soren enjoyed wearing 3-month clothing for a while there. He can still fit into some of his 3-month outfits but they’re not all that comfortable for him in the toes (and he has the same problem Bjorn and I have, too, of sleeves not feeling long enough!). We transitioned to 3-6 month clothing but as of last week, he’s most comfortable in 6-month sizes. Thank goodness for Kidizen, right?! I love being able to hop on the app and quickly find new 6-month size sleepers for my growing boy! (I plan ahead, usually, but recently I realized I wanted more sleepers for him – not just outfits. When you’re a Minnesota baby born in November, you’re gonna spend a lot of time in pajamas!)

Fun Milestones:

Soren looooves his mama. He watches me whenever possible, always trying to make eye contact! 🙂 I can get him to smile pretty easily. He’s definitely happy in my arms, but I would still say he’s a really content little guy. As he’s gotten more alert and wiggly these past couple months, he has actually been excited to kick and wriggle around on the floor, and he enjoys taking “floor naps” as well. (He is currently napping on the floor next to me!)

On February 27th, Soren rolled over for the first time! The funny thing is, he rolled from back to front! And still by now in mid-March hasn’t yet officially rolled from front to back like Sophie would. However, he’s getting stronger every day and spends lots of time doing “tummy time,” so I wouldn’t be surprised if he just flips right over again sometime for us. (I will say, though, that life has been so busy lately and Soren has been rolling from back to front SOOO much on his own that one of those times he could’ve done tummy-to-back and I missed it. Haha! Just being honest!)

He loves being on his tummy. One morning I woke up as he was stirring in the morning, and I realized he was happily waking up from sleeping on his stomach!! So, now we’ve broken out his transition sleep sack (from the Love To Dream company), so that he can transition from no arms out, to one arm out, to both arms out. So far, he’s loving it!

Soren is still exclusively breastfed. He’s gaining weight well and I’m grateful we can do this! He recovered beautifully from the cold and cough he had in January, too.

This isn’t an official milestone, but it’s goofy and I wanted to remember it, so I’ll record it here: the first food Soren has ever tasted is a purple Frozen-themed marshmallow! Ahhhh! Sophie snuck it into his mouth one evening as we were sitting around chatting with family. My sis-in-law caught it right away and took it from his mouth but I suppose that’s Soren’s first food! Sophie knows he shouldn’t eat food (she tells him, “Need teeth!”) but for some reason she was playing “kittens” or something and I think she wanted to encourage him to try to eat the marshmallows out of the bowl. Oh boy. 😀 Anyway, no harm done and I’ll be even MORE watchful now, but it was such a silly moment! Soren was rather surprised!

Soren’s gotten more accurate (and focused and determined!) to reach for and grab at things, like toys, my hair, and most recently, my plate at supper last night! He enjoys his play mat and toy arch a lot. He loves watching the fish in our fish tank. We joke that he’ll be an architect someday, because he’s always so serious while he stares at the tops of doorways and walls and ceilings – we say he’s “examining the structural integrity of the place!” 🙂

Soren has really found his voice in these past couple months, too. He loves chatting with his family members: saying “Bbvvvvv” to Sophie, or I’ll hear a happy “Wooo!” coming from the living room as I chop veggies. He’s also gotten extra drool-y even though he’s better in the spit-up department, so I almost wonder if he’ll get a tooth earlier than his sister did!

Update on his “squeaky/snuffly sleeping”: he is totally quiet and non-snuffly at night now! Yay! We have his bed mattress totally flat and not elevated now, and have for a while. Also, regarding his sleeping in general, Soren now sleeps through the night! He was able to do 5 or 6 hour stretches pretty early on (hooray!) but now for the past 2-3 weeks, he has been able to go to bed at 10:30 or 11 pm and sleep till 7:30 or 8 am! Getting a good night’s sleep is an incredible feeling, for all of us! 🙂

Soren still gets hiccups automatically every time he giggles! It’s amazing!! And he still does look a lot like my dad!

Also, the way Sophie pronounces Soren’s name right now is “SAY-yuh” – and I hear that pronunciation so, SO many times a day that sometimes I have to catch myself because I’m slipping up and practically calling him “Say-yuh” myself! It’s hilarious!

Finally, Soren adores his big sister. Sophie loves him dearly, too, but she’s a busy 2-year-old with lots of toys and thoughts and emotions – so we’ve had situations where she’ll bop him on the head or something when she’s frustrated. It’s so sad when it happens, but Soren hasn’t gotten actually hurt, and he forgives her very quickly! Sophie does dote on him, though. She is my big helper and she will alert me if he spat up, or run and find me a burp cloth, or she’ll gently guide his pacifier back into his mouth.

My favorite thing to see, though, is when Sophie sings a soft little song to him while holding his hand or stroking his head. Sometimes it’s “You okaaaaay, I love youuuu,” and sometimes it’s made-up words, but it is the sweetest thing ever. And it makes my heart ache with happiness to see the way he looks up at her. Those two are already best friends and I’m so thrilled they have each other!

Likes:

• Floor time
• Mama 🙂
• Listening to Sophie sing – he’s always mesmerized by her songs
• Sitting up on my lap and listening to a book with Sophie
• Watching our fish tank
• Screen time (hahahaha – obviously, I’m not officially starting that for him yet. But if I’m holding him or have him nearby on the floor as I watch “The Office,” he’ll contort as he squirms around trying to watch as best as he can while I try to keep him from watching too much! So silly!
• His two main stuffed animals: Dino, an orange plush triceratops I impulse-bought from Hy-Vee, and his sloth lovey whom we dubbed Slothy Joe.

Dislikes:

• Being set down after an enjoyable cuddle session! (Sometimes he is happy to be put down to play, but a lot of the time, he cries and feels slightly offended.)
• Surprising loud noises (like hypothetically an older sibling who experiments with saying “AHH” close to his ear…we’re working on that..)

• Any blankets or pillows getting too close to the top of his head. He doesn’t like feeling too constrained. He’s getting better with wearing hats, though. He also still doesn’t like his arms pinned down at his sides – definitely an “arms-up” kind of sleeper.
• Poopy diapers or wet diapers. He loves it when a dirty diaper is noticed and dealt with immediately! 🙂

These past couple months, Soren got to:

• Attend CBS (the Community Bible Study chapter that Sophie and I attend in our area). He gets to sit with me in my discussion group and in the teaching time while Sophie has her children’s program downstairs. 🙂
• Attend church
• Meet more of my friends

• Attended a special Kite Festival on a frozen lake! (The Army Reserves unit that Bjorn commands was providing warming tents that weekend. It was a cold day but such fun!)
• Spend time with all of his grandparents (and even meet a couple of his great-grandparents)

• Help out with campaign events for his daddy (Bjorn’s running for state representative)

• Go to music class! (He came along for Sophie’s Irish music class!)
• Have playdates

• Go to the Minnesota Zoo! (He LOVED the giant aquarium!)
• Come to MOPS with Sophie and me

• Gone on walks to the park, walks around the mall, and more
• All sorts of normal day-to-day life activities! Like I mentioned in his 2 month update, Soren basically jumped into everyday life with us all since he was born, so he’s enjoyed a lot of fun activities and outings!

We are:

• Still LOVING life as a family of 4! It honestly feels like we’ve known Soren forever. It feels pretty busy with two kids, and some moments certainly feel chaotic (I call it our “circus”) but it still feels so normal and like it was meant to be!
• Currently at home. Someday we’ll be able to tell our kids all about this, but right now we’re in the thick of the coronavirus global crisis and it’s overwhelming to think about! However, I’m used to spending a lot of time home with the kids, and we’re making the best of it (if you really can “make the best” of a global pandemic, yikes) with indoor activities and outdoor walks. It’s quite the unprecedented, crazy time we’re all experiencing right now.

RELATED: My Favorite Indoor Activities For Toddlers

• Looking forward to a hopefully fun, healthy summer filled with excursions and exciting new experiences for Soren!

Life with Soren is SUCH a blast! He’s a joy to be around and we can’t wait to see how he grows and how God will use him.

PS – if you liked the photos in today’s post, then definitely make sure you’re following me on Instagram! I post all kinds of sweet little everyday moments of the kids and of our life (food, home, outings, and more). 🙂 Thanks for reading!