4 Months Old!!

Well, Carter has survived his first Christmas, and attended his first New Year's Eve party!  He is now 23" long, and up to 12 lbs.  His coo's are becoming much more often, and sometimes really loud!  We did a lot of reading about preemies, and most things say that for their development, you need to judge them according to their age if they would have gone to term.  In other words, even though he is 4 months old, he should be behaving like a 2 month old.  This is kind of weird, because some things he does are that of a 2 month old, and others a 4 month old.  So it's really hard to determine if he is even, ahead or behind!  He is real champ at holding his head without bobbling now.  He looks and really studies everything around him.  He has some weird fascination with ceiling fans - it there's one in the room you're in, he cranes his head to watch it.  His reflux has improved vastly, as has his choking episodes.  For a while, he would choke nearly every time he was fed, and now it's only every few days or so.  The reflux seems to be better, with him only having a few episodes a week.  And it seems to be worse if he is jostled around after eating.  The doctor says he can begin to explore some cereal, so we will start that soon. And we no longer have to use distilled water to mix his formula.  His last visit, he got 3 shots and made it known that he did NOT like it! 
They make you fill out a "4-month questionnaire", which asks the most ridiculous questions - do you do drugs in the presence of your baby? Do you drink hot liquids while holding your baby?  Do you ever shake your baby?  Really?  Are there people who answer yes?
His blood pressure remains good with the beta blockers he is taking.  The hemangioma has shrank, both in diameter and depth.  The doctor is really impressed with how well it is doing.  We still ask a thousand questions at each visit and get in the car to leave and remember at least one thing we forgot to ask!  The nurse said they are finally getting their own blood pressure machine, so we don't have to walk to the icu to borrow theirs. 
For Christmas, I got him a huge plastic bucket with the rope handles, and Courtney asked why.  After Christmas, she knows. We all went crazy with toys and such, so now he has a place to keep them! 
He joined us for our annual New Year's Eve Party, and had a major reflux while I was holding him - went on my shirt, my pants, the floor, everywhere.  So I smelled like baby spit up from head to toe!  Oh, well, such are the woes of babies! 
All in all, we are amazed at how well he is doing.