Stars, Stripes, and Jet Fuel: Fletcher's 4 Months Old!

What an incredible month we've had! Fletcher was such an amazing baby during the entire move process. I was dreading the worse case scenario for our international flights, but he slept almost the entire time, and never made a peep! We spent our first 3 weeks in the TLF, and it started to get pretty cramped. Jesse went to work every day, including weekends, and I think Fletcher and I just got really bored. We didn't have any of our stuff, it was terribly hot outside, some days we didn't have a car, and Fletcher started to require a lot more stimulus. I got a list of baby friendly activities on base and started going to some of them. Fletcher LOVES music class. The other kids are a little older, but he really enjoyed watching them and listening to the music. He's starting to sit with assistance, and I think once he can completely sit on his own, he'll be able to participate more. We also started swimming at the indoor pool. He really loves that too! The water is a great temperature and the baby pool is the perfect place for us to practice floating and getting water on our face.

He's so much fun recently! He smiles a lot, is starting to giggle, and can reach for toys that he wants. When he started rolling, we ran into some sleep regression. We had to stop swaddling him once he started rolling, but for the first week he would roll all the way over and wake himself up. It took a week for him to learn how to sleep on his side without rolling onto his belly. He was waking us up every 2 hours during that week, which was torture since we were so spoiled with his awesome sleep habits.

He's also trying to crawl, and I fear/am excited that any day now he'll be on the move. If I put his favorite toys/paci just out of his reach, he'll roll onto his belly and kick and squirm, trying to get to them. Sometimes he makes a little progress, but he usually gets frustrated and gives up. I'm already trying to figure out how we're going to baby proof our Japanese house. The Japanese must have REALLY disciplined babies, because the houses are definitely not kid friendly.

Our express shipment arrived on August 1st, the same day we signed the lease on our house. In some ways, I really impressed myself (I packed paper towels, dish soap, most of the kitchen, and Fletcher's chair). But in other ways I don't know what I was thinking (Fletcher and I still have no clothes, and for some reason I left out the coffee pot). We've been living out of suitcases for two months, and our HHG aren't scheduled to arrive for another 6 weeks. Fletcher has outgrown most of his clothes (ha) and I'm hesitant to buy too many new things because I can't remember what we already have. Fortunately he doesn't seem to mind :) Jesse and I are REALLY looking forward to our furniture arriving.

Even though Jesse is never home, Fletcher and I are having an amazing time exploring Iwakuni and getting settled. We're really looking forward to all of the trips and adventures we have planned!

Fletcher Month Four

Weight: 14lb 13.9oz

Length: I forgot to write it down at the doctor :(

Sleep: 7pm-6am. Sleeps partially swaddled in his travel crib (arms out) and naps the same way.

Milestones/Developments:

Rolling over

Giggling

Reaching for toys

Sitting with assistance

Adventures:

Moving to Japan

6 plane trips

Visiting 5 states and 2 countries

First music class