Tall, Dark, and Handsome - 4 Months Old

Four months ago, 44 hours of unmedicated labor ended and a precious new life began. I must say that if I had to choose between an easy labor and an easy baby, I'd take the easy baby any day! Moses continues to be a good sleeper, averaging about 8-9 hours a night, giving me ample opportunities to make up for 44 hours of lost sleep (although instead of sleeping, I tend to stay up late editing photos and writing blog entries).

People often tell us that Moses is the calmest, happiest baby they've ever met. Unlike his more discriminating older brothers, Moses has no qualms about being held by new and different people. He is generous with his smiles and is beginning to laugh a lot, too. He chuckles heartily when I plant big kisses on his cheeks, alternating from cheek to cheek, making silly faces in-between kisses.

These days Moses tries to grab everything within his reach. While his newest fascination is grabbing his own feet and toes, he also enjoys grabbing hair, including his brothers' hair, a treatment which they kindly tolerate (Daddy lucks out on this one!). While lying on his back with his head resting on a pillow, Moses will often lift his head and neck up off of the pillow in an impressive effort to sit up. Since lying on his back is apparently so last month, if Moses can't sit up, he will roll over onto his belly. While on his belly, he'll survey the toy-bespeckled floor (as our floors always are these days) and if an item of interest lies just beyond his grasp, he will grunt and kick his feet and legs as he strains to reach it. If he weren't a mere 4 months old, I would swear that Moses was on the verge of crawling.

Four-month-old Moses has outgrown his 6 month clothes and some of his 9 month outfits are even a little snug in the torso. It has worked out well that his more average-sized brothers bequeathed him appropriate attire for the current season, since they were 3 months older than him at this same time of year 3 years ago. Many people think that Moses looks a lot like his older brothers, and while he does have the same Weidman nose and chin, he is definitely a darker version of them. His skin is not only noticeably darker than the twins' (whose skin is noticeably darker than Joe's), it is even darker than mine. Who would have guessed that the only one of us who didn't get sunburned at the beach would be the only one of us not wearing sunscreen? Moses' eyes are a beautiful dark brown, and his new hair seems to be growing in the same dark shade as his newborn hair. It should not be surprising that our new nickname for Moses is "Tall, Dark, and Handsome"!