Whoops... almost 5 months!

So, as you can see, the posts dropped off when I returned to work and it got worse when I started class in September again. Sorry! Alex is growing well, and at his 4 month appointment he was 16 pounds 6 oz, which was 80th percentile for weight and head size and 85th for length - he's really long! He has to wear 9 month clothes which fit him shoulder to toes but are poofy on the sides because he's not really fat enough. :D I'll be posting pictures and hopefully a video or two later as well, just not tonight. In other news, he's rolling over (almost from back to stomach), getting accurate with his hands, giggling, and eating rice cereal in his bottle once a day. He plays more on his own now and even fusses to be left on the floor instead of being held (sad and wonderful all at once) and he sleeps through the night. Sometimes we have to get up and replace his pacifier so he can fall back asleep, but he no longer nurses or has bottles (whew)!
Our little dude has picked up several more nicknames - little pumpkin, little man, little dude, stinky butt, lil' seet, little Alex and droolbuckets. All are amusing and he answers to pretty much anything. He charmed the nurses today while Mom had a doctor visit, and he has also flirted with many a store clerk, shopper, coworker, neighbor, and plenty of total strangers! His cousin Isaac is being very cute, he rocks Alex in his carseat and can give him hugs and kisses. Then again, he can also throw blocks at his head and make him cry, so really it's like they are brothers.
We are very excited about the arrival of fall and have tried to do some fun family outings. We have had plenty of short and long fall walks, we went to the State Fair, we had visits from family, we changed into winter clothes and got acquainted with soft blankies, we visited the Fox Family Farm and bought pumpkins to carve, and I've been eating fall food. It's a pity he's not ready for veggies yet, because the squash I've been roasting for myself would be the perfect first pureed food for him! I'll have to pick up a baby food mill and freeze some - but our freezer is still full of breastmilk. He's no longer breastfeeding due to work and school time constraints (it just became too much), but he still puts away a couple of bottles of Mama's milk daily. And it's true that formula poos are much stinkier.
Well, sorry for the gap - I'll try to do more frequent postings with a couple of photos instead of monster mega stories! Anyone who would like to see frequent large volumes of baby photos and some various pet ones should probably visit my Facebook page.