{Watch Me Grow} 5 Months

Here's our smiley, flirty 5 month old!!!

 

Milestones:

Well, seems like he has started hitting some milestones. The last few months had been pretty boring but he's getting busy now!

• He started blowing raspberries, which makes for some very wet shirts!
• Rolled from his stomach to his back and then a couple weeks later figured out how to roll back over. So he can go both ways now, but definitely isn't a fan of being stuck on his tummy for long periods of time. 
• Tried rice cereal! (More on that later in the post)
• Started sleeping unswaddled.

Rolling over!

Language:

He's doing a little more "baby" talking but not a ton yet. I think it's just a matter of time!

Eating:

I'm still pumping during the day and he's nursing at night. 

 - I had planned on holding out on starting food until he was a little closer to 6 months of age. I remember how much work it is when a little one is eating table foods as well. BUT, the little stinker was starting to wake up more and more often at night and I thought maybe he was hungry. So, I thought we'd give it a try and see if it helped. Of course, I started the rice cereal too. He did really well for the first time and seemed a bit puzzled that I was feeding him his milk on a spoon. I did the rice cereal for a few days and then moved on. No need to stay on that nasty ol' stuff too long.

He seems to like or try just about anything I put in his mouth. He always opens for the first bite and then if he isn't too sure of it, I'll give the vegetable to him with a little fruit on the spoon and that seems to do that trick. So far, I've made everything from scratch simply because it's so easy and so much cheaper. I'm not opposed to giving him store bought stuff and already have some, but for the beginning stuff when it's just the basics, it's easy peasy.

So far he's tried and liked:
  - Sweet Potatoes, Pears, Squash, Apples, Peas, and Carrots.

I would say he's turned his nose up the most to the carrots, but still ate them pretty well.

Squash

It sure is much easier to feed a baby that will actually eat!


Sleeping:

UGH, TERRIBLE! He got sick in June and after that never really went back to his sleeping through the night phase. But now, he's waking shortly after we put him down and then multiple times at night. Exhausting and frustrating especially since I know he can do it! The food hasn't really seemed to help much. I've even tried giving him formula before bed and he wasn't much of a fan and it didn't do much to make him sleep longer.

When we went for his 4 month appt, the doctor mentioned that we could start putting him to bed awake and letting him put himself to sleep. So, we decided to start the sleep training and see how it went. Clearly, us putting him down wasn't working, so maybe a little crying it out at night might do the trick. We also decided that if we were going to do that, we were also going to do away with the swaddle blanket. He was starting to roll so it was just going to be a matter of time anyways.

The first night we put him down awake and he cried for about 30 minutes and then gave in and crashed. He woke once during the night and went back down without much fight and put himself back to sleep. The next day he was put down awake for his nap and a few minutes of fussing and out like a light! I thought, HALLELUJAH! We did it! HA! He did ok for the first few nights but then it seemed like he still wasn't getting it. He was still waking up in the  middle of the night a couple of times and would get so wound up from rolling back and forth the only way to calm him down/get him back to sleep was to feed him. Ugh, I felt like we were back at square one. So although, he is more apt to go to sleep by himself, the sleep training hasn't been all that successful and I think a lot of it is due to his new found mobility. When we did this with Katelyn she was 9 months old, and the rolling was nothing new. I am hoping and praying this phase is short lived. This Momma is pooped!

On a good note - he is taking some great naps in his bed now! At least we are getting somewhere with the sleeping! 

Travels/Events:

• He enjoyed (ha) his first 4th of July! And saw a great fireworks display on post; well fussed through most of the show!

Favorite Toys:

• His feet are still one of his favorite toys! He grabs/plays with them ALL the time! Changing diapers and dressing him is starting to get more and more difficult.

• We got the jumper out and he loves it! The first time in it was like Christmas to him. He just squealed and bounced!

• He still LOVES his mat and will roll around and play under it for quite some time still.

• He is starting to become more interactive at bath time. I can't wait until he can sit up by himself and we can get rid of the baby tub! Then he'll really LOVE bath time!

And some pictures of the biggest smiles :)

Weekly Pictures:

June 29, 2012

July 7, 2012

July 13, 2012

Stats:

We just love this little guy! He is so loving and happy all most of the time! Can't wait to see what he learns in the next month! Who knows, at this rate he may be crawling by 6/7 months!