Brady, You turned 5 months old on March 20. Wow, have you made progress these past several weeks!  You really love to grab at your feet. It started with just a little reach and grab, and by the time you were 5 months you were sticking your toes in your mouth and chewing on them! This is especially popular during diaper changes and baths.  You are becoming more coordinated with your hands/arms when grabbing things.  You also like to explore your tongue this month. The buffalo tongue and some new noises have come with that, too.  You are quick to reach out and touch my face lately, which is endearing.

This month of nursing has been challenging. This is the typical time when babies become distracted with their surroundings and like to explore their new world. You are for sure right in the midst of this stage. While nursing you’ll stop and look up at me, flirt a bit, maybe make some cute noises and then turn your head towards something you may or may not have heard. You also like to pull at my shirt or anything you can get a hold of while nursing. You’re very “busy” when nursing.  I finally weaned you from (CAUTION BOYS) the nipple shield and so now we can nurse without any gadgets,which is a huge blessing and relief! It only took one or two frustrating tries and bam, you were through with it. As you got closer to 5 months you started nursing for MUCH shorter periods of time and would cry in the middle of it and delatch. This was beyond frustrating because I couldn’t figure out why or if you were getting enough food, etc… I had been supplementing you since your 4 month check up (17 weeks) with 2 oz of formula after each feeding to make sure you were gaining enough weight. Honestly, I think the (CAUTION BOYS) nipple shield may have caused a transfer issue. Then, once you weaned from the shield you were able to nurse much more efficiently and would get frustrated after a fast let down and didn’t want to work for it after that. Who knows? The wonderful world of nursing… it’s beautiful and frustrating all at once. 🙂  Your weight check at 19 weeks was great- 13 lbs 10 oz (gained 1 lb in 2 weeks!)

At the beginning of the month you were still sleeping in your SwaddleMe wrap at night, but at 17 weeks we began weaning you from it. There were some sleepless nights for sure as you adjusted, but you sleep without it now! I was so nervous about you turning over at night and not being able to turn back over since you were swaddled and didn’t have the use of your arms.  Regardless, your sleep patterns are still sporadic. I never know how many times you’re going to wake up or when. For the most part you wake up a couple hours after your bedtime for your paci/soothing, then again around 3 am for a feeding, then again around 6 and I put you in our big bed until you and I get up for a feeding and for the day at 8 am.  Then every once in a blue moon you’ll sleep through the night (9 pm – 5 am)! It’s glorious. I wish you’d do it more often.  If I can just get 5 hours of uninterrupted sleep, I feel like super woman the next day. It’s amazing. (I say this coming from a sleep pattern of 8-9 hours before I was pregnant. Sigh.)

At 17-ish weeks you started sleeping on your side while cuddling the cute little snuggle blankie. Then, at 18 weeks you rolled over on your own like you’d been rolling over for weeks!  You discovered sleeping on your tummy. Even when I corrected you to your side/back, you’d roll back over on your tummy. I woke up many times at night to creep in and check on you to make sure you were breathing. Ugh, so nerve racking! We spent 5 days at Gammy’s house in Houston while I had a several day photo shoot. You learned to roll over well while we were staying there. My mom and Gammy just loved playing with you while I was out photographing different areas of Houston. It was so nice to have their help. I learned quickly that it’s exhausting traveling alone with a baby. We pulled over on each leg of the trip to breastfeed (and supplement) in the backseat of the car in the middle (literally) of Texas. You mostly wanted to play the whole time and were highly distracted, but we got it done. What’s usually a 4 hour trip turned into a 6 hour trip. hah. Who knew babies has so much “gear” when traveling?! Every inch of the car was filled with stuff.

Your funky left eye mess cleared up all on its own at 17 weeks! Praise the Lord! We were expecting a visit with a pediatric opthamologist to address it. Your hair has grown into this quasi-mohawk thing. It’s so soft and stands straight up towards the back/top of your head. The sides have not seemed to catch up to it yet. The top just keeps on growing.

You like to hold onto your pacifier (which is usually tethered to you) and can take it in and out of your mouth. Sometimes you try to put it in backwards, but at least you’re trying!  At 20 weeks you started doing this thing where you slam your left arm up and down (while usually hitting yourself in the process) when you get excited. It’s funny. Especially if you’re holding a toy.   You’re also in this major pinching phase. Ouch! Anything/anyone that comes near you gets grasped/pinched/latched onto with all your might.  This is what a typical diaper change looks like: I place you on the changing table and you immediately get excited. You slam your arms all over the place and kick your legs,while also arching your back so you’re now turning away from me. I correct you and try to put your paci in and hand you Sofie the giraffe toy. You yip and screetch and giggle and sometimes stop in amazement at the ceiling fan. Then I begin undressing your bottom half. Once I get your diaper off you are beyond excited (you LOVE being naked!) You kick and yelp and put your hands in your mouth and arch your back so your belly is in the air.  At this point I’m usually putting together your clean cloth diaper and setting it near your feet. I clean you up and place the new diaper under you, which you usually kick all over the place and then sometimes pee in the process. As soon as my arm gets close to your feet, you subconsciously kick it away, while latching onto my other arm with your tightly pinching hand. Then as I’m fastening the new diaper on you, you begin to spit up, so I’m now trying to wipe that up while keeping the diaper in place. It’s a balancing act, really. There should be an award given each time I successfully get a clean diaper on you and keep you dry from spit up.

The thing we’ve been most surprised with (regarding this whole baby rearing thing) is how much and how often you spit up. We’d be better off just donning ponchos when around you. Your pediatrician says there’s nothing that can be done about it… you’re just a “spitty baby”. Honestly, it’s super exhausting. I change your clothes several times a day and you usually barf all over the new outfit minutes after I finish dressing you, no joke. Then, I’ll get dressed (after avoiding putting on “real” clothes for the day b/c I know you’ll barf on me) and shortly after picking you up to carry you to your bouncy chair or car seat you barf all down me – haha. Sometimes I have patience with it and other days I’m just human and get really frustrated. It’s extremely rare that you aren’t wearing a bib (that’s soaked in spit up) and therefore, we don’t get to see your cute outfits. When people ask to hold you, we give them plenty of fare warning that they will be spit up on, and try to liberally cover them in burp clothes/towels – haha. It makes it difficult to cuddle with you for fear that you’re going to overflow/barf on me any minute. One time I went in for a kiss on your lips and BLEH you barfed and it just barely hit my mouth before I pulled back as quickly as possible. I’ve since learned. Don’t worry, we burp you plenty but it still comes at all times of the day no matter how much we feed you or when we’ve fed you. You do this thing now where you fight me while I burp you (trying to stand and arch your back), and then you rotate your head from side to side while spitting up in the process to be sure to spray it everywhere. I never thought I’d do so much laundry in my life. This is one “phase” I can’t wait to get through. We love you dearly, but it will be SO enjoyable once this passes (which I’ve read can last until 9 months, Lord help us)!

Not long after you turned 4 months old, I put you on a more structured daily routine. Here’s a rough outline of our daily routine from 4-5 months old:

8 am – Wake up for the day & nurse / supplement with 2 oz formula

8:30 – Play/ awake time  (activity mat) – usually the chipper-est part of your day

9:45 – Nap (lasts anywhere from 20 min – 1.5 hours)

11 am – Nurse / supplement with 2 oz formula

11:30 – Play / awake time  (activity mat / bouncy chair) – rolling all over & batting at toys

12:45 – Nap

2 pm – Nurse/ Supplement with 2 oz formula

2:30 – We usually go to the lake for a long walk/exercise (you usually fall asleep half way in for about 30 min to 1+ hour)

5 pm – Nurse/ Supplement with 2 oz formula

5:30 – “Cranky hour” starts usually right when Dad gets home by 6 pm ish

7:15 pm – Sometimes a 20 min cat nap

7:45 pm – Bath time

8 pm – Nurse / Bed time!

1:30 am – you usually wake up crying and just need your pacifier or something to go back to sleep.

2 or 3 am – You wake up for your middle of the night feeding (quickly nurse and back to sleep).

5:30 or 6:30 – You usually wake up crying and dad or I put you in our bed for a couple more hours until my alarm officially goes off at 8 am for the day. Sometimes you go right to sleep in our bed, other times you roll around & make lots of noise for a couple hours. sigh.

You are still very smiley and giggly, which is such a joy!  You are filled with personality, that’s for sure. It’s fun to watch it develop more and more each week. You giggle a lot during diaper changes and when we make funny noises/faces at you. You like when Dad does funny stuff or makes up funny songs and wiggles/squeaks a toy in front of your face.

We can’t wait to see how you’ve grown at your 6 month check up! Love you, baby.

 

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