The Best is Yet to Come: Five Months Old

Caitlin,

You turned 5 months old yesterday! We had another fun and exciting month that went by way too quickly! You are doing some fun things these days! We were at the doctor for a weight check last week, and you weighed in at 11lbs 2oz. You are still a little peanut, but you are definitely growing. The buddha belly that I talked about in your 4-month post is more apparent than ever when you are sitting up, and your little legs are starting to get even chunkier. We love it! You are now wearing size 1/2 diapers and mostly 3 months in clothes. The 3 month size is starting to get a little tight (either because you are growing or because I somehow manage to shrink everything) so you've also started to wear some of your 6-month stuff. You have some really cute clothes and are so lucky to have so many people who have bought you some warm stuff for these cooler temps. Your hair is still falling out like crazy. The bald spots are a little more apparent, but we still think you are super cute. You also still have that crazy cowlick that makes your hair stick up. Someday, when your hair gets longer, maybe it won't be so noticeable, but everyone thinks it is the cutest thing. Your eyes are a beautiful dark blue-gray. I asked Dr. M if this is what your eye color will be, and she told me they won't be brown but could get lighter like Daddy's eyes. Guess we will just have to wait and see. It's so crazy to me that you have light hair and light eyes. I was sure that you'd have dark brown hair and brown eyes like me!

This month has been the most trying for us for breastfeeding. I honestly feel like I say that every month. I've dealt with quite a few clogged milk ducts, thrush and also a decreased milk supply (which I think is partially a result of me going back to work and having to pump). The milk supply has been the most stressful because of the situation with you gaining weight. Because I don't pump enough for your bottles during the day while I'm at work, I am lucky enough to wake up every night and pump at 2:45am. It definitely hasn't been fun, but I will do what it takes for you to keep getting breast milk. I have started taking fenugreek and am hoping this will help increase my supply. Aside from all that, you do some really cute things when you are nursing. Sometimes you are so focused on eating that you forget I'm there. I'll do something that makes noise (blow my nose, take a drink of water, clear my throat, etc.) and you will turn your head and look at me a like you are startled, but then you get the biggest smile on your face. After this happens, you spend the next few minutes popping off to look up at me and smile. When you're not trying to grab everything you can while you're eating (my shirt, my bra, my face, etc.), you rest your hand on my chest. I think this is so sweet. Occasionally, when you do this, all of a sudden, I hear a slurping noise, and when I look down I see you trying to sneak your thumb into your mouth while you are nursing. You clearly like to have your hands in your mouth (as if the many pictures of you with your hands in your mouth aren't evidence enough!). You are still eating every 3-4 hours, about 5-6 times a day. You are getting 3 bottles a day from Daddy (5 oz. each) with a little more than a tablespoon of oatmeal in each. We had to switch to oatmeal because the rice cereal was making you pretty contispated. Your poop is a very important part of our lives these days. We have also tried twice to give you cereal on a spoon, and you were not a fan. We will just have to keep trying.

What are you up to this month? You have full control of your neck/head. You can sit in your bumbo, exersaucer, or in the Boppy without us worrying about you being a bobblehead. You are pretty good at prop sitting. You still enjoy your activity mat and enjoy eating the monkey's feet and tail and talking to the birdie. You have become quite chatty lately. You rolled over from your stomach to your back on your 4 month birthday and then about 5 times the day after, but you really haven't done it much since then. We do tummy time every day, but you seem to have forgotten how to roll over. We figure you'll do it when you're ready. You smile all the time and are starting to laugh/squeal more and more each day. Daddy is really good at making you laugh. You are getting better at grabbing things and are using one hand to grab things more often. We've started using the exersaucer and so far, you seem to like it. You are able to turn on the music by hitting the buttons, but most of the time, you hit them by accident and surprise yourself when the music turns on. You get very excited when you realize that you can stand up in the exersaucer. You are a drooling machine. You pretty much wear a bib full-time, and we have to change it at least 3 times a day. You also chew on your bib a lot, so that doesn't help with trying to keep it dry. I still think that you are teething because you love to put everything in your mouth - you chew on everything! There are no teeth yet though! You still like to look at "that other baby" in the mirror. You will look in the mirror and get a big smile on your face and then turn your head away as if you are being shy.

And the big topic of the month... Sleep. I hope that I'm not jinxing us by writing about it, but I want to have our sleep issues documented. At the beginning of the month, I told Daddy that we needed to teach you how to sleep without being swaddled because I thought it was time. You kept breaking out of the swaddle because you wanted your hands so I figured you must be ready. Boy was I wrong. We tried this for about a week, and while it wasn't completely awful, you were up pretty much every hour on the hour starting at 3am. Since you no longer eat at night, Daddy and I started rotating nights to get up with you so at least one of us could get a full night's sleep. After about a week, you caught a cold and weren't feeling well, so we decided to swaddle you again until you felt better and then we'd try to teach you how to fall asleep on your own. We started this on a Friday (Oct 15th) since we knew the first few nights would be hard. When it came time to do it, Daddy was all for it and I was trying to find every excuse not to. The first night was miserable. You cried A LOT. I cried A LOT and got mad at Daddy for making me do this to you. But, we survived. Each night since then has gotten better and better and now, we are able to put you down to go to sleep without much fuss. You sometimes will cry a little when I lay you down, but you quickly settle and go to sleep. You have found your thumb and usually fall asleep on your side. You move around a lot when you are trying to get settled (sometimes you turn a complete circle in the crib) and after you fall asleep on your side, you end up on your back with your hands above your head. Sometimes, you even sleep with your legs up in the air. Oh, and I should mention that we are now swaddle AND pacifier free! We have figured out that your bedtime needed to be moved earlier, so now you are going to bed between 6:30 and 7:30 at the very latest and sleeping through the night for 11-12 hours. You are a ROCKSTAR! This kind of sucks for me because I only get to spend a few hours a day with you during the week, but you obviously need the sleep and seem to be doing really well with it. We think you are a much happier baby now. Our bedtime routine is pretty much the same as before except I have now added a song right before you go to bed. Pop-Pop Chick sang it to you when they visited this past weekend and I remembered how he used to sing it to me and how much I loved it, so I am trying to remember to add it to your routine each night.

We've had another amazing month with you and are so excited to see what the next one will bring. We are so proud of you and love you so much!!

Love you like no other,
Mommy
Here are your 5 month pictures: