My baby girl is 5 months old. FIVE MONTHS OLD. I’m really not sure how that happened. She turned 5 months old on March 22, so now she’s practically 5 1/2 months old and my heart can barely stand it! Adeline is turning into such a little ham, with a personality waaaaay bigger than she is! We are loving seeing her little spunk, and she is constantly making us laugh. I can only imagine what these next few months will be like – pure joy! She’s also been really discovering the world around her, grabbing and reaching for things she wants, following people around the room with her eyes, touching Truckee when she walks by, and smiling at anyone who will smile back at her (most days). Her mega-smiles are enough to power a city for days, and I hope she always smiles as big as she does right now. Her giggles are absolutely hilarious, and when she starts squawking she sounds like a baby pterodactyl. Her thighs are getting bigger by the minute, and every time I stand her up or lay her down, I can’t help but pinch those squishy rolls, kiss her all over, and inhale her sweet baby smell! It’s full on baby madness over here, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
How am I doing? Work is ok – not going to lie, it’s still tough and I have to keep myself really distracted throughout the day and keep reminding myself that Adeline is perfectly fine. Some days are harder than others at daycare drop-off, but I guess that’s just how it’s going to be. I do love what I do, so that helps, and my coworkers are the best. I’ve definitely been blessed with a fairly flexible situation, so I really can’t complain. But again, in a perfect world I’d get to be home with her more during the week! Maybe someday that will work out, but for now we are doing just fine. I am feeling much more like myself, and have gotten back into exercising as often as I can. I think Adam and I have gotten into a good routine, and we’ve been having so much fun packing our weekends with family time! Adeline keeps us on our toes, and I seriously don’t know what we used to do with all our free time??
Let’s get to her update!
Size
Since we don’t have a 5 month well-check, I’m going to guess that she’s probably in the 15 lb range. She was 14.3 at her 4 month appointment, and I know she’s grown a bit since then! I feel like she’s super long too, when did she get so big?!!! At this rate, she’s going to be longer than the changing table next week!!!
She’s wearing size 2 diapers, mostly 3-6 month clothes and a few 6-12 month outfits here and there, though those are mostly too big still. Her shoes are still 3-6 month, and I’m determined to get every last millimeter out of her moccasins before she outgrows them.
Adeline is also at the perfect size for holding her on my hip, and I just love seeing her sit up and look around! I still sometimes carry her “like a baby” but she’s getting so big that she’ll fight it. Even when I try to rock her to sleep, she’s starting to prefer to sit up with her back kind of up against me so she can face out and fall asleep when she wants to, rather than wrapped up on her side in my arms. I’m a little sad about this!
Likes
Same as last month
Being tickled, she has the cutest “belly laugh” that’s more like a squeel she’s holding in
When dad blows raspberries on her tummy
Taking a bottle in public – I don’t mind nursing her in public, but she’s starting to grab and pull at my cover/blanket and it’s just easier to give her a bottle and she LOVES looking around while she drinks it
Tummy time and Bumbo time – but when she’s on her tummy it’s not long before she just rolls over
Looking at books, grabbing toys, looking at musical toys
“Chewing” on any small toy she can get in her mouth
Laying on her side to nap
“Flying” with dad, being stood up, sitting up on the counter or table in front of us (while being held of course)
Grabbing her paci and putting it in her mouth, I think she’s really proud of herself for this!
Being sung to – she really loves “The Wheels on the The Bus,” and “The Hippo Song”
Bathtime – she still LOVES baths and is splashing more and more
Her toes! She’s constantly pulling her legs up and putting her feet in her mouth.
The Ergo – it was hit or miss for a while but now she loves it
Standing in her Jumparoo for a few minutes at a time
Letting Truckee lick her hands
Being outside! This girl lovvvves being outside and I’m so glad!
Her humidifier – she loves reaching out and touching the mist
Dislikes
Same as last month
Being overtired – she almost always lets us know she’s tired and ready to take a nap or go to bed, but sometimes I think she’s having so much fun that she forgets those cues and when I realize I need to try and put her down it turns into a screamfest before she FINALLY passes out
Her acid reflux, though it’s gotten a lot better with her medicine, and I think she’s starting to naturally handle it better
Loud crying babies – daycare has said a couple times that she’s freaked if there’s a baby next to her that starts screaming too loud out of nowhere
Which leads me to…sudden LOUD noises. She HATES this!
When she pulls her headband down and it gets stuck across her eyes
Being lotioned after a bath – this comes and goes, sometimes she hates it and sometimes she doesn’t seem to mind
Being rocked and held tight when she doesn’t want to be – if I think she wants to rock and settle down for a nap, she’s starting to protest and instead wants to sit facing outward and kind of relax back onto me instead
Bath water that’s too hot or too cold. We’ve got a Goldilocks on our hands and she prefes her bath temp to be juuuuuust right
Stranger danger when she’s tired or in a new place she doesn’t recognize – I brought her up to my office a couple weeks ago and she gave every single one of my coworkers the saddest pouty lip you’ve ever seen
Firsts
First time napping on the couch without any help
First time splashing in the bath – she’s basically outgrown her tub so this may be because she’s uncomfortable! (The splashing has really picked up this past week, so technically I guess she’s over 5 months old.)
First mom’s birthday (my first birthday with her, actually!)
First St. Patrick’s Day
First Easter
First time being held by a niece or nephew – they got to “hold” her at Christmas time, but over Easter weekend she got to sit in a few of their laps
First time sleeping on her side
First time rolling from back to front, though it’s still a work in progress. She hasn’t perfected it, and still gets stuck on her arm then gets frustrated. (She rolled over completely just this week! So again, a little over 5 months.)
First time to the Dallas Arboretum
First time to Garvan Gardens
First semi-“cold” (kind of) – I wouldn’t even really call it a full blown cold, but she did have a low grade fever for a few days and a slight cough
First time in the stroller without the car seat
First time seeing a baptism at church
First time rocking a ponytail
First time sitting in her Bumbo
Current Routine/Sleep
Our daily routine goes something like this: I wake up at 6, jump in the shower. Get partially ready. Wake Adeline up between 6:15 -6:30 am. Then I change her, and nurse her. About 6:50 or so (most days closer to 7:00, yikes!), she’s done and I can get her changed again and dressed for daycare. Then I scramble to finish getting myself ready, Adam gets bottles ready and breastpump thing together, loads the car, and we’re finally out the door between 7:15 and 7:20 am. This is definitely still a work in progress, and I really do hope to one day be able to get our butts out the door closer to 7, but it’s tough! Adeline is in daycare from about 8-5 most days, then we get home, play, and start bedtime routine.
I aim to get Adeline in the bath around 7, sometimes 7:15, and if we’re having some serious cuddle time I’ll wait until 7:30. But, lately she’s been telling us she’s ready for bed, and by 6:45 sometimes she starts rubbing her eyes and getting fussy so I know it’s time to start the process. Once I bathe her, lotion her, get her in her pjs, and in her sleepsack, then get her nursed and rocked to sleep, it’s usually sometime between 8 and 8:30 pm.
Adeline has always been a great sleeper, well, excluding those first few newborn weeks. Those don’t even count. But, the past month she’s still been sleeping through the night, give or take a rough night here or there, or Easter weekend when we were traveling (that was a rough few days, whew!). It’s not odd for her to sleep 10-11 hours straight though, either not waking up or waking up to talk and roll around and then put herself back to sleep. But, she hasn’t had a nighttime feeding since before she started daycare. On the few nights that she does wake up and can’t settle herself back down, I’ve gone into the nursery and gotten her out of her crib and rocked her back to sleep, and one time I did finally cave and let her nurse for a few minutes, but thankfully that didn’t start a new habit. As frustrating as those nights are, and as thankful as I am that they’re so sparse, a part of me LOVES the extra cuddles
She sleeps in her crib in a HALO Sleepsack, and it has been wonderful. She’s slept in one ever since the newborn days (except for when we just used a blanket in the RocknPlay). Before she started daycare (12.5 weeks), we used a HALO that had a swaddle around her top half. Then to help transition her to the plain sleepsack, I would loosely wrap the swaddle portion, and eventually one weekend just made the switch. I’d say a couple weeks after starting daycare she was consistently sleeping in the plain sleepsack. Daycare was a huge help with transitioning to no swaddle, mainly because I think she was so exhausted at night after a big day that she would sleep no matter what, and she was learning to nap unswaddled at daycare as well. She’s only sleeping in the sleepsack at night in her crib, and when she naps at home with us she just sleeps with a blanket in her crib. I’ve tried really hard to make her bedtime/nighttime routine really consistent and obvious to her, so I think her sleepsack signals “big sleep” time. She’s taken a few naps on the couch without anything, and it’s adorable. I know she’s really tired when she starts rubbing her eyes, fussing a little, and rolling from side to side trying to get comfortable and eventually she’ll just put herself to sleep on her side! She’s been napping on her side at daycare, and at night sometimes I’ll see her on the monitor roll around until she can get comfortable on her side. There have also been a few times where she’s been suuuuper fussy and has fought me rocking her so I’ve just laid her in her crib (or pack n play over Easter) and she’s done the same thing – roll around for a minute, end up on her side, and then pass out. She’s also able to grab her Wubbanub paci and put it in her mouth so I think that’s helping her soothe herself to sleep as well.
Eating Habits
Adeline is still taking 3 bottles a day, each with 4-4.5 ounces of breast milk. She is also nursed every morning, and every night before bed. Sometimes she has an extra feeding when we get home from work if her third bottle was earlier than usual.
I’m pumping at work, 3X a day. It hasn’t been too stressful, and I’ve been able to keep a steady supply, for which I am so thankful for. Pumping isn’t for the faint of heart! I have my own office at work, so being able to close the door when I need to has been SO nice! We’ve got a ridiculous freezer supply built up, so to keep from having to throw any out, I’m currently pulling frozen milk for daycare, and freezing what I’m currently pumping.
She’s still exclusively breastfed, and I plan to keep it that way until she’s officially six months old. You can read about my reasoning here. She’ll be six months towards the end of April, so by May I’m thinking we’ll be jumping on the solid train! Personal preference of course, and this is just what we are choosing to do for our family, and is what I think is best for Adeline. Who knows though, she’s been eyeballing our dinners at night so I do think she’s starting to get a little curious! I think if she could have reached my zucchini spaghetti last night she would have had a handful!
I’m definitely considering the baby led weaning approach, but I also am not against purees and giving homemade baby food a shot. (Except that’s a funny joke, there’s no way I have time to slave over homemade baby food!) Either way, the majority of her nutritional needs will still come from breast milk through the first year, so I’m not too worried about it.
Little Things I Want to Always Remember
Her chunky squishy thighs!!!!!!! CAN’T HANDLE IT!!!
How she “pops out her turkey timer” when she’s asleep and done sucking on her paci
When she’s in her carseat in the car and we hear her dramatic yawns
How she grabs her Wubbanub and puts it in her mouth on her own now
Morning snuggles on the weekend
How much Adam has bonded with her now that she’s more interactive
Seeing Adam and Adeline giggle together on the couch
How talkative she is in the car sometimes
Looking down at her pretty eyelashes when she’s asleep in the Ergo on me
How she naps on her side now, and kicks her big ‘ole thigh over to get comfortable
Her squawking that sounds like a baby pterodactyl
How she’ll go a couple days without pooping then surprise us with an explosion (the worst but hilarious for whoever’s turn it is to change her!)
Her huge smiles
How happy she is when we pick her up from daycare
How she puts all her toes in her mouth, and how bendy she is!
Our bedtime routine – I don’t think I’ll ever be tired of rocking her to sleep after her last feeding of the day, I want them to last forever!
Seeing her play with her friends at daycare – we’re secretly trying to cultivate her first love with a little boy in her class, and so far they are a match made in Heaven. His parents just don’t know it yet.
We love our girl so much!
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