5 month old schedule

I regret not keeping a record of Vincent's schedules and routines. Although I do a whole lot less research on where Kate should be at 5 months, I still rack my brain trying to remember what Vincent was doing at this age.

When I need a helping hand with short naps, baby's sleep needs, number of naps, lengths of nap, suggest wake time, etc. I go to these sources:

Troublesome Tots
Baby Sleep Schedule
On Becoming Baby Wise
Baby Sleep- What is Normal

So for your own comparison, but mostly for my future haggard self after baby 3+, here's Kate's 5 month sleep and eating schedule:

0830-0900: Kate wakes up and eats, then plays until naptime (play mat, exersaucer, tummy time, reading books, go for walk, practice standing, sing songs, get squished by big brother, etc.)
1100: Swaddle, white noise, & paci. Sing a song and put Kate down, falls asleep by self
1300: Kate wakes up from nap and eats
1500: Down for 2nd nap
1700: Wakes up, nurse
1800: Feed Kate small portion of solid food (purees)
1830: On T, Th, Sat give bath
1915-1930: Nurse, put to bed
2300: Dream feed

Of course, she has many off days where she takes shorter naps or get tired early and veers from the schedule. We are in the process of transitioning to two naps, as shown above. When she takes three naps her days look like this:

0830-0900: Kate wakes up and eats, then plays until nap time
1100: 1st nap: Swaddle, white noise, & paci. Sing a song and put Kate down, falls asleep by self.
1230: Kate wakes up "early" from nap and eats between now and 1300
1430: 2nd nap
1600: Wakes up"early"
1630-1700: If showing signs of hunger I'll nurse her before the 4 hour mark but I like to wait until 1700 if happy
1800: 3rd nap
1900: If not already awake, wake Kate so she won't stay up too late
1930: Feed Kate small portion of solid food (purees)
1945: On T, Th, Sat give bath
2015-2030: Nurse, put to bed
2300: Dream feed

The second schedule is a little more typical for us right now. I'm happier than a monkey with a banana when she has a two nap day, but she's happy either way.

She is starting to take an even shorter 2nd nap. Instead of 1.5-2 hours she's having days where the nap only lasts 45 minutes. She had this problem when she was 3-4 months old. We extended her schedule from a 3 hour to a 4 hour routine, which fixed her napping issues. Now that it's happening again I'm adding solid foods to her diet in case she's waking up from hunger. It's also possible that she needs to start extending her daytime wake periods.

Wouldn't it be nice if babies could talk to us and tell us what they need? Or better yet, if we could read their minds. I'll keep dreaming. Until then, we'll continue to do what every parent does: change her schedule around multiple times and when she finally gets it right give ourselves undue credit. 

5 month old milestones

Kate seems to be taking her milestones out of order. Here she is at 5 months, still not rolling over. Vince rolled at 2.5 months! I did a little research and found that some babies don't roll until 6 months. This gave me a sense of relief. But in reality, I'm not too concerned. Why? Because she has good muscle tone and is making good advances with other milestones. Every website that says "each baby is different" really isn't kidding. The differences between Kate & Vincent's infancy is unbelievable.

Although she's not a roller, she's turning into a sitter. When I see her sitting it gives me a pang of sadness and utter delight. How is she growing up so fast? I just want to keep this squishy baby forever. But then... it's so exciting to see her grow, learn and reach milestones.

 In addition to sitting Kate does the following:

-Blows raspberries non-stop
-Whimpers like a little puppy dog
-While on her tummy, pushes her chest off the ground
-Sleeps 13 hours at night (8 pm til 9 am, with a dream feed at 11 pm)
-Takes 2-3 naps averaging 1-2 hours in length
-Puts self to sleep (frequently require a pacifier but occasionally calms down without one)
-Nurses every 3.5 to 4 hours (5x a day including dream feed)
-Turns in circles while on her tummy
-Inches forward while on her tummy
-Grabs absolutely everything
-Reaches for toys that are too far away and scoots/turns to get them
-Still sleeps swaddled for naps
-Coos, giggles, laughs
-Sticks her legs straight up in the air and plays with feet
-While on her back, rolls all the way onto her side (if that darn arm weren't there to stop her she'd be rolling!)
-Splashes and loves bathtime
-Cries when parents leave the room
-Has no teeth but drools like a dog
-Exclusively breastfed
-Stands for less than 60 seconds with someone holding her (she doesn't like to support her weight with her legs, she used to just crumple into a heap but has recently improved with a little extra practice)
-Spits up heinous amounts of milk but is happy and continues to grow 

Throw back to when Vince was 5 months old too.

December Diet

I've been slowly, but steadily, losing this baby weight. It's exciting that I'm having significantly better weight loss success this time around. But then that holiday happened. The one where we count our blessings and shove our faces full of delicious carb-laden food. Not only did it halt my weight loss, it reversed it. This is no bueno, my friends. 

As with all healthy lifestyle changes I suggest to Paul, I preface it with "I have a bad idea". This time around the "bad idea" is to say no to sweets until Christmas day. The 25th of December will be a glutenous day indeed. But until then, no Christmas cookies, no birthday cake, no candy canes, no truffles, no nothing. Well, that last one is a lie. I will get a slice of pumpkin pie for my birthday. Also, we've given ourselves a little leeway with one or two mugs of hot chocolate a week.

I'm dreading my holiday work party and our ward Christmas party. All of those delectable goodies staring me in the face. Paul will help me make it through the ward party unscathed, so it's really the work party I'm worried about. Luckily, saying no is easier than saying just one. Because who really stops at just one?

So if you see me with a Christmas cookie, slap it out of my hand and then slap me in the face.

Playing dress up.

Tomorrow is Sunday. Growing up it was a nice day of rest. Go to church, see friends there, be spiritually fed and uplifted, go home, literally be fed, nap and get ready for a new week. It was a rude awakening to go back to church after Vincent was born. Trying to get a baby to sleep in arms for two hours just doesn't happen. A shortened nap means a grumpy baby and a frazzled mom. Round #2 with Kate has been rough as well, but I'm armed with experience and have gotten better at being flexible with naps and nursing on Sundays.

The real clincher, though, is that every Sunday I get to dress up my little babe. I go through the closet and sort through her drawers to find a darling outfit each week. I love that it is perfectly acceptable for baby girl bums to stick out of skirts and dresses. In fact, I think everyone wants to see those squishy legs (and if you don't, there's something wrong with you). But seriously, seeing my girl all dolled up makes Sunday just that much better.

Tomorrow I will be in the thick of it with many other moms who wake their babies from naps, nurse in a crowded room full of stinky diapers, and get back aches from rocking their (not so) little ones to sleep. But Kate will be dressed up, and I will love it.

Rocket Ship.

A few weeks back my mom ordered some lampshades. They came in an enormous (and incredibly light) box. I decided to hang onto the box because it had some serious potential for a kids craft. Then, for some reason the box just sat in my room for weeks.

Okay, I actually know the reason-- I am so noncommittal it is ridiculous. I'm great in relationships, but when it comes to crafts... aye yai yai! I go on pinterest, get a thousand different ideas and then get cold feet because I don't know how to achieve my fullest crafting potential. What is wrong with me??

Vince has been teaching me a few lessons over the years though. That I shouldn't sweat the small stuff, but more importantly, that I shouldn't care so much about what other people think. Our social media frenzied world is so obsessed with documenting everything. Naturally, I want to capture these fun memories, but the fact that I even have to stop and think about how the rocket ship will look on camera is just too silly.

So here we are, a few weeks later, and I finally threw in the towel. I didn't trace the stars, I cut crooked lines, we got glue everywhere, the pom poms fell off, scribbles all over the side of the box. Certainly not perfect, but certainly so much fun.

Don't let the judgement of every passerby stop you in your tracks. Get messy, let your kids imagine, and stray from that perfect pinterest world.

My Squish.

When I was pregnant with Kate I imagined calling her my Junebug or my little Firecracker, depending on what month she was born. I never, however, imagined I would be calling her "my squish". She is my rotund bundle of joy. Recently, Paul and I have noticed how substantial she is when we pick her up out of the crib. Oh, it makes me so happy!! The only downside is that I can't call her my squish forever, because what awkward preteen wants to be called that? Sigh. For now though, she has no choice. She is my squish and I will squish her night and day!

She's quickly approaching 5 months old. She's strong, but content. In other words, she is awesome at tummy time and she pushes up on her hands, but she's just plain happy and sees no need to roll over. She's done it a few times but has never consistently rolled from her tummy to her back. Though she is ever so close to rolling from her back to her tummy! I'm thankful she's my second baby because I would probably obsess over the fact that she isn't rolling were she my first kiddo. Fortunately, I'm totally okay with a baby that wants to stay a baby for a little while longer.

Kate is loud when she isn't being held or looked at. She blows raspberries, yells and babbles non-stop. Then, the moment you start paying attention to her she just smiles and smiles. She is certainly a social young lady. For this, I am grateful that I've got Vince on my team to keep her happy and occupied.

Crazy enough, we still swaddle this babe. When she was a newborn she hated it. Then, around 12 weeks old she stopped taking long naps. We were able to resolve this by extending her feeding schedule and swaddling her for naps. She goes all night long without being swaddled but just cannot fall asleep during the day with those little hands in her face. She just pops her paci right out and then gets loud (refer to previous paragraph). We're working on swaddling one arm instead of both so she can get to her fingers.

It breaks my heart, but Kate recently got her very first cold. She is congested and can't breathe with a paci in her mouth. It has been a rough few days and she keeps ending up in the swing for naps. This feels like a total fail because she has done so well sleeping in her crib. Fingers crossed that she doesn't get too spoiled! But really, there's really nothing more important than a sick baby getting some seriously good sleep.

Those legs!

Buddies

My brother-in-law, Devin, told me he was surprised by how quickly his first two kids became buddies. It's easy to imagine your toddler taking little interest in an infant that can't play back. That's pretty much what I expected. Vincent has proven me wrong though. Kate too. Vincent is keen on spending Kate's every waking moment together. And Kate looks up to and adores her big brother. Thus, at just a few months old they've already developed a special relationship. Buddies for life, I hope.