SAHM I Am: Vincent's 5 Month Update!

Height/Weight: According to our home scale and measuring tape, Vincent weighs 17 lbs and is 26 inches long!

Daily: It really varies, especially depending on how well he slept the night before, but this is generally our "routine" for the day: wake up and have a feeding in the side-lying position on my bed. Then get up and have tummy time, while I throw together some breakfast for myself. During awake time, he rotates between activity mat and tummy time, time in the bouncy seat, the jumperoo or high chair and my lap. I try to limit time on his back and in the jumperoo, to avoid putting too much pressure on the back of his head or his hips. He has recently really begun to enjoy sitting in his high chair, because he can see the whole living area and have his toys right in front of him, without them falling down. He has become a champ at tummy time and now that we have put together the foam floor mat, he is on a much sturdier surface and has begun to push up on his hands instead of his elbows. He will now do tummy time for 10 minutes at a time or longer! He still takes around 3 naps every day, never longer than two hours at a time. As a matter of fact, most of his naps don't last more than an hour.

Sleep: His bedtime is still between 8 and 9, depending on what time Mike comes home and we have dinner. We've still got the same bedtime routine: diaper, lotion, pajamas, bedtime story (or stories - he is rather fond of them!) and nurse to sleep. A couple of weeks ago, I began transitioning Vincent out of the swaddle. Since he started rolling onto his tummy a LOT, I figured it would be best to free his arms, so he could roll over safely. It has been very hard on both of us, especially since his arms are what keep him awake when he isn't swaddled. Also, he rolls to his tummy every time I put him in his crib, which is rather nerve-wracking for me, especially since I've been advised since before he was born to always put him on his back to sleep and I'm overly paranoid about SIDS. So naturally, I am constantly jumping up to check on him, to make sure he is okay. But I'm not surprised he favors sleeping on his tummy, since both his father and I are tummy sleepers.
As far as sleep itself goes, I'm currently at a loss. Some nights are okay, others terrible. I used to be able to put him down, give him a kiss and talk to him calmly before leaving the room and he would fall asleep on his own. Now, as soon as he can sense I'm about him down to sleep, he cries. Loudly, if I may add. I've tried just about everything and nothing helps. Between what seems like a never ending "wonder week" growth spurt, the 4 month sleep regression period, teething and out-of-swaddle transition, nights and naps have been a disaster for both him and me! I've ordered a Zipadee-Zip (I'll make a separate post about this), an amber teething necklace and a new mobile, which will hopefully help nights become a bit better. I keep having to tell myself over and over that it is just a phase and it will hopefully pass soon.

Eating: Vincent still continues to eat every 2-3 hours during the day. One night he slept for an unusually long stretch and I was very engorged, so I got up to pump. He woke immediately afterward, so I gave him a 2.5 oz bottle. He was still hungry, so I gave him another; he drank 5 oz! The rest, I used to make breastmilk popsicles (one of which he is enjoying in the first photo below). He has definitely upped his intake. Sometimes I wish I had some sort of meter that told me how much he gets during every feeding. xD We ended up changing our minds about the solids. I really didn't want to start them until 6 months, but he had been showing so many signs that he was ready to try (literally trying to put our food and drink in his mouth in particular), that we ended up getting a few jars of baby food for him to try this past weekend. So far we've only tried squash, just two tablespoons per day at dinner. He is not a huge fan, as we suspected (haha), but he will get used to the taste! We also got these little mesh self-feeders and I put a piece of banana in there for him to chew on. He liked that!

Sizes: He is now in 3-6 and 6 month clothing. He fits in 9 month Gerber clothing, which seem to run smaller. I hated having to put all of his 0-3 month clothing away, but it was time! He still fits in 0-3 month pants though, and will for a while. I put him in size 3 diapers when we ran out of size 2, which was two weeks ago. Size 2 was no longer containing number 2 haha!

Milestones and Changes:

As you read earlier, he ate squash for the first time! We haven't given him anything else yet, besides banana to chew on through a mesh feeder.
He is starting to babble! He even said "Mom" and "Mama!" Not on purpose of course, but it really is awesome to hear him make new sounds! "Mamamamama" and "Nanananana" are new as well as "Cheeeee" and "Thhhh". He always seems to have something to say and I can tell that he wants to talk badly!
He rolled over onto his tummy for the first time by himself! Ever since that first time, he does it constantly. Nearly every time I put him on his back, as a matter of fact!

Vincent can sit up for about a minute unassisted! He leans forward on his hands to keep himself upright. It helps if I sit and talk with him during this time, since it forces him to look up and helps keep his balance.

We carried Vince with his legs out in the carrier for the first time - he is finally big enough to where we can do that! Mike also wore him for the first time. :) <3

He LOVES being read to. His favorite books are "The Going to Bed Book", "The Little Engine That Could" and "Where is the Green Sheep?". I look forward to expanding his library!