Musings by a Redhead: 5 Months!

Nathan is now 5 months old (as of last Friday) and changing/learning new things every day. Recent accomplishments include rolling all the way over (and over... and over) and blowing raspberries (spit bubbles). He actually rolled all the way over for the first time (successfully) about 2 weeks ago; my parents, grandma, and uncle were all here to see it, which was fun. Now that he's rolling pretty consistently, he's learned that he can use that to his advantage to get to wherever he wants to go. It's a lot of fun to watch, but does require keeping a closer eye on him! The other day I had him on his jungle mat and walked away for about 2.5 seconds to get something from the bedroom. When I walked back in, he had rolled off the mat and under the dog! Fortunately, Gibbs is extremely gentle and protective of him :)

He is back to sleeping in his crib for most of the night (yay!). We sometimes still put him in his Rock 'n Play after his early morning feeding - he falls back asleep much easier in there than in his crib. Overall though, he's sleeping more or less through the night on a pretty consistent basis. Most evenings he's in bed by 8-8:30. He's been dropping the late afternoon nap more and more lately, so I'm thinking we might be moving up his bedtime to 7:30 or so. Some nights he has what I call "false alarms" where he wakes up for whatever reason but doesn't really need anything. Sometimes he fusses quietly for a few minutes and goes back to sleep on his own - other times he needs a little help to keep from getting so worked up that he keeps himself awake. Usually his pacifier or a gentle repositioning is all it takes. Now that he's rolling, the pediatrician said it's fine for him to sleep however he wants - tummy, back or side. A lot of times he winds up on his side, snuggling with his glow worm :) Aside from the false alarm wake-ups, he usually gets up for an early morning feeding sometime between 4:30 and 6:00. He had been going back to sleep for another hour or so after that, but these past few days he's actually been sleeping in pretty late. Sunday he didn't get up until 8:20!

Feeding-wise, he eats about 6 times a day. During the work week, I nurse him at the early morning feed. He then has 3 bottles (4-5 ounces each) throughout the day at daycare or with Daddy. I usually nurse him again when I get home from work, and then he has his bedtime bottle. We are planning to start solid food soon - probably the week after 4th of July. He won't be quite 6 months yet, but he's definitely ready. He's been showing a lot of interest in our food lately. He stares at it and reaches for our plates and utensils. I also want to start the process before I go on my work trip. He'll be staying with my in-laws the first night I'm gone (when Paul is also on shift), and quite honestly, I don't trust my MIL to not give him solid food since she's been asking for the past couple of months when he can start. Also, we leave for vacation the end of July (right after my work trip), so I'd like to have at least a couple of foods established by then. I wouldn't want to be just starting solids during our vacation, so the only other option would be to wait until we get home, which is just too long. He's really curious.

In other news... I'm having a bit of writers' block. There are some things I definitely want to post about, but I just haven't found the words yet. Or the time really. But I will post again. I need to vent a little about the situation with my MIL, and this blog is one of few places where I can be completely, 100%, brutally honest about things. So stay tuned... that just might be my next post. But until then, I'll close with some recent photos since I haven't posted any in a while: