5 months old

I'm a little late again, but last week, Max turned 5 months old!  And an interesting month it was!  Pneumonia, a stomach bug, and another cold kept him pretty under the weather for a few weeks of it. For the most part, he smiled right on through it though...

 

Being sick seemed to reset something in him though and the amazing sleeper he'd been since birth pretty much disappeared.  He has gotten up once a night pretty much since they told us to stop waking him up at night and all of a sudden he was up every couple of hours.  I wish I could say that went away with the sickness, but it didn't.  He's still up anywhere from 1 to 4 times a night, usually 3.  Yes, we've very tired!  It's a really good thing he's so cute!

In the same vein, instead of dropping a bottle like most babies do as they get older, he added one.  Instead of making it 4 hours between bottles, he seems to only make it 3 now. I wasn't sure I was going to be able to keep nursing as I couldn't keep up with the volume he was drinking, but after drinking more nursing tea than I ever wanted and eating lots of oatmeal and pumping a lot more often, I was able to get my supply to meet his demand!  He's drinking 18 ounces at school during the day and still nursing 3 other times during the day and then however many times at night.  He's one hungry monkey!  We tried cereal in hopes of satiating him a bit, but it didn't really change anything.

He really started talking a lot this month too.  He coos constantly if he's playing or when he wakes in the night.  I'll just hear these sweet little coos over the monitor and sometimes he'll just chat a bit and then go on back to sleep.  He's so very curious about everything and he's definitely in the phase where he puts everything in his mouth.  He is great at holding on to things and getting those very things in his mouth or wherever he wants them to go.  His brain and his hands seem to finally be working together.  Sometimes he can even get his pacifier in his mouth all alone. 

He moved to the crib and did well, but then had to go back to his sleeper because he got so congested that he needed to be upright again.  He pretty much only likes being upright when he's awake too.  He loves being in the exersaucer or just sitting in your lap.  In the bathtub he'll even try to pull himself up from the inclined part of the tub so he's sitting upright.

For all of the changes that month 5 brought, Max really seems very happy.  Everywhere we go, he just smiles and people always ask if he's always that happy.  He really is, unless he's hungry!  He's a complete joy and I just keep telling myself,  when I'm so tired I can barely think straight, that one day pretty soon he won't want anything to do with me and I'd better cherish these moments while I can.  He's getting so big so fast...I wish I could slow it down a little.  But he gets cuter and sweeter every day and we just can't get enough of him.  We love you Super Max!