Emily is in such a FUN stage right now! She’s smiling at everything, really starting to get the hang of laughing, and is learning so much from her surroundings. We love watching her discover new things. My active baby is really turning out to be a lot more calm….I never thought I’d write that haha. When we are out, she will take naps on me, my mom, or most recently, Nana! She is so alert and takes in everything. She loves to ride on her daddy’s shoulders. She wants to put everything in her mouth and really grabs her toys.
New stuff: We have officially transitioned out of the rock and play sleeper, to her co-sleeper. This was huge because for the first 4 months of her life she slept propped up. We also transitioned her out of the swaddle, which went better than I thought! We did one arm out for a week, and then two and into a sleep sack. She also rolled over from back to belly! And 2 days before she turned 5 months old, she sat up on her own for awhile! Our big girl :)
Allergy: This part I am SO thankful and blessed to be writing about. The blood in Emily’s diapers have completely cleared up! Praise God!! Her last diaper with blood in it was January 2nd, so almost a month ago. This makes us so excited and thankful that her milk protein allergy is and will be clearing up from here on out. I may introduce a small amount of dairy to my diet around 6 months to see how she handles it…..maybe not, I’m not sure yet. This is such exciting news for us!
Sleeping: Emily is still in the sleep regression, but we are working on it. We have now gotten her first stretch of the night to 4 hours. She wakes up sometimes before that, but it’s few and far between. The rest of the night it has moved to every 2-3 hours instead of every 1-2. So, small improvements, but we will take it. She has also started stretching out her naps from 20-30 minutes to 1 hr-1.5 hours! I have a feeling she is going to be a sleeper like her mom and dad :)
Eating: We have given up on the bottle, but that’s ok. She is eating every 2.5-3.5 hours during the day. She can start trying to use a sippy cup of milk, so we may practice with that. I’m not forcing anything though, if she doesn’t want it then that’s ok. We are going to start her on solids in a few weeks! Her first foods will be pears, avocado, bananas, and sweet potatoes. We are really excited to see if she likes them. Also, if she shows no interest in foods, we will wait a while and try again. As you can see, we are doing mostly baby led things….she will decide when she is ready, not me :)
Favorite things month 5: Sleep sack, Sally seahorse, Gigi (lovey), itzbeen timer, jumperoo, bouncer, swing, playmat, winkel toy (amazing!), light up ladybug toy, bumbo with tray, boppy, toy bar for the carseat, stroller.
Stats: I will update this after we see the pediatrician on Thursday, but I do know she is right at 17 pounds and into 6-9 month clothes.
Realizations from the mommy front: It’s amazing how when you start to get to the other side of hard times, how clear the “why” becomes. That may not even make sense, but whatever. Emily was a handful (and still is sometimes) but it is clear to me now why God chose her for us. He KNEW Danny and I could handle it. He knew I would fight through it all, ie. Breastfeeding through the hard times and through her milk protein allergy, even though I had to give up my entire diet. He knew I would fight through her sleep issues, he knew we would fight through her colic because of her allergy. He knew he could give me Emily and I could handle it. It has made me a better mother because SO many things have not come easily in raising Emily. I would see other babies sleeping through the night, or taking 3 hour naps during the day, or even being calm out in public, or mother’s who could get dinner on the table every night and think, “That would NEVER happen for me.” But that’s ok…..that is their journey, not mine. Danny and I joke all the time that if there is a second baby Jeanes, we will be so prepared, that we won’t even need all of the tools in our arsenal that we used for Emily. I’ve heard if the first one is hard, the second one is a breeze…..we will see….maybe ;) So, thank you Lord for our journey. It’s been a struggle, but we are better parents because of it. I may or may not have lost my mind quite a few times along the way (poor Danny and my momma!), but I made it. WE’VE made it, and I can see we are on the downslide of the hard times.
And I'll leave you with our beautiful 5 month old baby girl:
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