You are 5 months old and time is flying by! I can't believe that you have been apart of our family for only 5 months because it feels like forever. You give us smiles from the moment you wake up to the second you fall asleep. You are a social little thing and we just love you to pieces! Your 5 month photos were taken towards the end of your 5th month because the weather just wouldn't cooperate with us. But, we did them and you were super fun to photograph because you have really become interested in the stickers! We didn't get a chance to do a photo in your onesie because (gasp!) it doesn't fit!!!
SLEEP
I love you to pieces little man but you have become a terrible sleeper! You still only will nap for about 45 minutes at a time and we are lucky if you will nap twice a day. Often I try to find a reason to wrap you up on my back so that you will get your second sleep. You won't even sleep more than 45 minutes to an hour in the car (I'm sure some of that has to do with your brother talking non-stop so that when you stir you are immediately stimulated!). At night you go to sleep around 7pm and you sleep for about 1.5 hours and then you wake up every 30-45 minutes until you are in bed with me at which time you will then sleep for a few hours. You are clearly a high needs baby when it comes to sleep. You need to be very warm, be near a person, and have some pressure on you (arm or blanket). As you are too little to sleep with anything in your bed this means you are with me at night still. I have resorted to swaddling you a few times to help you sleep better but we can't go back to that being a regular thing because you are a little too big for the swaddle! You are also very hard to get back to sleep when you wake up. Often times I can be found standing over your crib with one hand on your chest and the other tucked next to your cheek until your breathing becomes deep and shallow again. Other times nothing comforts you and you have to be nursed back to sleep. You are a challenge little man but we love you!
FOOD
Still 100% from mommy. You show an intense interest in food and so we will probably start letting you hold chunks of food and also offer you some puree this month. Technically the recommendation is to hold off until at least 6 months so I will try but your as big as some 8 month old babies in both size and development so we'll see how long we can hold out! You do have sips of water occasionally and you love that!
CLOTHES
You are growing like a weed! You are solidly in 6 month clothing and can wear some 6-9 or 6-12 things easily. I believe you are longer than Conor was at this age so jammies are a bit of a problem as your length and fat little feet make it hard to ensure your toes aren't pushing against the seams of footie jammies and that the elastics at the ankles aren't digging into you. We have borrowed some jammies from friends as the weather is still quite cold for this time of year and we don't have any warm jammies in your current size. You love to wear hats and I have them on your often. The colors pink and navy really compliment your complexion while yellow and some greens tend to wash you out. Socks are a waste of time because of your fat little feet so more often than not you wear your fleece booties from Zutano. BEST booties ever made - its almost time to order you a cotton pair for summer!
PERSONALITY
Oh Boy Colin! You are the happiest baby I have honestly ever met. You never cry unless you are overtired or hungry (or you have had enough of Conor's play). You smile from sun up to sun down and your smiles take over your entire body! You love the sight of Daddy or Conor and light up the moment they come into the room. You crave touch and laugh and giggle when Conor includes you in his play. You do not like to be left in a room alone but will tolerate it for short periods of time. You have started 'talking' and your favorite time to talk is when you are on FaceTime with family or at the dinner table. You just want to be included in the conversations.
DEVELOPMENTS
This month you have started sitting unassisted if propped into a sitting position. You tend to lean forward but can be found sitting straight up at times to look around the room. Sometimes this action results in your falling over or backwards but most of the time you are able to steady yourself and avoid tipping. I would not say you are a great sitter and you are never left alone when sitting. You also have gained some control over your hands and are using them to pick up things. Your hands are clumsy but you work very hard at getting the items you are after into your mouth. Speaking of your mouth - you have taken to chewing on your binky whenever you get a chance and you also chew on some of your toys. Because of that we have kept your teething necklace on 100% of the time now. It never leaves your neck except for bathtime (if I remember).
EXPERIENCES/FIRSTS
You participated in your first St. Patricks Day AND your first Mommy/Colin road trip! We went to see Ana and Auntie Cate/Uncle Jarrod at their apartment. You did so well on this trip considering we were gone for over 8 hours. You also got to spend some quality time with friends and family which is always hard when your brother is around because he's talkative and mobile and your still a baby!
This month you also developed croup. This was a horrible experience and one that I certainly don't want to repeat. We had to give you nebulizer treatments (a first in this house) to help your oxygen saturation and you hated them after a while. It took a week or so but you came around and started to improve. Croup is pretty awful (Conor had it too) but in a baby like you it was horrible! We spent a lot of time outside that week despite the freezing cold temperatures because you both did much better in the cold air.
Grandma and Grandpa also came to visit and they brought Auntie Sarah. We all went out to lunch. You had a great time being part of the luncheon and you loved visiting with your family!
You also rode in the shopping cart at the grocery store for the first time this month but only for a few minutes because you slump forward too much still ;)
I can't wait to see what month #6 brings us - you are growing so fast and changing every day! We love you!
xoxo
Mommy
PS. 5 month comparison photo (Conor on top; Colin below)
