5 Months!

 Oliver - you are 5 months old!

    BIG BOY!

(Doesn't he look so big now?!  He is already starting to lose his baby-ness and is looking more and more like a little boy.)

Oliver is 5 months today!

At 5 months, I find myself wondering what happened to my newborn!  I was not prepared for how quickly the first few months would pass - seriously!  He is so far from a newborn now and is beginning to explore his world.

-He delights in grabbing everything he can get his hands on!  More times than not, those things go directly into his mouth.  We recently ordered some new small take-along toys from Amazon so he wouldn't play with our keys, phones, etc...

-Nola has become one of his most favorite friends.  He love to watch her play and he is quick to laugh when she runs around shaking her toys.  It's hilarious to watch him enjoy her so much!  Speaking of Big Sister, she is doing phenomenal with Oliver!  This is in part because we set her up to win.  When she's grumpy and stressed, we keep Oliver away from her.  Soon, we will move her food to the front (sewing/craft) room so there will be no temptations for Oliver when he becomes mobile (gasp!).

Some stats:
-Oliver unofficially weighs right around 15lbs.

-I just packed up his last 0-3m clothes.  He is comfortably still wearing 3-6m and 6m outfits.

-He is still wearing cloth diapers.  He's outgrown his Thirsties and because he's using less each day, I've decided not to replenish those (you're welcome Chan).  That leaves FuzziBunz pocket for daytime and bumGenius AIO (and 1 GroVia) for nighttime.  I still wash every other day.  Because I have less free time on my hands, I don't always get to stuff all the diapers at once and usually have inserts and covers in a pile for the grab-n-go method.    Every now and then we make all-day trips out and because it is so incredibly hot outside, I will use 7th Generation disposables so we don't have to haul around dirty diapers with us or keep them in the car.  He's still in a size 2 for these, but I think I am going to order size 3 soon simply because I think he could wear either and I don't want to be stuck with leftover size 2s since no one I know uses that brand.

-He still sleeps in bed with us and continues to sleep through the night.  Sometimes he will stir between 4a and 6a, but I think it's more for comfort because he'll snuggle close and nurse for not even ten seconds before falling asleep again.  He goes to bed for the night between 8:30 and 10.  Big gap, I know.  It depends on what his day has been like.  If it's 10 when he goes to bed, it's because he didn't get his full afternoon nap and fell asleep around 6 or 7 for a little while.  Other than a few odd off days, he keeps a pretty predictable schedule.  This is a wonderful thing since I work half of my part-time job from home.

-He still nurses on demand still refuses a bottle.  Just yesterday I packed up the pump.  I hadn't used it in a long time so there was no point in keeping it down stairs.  I have who knows how much milk in the freezer that I will likely have to toss.  I tried putting some in a 4m trainer sippy cup and it was also a no-go.  I tasted some out of the freezer and yuck.  I can't blame him for not wanting that junk. It definitely didn't taste like fresh milk.  

-He is SO sweet when he nurses.  When he's really sleepy or very hungry, he'll do this cute little 'Mmmmmmm' while he nurses.  He also likes to hold my hand and play with my fingers.  He will also rub my face while he nurses - I love it.  He is incredibly sweet!

-I noticed too how he kneads his hands on my chest as he nurses.  Having a baby has made me realize so many things in instinct - sometimes, very primal, animal-like instinct.  It's easy to forget that as humans, we too are animals.  Puppies and kittens knead their mamas when they nurse and so do humans.  Anyway - it's really sweet.  And sometimes funny to see his face buried in my breast with a hand on either side.  Nom nom nom!

-He still won't take a paci, but we keep a few hanging around because he enjoys gumming them and I'm still not sure how to store them for future bambinos.

-He has three happy places.
1) with his mama
2) outside
3) in the bathtub

-He's gotten better about riding in the car.  He still has trouble with finding his happy place on long trips.  I can't blame him there.  I've become the anti-traveler over recent years.

-He has shown a big interest in food.  I've let him taste a few things and (oops) now he'll open his mouth when we're holding him an eating at the same time.  I'm hoping I can stay firm in my plan to keep him exclusively on breast milk until 6 months.  He's just so cute with his mouth open!  He has tasted quite a few things,  but not more than a finger's dip worth.  He still sucks more than swallows though so I think his reflex still has a tiny bit more development before he's ready.  I do think he'll be a great eater.  Not only that, I need to mentally prepare for the change in diapers.  It's going to stink (pun intended) having to add another step to the wash routine.  (For those that don't use cloth, with breastfed babies you can toss soiled diapers (yep, poop and all) directly in the washer, but when you start solids, you have to rinse them.)  Anticipating this change, the diaper sprayer has been purchased and we are just trying to decide which toilet to use.

(This picture was taken when we got his cake... he is such a baby bird with food!  And yes, that is icing on his face.  We had to share since the cake was technically for his 5 month day!)

-We got him a highchair a couple weeks ago because he likes to be with us at dinnertime.  He's enjoyed sitting in his chair playing with toys while we eat.  He is really into his toys lately.

-Oliver has been standing (with help of course) since he was 6 or 7 weeks old.  It was so early that I asked our pediatrician if it was okay.  I'd remembered hearing about how it was bad for babies to stand and put weight on their legs.  Apparently it doesn't matter.  So he's been standing and putting weight on his legs since then and still does.  Now, he's learning to jump (oh brother!) and since we didn't have an exersaucer, we decided to get a bouncy one.  He loves it!  

(I love that he has is sleepy face in this picture.  He'd only been up for a little while.)

-He is rolling more and more from front to back, but only makes it to his side from back to front.

-He is very intent when he reaches for things.  I have a video I need to upload that shows him reaching and getting frustrated.  It's fun to see him make these associations.

-Our BIG milestone this month?  

Do you see it?

Ok wait, there's more...

BIG boy!  

(Mom, do you love that your old sheet made the picture?  This was mom's sheet from college that's on the bed for Nola.)

He will sit by himself unassisted for a few seconds before tumbling over.  The boppy really doesn't do much to help in my opinion, but I enjoyed lounging on it while he played. ;)

-He's just started laying his head on my shoulder when he's sleepy and just a few days ago he reached his arms out for me.  So big!!!

-He's babbling a lot more and has several recurring sounds - 'Mm, Ga, Ba, Pa, Oh, Woah, Ah, Why, Booo, Eww, High.'  He's also started squealing.  

-He kicks his legs and squeals when he's excited.

-His hair has gotten thicker and is still light!

-He laughs a lot!  

-He is an absolute JOY to be around just when I can't imagine loving him more - I do.