Samuel: 5 months

On the 24th, Samuel turned 5 months!  I remember with James, this is about the time I really started enjoying him and being a mom... with Samuel, we're already there!  Being a second-time mama is quite different... things have just gone smoother all around.  And Sam has certainly acclimated himself quite well into our little family.

Likes:

• Nursing
• Singing
• Being outside
• Reading books (Goodnight Moon, especially)
• Looking at lights or ceiling fans
• Being tickled
• Watching James
• Playing with toys (only for a short time... he seems to get bored rathe quickly and wants to move on to the next activity)
• Getting lotion put on at bedtime (he usually gets really ticklish and giggles the whole time)

Dislikes:

• Bath time (James usually pours water on his head, so this is a hard one for him to enjoy)
• Being kept awake too long

(That's really it... He is such a happy, easy baby!)

What he's up to:

• Playing with toys all the time - he grabs them easily with both hands, puts them in his mouth, waves them around and bangs them on the table or floor
• Rolling with ease - he actually only does this a lot in his crib.  He rolls all over the place in there and I find him in a different position every time he wakes.  But when he plays on the floor, he tends to stay put mostly.  Maybe I need to start challenging him by putting his toys a little out of reach.
• Talking and happy screaming - all. the. time.
• Sitting with support - in the Bumbo we borrowed from the Reagans, but he can't sit up for long totally unsupported (like, only a few seconds)
• Watching us eat and sometimes grabbing at plates/forks/food when he gets the change - he isn't sitting well yet, and we tend to lean toward starting solids closer to 6 months (per recommendations)

Breast feeding continues to go great.  Samuel enjoys it and easily is satisfied.  We actually go to the pediatrician this Wednesday for a weight check mostly for my own peace of mind (at his 4 month appointment he had fallen off his growth curve a bit, though the doctor was not concerned).  The only time he seems irritable while nursing is the day after I work each week, and he gets frustrated after the first let down slows.  The entire day while I'm at work, he drinks from a bottle, which is just so much less work for him to get the milk he wants.  So, the next day when he starts nursing again, he is so happy until the milk slows a little.  He protests and cries and pulls off a lot until the next let down.  But, by the end of that day each week, he tends to remember that he likes it better straight from the source anyway. ;)



Sleeping also continues to go well.  As mentioned in the last couple of posts, we struggled over the holidays with some night waking and bad naps.  Samuel is back into a good groove these days.  He tends to nap three times a day (sometimes he will take a fourth little cat nap in the evening, depending on how the timing of his other naps have been).  His wake time is a little all over the place, lasting 1-2 hours throughout the day.  Here is what a typical day looks like for him:

8am wake, nurse
(1st wake time 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes)
9am 1st nap
(1st nap usually 2 hours)
11am wake, nurse
(2nd wake time 1 hour 30 minutes to 2 hours)
12:30 2nd nap
(2nd nap usually 1 hour 30 minutes)
2pm wake, nurse
(3rd wake time 1 hour 30 minutes to 2 hours)
4pm 3rd nap
(3rd nap usually 1 hour to 1 hour 30 minutes)
5pm wake, nurse
(4th wake time 2 hours max)
*potential cat nap depending on what time he wakes from his 3rd nap*
6:30pm head upstairs lotion, PJs, book and last mini nursing session (6pm if bath included)
7pm lay down awake, falls asleep happily, easily and quickly on his own (really - he is the best baby)

Above is an ideal day, where none of his naps are interrupted by having to leave for appointments or errands, and he isn't suddenly woken up by James ;)  Sometimes the timing gets off so that his 3rd nap ends around 4pm, which is hard because that leaves him with 3 hours until bedtime, and if I try to keep him awake until then, he is very unhappy, so we'll do a quick cat nap around 5 or 5:30pm, which usually only lasts 30 minutes or so.  With the cat nap, if he is awake again by 6, he goes back down for bedtime pretty easily still at 7-7:15pm.  So, as you can see, we're not on a schedule at all, but definitely in a good routine.  The main variables in the day are his nap time lengths and his initial wake time (which varies anywhere from 7am to 8:30am - a whole hour and a half, so that can shift the whole routine by an entire "wake time" length!).



Samuel remains the cutest, sweetest, chubbiest-cheeked infant in the house, and we like him!