Our little bundle is now five months old! I can't believe it. The month started out with a trip to Maw Maw and Paw Paw's for Thanksgiving and ended with a trip to Nannie and Paw Paw's for Christmas. Neither holiday disappointed! The car rides were just so-so, but at least we made it there and back in one piece (or three).
Felix had been doing so great with sleep, waking only twice per night, for a long while. Then, we had a glorious few days where he woke only once a night! We really paid for those because the next 2 1/2 weeks were pure hell. Well, they could have been worse, but we sure didn't get a whole lot of sleep. Sleep deprivation is evil. I see why it is a form of torture.
It all started the night of Sammer's company Christmas party. Cyndi babysat for us and we had such a great time! The party was at Antone's with Jesse Dayton and Hayes Carll playing. I know what you're thinking, must be nice to be able to rent out a bar (or institution in Austin) and have two awesome musicians play. Yeah, must be. I'm glad we were able to reap the benefits of Chris's generosity. Anyway, that night he started his new routine right when I got home at 11:30. He would sleep 4, 5 hours at the most and then wake every 1 1/2 - 2 hours, beginning at about 11 or so. Talk about painful. The only way to get him to sleep was to nurse him and sometimes that didn't even work. There were a few nights where he was up for 2 hours, just smiling and kicking away, wanting to play. I like to blame teething because he has a couple of chompers ready to come through, but I don't know if that was it. He has been very fussy and unhappy during the day, drooling like a mad man and chewing on his hands like they had the last traces of breastmilk in the whole world on them. I see a lot of white on his bottom gums, but no tooth yet. During this time, I learned to breastfeed him while standing in the dark bathroom with the fan on, bouncing him, swaying back and forth, and singing our bedtime songs all at the same time. It was hard at first but a breeze now. He loves that bathroom fan. I think we've worn out the upstairs one because it is awfully clanky now and just keeps him awake.
The last two nights have been pure bliss. He usually wakes up an hour or two after he goes down. I put him to sleep on his side and I think he violently flings himself onto his back and hits his hands on the side of the crib. Every time I go in there he is on his back and it's like he has forgotten that he is a wiz at rolling from his back to his belly. BTW, he stopped sleeping on his back right around 3 months. He wanted to be on his side and he sometimes rolls to his belly. We don't like it but not much we can do since he can roll there. He is super strong so we don't worry about him not being able to lift his head from the crib. Anyway, recent sleep...he's only been waking twice per night for the last two nights. I know it can go back to crap at any moment, but wow, the last two nights have been so wonderful. The first night, I was so excited that I stayed awake for 3 hours after his first waking. Ok, enough sleep talk, let's get to the fun stuff!
Felix has gotten so big and is just a complete joy to be around. We've moved him to the big boy (umbrella) stroller and he is enjoying daily walks now (it's routinely in the high 60's here right now. Crazy, I know.). After the long, excruciating drive home from Tulsa, we immediately put him in the stroller and walked down to Shoal Creek for some oysters and beers.
He got lots and lots of toys for Christmas. Santa brought him some bibs, books, headphones, and a Laugh and Learn music table.
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| Yo DJ pump this party! |
Let's see, what else did he get. Aunt Sammie got him an adorable little pony. He can't really play with it until he can walk very well, but I can't wait for that. The pony had to stay in Baton Rouge this time since our car was pretty packed and he can't play with it right now anyway. Nannie and Paw Paw got him lots of cute clothes, including those awesome baby legs in the picture at the top, books and toys. Aunt Sissy and Uncle James got him his first pair of Toms and boy are those things precious! His cousins Robert and Nathan got him a really cool sports set, it has a basketball goal, a football thing and a bat and ball. He'll be ready for that in a few months. Mommy and Daddy got him some books and pajamas and a mobile for over his bed. He hasn't noticed that yet. Hmm.
His likes right now are kicking (boy, does he LOVE to kick those legs!), his Mozart Music Cube that our friend Shook got him, diaper changes, or anytime when we are standing over him and talking to him really, touching our faces, naked time, the bath (where he also loves to kick and splash), and he's recently found his screeching voice. It's pretty adorable (of course), we play the repeat game with it a lot. He screeches and I screech back and on and on. It's lots of fun for both of us. He has also started to hold his bottle a little. I recently bought a bottle with handles that turns into a sippy cup and he's getting the hang of holding it himself.
His only dislike right now is getting dressed. He loves being nekkie, it's quite precious when he rolls onto his tummy and his cute little butt is up in the air. So after an enjoyable bathtime of nekkie-ness and a massage, he is none too pleased to be put in pajamas. We have taken to feeding him a bottle to appease him. Sammer feeds him while I dress him. I don't mind doing this because he does seem very hungry, he has always cluster fed at night (eats a lot in a short period of time).
I don't have any stats for him this month, but I can tell you that two weeks after his 5th month birthday, he weighed 17lb 2oz with fleece PJs and a (not full) diaper. We had to make an unscheduled visit to the after hours clinic because our little Boo Bear got sick. Cue sad trombone. :-(
Click here for a link to his 5th month in pictures. Some Thanksgiving and Christmas pictures are missing, but I will add them as soon as I find the cord for the camera. Enjoy!
