5 Months Old

I can't believe Nate turned 5 months old last Friday. 5 months! Wasn't he just born? He's rolling over like crazy and his latest thing is blowing raspberries. He cracks me up and is the most adorable little guy. I just love him to pieces. He now also has 2 teeth, both in the front bottom. He seems to be teething off and on, affecting his mood and sleep some days, but for the most part, is a pretty happy baby (especially now that we have his feeding/napping on a better schedule). On Saturday I went with Jaime and Jeremy up to Indy to finalize their house plans (so much fun picking out colors!). Nate, of course, came along and did so well. The guy kept commenting on what a good baby he was. He really even surprised me. He can be pretty good at home, but when he's out and about he can get tired and cranky. He played on the floor and was able to take his nap in the crib that was set up in the model home's nursery room.

We were supposed to walk in the March of Dimes March for Babies walk yesterday, but due to the rain we opted out. It was still good to raise money for the cause, but I really wanted to participate. Next year for sure!

And, I'm happy to report he did his poopoo twice on Sunday, before and after church! I was so happy that he didn't poo all over the poor lady again this week. He must have had a pretty good time in the nursery because after service I came in to find him passed out. Silly baby.

Poo Poo

Nate only poops once a week. It has been a concern of mine, but the doctor, all the books, and everything I read online say that this is normal and I should count myself as one of the lucky ones. So it may be completely normal, but I still wish he would poop more often, as he seems much happier after doing so.

He was pretty fussy this morning, his nap was much shorter than it should have been, but I didn't insist he sleep longer, since we were already running late for church. I dropped him off in the nursery and told them he might need a nap or I fixed him a bottle and he might get hungry. Since the morning was so rough, I figured I would get paged out of the service like last week. Can you see where this is going?

Well, I didn't get paged out of service, and when I went to pick him up from the nursery he was playing contently on the floor. But one thing had changed, his outfit. Oh no. The ladies laughed about it, one asked the other if he was gassy as he was farting, and she replied that he was more than just gassy! The poo was going up his back and up her arm! I was so embarrassed but all you could do was laugh. I told Nate he was supposed to do his business before or after church, but not during! The ladies were nice and they have children and grandchildren, so "nothing we haven't seen or done before" but I know what a mess a week's worth of poop is and I wouldn't wish that on anyone. Leave it to Nate. The ladies didn't seem to mind but we'll see if his name is still on his cubby next week!

**As a side note, not only did he poop during service, but he has since pooped TWO more times since we got home today. Ah, reminds me of his newborn days.

Sleep & Teeth

The last couple of weeks have been extremely rough in the sleep department. Nate has some good nights, and then some nights where he wakes up every couple of hours. It's been exhausting and I needed to do something about it. So Jaime and I started reading her book, The Baby Whisperer. It profiles your baby and then tells you the best way to deal with your baby based on his type/personality. Nate is a touchy baby. Short version: he's ultra sensitive, flinches at loud sounds, blinks & turns away from bright lights, cries for no reason (usually to say, I've had enough and need some peace and quiet), gets fussy after a number of people have held him, plays on own but needs reassurance that someone he knows is close by, likes to suck a lot, and has difficulty falling asleep. All of these fit Nate to the T. It says that a change in schedule can really throw him off and knowing his cues and cries will help. Babies that are touchy babies love structure and predictability. This is Nate. I know his cues, so that's half the battle. So the last couple of days I've been working on figuring out a good schedule/routine. I've been marking down his sleep times. I've also started pumping and feeding him a few feedings in a bottle. I think we have had a couple of problems that are now being solved. The every 2 hour feedings are now 3-4 hours apart. I think when he ate, he became tired of eating and so would quit before he was really full and so would come back for more later. I put a fast flow nipple on his bottle and now he gets sufficient amount of milk in less time and that seems to keep him satisfied longer. I'm also not so quick to get him from his naps. The morning naps are usually an hour long. Every nap he takes he seems to wake up after an hour, crying. In the afternoon, he would wake crying and then continue to be fussy. So now he still has an hour long nap in the morning, but when he cries in the afternoon I let him cry for a little bit and then he falls back to sleep. He wakes up now in a much better mood. As for the night time wakings, if I know it hasn't been that long since he's eaten, then I let him cry and go back to sleep. So now he might wake up several times during the night, but he usually only gets one feeding. I know he's been teething for awhile, and I think that the nights where he's waking up is due to that. The white spot on the side of his upper gum hasn't changed. That one might take awhile to come through. But yesterday I noticed a white bump coming through on the bottom front, and sure enough you can feel a little tooth. That explains the extreme fussiness the couple of days prior. I thought I would have a couple more months (and a husband at home) before the teething started, but just like everything else that has to do with baby, it can't be controlled. So we roll with it and know that we'll have some good days and not so good days, some long nights, and some better nights. And I know as soon as we get this schedule down, we'll be changing it for a new one.