Current mood: happy
Yep, Yep, Yep my little one is 5 months old today! 1 month shy of the big 6! She still manages to amaze me every day I am with her. Between her changing and doing new things.. every day is a new adventure with surprises at every turn. I am enjoying her to the max, I couldn't be happier!
Ok so now on to the month. Well the beginning had a rough start. Not because of Mia or any fault of hers, but the fact that the day before she turned 4 months she had her second round of shots. Luckily for her, and us, she had no adverse reactions to them. YAY! She got through them just fine. Unfortunately, she still has one more round (In Jan.) before she gets that 6 month break. I am so looking forward to that break!
Well the month was filled with lots of excitement, adventures, and milestones! She finally learned to roll over on her own, and now never seems to stop! She does roll back but not as much as she would like. She often times gets stuck on her tummy and gets MAD! I also find her on her tummy when I go to get her in the morning. She usually wakes me up screaming and mad because she’s stuck on her tummy, I can't wait till she can consistently roll herself back. I also find her in all kinds of awkward positions when I get her up in the morning. Sometimes she’s completely upside down! She tries so hard to crawl, I can see her attempting to do it but she just can't quite get it down yet. She moves her butt in the air, tucks her feet under and pushes out, but she also ends up smashing her face in the ground and her arms go flat out to their sides. What amazes me is she keeps trying and trying and is really determined to get it down. She does do the "worm" a lot so she does get a little mobile but doesn't go far. The funniest thing is to watch her go flat on her tummy and she lifts up her arms straight out on her sides above the ground like she’s flying and with her feet in the air! With her determination and practice I know she will be crawling soon. She just has to get her arms to work with her legs. She always manages to work one set but not the other. When she’s on her tummy she can grab things and pull them towards her, and munch on things but she just hasn't learned to shift her weight yet. That will all come in time I am sure.
She also learned how to master her Jump-a-roo! She is finally tall enough to touch the ground unaided and she bounces and jumps so much now. Sometimes she goes nuts and the whole thing starts crashing around! She jumps so hard her little arms go flying in the air and she tilts her head back, like if she’s trying to jump out of the whole thing! Its really cute, and she loves to play in it. She often times can be left in her jump-a-roo for almost 45mins! She just jumps jumps jumps till she tires herself out and wants a nap. She recently (yesterday to be exact) learned how to spin in it now, so now she can spin and choose what toys she wants to play with. She has mastered them all, and gets bored a lot so its good she learned how to spin so she can try a new toy.
This month also consisted of Turkey Day!!! Yep, her first real official holiday! With that came her first big trip! That’s right she made the 3 hour trip to Oxnard to spend the Holiday with her Pizano side of the family. It was great seeing her with all her little cousins. She got all dolled up for pictures in her cute little dress and got to wear her turkey bib! She was great on the trip down to Oxnard but we had a little trouble coming back home. I think it was because we left a little late and it got dark early. She doesn't like the dark and refuses to sleep in the car so poor thing was scared. It’s ok though we all learned a lesson... don't travel Mia at night! haha She also spent her first night away from home. We all spent the night at my Brother and Sis-in-laws house. She did awesome and I owe a huge part of that being the fact big cousin April (almost 2) shared most of her baby stuff with her. So she felt right at home.
A few other little things she did or started doing are, she took her first 4 hour nap during the day! That’s amazing in itself since she usually hates taking naps during the day. Now it’s becoming more routine for her to sleep 2-3 hours during the day now (in her own crib) and I owe it all to the jump-a-roo! She’s finally learning to hit things with her hands. She has always been a kicker so she rarely would use her hands for anything other than grabbing toys and stuff. Now she’s learning to smash things and hit things. Once Adrian sat her on his lap as he played World of Warcraft on his computer. Mia decided she wanted to play and started hitting the keyboard and moving the character. She made him jump and spin in circles it was cute! She’s always splashing in the bathtub with her hands now too! That always drenches Mama more than when she splashes with her feet. Mainly because the hand she uses to splash most with is the hand facing Mama! Speaking of baths... she no longer uses her newborn hammock and since we retired it she’s having way more fun in the bath. She kicks and splashes more and is even playing with her small bath toys! Her starfish is her favorite..she munches on him the most!
She started teething more than ever this month too. One day it hit her so bad that she cried her first tears! That broke my heart so bad and I teared up right with her. We found the culprit (sp?) and it’s an upper canine tooth that is coming in. It hasn't broken though but I have been using baby orajel religiously now and it seems to keep her pain at bay.. however, she still cries at night but not enough to wake up completely. Poor little one.
She slept her first full night this month and skipped her morning feeding! She went to bed at 7pm and didn't wake up till 9!!!! That was a first. I usually force her to wake up if she doesn't wake up on her own by 5am (due to me not wanting her to sit in her wet diaper all night and get a rash and I know she has to be starving I have heard her tiny tummy rumble before when it goes to long between night feedings) but this time Mama fell asleep and didn't wake up at all either! She was fine though, no rashies!
She still laughs, but its still rare to get her to do it. Its like we can get her to crack up by doing one thing and after a few mins of doing it she doesn't care anymore and stops. Then you try it again at a later time and she just stares at you like if to day "ummm oooook, why are you doing that for?!" Yesterday though I got her to really bust up by doing the peek a boo game with her. It was only for that one time though because I keep trying to do it again and she just smiles but wont laugh. Sigh.... tough crowd! haha
She also started using this "evil voice". I am not sure why she does it, but she makes a mean face and sucks in air and it sounds really kind of scary! I got a few videos of it and its funny to watch, however, late at night when no one is home but us and its all dark hearing her do that when I get her up does kind of scare me! haha She does it all the time now, whether she’s playing or just hanging out.
She still loves her toes! She’s always putting them in her mouth still and shows no signs she wants to give that up yet. She also officially retired her binky too. She doesn't like it anymore and often times just plays with it or throws it. She prefers her toes or her two fingers.
She is getting so big now too! I need to weigh her again, but she is growing so long that she is out growing her 9month old clothes!!!!! She doesn't quit fill them out because she is so lean but its getting harder to snap them now. Her 6-9 month jammies are quickly getting retired due to the fact that her little toes are started to get all smashed up in the feet part. I have recently started dressing her in 12month clothes and they are almost fitting just right for her. In fact, My Sis-in-law, Lauren, gave me a bunch of clothes April grew out of and Mia is already starting to fit in some!!!!! She wore the 12 month old jammies last night and though they were a little roomie they actually fit! The dress she wore on T-Day was also 12 months and even then the dress part was a little shorter than I would have liked it to be. I think she will be tall, she is so long! She has long legs and a long torso.
She is starting to hold her bottle more too. We didn't quit hit the goal of having her hold it for a full feeding yet but we are getting close. The thing that makes it difficult is not that she can't do it, but she doesn't want to. She often times starts playing with it, pulling it in and out of her mouth over and over and spilling milk all over her face. She throws it too! The odd thing is, she only likes to hold it for long periods of time when its her bedtime feeding. Not sure why, maybe because all the lights and tv, noise, and things are off and she can really concentrate on holding it.
Speaking of feeding, we had to change her formula this month. She was doing good on her "Senstive Tummy" formula for a long time then all of a sudden she started throwing up.. and I mean like a lot! All the time and it wasn't just after a feeding it could be 2 hours after a feeding and she would throw up. So we decided to keep it in the Similac family and change it to Soy. This helped and she no longer throws up however she no longer poops either! She is always constipated and poor thing only goes tiny marbles or nuggets. We wanted to give her a good 2 weeks on this new formula to see if it would get better but it hasn't. So we decided to change it again, this time to a different brand altogether. "Good Start" is what we have, we haven't given it to her yet because her old formula isn't done yet but we are getting close. I will have to see how that goes, she has never had anything but Similac since she was born. Hopefully she will do good. Oh wait she did have Enfamil once but it gave her projectile vomit so we quickly stopped that.
Unfortunately the battle with her eczema hasn't gotten any better. I had to retire her good smelling johnson and johnson baby shampoo, soap, and lotion (including her bedtime lotion) and have switched her to Baby Aveeno. This has helped TONS but it doesn't have that nice smell with it. It really doesn't smell at all! I miss that baby smell! It does help a lot with her eczema but she still breaks out a lot on her feet, arms (opposite her elbows) and her face. Its more on top of her forehead now and she’s learned to scratch it. She now always has bleeding scratches on her face to where it’s been bothering her. It comes and goes though, some days are better than others. But her skin is extreeeeeeemly sensitive and I really have to be careful on the types of clothes and blankeys, and toys she has. Hopefully it will get better.
On to breastfeeding. Yep I am still doing that but am very seriously considering stopping soon. Though I don't really want to, I think it’s near the time I should. Every time it’s a battle with her and I mostly did it to help keep her "regular", but since this bought of constipation from her Soy formula, I have seen my breast milk isn't helping clean her out. She isn't getting enough and I think it’s mainly because she’s refusing it more now. She cries a lot and again it’s a battle 97% of the time. Now she can officially start transition to semi-solids I might just stop. I don't know we will see. I still hate to give it up just yet, it’s the thing that I can give her no one else can and I will sure miss that bonding moment especially when it goes well. I have been doing it since she was born... it will be hard to let that go.
In Summary:
Feedings: I am still breastfeeding so it’s off a little, but she now hits 5 oz consistently. She rarely goes more than that, and sometimes can't even hit that. She’s never been a big eater. I wonder if that will change.
New Things: First trip to Oxnard, first time to sleep away from home, uses the jump-a-roo on her own, first holiday, rolled over, turning in bed, first 4 hour daytime nap, first time she slept a whole night, starting to use her hands to hit things, teething real bad, first streaming tears, no longer uses hammock in bathtub, and retired binky
Weight: 15 lbs *estimated from bathroom scale
Goals met from last month? Well as you read she didn't hit the bottle holding goal however she met all the others. She did make it to Oxnard for Turkey Day, she learned to roll over on the floor, and she does laugh a lot more but it’s still not consistent.
Goals for next month: Getting her to hold her own bottle consistently and for a full feeding, starting her on rice cereal and semi-solids aka baby food, taking her on more trips to San Diego and/or Oxnard, and getting her to roll back over more consistently instead of being stuck on her tummy
