Five Months

Milestones:

-Rolled over all the way (back to stomach & stomach to back)
-Ate his first solid food
-Sitting with support

Wow, my little boy is five months already. Benjamin had a big month! He just recently tried his first solids and also went on his first big trip, which included his first plane ride, boat ride, and bus ride! We went on a trip to Chicago to visit my sister and had a great time. Ben was such a trooper and did great on the plane.





Ben and Aunt Star


Rob, me, my mom, sister & Ben at the Navy Pier

He has also been rolling over a ton, but I still haven't been able to get it on video. He can sit up unsupported now, but only for about 5 seconds before he topples over. He is getting so big and just keeps changing...and getting cuter!

I've gone back and forth one whether to introduce solids before 6 months or not. My ped said I could start at 4 months, but I thought that was a little too early, so I waited until 5 months as a compromise. He has been acting interested in food for awhile now anyway and he is definitely loving food! He does make some strange faces when he first gets the flavor but soon after he is leaning forward, mouth open, waiting for his next bite. He even grabs the spoon from me and tries to feed himself! It's really quite cute.

I feel like I've tried everything in the world, but he is still not sleeping any more that last month. He will usually do a 4 hour stretch and then wake up every 2-3 hours after that. I've tried the suggestions in the comments (thank you) and also tips from the book "No Cry Sleep Solution" and it's still not working. I have definitely been shortening his feedings at night each time and it's not making a bit of a difference! He also has a lovey, which isn't really helping either. Sometimes I can even get him back to sleep without feeding him or picking him up even, but he is still waking up every 2-3 hours. I'm just dreaming of the day I will get some sleep again.

Daycare has been a total fiasco, to say the least. Benjamin still hates the bottle no matter who tries, or how they try. Sometimes he will take a few ounces, but mostly he won't. Apparently, he is high maintenance when I'm not around. His Tues/Thur daycare let us know it is very difficult to watch him because he doesn't like to be put down, won't eat and then gets very fussy because he's hungry and she only has him 4 hours. We decided to start looking for new care for those days, but knew it would be difficult since it is only 8 hours a week. The nanny in our home on Mon/Wed was going great until this Monday. She was getting him to take the bottle more and more and he really never cried. He would get a little fussy sometimes, but nothing big. Then this Monday comes around and it was a bad morning. We had just returned from Chicago late Sunday, so I think that may have attributed to it. Anyway, he basically had a little meltdown in the morning and wouldn't take the bottle and cried for about 20 minutes straight. I went out to calm him down, which he did immediately, and the nanny quit!! She said his crying was just too much and she couldn't do it anymore. I honestly don't know how a nanny quits after a baby cries for 20 minutes (for the first time ever)...that's what babies do! I wonder if there was more to the story but I guess I'll never know. She wouldn't even finish out the day, so 3 hours into my first 8 hour workday, I had no daycare. So we're covered for the next 3 weeks between my mom and Rob taking some days off each week to watch him, but after that we are up a creek. If you could pray that the perfect person comes along, I would really appreciate it. I'm trying not to stress, but this has been a little crazy, to say the least.

On a side note for the person that asked, I took Selenium while I was trying to get pregnant and through the entire pregnancy and it was just over-the-counter in the vitamin section, per the perinatologists orders.

Below are some fun videos. :)

Mother's Day

I'm having mixed feelings about Mother's Day and thought I would share. This is my first Mother's Day that most people recognize because I get to celebrate it with Benjamin. I am so excited about that and love that he is here to celebrate it with me. But the fact is, this is actually my third Mother's Day. I was a mother last year and the year before that, but my girls just weren't here to celebrate with me. So this Sunday, while I'll be excited to be with Benjamin, I'll still be missing my girls and wondering what it would be like to have them here. So this Mother's Day, don't forget about all of the moms who are missing their babies.