Our little bundle of joy turned five months today! I do not fully apprehend that she is five months already. Time is seriously flying by and she changes so much with each passing day, I want time to stand still just for a moment so I can remember everything!
Emerson is such a happy baby, always smiling and loves to interact with both Nate and I, but mostly she loves interacting with Taylor. She follows Taylor’s every move and love to get kisses from her furry sister. We started her on solids on her four month birthday and she is now enjoying a couple tablespoons of food in the morning and late afternoon. So far she has taken down pears, sweet potato, zucchini, banana, avocado, peas, apples, mango and carrots. She is developing quite the defined pallet but pears, avocado and banana have become fan favorites.
We took Emerson on her first road trip in April! Nate and I rented a car and took a drive down to Washington DC for the weekend. I had never been to DC and we had been yearning to take a little family vacation. We stayed in a little condo we found on Airbnb, packed up the car with all of Emerson’s gear and hit the road on a Friday afternoon. Emerson did great in the car, she got a little cranky towards the end of the drive as we neared her bedtime, but overall she was a trooper. It gave Nate and the confidence to take her on more short weekend trips.
Here are Emerson's five month stats:
Weight/Height:
Emerson didn’t have a checkup this month but she has definitely put on a few pounds since starting solid foods. I would estimate she is close to 16-17 pounds now!
Health:
Emerson developed a bit of a runny nose a couple weeks back. Not sure if it was allergies or a cold but it didn’t bother her and quickly dissipated so I am thrilled that we are overall sick free!
Nursing:
Even though we’ve begun to introduce solids Emerson is still on a breastmilk diet and still gets milk six times a day. Now that I am back to work Emerson breastfeeds during her late night feeding and first thing in the morning. During the day and before bed she gets a bottle.
Sleep:
Emerson has started to develop a resemblance of a schedule. Her internal alarm clock has her waking up typically around 6am or 6:30am which has been difficult for Mom whose body doesn’t wake up till 7:30am! She takes at least two naps during the day, sometimes three. Her first nap is around 9am and she goes down for a second between 12-1pm depending on how long that first morning nap lasts. Her naps average about 45 minutes, sometimes she will squeeze out an hour or more but 45 minutes is more typical. We try and get her down for a third nap if her afternoon nap is short. If we are successful in that her bedtime is around 7 or 7:30pm. If she misses the third nap then bedtime is around 6:30pm because she is overtired and cranky. She no longer wears a sleep sack as she started to roll and sometimes prefers to sleep on her tummy. She is taking naps in her crib and sleeps in her packnplay in our room at night. We will be moving her to her crib at night next month, although I broke out in tears when Nate and I discussed it, I’m not ready to admit she is old enough to sleep in her own room!
Dislikes:
Being hangry, being put down for naps (cries every time!)
Clothes:
Everything has moved into the 6 month size range.
Crying:
Emerson cries when being put down for naps. They say there is a magic window of when they are the right amount of tired, that when you put them down in that window they won’t cry. Well I have yet to find the window and she cries of fusses with every nap. It typically lasts 5-10 minutes before she puts herself to sleep.
Milestones:
Emerson freely rolls from her back to her tummy. She hasn’t quite mastered the tummy to back roll but we are working on it. She can now grab and hold things with both hands. She tries to grab whatever you are holding and she has started to hold her own bottle!
Postpartum:
Still dipping my toe in the workout scene. Having our nanny full time has helped but I am still working out how to balance work, errands, and finding time to work out for myself. It is a work in progress but getting better!