5 months old- time is passing too quickly!

Max's Many Smiles

Current weight: 15 lbs 8oz (I think my weight was off last month)

Length: 26.5 inches

Likes: His jumperoo!! He can last in this thing for up to an hour straight and jumps the entire time! This is now how I am able to get laundry done and other household chores, so I probably enjoy it as much as he does! Max also loves to yank at hair. I now know better than to wear mt hair down, and if I forget to pull it back, Max will remind me in under 5 seconds. Our yorkie, Peanut, has also been Max's buddy the past few weeks. He enjoys petting Peanut and grabbing his hair, and Peanut is starving for attention so bad that he likes it as well. Max always gets a smile on his face when looking at Peanut. In fact, the two are napping next to each other right now :).

Dislikes: Like most people, Max doesn't like to be sick. Last month he got a cold and got very wheezy, with a cough and runny nose, which he later gave to me. One night he woke up nearly every hour and the next day spent about an hour fussing. Nothing I could do would help him, it was very frustrating. I do realize this is mild compared to other babies. A few nights ago he did keep me up for 4 hours, and when I tried to lay him down he screamed. We were a bit worried he might have an ear infection, but he has slept pretty good the past two nights so I'm hoping it was just one bad night.

Sleeping habits: Not much has changed since last month, except Max is sleeping in until around 8 now. The late holiday parties threw us off a few nights, but for the most part hes pretty good at crashing between 8 and 9 pm. My huge problem is trying to lay him down after he falls asleep. He wakes up every time I lay him down. If your on facebook, you already know this, and know I don't want to go the “cry it out” route. I'm not opposed to it, I just don't want to listen to it. A friend of mine recommended the book The No Cry Sleep Solution, and I am currently reading through that.

Eating: Along with breast milk, Max has now started on organic whole grain baby rice. Now I am not an organic junkie (due to its high cost)...but it was only a quarter more for the organic box, so I went for it. I figure Max has eaten nothing but “natural” food for the first 4 months of his life, I might as well keep it up! I also have said in the past that my goal was to breastfeed for 6 months, and now I am quite confident I will last that long. My next goal may be to never feed my baby formula, or maybe intil I drop another size in my jeans, but I guess you will find out next month! I'm in no hurry to stop, though- I love the fact that it helps me burn a massive amount of calories without having to diet or step on a treadmill. But rest assured that I will never be one of those moms breastfeeding their child when the kid is old enough to ask for it. Soon I'm going to feed him a mashed up avocado. These are supposed to be a great first food for babies, look it up- they are a pretty amazing fruit (yep, they are considered a fruit)!

What he has learned: Max has now learned to roll from back to tummy. He loves to practice this, and does it every time I lay him on his back now. This is much different for him than rolling from tummy to back because he can do it but shows no care to do it. He has also began sitting up on his own, using his arms to help support him like a tripod. Over this past month he has also learned to grab everything in arm's reach. I used to sit him on my lap when eating dinner, which is now nearly impossible.
What I have learned: You can never have too many bibs with a drooling baby. Max slobbers through 10-15 bibs a day. So to all who have given us bibs: they are greatly appreciated, and used on a daily basis!! I'm hoping teeth come soon and this massive drooling ends.

Time seems to be flying by, and watching Max grow and learn new things daily is just so amazing to me. I feel extremely lucky to be able to call him my son. I know no greater privilege.