5 Months

Whhaaaat!?

How can this handsome little guy be 5 months already!?

He is getting too big and growing up too fast!

I feel like we are going to blink and he'll be 5.

There are a few good things about him turning 5 months, though...

He is So.Much.Fun right now.

I'm sure I'll say that every month from here on out but it's true.

He has become the most happy, mellow, easy baby.

If you talk to him or even look in his direction, he gives you big smiles and gets so excited.
He scrunches his nose up and smiles when he gets excited.

He is pretty good at just laying on his mat or jumping in the Jumperoo and just entertaining himself.

By entertaining, I mean jumping, sucking on his hands, or trying to chew on anything in his reach.

He is always wearing a bib because he drools all day long... his bib or clothes are soaked in a few hrs

He really only fusses or whines when he gets really hungry or he gets lonely and needs attention.

He definitely lets you know when he wants you to come watch him jump and to talk to him.

He is sleeping through the night.  We put him down around 7 or 7:30 and he wakes up at 6:30 or 7am.

He'll usually wake up and just lay in there awake for ~15 min, waiting for us to come get him.

Brian says he heard Braxton say MAMA, so clear, while he was in there waiting this morning.
{Wishful thinking that he actually meant it?}

He is still so close to rolling from his back to his tummy but we're still not there yet.

He just found his feet.

He is very ticklish... this is usually how we get most of his laughs.
When he can't stand the tickling anymore, he'll grunt or squeal.

We grow more crazy about this little nugget every single day.

Please don't get any bigger, OK!?

Sleep Training

We attempted sleep training this week.  Definitely not my favorite part of parenting thus far.

Braxton has been pretty good at sleeping... he'll go down around 7 or 7:30 at night, then sleeps until 3 or 4 am and is ready to eat.  Getting up at 3:30 then again at 5 was starting to wear on me and we figured its time to drop the middle of the night feeding.  Our pediatrician said he should be sleeping through the night anytime after 4 months and recommended the Ferber Method.  It's essentially letting them cry it out with some intervention... You go in and sooth them after 5 minutes of crying, then after 10 min, then after 15 min, then again after 15 min, etc... until they are back asleep.

Night 1:

He threw us for a loop and woke up at 11:30 pm.  He started crying and I went in after 5 minutes, picked him up, soothed him, told him I loved him, and then put him back down.  More crying.  Did the same thing after 10 min, then after another 15 min, and another 15 min.  During the second 15 min interval he finally fell back asleep and slept until 5 am.  He cried for about 40 minutes total and it was torture for mama.

Night 2:

He slept through the whole night and woke up at 5 am again.  We got him up and fed him since we were getting ready for work anyways.  Then he fell back asleep for another few hours when we put him in the car for the babysitters.

Night 3: 

Slept until 5 am again but instead of getting him up, we tried to get him to sleep until 7 am.  He whined and fussed off and on for about an hour but never really started crying.  Then slept until 7:30 am.

Night 4:

Slept the whole night until 7 am.  Awesome!  Hoping that we have a fast learner!

Night 5:

Slept until 5:30 am, then whined and fussed off and on until 6:30 am.  He started to cry so we just got him up for the day and fed him.

I'm  hoping we can keep it up and he'll sleep until at least 6:30 or 7 am.  Not having to get up at 3 or 4 had been amazing!  He still isn't the best napper during the day... sometimes he'll sleep for a good hour or two and other times it's 30 minute cat naps all day long.  We are also guilty and have been letting him nap in the swing.  He sleeps great in his crib at night but hates to nap in there and we'd rather him have the rest then enforce the crib.  Hopefully we can transition soon :)

Wish us and our little sleeper good luck!

New Tricks

We got the jumperoo a few weeks before Christmas and every time we put Braxton in it, he would just sit there and look at us like "what the heck am I supposed to do in this thing?!"

About 3 weeks ago it finally clicked and now he has been jumping like crazy.  He will stay in there for quite awhile just bouncing away... and then he starts 'talking'.  If we leave him alone too long, the talking turns into whining until we come over and give him attention.  Then its all smiles again. 

His spitting up has decreased so much since the 4 month mark.  He still has a big one every once in awhile but not every burp like it used to be.  He drools constantly, though.  And anything he can get his hands on goes straight to his mouth.  He loves to chew on our hands and fingers... I have a feeling he'll be an early teether.

He is also SO CLOSE to rolling over from his back to his tummy.  He wiggles so much while attempting it, he can turn himself around an entire 360 on the ground. 

He is so cute when he wakes up in the morning.  When we get him up to take to the babysitters he is still soo sleepy.  He tries so hard to open his eyes but it takes a few minutes.  When he can finally wake up a little he looks at us and gives us the sweetest smile! 

We've been attempting to give him 1 Tbsp of rice cereal at his last feeding.  He'll usually have a few bites and then gets fussy or refuses to pay attention and take any more.  I've also tried giving him half of his bottle first so he's not frantic or really hungry but that didn't seem to help.  He opens his mouth for the spoon and I'm pretty sure at least 1/3 of what he eats actually gets in his belly, so I don't know if he's just not interested at all or not ready for solids yet.

He has the normal bald spot on the back of his head but he has also lost at ton of hair on top of his head too...right where the last of his cradle cap is that we can't seem to get rid of.

He has started doing this thing where he brings his legs up and then kicks them down together on the ground.  He does it when he's just laying on the floor and when he's stirring in his crib.  Just kicks them to the ground... over and over.  Cracks us up!

 He has started laughing a lot more easily too... so fun!

We sure love you, Nug!!!

Birthday Boy

This guy has a birthday today.  All he wanted was a new pillow to sleep on and steak for dinner.

No problem, babe.

Love you, Bia!

Christmas 2011

We had a really quiet Christmas Eve and Christmas day with just our little family of three.

Our good friends, the Rabazzis, had us over for an authentic Italian dinner on Christmas Eve and we spent Christmas day just lounging around at home.

Most of Brian's family drove out on the 26th and spent the rest of the week with us.

We went to the Children's Museum...

 {the bubble room}

 Oh hey there handsome!  Yes, you are the cutest baby!!

We also went sledding...

{isn't that light incredible!?}

{Nana and her boys}

And more sledding...

 

{I think it's fair to say Emily likes the snow and Jack does not}

 {note to self... get in FRONT of the camera more!  So sad I didn't get any pics with Emily or Jackie or Ethan... or of the whole family!}

{Braxton and Uncle Matt}

We also went skiing up at Eldora but I don't have any pictures.  There was 30 mph winds and a 0 degree wind chill.  It was miserable.  We wanted to put Ethan on skis for the first time but Jackie and I ended up camping out in the lodge with him.  Matt tried snowboarding for the first time and we got Emily on skis for the second time.  I think they still had fun even though it was cold and super icy.

Overall, I think we had a good mix of getting out to do things and downtime at home.  We just missed Cathey, Brent, Mark and Poppie!  Hopefully they can all make it out next time!