Hitched on Health: Caleb 5 months

Its official. We now have a man-child. Caleb is growing up so fast and I wanted to start doing a monthly update since I have opened up the baby book twice. Hopefully this digital recording of his growth will be a good replacement!

Mom/son selfie at the beach

Age: 5 months
Weight: 20lbs!
Size clothes: 9 months

Interests: Caleb loves being outside. He will calm down instantly when we hit the great outdoors. Often John will take him for a walk in the evenings in the Ergo so I can have a little break and Caleb always comes back happier than when he left. He loves other babies and will light up with a big smile when he sees other little ones at yoga, church, or for a play date. Caleb is also really interested in grabbing our ears, mouths, noses, and hands. He wakes us up with some sweet cuddles that turn into face-grabbing sessions. He is fascinated with water bottles and cups and will watch me like a hawk when I am drinking water. I have started to give him cups to play with and explore and those are an all time favorite. Our little love bug is obsessed with being in the water. He loves the YMCA pool, baths, and showers. I put his face under every time we go to the pool and he doesn't seem to care at all! In the shower last night John reported that Caleb would dip his head into the water sideways and was letting the water run down his face. John thought he had fallen asleep or something but upon closer inspection he was just enjoying washing his own hair and letting the water run down his face.

Caleb hanging out with Emmitt and Charlie.

Norah and Caleb at Yoga

Play date with Sonny

Challenges: Caleb wakes up about 45 minutes into a nap after his first sleep cycle has ended. I have been trying to let him put him self back to sleep but usually he gets too active for that to actually work. I have to catch his little noises before he officially wakes up, and if I can get to him in time he will go right back to sleep with a little side-lying nursing or his pacifier. Another thing that has been challenging is diaper changes. Caleb enjoys the freedom of an un-diapered bottom and will become very upset when it is time to put on a new diaper. An ongoing challenge is we are now on week four of a modified nursing strike. He doesn't refuse to eat, but he will refuse certain positions, certain places, and he will only tolerate a certain amount of noise. If he is seriously hungry he will eat regardless, but it has been challenging to figure out how and when to feed him. Our go-to nursing position is side-lying before naps and when he wakes up. If we are out and about I need to put a towel over his head to make it dark or I find a quiet place free from distractions.

Naked freedom

Milestones: Caleb is passing object between his two hands and turning them over. It is so cute to see him hold an object above himself, inspect it, reposition it for the best chewing angle, and plunge it into his mouth. If he didn't get it right he will try it again. He rolled from his back to his front a few times this month but doesn't seem too interested in trying to repeat that anytime soon. Caleb is starting to do baby push ups and lock out his arms when he is on his tummy. The face he makes is priceless. He is really interested in crawling and unfortunately the chubby ones are typically delayed in the whole movement thing. More mass= more time to build up muscle.

Push-ups on Daddy

Eating/sleeping/pooping: Caleb eats every 2-3 hours during the day but I don't really keep track of how often he eats. At night he is eating every 3-5 hours. He is sleeping wonderfully at night and will wake up only to eat and them pass out again. He takes his first night shift in our office in his Rock-n-play. If I am awake enough to move him back into the office I will, otherwise he spends the rest of the night in bed with us. He goes to sleep between 8pm-10pm and is fully awake at 6:00 am. Today he slept in until 7:30 so that was a little weird. On to more exciting topics. Pooping happens roughly every 36 hours (not every day but most days) and creates quite the fuss. He loads his diaper up when he does go poop, much different than the little pip-squeek poops of the newborn days.

Good afternoon mom!

Funny Memory: The funny memory of the month is when I dressed Caleb up in the most ridiculous outfit for an evening walk with John. John was telling me that Caleb's torso is warm but his extremities get cold when he is wearing him. I decided to put light bulb leg warmers on his legs and a frog hat on his head. Combined with the own cloth diaper cover he has a completely ridiculous outfit. I took a video of him and couldn't resist snapping a few pictures.