Harper Reese- Five Months Old!

Month four was a whirlwind of changes for our little Harper. The biggest change is that she now sleeps in her nursery.  I had intended to have her co-sleep in our bedroom for the AAP recommended six months, but I realized that keeping her there was more for my benefit than for hers. She would go to sleep so early and then we would have to shower and get ready for bed while she slept in her pack n' play and she was waking up multiple times a night. When I saw how much better she slept in her own room, I knew we had made the right decision.

We made the transition to her crib during the dreaded four month sleep regression (which for us, actually started right at 3.5 months and is still somewhat present though to a lesser extent). We just figured it was a good time because it may be more difficult to make the transition once she is older and more aware of things.  We wanted her to sleep comfortably and securely in her crib, in her own room.

So one night we just decided to go for it and remove her bumpers and the decorative bunting I had placed on the crib and see if she would sleep there. We gave her a bath and I rocked her in her glider as I fed her her last bottle and when she was still drowsy I placed her in her crib. That night, I think she woke up once at maybe 11 p.m. and then she slept through until about 6:30 a.m.  The next night, she slept through the night until 7:30 a.m., which was a total fluke since it hasn't happened since.

Harper sleeps on her stomach now and we find she sleeps more soundly that way. Initially I was really worried but she can roll both ways and has very good head control and a strong neck and she sleeps with her head to one side or another.  We used a Snuza Hero breathing monitor for awhile to have some peace of mind. We had a few false alarms because it's not as effective for stomach sleepers, but overall it helped me sleep a little better knowing she was wearing it. Now, we just use our Summer Infant Color Touch 2 video monitor but occasionally will also use the Snuza.

Anyway, for the past couple of weeks we are back to a few wake-ups during the night. She will wake up and let out a few cries, and sometimes all it takes is going into her room giving her her paci (it usually falls out when she sleeps) and we rub her back a little and she goes right back to sleep. Other times, she won't stop crying and wants to be held for a bit.  And rarely, she is actually hungry so we feed her if that's the case.  Most days she sleeps from about 7:30-5:00 a.m. 6 if we are lucky. But that includes a few wake-ups and us going into her room.  Some people have told us to let her "cry it out" but I feel that if we can just go in there, give her a paci, and she goes right back to sleep it's not worth it to let her get so upset that she's screaming and then we have to start all over again.  She is able to self-soothe because I put her in her crib drowsy and she does wake up and put her own paci back in or simply changes positions a bit and goes back to sleep so I'm not really sure if I'm messing things up or not but this is what's working right now. And bless my husband, he's getting up a lot to attend to her throughout the night because he knows I need to get sleep to maintain my milk supply (though honestly, I wake up every time she cries and each time he gets up anyway so we are both sleep deprived). The other night I actually did let her cry for about 7 minutes and she went back to sleep on her own. She was not crying very loudly or intensely so I decided to feel it out and see if she would settle on her own. It's a hit or miss.

Overall though I do feel like we are making progress in the sleep department. I think every baby is so different so what works for one family may not work for another and I don't really have strong opinions on what the right way to "sleep train" is. I've just been following her cues.

Here are Harper's five month updates and photos:

Weight: The last time she was weighed was a month ago and she weighed 15 pounds. I would venture to guess she's gained a pound since then.

Health: We are still using the Nose Freida on a daily basis to manage her congestion but other than that she has been healthy. I am so grateful that she did not catch my stomach virus or sinus infection. I even called the milk bank at my work and spoke with one of the lactation consultants because I wasn't sure if it was still okay to give her my breastmilk when I was so ill. They told me that it was actually the best thing because your breastmilk forms antibodies to protect your baby when you are sick. 

Sleep:  I think I pretty much covered this in the opening paragraphs. 

Social: I recently started an email chain with all of the moms from our daycare class so we can arrange playdates. We also take Harper everywhere with us and she just loves to look around at what's happening around her. She even smiles at strangers when they smile at her and talk to her. Not in that "stranger danger" phase yet.

Diet: Harper continues to be exclusively fed expressed breast milk (read more about my pumping story here). Boy oh boy some days I love pumping and some days I really have to force myself to do it (especially that last pump before bed and the 5:30 a.m. pump). I think over time the novelty and excitement about it has worn off a bit and I have my days where I dread it...but overall I'm still happy to be doing it and thankful for my supply. The worst was pumping when I was sick. I felt so awful, exhausted and drained and the thought of pumping made me want to cry...but I knew I had to do it because getting mastitis would be 100 times worse than pumping while ill.  I've almost reached my first goal of 6 months and I know I'll make that one and my hope is that I will have the strength to continue for a full year.

Clothes: Harper is wearing 6, 6-12 and 9 month clothing. Baby clothes are so inconsistently sized depending on the brand. How did she get so big?!

Baby Gear Love: I am so behind on these posts...will try to get them up soon!

Crying: When she's hungry and lately when she's over-tired. Sometimes she cries randomly and will have a day where she's just really fussy, no rhyme or reason. But generally she doesn't cry a lot. See below.

Likes: Sleeping on her stomach, Lulu (she is obsessed with him and laughs and smiles at him and watches him everywhere he does...she actually squeals with delight sometimes at him and it's adorable), her bottles (she freaks when she sees it!), books (she gets so excited when we read books that she kicks her legs when you're reading, her exersaucer (we have this Baby Einstein one), sitting up (she can tripod with her hands!), music (we have dance parties) and anything she can put in her mouth (so, basically ALL OF THE THINGS!) I recently started to make up songs with her name in them and she loves it when I sing her those songs. I am the worst singer ever but she digs it.

Postpartum: I'm coming to the conclusion that I may not work out in 2013...or much of 2014. I can't find the energy or time. I know a lot of moms are able to somehow do it and I applaud them (seriously!) but I just don't have it in me. I feel that pumping takes so much out of me (it can feel very draining, no pun intended) not to mention it's time consuming so I've pretty much just come to terms with the fact that I'm not going to tone up anytime soon. But that's okay. I am still burning lots of calories everyday by pumping and that's how I justify to myself that I don't work out. Lol. 

The one thing we do need to focus on is eating less sweets. My husband and I have been indulging a little too much (Oreos are our mutual weakness) and we need to get back on track and practice a little more moderation than we have been. I blame sleep deprivation!

Now that it's cooling down a bit in Houston, we may start taking long walks every morning on the weekends. I think that would be a good start in addition to eating less sweets (confession: I did consume some sour patch kids while writing this post).

As far as life in general, I feel pretty good about our routine. Some days I'm so busy that my days zoom by and other days I miss Harper so much that I just want to leave work super early to squeeze in a couple more hours with her.   

Milestones: Harper can sit up now using her hands as a little tripod support! It's so cute!  She is babbling a lot, smiling a lot and we've gotten a few belly laughs out of her too.  She can really hold and grab things well and she tries to scoot a little during tummy time (which she gets plenty of since she's a tummy sleeper). She can turn pages of books on her own and overall she's just much more interested in things and wants to put absolutely everything in her mouth.  We love her so much.

Thanks for reading and I hope you all have a happy Sunday!

Harper is wearing...
Glitter skirt- Target
Onesie- H&M
Pink hair bow- Pretty Little Elm
Polka dot mint hair bow- CharlieCocos