Ayden is Five (and a half) Months!

Time for a little recap on our "Little Man" ....he is five and a half months old right now. I'm a little late. I was holding this, trying to find some more pictures, but I'd better post before I forget!

Sleep
His sleep is still not as awesome as it was from months 0-4. We have stopped swaddling for a couple weeks and I think he was very happy to do that. He is generally going down for the night between 9-10 p.m. (instead of my preferred 8-9 p.m.) he wakes sometime between midnight and 1 a.m. and then again around 4 a.m. Then maybe around 6:30-7:30 a.m. We generally get up for the day at that time. If someone is around and I can have the big kids with Dave/Mom/Dad, etc. I will nurse Ayden and we will go back to sleep for another hour in bed:) So, I consider it waking twice in the night, which is fine. But I hope that the 2/night remains even if we can slowly move his bedtime earlier. 

Naps are a little different now as well. Mostly because with swim lessons and traveling, I'm not home all morning. I think he would like (and I certainly would) a long morning nap, long afternoon nap and maybe a short evening nap. But lately, he gets maybe one long one and then shorter catnaps during the day. Just harder to predict his mood/my ability to do other things. I think if we just stayed home, I could straighten it out a bit. So....basically, it won't be getting straightened out!  He also likes to sleep on his tummy. We put him down on his back, but sometimes he will want to be flipped over. He can roll and push up really well, so I don't worry too much. I still put the camera close and watch it like a hawk. 

Our next challenge is going to be putting him down awake. I think. Unless he keeps the short naps. Then I'll tackle that first. As if I am really able to manipulate this much....uff da. 

Eating
Again, I have no idea how often I feed him.  A lot. Plenty. I will say he seems very hungry lately. I feel like his whole life has been a growth spurt. The big change here is he is SO distractable. Seriously. Sometimes it feels like if I breathe he stops nursing to look up at me. Okay, not quite that bad, but the kids playing, Dave and I talking, any noise around distracts him and he doesn't nurse well. I remember this with Collin (not Kate, who was around to distract us?) and I will have to start retreating upstairs or into my bedroom to nurse. I don't love that and it certainly is hard when I am home alone with the kids (majority of the time!). 

Nom, nom, nom...

We have started solids! We probably did around 3 weeks ago? We started with sweet potatoes and he likes them. I still thinks he eats better for Dave. I tried avocado randomly one day and he kind of made a face and sputtered a bit. He was, again, super distracted by the kids eating their lunch. He wants whatever is on our plates:)  I tried banana this morning and that went okay. I ended up putting in some sweet potato for the last few bites. We'll keep trying slowly. No rush, but we are hoping it will help when someone is babysitting if they can give him some solids if he won't take the bottle! 

Skills
Let's see...he is rolling around. If I set him on a blanket on the floor and go to the kitchen, he will probably be flipped over and making a circle on the floor. He moves his legs to crawl, but obviously can't get anywhere. He is grabbing...everything. Your hair, your shirt, whatever is in your hand...he can hold onto some toys and chew on them. But it isn't too long before he drops it and gets mad:) It is a frustrating little stage when he really wants to do these things and can't....quite....master it yet. In a month or two, he'll be able to sit and happily play with/chew on his toys for much longer. 

Look at this chunky monkey...I have a pic of Collin just like this.
I should do a side-by-side of the two...

He loves to jump. If you are holding him (ps - he is ridiculously heavy) he wants to jump endlessly in your lap. It is an arm workout. We bought a new jumperoo (turns out many items are worn out after two kids - or more, since I usually buy used - third child gets new things !) and he likes it. It is our arm saver. We had to put the swing, bouncy seats and little bath tub back down in the basement already. Good grief, that felt weird. Didn't we just bring them up?! 

I have been taking videos with my iPhone but having the worst time getting them uploaded anywhere. I'm not sure what is wrong and have a fear that I will end up not really capturing these permanently - which makes me very sad. Sometime when I have extra time (?!?!?!?) I will keep trying to figure it out. 

Siblings
He loves his brother and sister. They get automatic wide smiles, every time they come around. They both see it as their mission to make him laugh and are very sweet with him. Kate is doing more and more with him...at times, too much:) If he is on the floor and she is playing/"watching him" she will pick him up and hold him sitting and jumping. I've seen her maneuver him around and she has done really well, but he is just too strong sometimes. 

Everybody along for some grocery shopping.
This happens way more than I had imagined:) 

Collin comes over and says, "Hi! Hi! Tickle, tickle! Awww...baby Ayden" in the highest pitch you've ever heard. Super cute. Kate says, "Where's my Ayden smile?!" As always, this may be the most fun to observe, these little relationships and how they change over time. Hopefully, it remains this sweet and helpful for awhile!

Toys
He really loves those rings that hook together, the bar that goes across the car seat/stroller, this little plush monkey that makes that crinkle sound, the moose thing we bought for Collin and chewing on his burp rags. Oh yeah. We still need the burp rags. Like, really need them. Don't be too far away. Still. Uff da. 

He does have a lovey. Okay, I have kind of been taking steps so that he would like this one lovey. It is small (opposite of Collin's blankies!) and sweet - it is one of those little blankies lined with satin and has a bunny (Peter Rabbit). He loves to suck on the satin part. It doesn't necessarily soothe him completely, but he likes it and we hope to have it help when transitioning to falling asleep on his own. 

Ayden and his lovey

Growth
He doesn't have an appointment for a few weeks but safe to say....he's growing:) He is wearing 12 month used clothing, 9 month new, but some of that is really too small. There is a lot of Collin's summer clothing that he won't be able to wear :(  I sometimes put Ayden in a size 4 diaper, it is not crazy big on him, fits fine. So, that means both boys wear the same diaper half the time. Craziness. Collin is pretty lightweight, I wonder when Ayden will surpass him in weight...probably sooner than we think! 

Wow, this was quick and I have barely proofed it:) I should have more photos, but I'll throw them into the next one.