No Really…FIVE Months?!

“The great paradox of parenting is that it moves in both slow motion and super speed.” -Author Unknown

Yes, yes, yes- all too familiar (already!) with this feeling that quote implies. I first saw this quote across a picture and thought it couldn’t be more true! I wish I could find the author to that quote, but after googling it a million times, I have had no luck!

SOOO five months with Annabelle Grace… here we are! What in the world? My baby is quickly becoming not a baby! So exciting and so sad, all at the same time! (Random side note- I have a whole post about Christmas that I thought I finished and posted…oops- apparently not! I’ll get that up soon!)

As you can see, she is ALL over the place right now! Poor thing has actually had a bit of a runny nose and a small cough here and there, but no fever, so there’s that- though it doesn’t seem to slow her down or upset her!

Annabelle Grace is weighing in somewhere around 13.2ish pounds! I don’t have a measurement on her height, and honestly haven’t tried to measure it on my own- if you keep up with us because you see us in person or on any other form of social media- you are well aware of how “busy” she is- I’ll get her height and our next appointment for 6 months!

Some of the big things that happened this month- her first Christmas! (as mentioned earlier- I have started a big post but apparently never finished/posted it…oops- that’ll be next!

She is really doing awesome at sitting up, squirming around on the floor, playing in her exersaucer, and still a super star at tummy time! Her head control is so good!

Annabelle Grace loves story time! She loves looking at the pictures, and will typically stay fairly quiet when being read to!

She has seen TWO snows this month! One in Tennessee and one here in Arkansas!

She finally got to meet two of her cousins, Sam and Jules, and hang out with all of Dad’s family for a second “Christmas!” (Thanks to Natalie for a few of those pictures!)

She has had lots of one on one time with both Mom and Dad and has had lots of family time! We’re making sure Daddy gets lots of fun time with this little one before farming kicks into high gear and his hours are so limited.

We have played plenty of dress up…

And of course….between months 3-5, there is a possibility you will hit the “Four Month Sleep Regression.” What that means is your baby’s sleep becomes more like our sleep is- they will start to cycle through light and heavy sleep cycles. (As newborns they stay in a deep sleep more.) When the sleep pattern starts to change to these light and heavy sleep cycles- many babies struggle. They don’t know how to put themselves back to sleep. They also don’t “grow out of” this phase- so you have to teach your baby how to fall back to sleep on his/her own. If you ever google anything about the four month sleep regression- you’ll read the horror stories some parents struggle with, and it sounds HORRIBLE. I was honestly so nervous about this time frame!

From about 6 weeks until now, we have stuck to a sleep routine and daily routine. Obviously the timing has fluctuated some while Annabelle Grace was that young until now, but we kept the same common concept of a routine going. We also made sure from that point on we were letting her fall asleep in her cradle or crib on her own- we fed or held and rocked her until her eyes would start getting droopy and immediately lay her down. I also didn’t avoid running the vacuum or making noise when she was down for a nap or asleep at night- I wanted those noises to be familiar and normal. We hoped that this would somehow help us avoid this dreaded regression somewhat, and thankfully I can happily say we really haven’t dealt with it at all! She has struggled a little with her naps- and just not wanting to stay down for a nap very long- but we have treated naps the same way as we were planning on treating night sleep if she had struggled. If she wakes before 45 minutes- I usually give her 15-20 minutes to go back to sleep on her own. If she doesn’t, I go in, change a diaper, lay her back down (without talking/smiling/making eye contact with her). I give her another 15 minutes. If that still doesn’t work, I go in, pick her up, nurse for a bit, still no major eye contact or any kind, and lay her down. If she is still no asleep in 15 minutes, I get her up, and we treat the new time as if she is done with nap. Again, for the most part even with her naps, she has done pretty well- so for that I am thankful!

Our current schedule for this past month is still pretty much what we did last month, which you can find HERE in that post. As we move forward with her turning 6 months in February and Daylight Savings Time in mid-March, I’ll slowly start changing her entire daily schedule a little each week (about 20-30 minute shifts a week) to eventually waking her up by 6:00am at the latest. Yes- this sounds crazy, considering I am a stay at home mom, but Will is also a farmer! Soooooooo, that means if we don’t get her up earlier, there is a good chance he won’t get to see his sweet baby awake at all for a majority of the early spring-early fall. (In case you didn’t know- farmers get to work early- around 7am, and can get home anywhere between 8pm-11pm, unless things are going super smooth or it rains…. and that’s SEVEN days a week folks!) Needless to say- we want to guarantee Will gets SOME awake time with Annabelle. We are also going to start Baby-Led Weaning at six months (basically means we skip the baby food/puree food and go straight to actual food) which means Annabelle will essentially have the same meal we are having, when we have it- helping to make meal time a little easier in the long run, and still promoting family dinners. I won’t go in to detail about that much right now- but it is another reason for the super early wake up time/new schedule we will have soon!

As for me and how I am feeling and looking— the answer is still great! I had completed 250 Pure Barre classes earlier this month, have actually been running a few miles a week again, regularly, and am currently in another challenge at Pure Barre! The challenge this time is do do 20 Pure Barre classes or physical activities and basically eat healthy. I am just choosing to eat how I did when I had gestational diabetes. Since giving birth, I have pretty much kept that diet, with the exception of some fun foods and snacks here and there! I have gotten my hair cut and colored FINALLY- it REALLY needed it! Annnndddd, we are still breastfeeding exclusively, whether with me, or with pumped milk! I’d say things are good!