Hadley's 5 month old!

Another month has passed, crazy. My pretty baby is becoming such a big girl! We are enjoying each others company throughout the day and look forward to taking some short car ride outings soon (more on that later)

Stats:
Unofficial stats- we don't go to the doctor until next month.
length- 26.5"
weight- we'll say upper 14s pounds but I'm not sure how accurate that is....

my happy baby

Eating:
Well the days of long nursing sessions are WAY over. I'm lucky if she eats more than 7 minutes on each side breastfeeding. I've been really watching her diaper output and everything seems to be ok, guess she's just real efficient now. She sometimes is fussy after and I get worried that she's not getting enough, but we'll see. She's still eating every 2.5-3 hours and that's mostly because of her napping or I should say, lack there of. We started a tablespoon of oatmeal cereal mixed with about an ounce breast milk once a day at 5pm. To say she loved it is an understatement. She attacks the spoon and can't get enough.

Sleeping:
like I said last time, if I would have wrote this post the other day, I would be writing completely different things. I guess I should fill in what's been happening since last post (4 month). Her sleep had already deteriorated at night and boy did it get BAD. We had some great nights once in a blue moon but then more regularly bad ones. At the peak of it last week, she was waking 5-6 times a night. A lot of the time I could get her to sleep right away and other times I just fed her because I was tired. I assumed she was hungry because she would eat maybe 10-15 minutes worth (she always nurses better last feeding and first feedings when she's not distracted or when she's tired). Then my sister said "she's eating every time because you're feeding her every time". I didn't really think about it that way. I decided something had to change because getting up so often was really wearing on me so I researched all about crying it out and pros and cons and all that jazz just to see what options were out there. Then three nights ago, I put her to bed close to 9 and didn't REALLY hear from her until 3ish. She stirred a bunch and even made noise but I ignored it and she went back to sleep (now keep in mind I never rush in and I usually wait a couple minutes anyway). Then when I went in I bounced and rocked her to see if I could calm her without feeding her, AND IT WORKED! I made sure she was sleeping and put her back in. If she woke again, I was going to feed her because then I'd know she was hungry. Fast forward to 7:15 AM and my baby woke up for the day!! No peeps..... and she did almost the same thing the night after that!! Now I know that as you're reading this, she's probably going to get crazy and never do this again. I wanted to document it for the record that she CAN DO IT.

She's too long for the chair now!! 

**newsflash** OH I forgot to mention something BIG while I was busy rambling. SHE'S NOT SWADDLED anymore either. We dropped the swaddle cold turkey pretty close to the 4 month mark. It's funny because I read my last month's post and I was all like "she's sleeping in a swaddle forever". haha things change quickly around here :) I figured since she was waking up so much that it couldn't get any worse, and I was right. It didn't and some nights it was better. She's lost the really bad startle reflex so the no swaddle thing is working great (we use a sleep sack for warmth) AND she's in the crib FULL time. I truly believe we were having a hard time a couple months back because she just wasn't ready. Just like when bedtime took over 2-3 hours, she goes down now with no fuss. I'm really not doing anything different and then it'll just click. So we're just on Hadley's time for when she's ready.

Likes and loves:
She still loves being on her back and playing on her play mat. I introduced some new toys that crinkle and make noise. She loves putting everything in her mouth. I borrowed an ergo baby carrier from my sister because the moby wrap I have has been given me some problems to put on alone (it just has SOOOO much material that it can be a hassle). We LOVE going out for walks in it and even through stores. I haven't ventured out alone yet because I was nervous if she'd not freak and I'd have to abandon cart! I made James act like he wasn't at Lowes with us over the weekend and I did everything, including wear her and push a cart. She did great. She loves looking at people and being out.

no big deal, I love tummy time now

Dislikes-
THE CAR/CARSEAT ugh. If someones back there to entertain her, she can handle a 20 minute drive... sometimes longer. I took her five minutes away to to the dog groomer and she did ok on the way there, but on the way home, we didn't even get out of the parking lot before screaming. THE. WHOLE. WAY. HOME. (luckily it was only five minutes). I really hope this gets better soon, we hardly leave the house!

Developments:
Hadley has rolled over a handful of times! Mostly she loves doing it when I walk out of the room for one second :). She did it on Easter for the first time (so 2 weeks shy of 5 months) from back to front. She's also done it from front to back, too. It's not a consistent development just yet, but she's trying. She loves standing up too (with our help and support). Except for in this picture, I leaned her on the chair snapped the pic and ran back to "spot".

BIG girl (bad lighting, I really stink at picture taking)

Sizes:

Pampers size 2 diapers

about to retire a lot of the 3 month clothes and some 3-6 (depends on brand). Haven't got down the 6 month bin, but it's just about time for SOME things.

oh maddie and her tongue

I just love her!