Conor’s 5 Month Update
I just cannot fathom that my little baby is now 5 months old! The time seems to be tripping by in a manner in which I’m not quite comfortable with. I find myself wishing that he could stay a little baby forever because it’s such a special time. Now I know why parents always think of their children as their little babies…because they’ve witnessed your personality growing from it’s very beginnings. Every day glimpsing more of the person you are to become. Although it’s an everyday event all over the world, it’s pretty special to see your child developing little mannerisms, personality traits and starting to voice their emotions!
Milestones: It seems like Conor has made quite a bit of progress in the last four weeks with regards to sitting up on his own and being able to stand up, with his hands being held for support. He’s always so proud of himself when he stands up! We got him the jumperoo in the last couple of weeks and the daily leg workouts in that have seen him come along leaps and bounds. He’s just getting so strong now! He’s now sleeping in the nursery every night, which was kind of hard for me at first because I was so used to being able to just look over and see him in the co-sleeper. I must say that it’s allowed me to get a bit more sleep because I don’t wake up with every little sound he makes. Another milestone this past month is that we took him swimming for the first time. Chris is an excellent swimmer and loves it so he wanted to be the one to teach Conor from the beginning. It’s a nice little father/son tradition to go to the pool every Sunday morning. Conor was really happy in the water and starting kicking his legs straight away as Chris led him around by his arms. Hopefully he’ll be a strong swimmer like his dad! He’s also becoming very vocal now and chats away with gibberish and he laughs a lot now too – often at the pets, when you tickle him or just sometimes for no reason at all! Oh and his British passport came through so we’re all set to go back to Ireland for Christmas! We are also going to apply for an Irish passport for him as well.
Sleep: Putting him down for naps in the nursery and to sleep at night has been a really good move overall. We wanted to establish a more solid sleeping routine so now he gets his bath at about 7pm, a feed after that and then bed by about 7:30pm. The majority of the time he goes down without any fuss whatsoever which is brilliant. It’s really freed up the evenings for myself and Chris to spend some time together. Conor is still waking up at approx 12am, 3am and 6am for feeds during the night. We generally get up at about 7:30am. He goes down for 3 naps a day – one at about 10am, one at 1pm and one at 4pm and he generally sleeps for about an hour each time. Chris takes the night shift with Conor at the weekends to give me a break and it definitely helps me to top up on my sleep again. I find it so hard to nap during the day because there’s always so much to do! As soon as Conor is asleep I’ll start cleaning, blogging, filming a video or do clean eating food prep!
Best Moment: He has started to intentionally reach out and touch my face. The other day he reached out gently, started touching my cheek and lips and then just had a massive smile on my face. It felt like such a special moment. He also reaches his arms around your neck when you hold him so he’s properly hugging you, which just feels incredible. They start off clinging to you as a newborn but when they begin to actually hold their arms out to you, it’s pretty amazing!
Worst Moment: He had a little spell (about 4 or 5 days) after his latest vaccinations where he just wasn’t himself for a while. He was very crabby and just not the smiley boy we’re used to. That’s about the only bad thing that’s happened lately. We are very lucky that things are pretty great 99.9% of the time! He truly is an angel.
Health: Nothing of serious note here. This may be TMI but sometimes he goes 2 days without having a poo so I’m not sure if he gets a little constipated sometimes. It doesn’t seem to bother him too much though. He did develop what looked like a burst blood vessel on his eye, right under the lid next to the iris and I noticed that 2 or 3 days ago. I think he might have poked himself in the eye or something got in there – maybe grit or something. It doesn’t seem to be inflamed or bothering him but if it doesn’t disappear within the next few days, I’ll take him to the doctor. You know how us mums worry!
Eating: He’s still as hungry as ever and lately it seems to have gone mental because he wants a bottle every hour now. I’m assuming this is another growth spurt which he seems to go through every month or so! He does drink a lot of milk during the night too. I tried him on solids this week but he just spat it out so I don’t want to force the issue until he’s ready. NHS advice outlines 6 months as a good starting point for weening so I’ll give it another go once we reach that point. People keep telling me they often sleep better when they’re on solids so I’ll look forward to that!
Things I want to remember: I love the fact that every morning when I go into his nursery and sing good morning to him, he just beams up at me. He gives me a big beautiful smile when he sees my face and I always want to remember that. Before I know it, he’ll be a moody teenager telling me to get out of his room! ha ha.
