Jo Turns Five Months Old

Joanna seems to have matured a lot this month. Well, as much as a baby can be said to mature. She is more involved with her environment, interested in grabbing things, and giggles at things that amuse her.

She's sleeping much better at night (knock on wood!), although she's now sleeping on her stomach. She typically will sleep from 8pm to 5am, getting up once for a diaper change and milk. At 5am, she'll go back to sleep in our arms for another hour after I nurse her, and then she'll take three naps during the day.

We introduced some solid foods this month. She's had homemade sweet potato baby food, mashed bananas, jarred peas, and jarred green beans. She really likes her peas and green beans, tolerates the bananas (although they make her constipated), but turns her nose at the sweet potatoes. Her brother never really liked sweet potatoes either, and, frankly, neither do I.

Jo is sitting up for minutes at a time by herself. She stands quite well with us supporting her with our hands under her armpits. But, although she has rolled over, she still doesn't do it regularly at all. I can probably count the number of times she's rolled over on my fingers. So, I guess this means more time playing on the floor for our Jo Bear.

Of all the people she likes, Joanna adores her daddy the best. When he comes home from work, her face lights up. She won't look away from him for about half an hour and just beams up at him and coos. Jo really loves her daddy!

Joanna's Likes:
*Daddy
*Her feet
*Green beans
*Nursing
*Smiling at people
*Chewing on anything
*Taking tiny sips of water from a cup with Mommy's help
*Naked time
*Watching Oliver play

Joanna's Dislikes:
*Long car rides
*The car seat
*Being alone
*Oliver cuddling her too tightly

My Baby is 5 Months Old

How is Oliver getting so big? I can't believe it! A couple of weeks ago, he measured in at the doctor's office at nearly 27". When he was born, he was 20". He grew more than a third in length! That's crazy. He's also more than doubled his weight.

We finished out Oliver's first full season (winter) and got ready for spring. Oliver's been outside a bit more, including going for walks and very short jogs with me. There've been many other changes and "firsts" this month. Oliver started crawling like a caterpillar, though I have yet to see that myself. Unless he's tired, he now stays awake in the car. Speaking of car, Oliver went on his first roadtrip to Omaha. There, he went to the zoo for the first time and even "swam" for the first time (swimming lessons start in a couple weeks!). Oh, and he got to meet his aunt and uncle for the first time! What else? He's tried new foods: sweet potatoes (didn't like), acorn squash (loved!), and applesauce (really liked). Actually, he's not even that bad at "helping" us with getting the spoon to his mouth. He's mastering rolling over from back to stomach, and although I've seen him roll stomach to back a few more times this month, he's not very good at it yet.

For the first time, I'd say nursing is not his most favorite thing in the world. He often pulls away to look at things or hang upside-down on my lap. The world is getting even more interesting to him, and when he's in a good mood, he'll sit and okay by himself for upwards of ten minutes.

Here's Ollie's monthly list of likes and dislikes:

Likes:
Baby Gerber oatmeal
Arthur (Aunt Julie's French bulldog)
Acorn squash
Applesauce
Nursing
Watching TV (We were at a pizza place in Omaha, and Oliver watched it from across the room!)
Ducky (he's now using the teething feet and loves the crunching sound of its wings)
Anything tactile (like the fabric on Julie's dining room chairs)
Boo!
Wiggle. March! (An indestructible book from Uncle Andy & Aunt Erin)
Sleeping on his belly
Naked time
Playing with his feet
Playing with tupperware
Sucking on cubscout bear on his walker
Paper products
Throwing his toys on the floor so we'll hover him over them to let him pick them up
The ball rattle, mobile, and jungle gym at my parents' house
The light-up swing at Andrew's parents' house
Mommy (He often cries if I'm not there)
Daddy (He starts smiling and "talking" when Andrew comes home)



Dislikes:
Being set down for naps
Getting his diaper changed first at night and thus having to wait a minute for milk
Being tired
When he gets moving in the walker
When I don't let him suck on the camera
When I take away something like a magazine when he starts mauling it