Libby is Five Months!

January was a challenge.

Probably because I bragged about how surprising well I handled 2014, the first month of 2015 gave me a tiny meltdown in the middle of the month over my ability (or inability) to achieve the balancing act of things important to me as a performer, friend, & human with things that are important to me as a mother, wife, woman. I don’t foresee this balancing act will ever really get easier, but I think I will get more skilled at it. If that makes sense.

Both Libby & Mommy had nasty colds for the majority of the month, so that did not help the situation. Still using the humidifier, plus we finally got one of those Nosefridas & saline spray. We also got some eucalyptus oil to put a few drops in a teacup of boiling water when we steam up the bathroom (Aromatherapy, not gonna drink that! Although I guess I could, I grew up eating halls eucalyptus drops whenever I had a cold). Our doctor’s appointment was January 8th, and I was relieved to learn Libby really did just have a little cold & nothing that required antibiotics. She did however have to get another round of shots, so cold plus shots was a pretty crappy day.

Rest assured however, that whatever cold virus she has been fighting has done nothing to stunt her growth. You guys – she’s huge. At the appointment she was 17 lbs, 27.25 inches. Solidly off the chart in height, tip top of the chart in weight. And I swear she’s gotten bigger since then. She is wearing 9mo clothing.

She’s still not sitting consistently unassisted or rolling all the way over, although she’s pretty close to both those things. She has however, gotten way distracted by her feet, toes & legs. She can roll to each side from her back & she tolerates tummy time for a good amount of time, but she resists using her arms to push or grab, instead letting them wave in the air & trying to make herself move with persistent kicking.  She likes standing assisted & has gotten pretty decent at that. We’ve experimented a little with putting her in the “exersaucer” but we think she’s still a little young for it & will enjoy it more next month.

Sleeping patterns have gone awry – sometimes she takes two 2hr naps, sometimes she takes one 45min nap. Sometimes she passes out at 7pm, sometimes she won’t sleep til 9:30p. Sometimes she wakes up at 1a & 4am, sometimes she sleeps all the way til 7a. Mommy is all out of whack. I’ve tried getting it regular, but really my schedule’s not regular so that figures.

We laugh easily at Mommy acting ridiculous, we love dancing & bouncing, and peek-a-boo is a new favorite. However, bath time is no longer cool. Remember when I said I was scared it would be like washing my middle school cat but it was way easier? Now she’s that cat. Literally tried to escape the little tub last bath time & grips the side of it like she’s holding on for dear life. We got a tub thermometer to make sure it wasn’t a weird temperature, so it’s not that. Somebody suggested that it makes her feel like she’s in a wet diaper, which could make sense because she’s also started complaining about wet diapers faster than she used to.

Also this month – teething seems to have ramped up. Drool everywhere, chomping on everything. When she chomped on my nipple I took it away from her & didn’t give it back for another half hour, then when she did it again the next day, I took it away again. Have no idea if that was the appropriate way to deal with that but it seemed to work, she hasn’t chomped on me since.

Also determined at the pediatrician’s appointment was that Libby can start easing into real food.

 So the plan is you start with rice cereal, then oatmeal, then barley. Then you move to vegetables. Then fruit. Everything we read had told us to wait until 6 months if you possibly can to introduce food that isn’t breast-milk, but our doctor was saying go ahead, and she’s huge – over double birth-weight. We compromised & decided to wait a few more weeks until we hit the 5 month mark, which was today. So this morning we mixed up 1 Tbsp baby rice cereal & 4 Tbsp breast-milk and went at it. The first few bites were confusing for her – she didn’t understand that the cereal didn’t come out of the spoon like breast milk comes out of the bottle or nipple & she tried to suck the spoon and got angry when we took it out of her mouth. But once she realized it was coming right back to her mouth with more, she settled down. She for sure liked grabbing the spoon herself, but of course she did not know how to get the cereal on it, so Brian & I would hold on to the end to guide it for her.

The whole thing was messy & adorable.

And Mercury leaves retrograde on February 11, plus it’s my birthday month, so I have high hopes for next month making me feel less incompetent & exhausted 🙂

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