5 months - personality plus

When we first brought Charlotte home from the hospital, the idea that she would one day be 5 months old seemed so far away. A distant milestone.

But here we are. My little girl is 5 months old. I know I’ve said it before, and no doubt I’ll be saying it again in a months time, but where has the time gone?

Charlotte

My darling little girl has quite the personality these days. She is by no means a ‘nonchalant’ baby, and wants to be a part of everything. While she will quite happily play by herself, for a little while, she far prefers to be by our side watching whatever it is we are doing.

Those chubby cheeks, those deep blue eyes, that wispy spiky hair. Just gorgeous.

Charlotte’s hand / eye co-ordination is rather good these days – and she will reach for anything that is close by. Putting it, of course, straight in her mouth.

She is full of smiles, giggles and personality. But can throw one hell of a crying fit too - this girl has some lungs! I love hearing her make new sounds and squeals (blowing raspberries is soooo last month) then looking quite proud of herself when she does!

Feeding

I would have to say that we are a little hit and miss when it comes to feeding at the moment, which I suspect is having a direct impact on sleep (see below).  She has been getting fussier and fussier about her daytime feeds, despite my efforts/pleads/begs, and then wants to feed a lot overnight. Any ideas how to turn this around?

Worrying that she was not getting enough food during the day, we decided to start Charlotte on solids the day she turned 5 months.

She was intrigued, at first, but gobbled up the rice cereal with little fuss.  So at the moment it is rice cereal once per day, mixed with a little breastmilk. I’m keen to see what happens over the next month, and will be sure to have more to say in her 6 month update.

Sleeping

Ahhhhh sleep. What is that???

Around 4 months, things in the sleep department started to slide – unfortunately  in the wrong direction. Gone were the 4 or 5 hour sleep stretches at night. Replaced, most recently, with hourly / two hourly wake ups.

So as you can imagine, we are all a little tired and run down.

I had a moment last week though, when I was feeling overwhelmed and stressed, and found myself falling into the comparison trap. But after a day of just thinking things through, I have decided to go with the flow. I feel that the most important thing is that C has a calm happy mum, and that she is well and healthy, so if she wants to feed lots overnight, so be it. She is only a little baby after all, and I have no doubt that the overnight sleeps will improve at some point. But for now, it is just a matter of riding it out as best as I can.

Achievements and milestones

We had quite the eventful month, this month, with 2 teeth now making their appearance, immunisations and the full blown sleep regression.

But lets talk ‘fun’ - C had her first swim session!

Our local pool runs half hour ‘baby play’ sessions, with activities and songs to get babies / toddlers comfortable in the water.

Mr BBB took her in the pool (while I was the crazy camera happy mum on the edge) and C took to it just beautifully. She splashed, she kicked, and she even put her head under the water -  and did not cry once. Mr BBB is also now well versed in ‘gallooomp went the little green frog’

Me – the physical and emotional

This last month has been rather testing. Busy with work. Busy with mummy-hood. And busy with life in general.

Throw in sleep deprivation, and an insatiable sweet tooth, and I think my body is starting to get a bit run down in general.

But at the end of the day, it really has been a wonderful month.

Charlotte and I took a walk most days, and Mr BBB and I fit in a few family fitness sessions and mountain bike rides.

Physically my body is slowly starting to return to something akin to its pre-pregnancy form (with a few extra lumps, bumps and stretchmarks for good measure). I have my first post pregnancy race coming up in 2 months, so I’m hoping that my recent purchase of a treadmill will help with training.

Who knows what this next month will bring!?