5 Months Old (I know....a little behind)

Brody is growing up so fast! Just a couple weeks ago he was turning 5 months old and now he is almost halfway to 6 months! CRAZY! Fortunately, I wrote down some things he was able to do at 5 months so I wouldn't get them all confused with what he has accomplished since then. God has truly blessed us with such a cute little boy whose squeals, laughs, and smiles make our day (and usually start our day when we go get him out of his bed!). We always look forward to seeing the new things he can do, then praise him constantly when he does them! I'm sure he thinks we are nuts now, but one day soon he will realize that it's GOOD when we are cheering, laughing, clapping, and smiling from ear to ear when he rolls over or grabs at something when on his tummy! =) We are so thankful for him and like Dave said today, we "can't see how we thought life was fun when we didn't have him!" Even with all the not so good days, we are truly blessed beyond words to have such a wonderful and fun and beautiful little boy! He makes our faces and our hearts smile, and holding him in our arms is one of the most incredible feelings in the world (especially on the rare occasion that he actually falls asleep there!).

Accomplishments:

-pushes up on his arms when on his tummy

-holds up his head MUCH better on his tummy, though still not the biggest fan of tummy time (we are pretty sure it's because of the reflux and spitting up because almost everytime he is on his tummy he spits up regardless of the length of time after eating)

-grabs at and puts toys/objects in his mouth when on tummy

-pushes his bottom in the air (head down) when on tummy then procedes to push off with his feet--he can turn in half circles like this with enough frustration!

-LOVES to grab at our face (nose, ears, hair, eyes, cheeks, neck, mouth) and then grip using his claws, I mean nails-OUCH! =)

-reaches for and grabs at anything within arms reach (this includes pens, notebooks, shopping lists, toys, cell phones, etc.)

-grabs for moving objects now

-transfers objects from one hand to another

-puts EVERYTHING in his mouth now

-makes all kinds of squealing noises

-LOVES to play "Peek-a-Boo" and "Where's Brody/Mommy?"--this almost always makes him smile or laugh

-started grabbing for all the toys on his exersaucer and putting them in his mouth--he used to just look at them or touch them

-can take out his own pacifier AND put it in his mouth (correctly when he wants to)--this happens at naptime and bedtime sometimes which is nice

-CONSTANTLY plays with his feet and puts his socks in his mouth or pulls his socks off to eat them

-talks A LOT and is starting to make sounds with double syllables (like "ah-goo")

-rolls from side to side when on back

-turns his head all the way back (and contorts his body) while on his back to watch objects in motion or to look at where a noise is coming from

-turns his head at almost any noise that is made

-does an AWESOME job of taking his Prevacid every night! We give it to him while in the bathtub because he is calm and relaxed, and when he sees the syringe, he opens his mouth up wide before I can get it to him! He takes it like a CHAMP! =) (The same cannot be said of his Axid, but we are getting a little better...)

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We did the "Cry It Out" method for naps all month so there was LOTS and LOTS of crying at our house....didn't make for a "low-stress" home, that's for sure! I'm still not convinced that this works for Brody, but we gave it a try. He is still so sporadic on the duration of the cries even though our doctor told us it would get less and less. HA! Some naps it takes him 45 min.-1 hr. to calm down (or NOT ever calm down without intervention like me picking him up to go rock him) and others he cries for 20-30 min. and finally goes to sleep on his own. EVERY nap is different and I put him down around the same length of time after eating every time. I will probably not be trying this method much in the future....at least not much past 10-20 min. because my heart and ears can't stand that much crying anymore!! [NOTE: We go in every 5-10 min. to check on him or give him his paci because there are so many times that he needs to be burped or has spit up. It's hard to go to sleep like that. This may be part of the reason that he still cries for so long, but we can't imagine just leaving him there to cry for an hour without any reassurance that his parents are still there to help him when he's hurting.]

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This month was a great month when it came to accomplishments. Dave and I are both very proud of all he can do now. We have already seen him do a lot more in this 6th month, so we can't wait to share! =) At least there were the accomplishments to keep us going because the rest of the time it was pretty stressful around our house. He DID smile, laugh, talk, and play a lot, but there was also LOTS of fussing and LOTS of crying. (So far, month 6 is already getting better...whew!) He also outgrew the cradle cap at the beginning of month 5 so that meant that his hair could really start growing back! YAY! It's now a different color (sad) but it's still going to be pretty, I think, since it still has a little red in it. We also have TONS of drool and lots of gnawing and chewing, but still no teeth! Wonder when they will make their appearance?? Here's our cute little man who is growing into such a BIG BOY!

5 month old pictures

As close to a smile as I could get that photo session (and you can see it wasn't much!)

So handsome, and such a big boy!

He loves playing with these balls from Gymboree

Smiling for Mommy...won't do it for the camera as much anymore. He's already learned to turn his head when he sees a camera (that's definitely not good for his mommy who is a photographer at heart!!)

Mommy and big boy Brody

Daddy and his favorite playmate! =)