Lily Mae: Five Months

Lily has gone through such a transformation that it’s hard to believe only a month has gone by. It’s crazy to think next month will be half a year.

She’s reaching and grabbing everything! She particularly loves reaching for my water bottle, my coffee, and my shakes. 🤣 She also wants to touch everyone’s faces and put their fingers in her mouth.

While she hasn’t rolled over yet, we’re getting real close to having a crawler! She can lift herself up and has figured out how to pivot around on her tummy. Every day we practice, so I’m thinking by month six she will be able to crawl.

She’s trying to talk! She’s basically said her first words “Mama” (which sounds more like nuh-nuh) and “Dada” and watches us constantly on how we say things. She’s so vocal and animated and it continues to evolve every day!

Feeding

This month pulled on my heartstrings a lot. I found myself really missing those newborn days where she was so snuggly and sleepy. I think a lot of that has had to do with the fact that I’ve officially stopped nursing, so I’m grieving the loss of that closeness. I’ve known from the beginning that nursing was up in the air, and I’ve been really fortunate I was able to do it as long as I could, let alone at all. Still, I’m going through some grieving, especially since I’ve been feeling guilt around it. I have to remind myself fed is best, and my baby girl is definitely getting her food in.

She went through a major growth spurt so her appetite has gone up a ton. In fact, our doctor gave us the green light to introduce solids, so she’s been trying a variety of fruits and veggies. She likes carrots, sweet potatoes, pears, and green beans. She tolerates prunes and was definitely not a fan of pureed turkey (can’t blame her).

Sleep

She’s officially sleeping in her crib in her room! 🙌🏼 We weaned her off the SNOO and within a week she was sleeping in her crib. Now that she is in her own room everyone is sleeping much better! We’ll do her bedtime routine, get her into bed between 7pm and 8pm, and then we have the rest of the evening to ourselves. She’ll sleep through the entire night and self-soothes when she does happen to wake up. She’s now sleeping in the Halo Sleepsack with the Nanit Breathing Wear Band.

Naptime, however, is a whole other story. She still wants to nap on us as opposed to her crib. The moment I set her down she wakes up and cries. As soon as I pick her up she falls asleep. I’m currently working on setting her down at the same times everyday doing timed checks with the Crib60 method. I did this for about a week and a half before she finally started to take her naps in the crib, but now I’m back to square one since we were out of town for a few days. It’s a work in progress!

Since she’s now sleeping in her crib, we returned the SNOO. We opted to rent it instead of buying it outright, and by doing so we spent half of what it would have cost to purchase it. We hung onto all the packaging so all we had to do was print out a shipping label and drop it off at FedEx. After they inspected it we got our deposit back. I can’t recommend the SNOO enough. It was so worth it, and we definitely plan on renting it again for future babies. 😉

What I’m Loving

Nanit Breathing Wear Band – Now that she is in her crib in her own room this allows us to monitor her breathing via the Nanit monitor. No more sticking my fingers under nose every 15 mins. 😂 What I love about this band is not only does it monitor her breathing but it does it safely. It’s simply a cotton band with a pattern on it, nothing electrical. The monitor simply tracks the pattern.

Crate & Barrel Busy Baby Activity Chair – Grandma got her this chair for Christmas and she absolutely loves it. Since she is grabbing and scratching everything this is the perfect sensory toy for her right now.

Baby Paper – Lily is obsessed with this stuff. It’s just crinkly paper wrapped in fabric and she loves the noise it makes. It’s so simple and so effective.

Maty’s Organic Teething Oil. – Lily is full-on teething, and this stuff has been super helpful. Plus it doesn’t have a bunch of junk in it like Orajel and other brands out there.