Rooney, 5 Months

GROWTH

At 5 months old, Rooney weighs 18 lbs. 8 oz. (We use Wii Fit Baby Stats to weigh her.) Her thigh rolls are awesome and I love that she is so big!

ROUTINE

She hit a growth spurt three weeks ago, while we were on vacation. She added one (sometimes two) feedings to her day (one in the afternoon and sometimes one in the middle of the night). It really threw us off. It lasted about a week and a half, and now she's back to eating four times a day, at approximately 6:15, 10:15, 2:15 and 6:15. Of course, it varies a little with each day, but we try to stay pretty close to these times. We put her down for bed when she shows signs of being tired, usually 6:30 but closer to 7 in the past week.

We bathe her on Sunday and Wednesday evenings, and just switched to the big bath tub with a yellow foam mat. She loves to kick her legs and splash daddy!

EATING

She eats 8 ounces four times a day. Every once in a while she will demand 10 ounces. She is a very big eater. As I mentioned last month, she is on Earth’s Best Organic formula (if you're new here, here's why we're formula feeding and also why we switched her formula).

We have experimented with solids a few times. Three times with egg yolk and once with avocado. We usually only get a few bites in before she acts disinterested. Which is fine with me! I think we will wait a few more weeks to try again. It doesn't fit great into our schedule right now and is a lot of work to prepare (especially because she only takes a few bites and spits most of it back out). Plus, the more I read about it, I think I would feel more comfortable waiting until she is 6 months old.

If you watch this video, don't mind my baby voice:

yes, the egg yolk is cooked :)

NIGHT SLEEPING

Well, this past month was so much different from what we were experiencing before. About 4.5 weeks ago Rooney starting going through the 4-month sleep regression. We went from getting 12 hours of sleep per night to very broken sleep. We have good nights and bad nights. A good night now is only having to go in there one or two times to replace the pacifier. A bad night was when she would eat once or twice during the night (she was going through a growth spurt at the same time). I think the cause of the sleep regression is that she is so much more active now. She will wake up and then want to play or practice rolling and scooting around her crib.

She sleeps on her stomach most of the time. Sometimes with her butt in the air. It is so cute!

No more swaddle! We knew she was done with it when she would fight it and get one or both arms out as soon as we put her in it. Add that transition to the growth spurt, sleep regression, teething and sleeping in the pack-n-play on vacation, we were going through a lot at one time. She sleeps in a sleep sack now. I like having her in it for warmth and because when we zip it up I think she feels more secure and understands that it is time to sleep.

DAY SLEEPING

Rooney typically takes two 2+ hour naps during the day (typical times: 7:30-9:45 and 12-2:15) and two 45-minute naps in the afternoon and evening (about 3:30-4:15 and 5-5:45). She is usually very tired and fussy when she comes home from day care so we have kept the evening nap, although it means we don't get to see her as much.

HEALTH

Rooney is still seeing Dr. Tyler for chiropractic care. She is starting to hold her adjustments a lot better. A big piece of that, we believe, is the head/neck support pillow we added to her car seat.

CLOTHING

She is wearing size 3 diapers, 6-9M clothing and 9M sleepers. She loves to get dressed and usually smiles when we pull a shirt over her head.

MOVEMENT (Baby Development)

Rooney loves to roll from her back to her stomach and tummy time. She has been working on scooting, too. She mostly goes backwards, and one time got half of her body stuck under our bed.

We're working on sitting right now. She can go for 10 seconds by herself, but then she usually topples over to the side.

Her feet are her favorite new toy. Especially her right foot. Fascinating!

SOCIAL

Hearing her laugh is the sweetest sound to my ears.

In the past month Rooney was able to meet Dylan, the son of our friends Garrett and Lauren, who live in South Carolina. They are four months apart. She also got to meet our friend Emily's little girl, Charlie. They are 10 days apart (Charlie is older, although Rooney is much bigger).

We went on our first family vacation to Okoboji! Rooney got to see a lot of her three female cousins and experience boating.

She loves both of us, but at times I really think she is a daddy's girl. She loves to look at him and follow him with her eyes from across the room.