5 Months

5 months old, and very excited about it. Look at that grin! I was hoping to be able to take this picture with him dressed in some of the very cute shorts outfits that he has been wearing lately in this beautiful summer weather that we are having in April. Unfortunately, the weather has taken a turn this week and we are back to long pants and sweaters. But he hasn't worn this particular sweater yet and it looks pretty good on him, so I guess we will wait until next month to see if the shorts come out again.

We were out yesterday to a Music and Babies workshop where there was a Public Health Nurse and her scale, so I was able to get a more accurate reading than what I would be able to do at home. He is now officially 17lbs 1oz! When people ask how much he weighs, I have been estimating about 16lbs. Boy, was I off...and surprised. A month ago, he weighed 15lbs 1.5oz. 2 pounds this month! Who is feeding this kid? Right. I am. I just wish his weight gain would somehow be connected to my weight loss.

"Look what I can do now!"

I knew that babies grew fast and that they changed very quickly. But that was all textbook knowledge. Now that I have my own little baby who is doing amazing things everyday, I am beginning to understand what everyone has been talking about. It is also very easy to see how parents are prone to thinking that their children are geniuses. Watching Matthew learn new skills is an incredible thing to see, especially when it seems that I don't really have anything to do with it! He must be genius!

Just this week, he has added a whole bunch of new accomplishments in his short life. (I wish I could accomplish that much at the same rate as him.) These are some of the new things he can do...


Tummy time has always been a chore because he couldn't hold his head up that long and Mommy couldn't watch him be so frustrated and helpless. Suddenly this week, tummy time is much more fun!

Matthew has finally discovered that he has toes and that he can reach them. Oh, the possibilities now!

He also started reaching for things. If you put something in front of him, now he wants it and knows how to get it!

It does take a lot of concentration though.

And he can walk! Well, maybe not quite yet, but he is getting the idea. (The video is kind of dark, you have to look closely)

I wonder what is to come next week.

Sleep, Glorious Sleep

Matthew has always been a great sleeper. When we first brought him home from the hospital, he would sleep during the night and I would have to wake him to feed him. After a couple of weeks, we got the go ahead from the doctor to let him sleep as long as he wants at night, he was growing just fine. So we did.

He was sleeping 3 hours, then 4, then 5, sometimes even 6! By 2 months old, he was settling very nicely into a pattern of going to sleep around 10pm and not waking up until sometime around 5am. I was loving this and we were counting ourselves very lucky that we had a baby who liked his sleep. I didn't even mind being woken up at that hour, because truth be told, I kinda missed him a little bit and it was nice to have a little Matthew fix in the middle of the night.

Well, his sleeping patterns seem to be changing again, and this time it is not better. Shortly after his 4 month birthday (in fact, on the day of) he went to bed as normal at 10, but he woke up at midnight, then again at 3am, then again at 6am and again at 8am! What was this all about? I chalked it up to just a bad night. But then he did it again the next night! Within a couple of nights, he had a new pattern of waking up at 3 am and then 6am.

I know that I shouldn't complain, because I've had it so good so far and some parents would probably die to have even his new schedule. But I got used to having a baby and still getting some sleep and I liked it. Hopefully it is just a growth spurt and we'll get back to normal soon.