Time Flies - Jackson is 5.5 Months Old

I lost track of how many weeks he is... Oops!

What’s going on with our little cute Jackson man lately? I totally missed posting his 5 month picture!!! And he’s already 5.5 months old! Zoiks! I can’t believe he’s been in our lives for half a year (soon)!!!!!!!! That is just CRAZY. Time really DOES fly. Not kidding. I was trying to explain to Karl last night that sometimes I don’t even feel like I’m in my life anymore because time is going that fast and I can’t control any of it. I wake up and it’s Monday, I blink and it’s Friday. I don’t know if that even makes sense, but it’s pretty nuts.

Jackson is 5 Months Old! We had the hardest time getting a picture!

 

We’ve been working on getting Jackson to sit on his own. He’s been able to for a couple seconds and then will tip sideways or forward. It’s fun to watch because he’s so darn cute.

He’s really been pushing himself up when he’s doing tummy time. We know that crawling is coming (must baby proof our house soon). Sometimes Karl and I catch Jackson moving in his crib in a dream crawl. We’re pretty sure he doesn’t realize he’s doing it, but he’s moving from one end to the other.

In the mornings either Karl or I will wake Jackson and he’ll be on his belly, propped up on his knees, butt way up in the air and have his head turned to the left, resting on his right cheek. His eyes will pop open and he’ll smile so sweetly. He’ll just lay there all happy too. It’s the cutest thing ever to see in the morning. Nothing like starting EACH and EVERY day with that. How can I ever be in a bad mood????

Hello Mr. Cutie!

 

He’s eating solids like a champ. So far he’s had whole grain rice, whole grain oatmeal, homemade avocados, sweet potatoes and bananas. He likes all of them!! YAY!

He loves loves loves being outside. He totally tells me this by his actions. He becomes quiet and stares at everything and seems overly happy (kicks those little legs with excitement). It’s the greatest thing ever. Sometimes I wonder if this is because we started walking outside together three days after he was born (had all that beautiful April weather) and every time I drive in the car with him, I usually have the windows down. Lots of fresh air and sunshine flowing through. Helloooo Vitamin D! Speaking of Vitamin D, I make sure to get Jackson out for at least 10 minutes minimum a day to get that sunshine. Vitamin D is SOOO good for people (especially babies) but we’re getting less of it (being indoors all the time) and it gets harder during the winter. Lots of interesting studies on Vitamin D.  

I'm a happy boy!

 

Jackson survived his first cold. More like, WE survived! Dang, that sucks when your baby gets sick. Talk about tearing your heart out. It started with a cough and turned into a full blown cold. It was pretty bad for 3 days but during that time he was still smiling and playing and cute as ever, but he had a hard time nursing (breathing through his nose was the issue) and he’d cough every few minutes (sometimes the coughing led to gaging, which led to him spitting up all over me). After 10 days, he was good as new though. Phew. I wish that was the only time he'd get sick in his lifetime...  

Karl and I let my parents put Jackson to bed while we went to a wedding this weekend. It didn’t go super great because I think Jackson is so used to his special routine and me nursing him right before I put him down, that he kind of wigged out a bit on them. But soon, he crashed for my parents and slept all the way until 6:15 the next morning. We forgot to turn the monitor on and I slept SO good.

Date night for mom and dad! Rawr!

 

I am getting MORE AND MORE sleep!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I LOVE THIS!!!!!!! I never realized how much sleep can affect attitude and your mental state—but it can. At least for me, I am one who needs sleep. Otherwise, forget it. My mom said when I was born, all I did was sleep. God wanted me to sleep. I was born to get good sleep. I love you sleep!!!

This past weekend I nursed Jackson and after he was done, he cuddled up to me. Like a REAL cuddle. He didn’t move or wiggle like he normally does. He snuggled up to my chest and stayed there for 15 minutes, with his arms wrapped around me. It was the greatest feeling ever. I could’ve sat that way forever. He just wanted to be held and loved by his mama. Made me feel really happy and at peace with everything. I am doing something right!!! Gosh, I love that little boy.

Jackson is giggling more and more which is the greatest sound EVER!

I went through is closet. Newborn clothes fit no longer. We can still squeeze him in some 3 month clothes but for the most part he's on to 6 month clothes.

I love that he notices sounds and noises all around him. His eyes almost popped out of his head when he heard my mom turn the vacuum on downstairs when we were upstairs. I love how he stares at the kids riding their bikes in our neighborhood or the cars that drive by. It's like he's trying to figure it all out. So cute.

He’s trying so hard to talk. It’s the CUTEST ever. His little tongue rolls up and then he tries to peruse his lips to form sounds and words. So sweet.

I’m working on getting a routine down, knowing it’ll more than likely be me doing the work once I get home. I think I just needed to accept that my workload was going to triple and then deal with it. Deal with it means… Tell Karl what I need from him. Hire a cleaning lady. ASK FOR HELP from others AND most importantly just go with it and allow myself to make mistakes and learn the best way by making those mistakes. Man, am I hard on myself. Where did this come from???  This new schedule (working, being mom and Karl’s insane schedule) seemed like a LOT for me to handle at first, but soon I was able to adjust things AGAIN and get a system down. But just when I get a system down, something ALWAYS changes.

As a mom, you become incredibly flexible with your time and just have to go with things.

With that said, instead of my normal 45 minute walk/run outside I’d get before Jackson was born, I’ll now do a 15 minutes run with him in the stroller once or twice a week and then one workout at the gym a week by myself (I steam for 5 minutes and this is the greatest 5 minute vacation of MY LIFE). This is all I need to keep me happy and those endorphins flowing. Jackson gets antsy in his car seat in the stroller if he's in it for too long so I need to be quick, but I think we’re almost ready to eliminate the car seat and have him face forward in the stroller so this might mean longer runs….yet…here comes the cold weather. I must be doing something right because I am seven pounds away from my pre-baby weight!!!!!!!!!!!  Just lots of toning up to be done. All in good time, right?

I'm growing out of all my 3 month clothes!

 

I now have a killer system down where I write out a menu (these have to be easy, quick recipes) for the whole week and that helps with dinners a TON. I print these up, have them on the island in the kitchen and I’m able to whip something up (that’s healthy too) and make enough so we have lunch and I have time to play with Jackson during the week. I KNEW it’d all come together, but it takes time.

With that said, thanks for all your support and for not judging me or diagnosing me with crazy-girl syndrome. Being a mom is HARD and quite the journey – everyone has their own story and adventures and troubles and awesomeness. It’s nice to be able to get it out and have some of you contact me saying you are going through the same stuff (and offer up suggestions).

Next thing… Have to fit church back into our Sundays. I miss it.

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Is Making My Own Baby Food Really that Hard? - Month 5

Trying New HEALTHY Baby Foods

 

Jackson has now been eating solids for a full month. I was a little nervous about him eating solids at four months just because all these studies show that if you start babies on solids too soon, they have a higher chance of getting food allergies. Are these studies accurate? I don’t know. One day we’re supposed to be drinking coffee. The next we’re not. We can eat egg yolk. Then we can’t.

So what is it???

But Jackson was definitely ready, and I knew it. He was giving us all the signs, especially going from sleeping 5-7 hours a night to 2-3 hour spurts a night and needing mom's milk a LOT. He was guzzling 5.5 ounces three times a day at day care too and cried for more. He was growing and moving tons and burning through all that milk and our pediatrician saw that first hand.  

Yep, holding his own spoon!!!

 

First thing we offered Jackson was organic whole grain rice cereal mixed with my breast milk. He did NOT want anything to do with it the first feeding. Made me sad just because he was looking at me like what are you doing??? Help me! But we were also battling his evening meltdown. So we learned that we had to feed him around 5:30/6:00, any later and we were in trouble.

Day two, things weren’t that much better. More crying. And more looking at me like…NO! I want you, mom!!!

Finally day three, he seemed a little interested. Took a couple spoonfuls and thought about it. Then was done.

Day four, he was grabbing the spoon himself and wanting to feed himself and making “mmmm” sounds. So CUTE!

After each meal, I nurse Jackson too. Right now he'll maybe eat 3-10 minutes per side after eating solids. There are times he arches his back and screams though. But I have noticed he's very efficient at eating now. I also nurse him right before he goes to bed an hour or two later. It's a short feeding. Sunday night he FINALLY slept through the ENTIRE night. YESSSSSSSSS.

I wouldn’t say eating all of a sudden became easy after he accepted the food because it’s a messy process. Jackson loves sticking his hands in his mouth while he has just taken in a bunch of cereal. He loves grabbing for the spoon. The food runs down his chin, down into his neck, onto his clothes. Sometimes he’ll sneeze or cough and it goes into mom’s eye. All that fun stuff.

Healthy, yummy goodness

 

What we needed was a good bib. And thanks to Karl’s cousin (who has three boys), she gave us a few bibs after Jackson was born and said they were a must. She had to search all over for them but found them at K-Mart! She was right. Nothing compares to these bibs. The brand: Dex Baby.

Best bibs ever!

 

After two solid weeks of the rice cereal mixed with my breast milk, we moved on to homemade avocados also mixed with my breast milk. He liked those a lot and didn’t make any disgusted faces at all.

I let him enjoy for a week and then moved on to organic whole grain oatmeal. He made some faces with this. Three days of oatmeal and we’ve moved on to homemade sweet potatoes.

OK...but the honest problem is: I have been flying through my breast milk when mixing with the cereal and a lot of times he doesn’t eat it all. So I have toss. What!??!? Toss my hard pumped liquid gold breast milk??? Such a waste. So I made the tough decision to mix in water and a little formula when it comes to the cereal. Does that mean I’m a bad mom? Does that mean I don’t “exclusively breastfeed”??? Who knows. Labels. Annoying. It's like I'm not part of the popular crowd anymore or something.  

Getting ready to freeze the sweet potatoes

 

Pretty simple to make all Jackson’s fruits and veggies though. I simply heated the sweet potatoes up in the microwave and scooped out all the goodness and pureed it. Same with the avocados. Scooped out the insides and pureed (didn’t heat those up though)….sometimes still adding my breast milk to these to smooth it out.

Glad we registered for this awesome wedding gift. Putting it to use now!

 

Now Jackson opens his mouth as soon as I sit down in front of him. And he smiles and says, “Mmmmm.”

I’m going to have a lot of fun with this!!! Jackson gets to try all kinds of fruits and veggies and I'm hoping this will make him less of a picky eater in the future and give his immune system some “good army guys” to battle off all those bugs out there.

What's your baby's favorite dish?

 

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