5 months old!

Jackson is 5 months old today!  I forgot to take his "chair" photo, so I'll have to do that tomorrow, but I took plenty of other cute ones. :)

Okay so, here we go with the updates:

Sleep (night time): I didn't think it was possible, but his night time sleep has gotten even worse in the last month!  In the last week, he's been waking so many times a night I can't even count.  If I'm lucky I MIGHT get a 2 hour stretch out of him.  And I've tried so many different things trying to figure out what works best for him (swaddled, unswaddled, laying on side, extra layers, fewer layers, with paci, no paci, and on and on...)  As of right this moment, he seems to need to be swaddled still, but he can break out of all the traditional swaddle blankets.  He also likes to be slightly propped up, and seems to like a heavy blanket over him.  He's likes a paci to fall asleep, but flat out refuses to take it from me at night.  I'm still trying to make little tweaks and changes to see if we can find the right combination of things to get him to sleep well.

The thing is, I think a big part of the sleep problem is his eczema.  He wakes up trying to claw at his face, and if you hold his arms down to block him, he gets SO mad.  His skin gets all red and dry and seems itchy, and I just feel so bad for him because I don't know how to fix it.  But his eczema issue is a whole different post entirely. 

Sleep (day time):  Hmm, this one is tricky.  We've had a bit of a rough week, but that's mostly because Jackson had a cold and wasn't feeling so hot.  But on average, day time sleep is... just okay.  He takes short naps, and I can't seem to get him to extend them.  I'd say on average his naps are 35-40 minutes, but occasionally only 15 or 20 minutes!  Every once in a while I will get an hour out of him, but never longer.  His ideal awake time is about 2 hours, but if he only takes a tiny nap it's much shorter.  He still needs to be rocked to sleep, but sometimes we can put him in his crib and shush/pat him to sleep.  If all else fails, he will almost always fall asleep in the car or in the stroller.

He's still mostly a VERY happy baby during the day.  He wakes up in the morning with a big smile on his face, even though he usually did not get a good night's sleep. He's extremely chatty and is making a lot more different sounds, even saying "mama," although usually when he's crying/upset. 

He still likes his play gym, but gets frustrated that he can't pull the toys off and put them in his mouth, since he's past the "batting at toys" phase.  So we usually just abandon the play gym and go with a blanket and some toys on the floor.  He wants everything in his mouth, and is fascinated with toys.  Loves looking at them, holding them, shaking them, tasting them, and gets MAD when he drops them or can't get them in his mouth the way he wants. 

He doesn't roll, but he tucks his knees up under him and tries to scoot around.  And he's getting closer and closer to sitting on his own.  He can sit by himself briefly, and with a little support, but I wouldn't just leave him sitting there for an extended period of time.  He scoots backwards when he's on his tummy, and he loves to push off of something and move around when he's on his back or his tummy.  It's funny, with Riley, I was so so excited for her to start rolling and crawling. With him, I'm perfectly happy for him to stay still as long as possible!  Although I'm super super excited to see Riley's reaction when Jackson becomes mobile, I think she's going to LOVE it!

He likes to talk and screech, chew on everything and anything (including my fingers, and man can that boy bite hard!). He can blow raspberries, and grab his toes with his hands.  He hasn't yet figured out his toes can go in his mouth, but I'm sure it's not far off.  He loves to be held and talked to and played with, and he absolutely ADORES his big sister.  We can see it more and more each day, how much he watches her and just seems to be fascinated by her.  Lucky for him, she thinks he's pretty cool too.

He still likes the car and going for walks in the stroller or in a carrier.  He has absolutely no problem with strangers, and is happy as long as someone is talking to him and holding him.  He laughs the most for his daddy, but will smile for pretty much anyone.  He thinks it's so funny when you laugh, and certain words and sounds get him to laugh almost every time.

He's still exclusively breastfed, eating every 2-3 hours during the day.  I don't think he's ready for solids, which is just fine because I have no plans to introduce them before 6 months anyway.  His eczema makes him slightly more likely to have food allergies, and I'd really like to try and get his eczema more under control before we start him on solids!  Again, I'll save all that eczema-related info for a separate post.

He's mostly pretty happy to lay on the ground on his back or his tummy and play (especially with Riley around!), but he has just recently started to cry when I leave his sight.  Not always, but he is definitely constantly aware of where I am, and if he's even the slightest bit tired or feeling at all fragile, he will cry if I go out of his sight.  Although, if Riley is there with him, he doesn't cry!

One absolute FAVORITE activity right now is jumping.  Just like his sister, apparently.  He LOVES to be in his bouncer just jumping away and trying to manipulate all the toys.  If you hold him on your lap he will jump and jump and jump.  His legs are constantly going, and his arms are also constantly moving and waving and flapping unless he's using them to hold a toy or put something in his mouth.

He likes music...my singing, Riley's CDs, or some of his toys that play music- a crib mobile, a stuffed octopus, fisher price seahorse... pretty much anything that makes some music! He loves books, his lovey blanket, pinching mama, sticking his fingers in my mouth, getting leg and tummy tickles, having his face lightly rubbed/tickled, leg massages, and bath time.  He does NOT like being cold, arm massages, when Riley cries, or having his nails cut.

He's the cutest sweetest little blue-eyed 5 month old and we just love him to pieces! Can't wait to see what the next month brings (hopefully a little more sleep!!!) :)