une petite aventure: Holt: 5 Months

Happy New Year!
We celebrated Holt's first Christmas this month! You can read all the details about that here

Today also would've been my grandpa's 75th birthday. It's hard to believe it's been 6 years since he passed away. I miss him so much and wish he could be here to meet my husband and now to meet Holt, but I know that he would be so proud of me and of my family and that makes me happy. It's neat that Holt gets to celebrate one of his "month birthdays" on my grandpa's birthday--it feels like a small piece of him is celebrating with us. :)

I can't get over how big he is getting. To compare his other pics starting at one month, check out my Instagram! Plus, you can click on the hashtags under the picture (#seeholtgrow) and it will show you all of them side by side.

Weight: 14 lbs (10th percentile)
Height: 27 inches (85th percentile)
*these are complete guesses as we do not have a scale at home*

He has definitely gained weight back this month! (I'm sure you can tell by the adorable double chin in the pictures). I'm guessing around 14 lbs because we are in size 2 diapers all the time now.

Milestones: *Reaching, Reaching, Reaching---for everything! *Rolling from back to tummy *Teething--no teeth yet, but swollen gums and chewing on everything *Talking and laughing more and more *Sitting up with help *Graduated to Size 2 diapers *showing signs of wanting to crawl

Sleep: He slept through the night about 50% of the time! And then Christmas week hit and then immediately after he got a cold AND hit a growth spurt AND hit the developing-milestone-interrupted-sleep stage because he was trying to figure out how to roll from his back to his tummy. Christmas week, he woke up about twice a night, but usually went right back to sleep. The week after Christmas though---WHOA. He didn't nap well, he woke up 3 times a night, and at least one of those times (every night) he was up for 2 hours SCREAMING. Absolutely nothing would calm him down--we tried everything from paci to bottle to singing to walking to patting….everything. It. Was. HORRIBLE. Now that he has figured out and conquered rolling from back to tummy, things are slowly starting to get back to normal.

Favorite Things: *He got a jumper for Christmas and is loving it! (Momma is too) *Music--he particularly loves when Daniel sings to him *Chewing anything and everything *Bottles---the kid goes ballistic when he sees one *Reading books *Sophie (our dog)--he is becoming more and more intrigued with her. I'm sure they'll be best buds one of these days

Feeding: We are having to supplement with formula at every feeding. At first, I was REALLY torn up and emotional about it. I literally grieved for a couple of days and was depressed that my body could not sufficiently meet his nutritional needs. But, I eventually came to peace about it, knowing that I was doing the right thing for my baby. I still nurse at every feeding (except bedtime) and then I offer a bottle after that. It has been working really well--he is gaining weight and it allows other people to feed him which frees me up a bit. My goal is to continue to breastfeed at least until this summer--so we will see! Next month we start solids (as long as the pediatrician gives the ok) and I've been doing TONS of research! I'm leaning towards Baby-Led Weaning (or Baby-Led Feeding) and just doing purees when needed. Any comments, advice, or suggestions would be helpful!