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!

Holt's First Christmas

My boys :)

sugars

loving the jumper!

Holt with my grandparents

Tuckered out on Christmas Day

Mary, Joseph, and Jesus (read more about this on my Christmas post)

Holt with Daniel's grandmother

Christmas baby

Meeting cousin Hazel

watching bowl games with dad

favorite

tummy time!

playing with our friend Declan

Holt's First Christmas

The most wonderful time of the year!

I have always loved Christmas. The magic of it and spending quality time with my family, but most importantly celebrating the miraculous birth of my Savior. This year Christmas became even more special because we have Holt.

I'll be honest though, it was also the most exhausting Christmas I've ever had. Trying to work around Holt's schedule (which we ended up just throwing out the window and winging it all week because otherwise I would blow a gasket) and praying he would take naps and be in a good mood and sleep well and not be cranky is TIRING.

Parenthood--1
Me--0

Can I get an amen?

Despite that, it was a joy-filled week spent pondering the love and mercy of my God to send his Son down to become a baby so that one day he could die on a cross as a living sacrifice for my sin. I also pondered and wondered about Mary (Jesus' mother). I relate more to her now that I too am a mother--what was it like to knowingly carry God's Son and become his mother? I wrote a post about the song "Mary, Did You Know?" to express my feelings and emotions about what she must have gone through.

All in all, Holt had a great week! He is such a social baby---it is so fun watching his little personality starting to come through. He loves to be held and interacting with people. He just smiled and laughed and talked to anyone and everyone. We haven't hit the separation anxiety stage yet, but I'm hoping it will be pretty mild since he seems to love people so much.

It's also hilarious to see the differences at each family gathering. On Daniel's side, Holt is the 8th out of 9 grandchildren (so far). It's always loud and chaotic and fun with a bunch of littles running around. On my side, Holt is the first grandchild and great-grandchild (on my dad's side, but not my mom's) so ALL the attention is on him. Which, of course he absolutely loves!

Here is how our week went:

Monday---Daniel worked and then we drove down to Conway to have Christmas with my mom, dad, sister and brother-in-law (they spent Christmas in Texas with his family this year so we did ours early).

Holt and RoRo are best buds

Holt and Melly

Presents!

The pig teether was a huge hit

First Christmas as a family of 3

Uncle Kirby, Holt, and Aunt Hannah

Tuesday--We drove to Daniel's family and spent all day doing Christmas at his parent's house and then his grandparents and extended family.

Favorite

Holt, LaLa, and cousin Hazel

Holt met his cousin Hazel for the first time! They are 2 months apart

Holt with his great-grandmother Ruth

Obligatory Santa picture---he really isn't crying, I just caught him in the middle of talking

Wednesday (Christmas Eve)--Christmas at both of my grandparent's houses. One in the morning and one at night.

Figuring out how to unwrap a present at GiGi's house 

Mimi, Holt, and Poppa

Thursday (Christmas Day)-- REST day! We stayed at my parent's house all day recovering and resting from all the fun activities.

Everyone was tuckered out

Friday--(AM) we went back to Daniel's parent's house to see some of his aunts and uncles that were in town. (PM) we had our last Christmas celebration with my extended family on my dad's side. We act out the nativity story (complete with costumes) and Holt got to be Baby Jesus! (This is special because I was Baby Jesus 25 years ago when I was his age).

Mary, Joseph, and Baby Jesus

the whole cast

Saturday--saw some of our best friends from Louisville who were in town and then headed back home.

Crazy busy, but fun week and Holt was a champ!

We also had a little Christmas photo shoot with my aunt who is a photographer. Tough job, but someone has to do it :) These are some of my absolute favorite photos of him:

And that was our Christmas! Until next year...

Mary, Did You Know?

I love Christmas music. Some are silly and fun and catchy, others are very meaningful and make me ponder the true meaning of this season. One of the latter ones is "Mary, Did You Know?". During this Advent season, as I snuggle my 4 month old son, I keep pondering the words to that song: 

Mary did you know that your baby boy will some day walk on water?
Mary did you know that your baby boy will save our sons and daughters?
Did you know that your baby boy has come to make you new?
This child that you've delivered, will soon deliver you.

Mary did you know that your baby boy will give sight to a blind man?
Mary did you know that your baby boy will calm a storm with his hand?
Did you know that your baby boy has walked where angels trod?
And when your kiss your little baby, you have kissed the face of God.

The blind will see, the deaf will hear, the dead will live again.
The lame will leap, the dumb will speak, the praises of the lamb

Mary did you know that your baby boy is Lord of all creation?
Mary did you know that your baby boy would one day rule the nations?
Did you know that your baby boy is heaven's perfect Lamb?
This sleeping child you're holding is the great I AM.

I tear up every time I hear that song. I feel like now that I have a child, I can relate to Mary in a different way than I ever have before. I cannot imagine, knowing about the role her son would play in the future, the emotions that she went through. I'm sure she went through all the normal "mom" emotions---unconditional love, awe, wonder. I'm sure she stared at her newborn son, consumed by amazement that He was God Incarnate. I'm sure she stared at him wondering if he knew who he was as a baby. I can imagine her anguish when he cried, not knowing exactly what he was crying about, and probably crying with him. I can imagine the immense joy of seeing his first smile and hearing his first laugh. I can imagine how proud she was when he conquered new milestones--sitting up and reaching for things and saying "momma" for the first time. 

I am sure she was flooded with gratefulness and utterly humbled that God chose to bestow this amazing gift to her, but yet it was probably also such a burden. It's hard enough to be a parent, but to be a parent to a PERFECT child, the Son of God? He never had to be disciplined because he never sinned. I imagine she probably felt resentment every now and then towards her other children because they WERE sinners and had to be disciplined. Wow. Talk about a tall order. 

One other thing that makes me tear up every time I think about, is the pain she must have went through when he was being tortured and whipped and beaten and crucified. FOR ME. As a mother, your heart physically hurts when your child is in pain. To watch your son go through that, knowing that was the plan all along; knowing He had to go through it to fulfill the prophecies and the new covenant; knowing that it was the right thing. I figure that didn't make it any easier. She was still his mother and I cannot imagine the excruciating pain that must have caused her.

The Christmas Story has taken on an entirely new meaning for me this year. And it makes me even more amazed and thankful to my God that He allowed His son to go through all of that for me. To save ME--an unperfect, sinful human being.