5 Months Old!

Parker turned five months old yesterday! I can't get over how fast time seems to be flying! I took him to the county health department yesterday to have him weighed and measured, only to be told they were remodeling and to call in a week to schedule an appointment. I was pretty disappointed. So I returned home and decided the only way I'd be able to see how much he weighed was to try to weigh him myself. Apparently scales aren't used to a baby being placed on them. They said he weighed 0 pounds! So, I weighed myself, then I weighed myself holding him. I know he weighs 18 pounds, but I don't know how many ounces. He is 25 1/2" long.

Most of his fourth month just coasted by with no big milestones. He did receive his second round of immunizations. I was so proud of how well he took the two pokes, only crying for about twenty seconds after the second shot. Three hours later, he was boo-hooing up a storm! After spending thirty minutes trying everything I could think of to calm him down, I finally administered his first dose of baby Tylenol. Luckily, the effects of the medicine kicked in fairly quickly and he fell asleep in my arms. I'm really not looking forward to his next round of shots!

Unfortunately I spoke too soon about finally learning how to get him to take naps. I still battle with him every day. And now he knows the routine!!! It doesn't matter if he's exhausted or not, as soon as he realizes what's about to happen, the whimpering begins! I mentioned before that he liked to be rocked. Now, as soon as my bottom hits the rocking chair, the screaming begins. I have to quickly jump up, hold him upright against me and pat him on the back for a little while while twisting my body from side to side. Once he's settled down, I drop him into a cradle hold. He usually wakes up then and whimpers, so I then add a slight bounce to the twisting motion. (Side note: I keep having people ask me how I've lost weight. Maybe they should begin standing with their feet shoulder width apart, twist from side to side at the waist, then add a bounce in with it, all while holding 18 pounds of weight! Do non-stop reps for five minutes.) Then I slowly walk backwards to the rocking chair. I rock him for about a minute or two, then reposition my hold so I can place him into the crib. Stand up slowly...walk to the crib...lower him in. If I'm lucky he stays that way. Sometimes I have to repeat the whole process again. If I'm having a really good day I get to do it three times. Yesterday was extra special; I got to do it four times! He then proceeds to nap for about 30 minutes, tops.

His hair is continuing to grow at a rapid rate. I am kicking myself for never measuring it when he was born. To date it is 2 1/4" long. Unfortunately, he has inherited my wavy/curly hair. I say unfortunately because I'm not really a big fan of guys with curly hair. I've resorted to using massage oil to try to keep it somewhat tame. I truly hope that when he grows up, he can have really cool hair. And not a big frizzy mess like mine can be. When the day comes that he begins caring what his appearance is, rest assured, Mommy will be right there with the hair products!

Another thing that is constantly growing are his finger nails! Those things are sharp! Despite my best efforts, he always seems to have several self-inflicted scratches on his little face.

Obviously, the biggest event for Parker happened recently. He rolled over! And I was fortunate enough to catch his second roll over on video after having missed his first roll over. Funny me for thinking that it would take him a lot longer to learn how to roll back over from his tummy to his back. He had been trying from back to tummy for over a month but I had never even seen him try during any of his tummy time to roll to his back. The little smarty figured it out five minutes after his second roll. Of course it was while Mommy was taking a bathroom break. Regardless, I am so proud of him!

He had his first baby sitter this past month! Well, technically my father in laws girlfriend was the first. She let us go out to a bar one night while we were in Oklahoma, but he was already asleep by the time we left and slept until we got back home. This was the first time I left him while he was still awake. We went to a neighbors Patio Party, so we were only a few houses down the street. One of my good friends and her husband came to the house and watched him. The party wasn't as fun as Greg and I had hoped, so we were only gone for about an hour and a half. It still counts though!

I'm a huge fan of Britney Spears. She has a song (I'm forgetting the name at the moment) that she wrote about her baby boys. One of the verses says, "I smell your breath, it makes me cry." Of course, she means it in a positive way! Ha, ha, without the actual song to hear I can see how one would take that the wrong way. Before I had Parker, I always thought that was kind of gross. Who would want to smell someones breath? Well, I have to say, I love the smell of Parkers breath! It has the sweetest scent to it, which is surprising since his diet consists of strictly milk! My favorite part of holding him in my arms is when his mouth is open and I can smell the wonderful aroma that escapes from it.

Other random Parker tidbits: he loves to be outside! He is fascinated by leaves on trees and generally likes being taken on walks. When I hold him now, it feels like he's beginning to "hang on". He is a "morning person", always cooing and smiling, whereas night time he begins to get a little fussy. He loves to pat my face when I'm holding him. I'm sure it has nothing to do with the fact that I always pretend to eat his little hands. He's starting to last longer periods of time in his bumbo chair. His Daddy can make him laugh better than anyone else.

Again, I sucked at taking pictures this month. So, these are literally all the ones I took:
Ready for a walk to the park!

I like being in my crib a little bit more now that I have a friend in there with me (courtesy of the crib mirror)

I am 5 months old today!

I love checking my feet out when I'm in my Bumbo!