Five Months Old*

Lucas turned five months old yesterday! And what a month it has been for our household. I wrote last month about how much I thought he was becoming more of a little person and how I was amazed by the growth that happened between three months and four months, but it's nothing compared to what has happened with him these past few weeks. All of a sudden Lucas is rolling over from back to tummy, sitting up all on his own, reaching for things like crazy and I swear, is on the verge of crawling. He has no problem getting his little legs up under his butt and I know it's only a matter of days before he figures out how to flip himself from tummy to back, and not long after that before his attempts at scooting actually take him somewhere.

I am constantly amazed at how quick he changes but I have just been plain blown away this month. As much as I want my little squishy baby to stay small, I am loving how developed he is becoming. One of my biggest fears as a full-time working mama was missing milestones. I have actively prepared myself for the fact that my kid may crawl for the first time with our wonderful sitter, or that his first steps will come chasing her little boy, J. So it warmed my heart that it was a lazy Saturday morning when he decided he wanted to roll over for the first time with us sitting right there. I know I can't be there for everything, so I'm taking it all in while I can.

Aside from the sleep schedule, which we are working on diligently, Lucas continues to be amazing. I mentioned the other day the struggles that we are having with his sleep, but he seems to have worked his way through it and in the past couple of nights has gone back to an almost normal schedule. It's amazing how you can adapt to survive on such little sleep a night, but I am not going to lie, I very much look forward to the day he sleeps longer. I am diving heavier into my Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Baby book, and am hoping that it will give me some advice on how to get back to the good routine that we had before. I'm also putting our sitter on Operation: Wear Baby Out.

We started some grain cereal this past month, although I haven't been super strict with it. A couple of times a week, Lucas gets some oatmeal cereal (he most definitely was not a fan of the rice. Nor was I. Ick.) and for the most part, does pretty well with it. We do not have a schedule with it, and mostly it's a "when there is time in the evenings," we give him a little. Two to three times a week seems to be where we are at now. We are definitely thinking about what to do when we start a more frequent rotation of solids next month, but I am thinking that Baby Led Weaning will be what works best for us, our lifestyle and our baby. I have a ton of questions for our pediatrician at next month's appointment, and in the coming weeks will do some more research about BLW. But when it comes down to it, we will do whatever little man wants to do.

It can be easy to lose perspective with being a new mama, but I promise you that I am not. If you read my blog, or follow me on twitter, I do an awful lot of complaining. Most of it is due to lack of sleep, or time, or both & bad days definitely do happen. But when it comes down to it, there are so many worse things that we can be dealing with, and have dealt with. A healthy, happy baby who loves life so much that he doesn't want to nap or sleep through the night, who wants to live and learn as much as he can ... well ... I'll take it. Any day. Every single day, I am grateful for what we have as a family. It can always be easier, but it can always be worse. We are blessed to be where we are.