Countdown to Baby Harrison!: Five Months Old!

Time really is flying by fast with Mairi. She has gone from a tiny, helpless little thing to a sturdy little girl who laughs, smiles when her daddy comes into view, and loves to practice sitting up. I am reminded of how small she used to be whenever she is around her new girlfriends Adalyn and Violet, who are both around a month old. She has grown so fast!

I would say that the last month has been the most challenging so far in a lot of ways. She has been quite fussy most evenings. She is very drooly and wanting to chew on everything so I suspect that teeth are not that far off. Also, this month brought a very trying situation where my milk production went way down and Mairi was never satisfied when she fed - leading her to cry and fuss every time. She stopped putting on much weight (only about 4 oz in a month) and so we bought our concerns up with public health at her four month immunization. We re-weighed her and she had either lost some weight or put on very little, depending on who weighed her. So I've been taking supplements (Blessed Thisle and Fenugreek). Nine of each, each day. I've also been drinking a lot more water and pumping and it has seemed to do the trick. I am so relieved because being able to breastfeed is so important to me. It is such special bonding time for the two of us and it is so good and healthy for Mairi. Forgot to add that, as of a week ago, she weighed 15 lbs. 1 oz. So she is back on track. That puts her right in the 50th percentile for weight.

Mairi has also stopped sleeping through the night. She is only sleeping between 3-5 hours at a time every night. That means either one or two feedings every night. To her credit, she eats in about ten minutes and falls right back asleep so that I can put her back into her crib and go to bed, but it would be really nice to have those nine or ten hour sleeps back. It's frustrating to know that she's capable of doing it, but is just not doing it right now for some reason. We are still swaddling her (even though she has rolled over a few time, and you're not really supposed to after that) and we've been trying to gradually move her bedtime up to about 8 pm ultimately. We tried it all this week, getting her into bed between 8:15 and 9. For the most part she has stirred a few times without needing to be fed before we go to bed at 10:30 or so, then sleeps for that 3-5 hours before wanting to eat. Hopefully this situation will improve soon as I'm quite tired. I do think she is giving cues that she's ready for bed around 8 and I don't want her to get overtired so she sleeps even worse. She did sleep through to 6 one night when I tried doing a "dream feed" at 10:30. So we'll see!

We've been enjoying spending time with our other friends that are new parents as well. It's nice to be able to not feel bad if your kid has a meltdown or you have to leave to go home at 8 pm! I am going to a couple of new fitness classes with my friend Tara and her little guy Adrian. We also go to Ys moms weekly still and our friend Jessie has now joined us. Hopefully Cori will be there soon! It's great to bond and chat with these awesome mom-friends of mine. I feel very lucky to have them!

Not to forget about my beautiful non-mom friends, I am SO EXCITED to have two wedding to look forward to! My gorgeous friends Heather and Jocelyn got engaged and are starting to do some planning. I cannot wait for these weddings! They will both be so beautiful and I am so thrilled for them both. They found fabulous guys. Mairi will need some pretty dresses for these big events!

All in all, life is pretty good. We are getting routines going again after Christmas. Adding in some physio for Mairi's neck. She's making pretty good progress with it. We go once a week for sessions to the Wascana Rehab Centre. Lots of stretching and moving. She kind of hates it but tolerates it. We are already noticing her being able to turn her head a lot better to the right. She is still really hunching her neck into her chest but that should come with time.

Jeff continues to be an awesome dad and partner. He just adores his little girl and it's so fun to watch him with the other dads now. Those guys are all pretty cute!

Here are some choice pictures from the month:

I'm five months old and sitting up on my own!

We put Mairi's picture in the Leader Post for their Baby Block 2013 feature, which came out on December 31, 2013. We used one of Verna's beautiful pictures and we love how it turned out. Jeff picked the picture - he thought Mairi looked cute and impish.

Mom taking Mairi out for a walk in the old Snuggli we used to use for our old dog Christy, when she couldn't walk for very long. So cute!

Christmas Eve supper at home. Yummy brisket and latkes!

Mom and Dad Christmas Eve

Mairi meeting Violet for the first time.

Snoozing on daddy (who is a brat!)

New Years Eve! We had FIVE babies at our house! It was a great time. Large to small, also oldest to youngest: Dexter (in the back), Adrian, Mairi, Adalyn, and Violet

Having floor time with mom

Got a new exersaucer! She loves standing up and playing in it.

Cuddle time!

Also got a Jolly Jumper from Aunty Barb - she loves it! She's still learning how to jump on her own but she likes it when we help her bounce!

This onesie was purchased by Gramma H when Mairi was only 12 weeks old in her mommy's tummy. Makes me want to go on a hot holiday!

We enjoyed a lovely cuddle time in bed a few Saturdays ago. What a nice treat.

I got all my hair chopped off! Jesa did the cut and colour and I love it! It's actually really easy to do and I feel a lot more polished. I was only ever putting my hair up or into a braid anyways.