Judah's 5 months old!

 Yeah, I am more than a week late on this.  I've been writing this post for a week now.  I just really have no free time except when the kids go to bed at night, and by then I am either too tired to think, grading the kids' work,  or working on Genna's First Communion quilt while spending time with Brian.  Excuses, excuses.

Well, Judah is a cutie!  He smiles a lot especially if someone is smiling at him or entertaining him.  This means he often fools outsiders into thinking he is an easy baby because he is happy when those outsiders are paying attention to him.  Not so behind closed doors.  He is growing increasingly discontent at our house.  Judah's discontent actually is more like screaming like a wildcat/pterodactyl.  This has been wearing on me who can tolerate a good bit of crying from babies.  Babies are so innocent and I easily forgive them for their rough days and put up with clinginess and all sorts of other inconveniences they bring with them.  His particular scream is awful, to say the least.  I knew this the moment he was born, of course.  I remember saying to myself, "Oh dear, this is going to be fun," full of sarcasm, but with not a hint of irritation since I was on cloud nine with my new baby.  I have countless times reminded myself and told others who were concerned something was wrong with him when he did cry in their presence that that is just the why he cries, no matter what.  I know it is just the way he is and he certainly means no harm.  I'm telling you his voice is hoarse most of the time, he's made Hannah and Isaac cry when holding him for me purely due to his screaming, and sometimes I can't even quiet him by holding him.  I bought a Little Frog woven wrap recently so I can wear him.  (I do have a ring sling and an Ergo too.)  He is still getting used to it.  I have noticed that he likes to face out.  I don't even know if that is a real way to wrap babies, but I just reversed him in the same type of wrap that I do for a front carry.  He's not old enough for a back carry, but I am looking forward to trying that out because it's hard to cook with him on my front, especially facing out.

We have to watch him in this Bumbo seat.  He will straighten those legs out and try to flip it.

Judah likes to push his legs out straight.  He likes to be held in a standing position.  He is wiggly, but we are practicing sitting up.  He still hasn't played with his feet or rolled from back to tummy.  He is saying, "Ma" so I have been saying "Mama" to him a lot to see if he catches on.  I had 2 kids say "Mama" around 5 1/2 months, Isaac and Genna, and Hannah wasn't far behind.

Judah is grabbing at everything right now, even food.  I guess I should start making baby food for the freezer.  Six months is just around the corner.  We tried a soft spout sippy cup, but it just ended up soaking him from head to toe.  I need some new ones that don't leak.

I have officially stopped letting him nurse whenever he wakes up.  I nurse him at 10:30pm and then again at 5:30am unless he miraculously sleeps later than that.  5:30am has become our new wakeup time for the day.  I didn't want to do it, but it was this or put him back down and wake him at 7am.  7am is just too late to get started in the morning.  I would prefer 6 or 6:30am, but Judah doesn't seem to be able to make it that long without nursing.  This puts us on the following rough schedule.  I emphasize the word rough because he is so inconsistent on how long he naps.  Sometimes he has a shorter nap in the morning and makes up for it in the afternoon.  And sometimes he will sleep for 2 hours instead of just the 1.5 hours and I let him do that.

5:30am wake and nurse

7:30am nap

9am wake and nurse

11am nap

12:30 wake and nurse

2:30pm nap

3:30pm wake and nurse

5pm nap

5:45pm wake and nurse

7:45pm bedtime

10:30pm dream feed (i.e. nurse him, but he usually stays asleep mostly)

His bedtime has been more like 8 or 8:20pm lately because his naps have been longer and I hate to wake him, but I really should since that isn't long enough at night.  He is still waking at night occasionally, but he usually goes back to sleep within 15 minutes or less.  The exception to that being if he wakes at 5am and then he cries until I get him at 5:30am so far.  I am holding out hope that he'll go back to sleep one of these days and sleep past 5:30am.

He still will sleep in the car seat fairly well if we have to be out, but this is not often since I don't have the energy nor the desire to be out with all the kids right now.  We have too much to do at home right now and the schedule is too hard to work around even with him sleeping on the go.

Judah is still sleeping in his Woombie swaddle.  I only have one that he still fits into, so I made one from a sleep sack.  I turned the sleep sack inside out and traced around the top part of the Woombie with a permanent marker (leaving room for the seam.)  Then I cut along the line and sewed in 1/4 of an inch seam.  Turn it right side out and this is what it looks like.  The white one is the real Woombie and the blue one is my Ghetto Woombie.  It works just fine, but it does have an exposed zipper which isn't so nice for Judah who likes to suck on the Woombie's zipper cover.  I am also not convinced that he can get his fingers out the top to suck on like he has always loved doing.  So for now it is a backup Woombie for when the real one needs to be washed.

Judah loves his siblings, and seems to have no real preference for any of them which is a first.  He loves them all and even enjoys all the kisses and hugs they will give him.  That has been a welcome change from how Drewy was as a baby and still is, for that matter.