5 months (+)

I've been a bad blogger again, and actually missed posting a 5 month update!

Bobblehead is now 5 1/2 months old, and still happy and healthy as ever.

The process of moving him into his own room has not been as smooth as I would have hoped, but we're having more good nights than bad ones.  I need to teach myself to leave him alone if he wakes up talking/fussing, and only go in there if he is actually CRYING.  This is hard for me, but I will get there.  Last night I listened to him 'talk' via the monitor for more than half an hour....I kept waiting for him to actually cry, but he never did.  He just fell asleep, and stayed asleep for almost 5 hours at that point.  YAY!  Progress.

This is what I woke up to this morning:

And as soon as he heard the camera, he woke up SUPER happy!

Bathtime has been fun for awhile, and we use it as part of our bedtime routine.  He found his little firehose last week, and now grabs for it every time I take off his diaper - so moments like this one are rare now:

After bath, we dress for bed - but not before Daddy rubs him down with lotion!  They both love the 'baby massage' part of the bedtime routine. It may be hard to keep our routine going when Daddy goes back to work, but we'll see.  For now, it is just so amazing to see them bond and grow and play together.

Knucklehead is proving to be an AWESOME big brother - I snapped this picture of them playing/reading at a restaurant last week:

We're not quite ready to start solid foods, but Bobblehead is EXTREMELY interested in food.  He watches us eat, grabs for food, and mimics us.  Most nights he sits in his highchair with a couple of favorite toys while we eat dinner, and he LOVES the show!  I don't follow the belief that all babies are ready for solids at a set age - just like not all babies crawl at the same time, or walk, or talk, etc.  Our pediatrician said we could start solids at 5 months old, but I prefer to individualize it.  There are actually FOUR signs that a baby is ready for solids: 1) Loss of the tongue-thrust reflex; 2) interest in solid food; 3) appearance of baby's first teeth; and 4) ability to sit up unassisted.  Now, with his over-the-top interest in food, I am willing to ignore #3.  And obviously he has already passed 1 & 2.  But #4 is important, especially because the ability to sit up while eating leads to healthier (and safer) eating throughout life.

Bobblehead currently sits up for about 15-20 seconds at a time before diving/falling to one side or the other.  If he happens to dive FORWARD, he catches himself with his hands (pre-crawling) so I am pretty sure the sitting-up thing will be a done deal within the next week or so.  Baby food, here we come!

He absolutely LOVES watching his big brother play basketball!  I haven't gotten any pictures of him watching practice/games yet, because I am COACHING the team this season (YIKES!) but the other night I got to take this picture of him all dressed for practice:

Last month we got to visit with Melissa, the incredible Doula who helped me so much with Bobblehead's birth:

She bought him a really cute stuffed bear, its like a sock monkey (kind of) and Bobblehead LOVES it.  Hoping I can get video of him laughing at it to post here, it's so cute!

I'm working on being a better blogger here, and to that end I am hosting a GIVEAWAY here next week!  It's specifically for milspouses, but if you see the items and are not a milspouse, but would like to win one as a gift for a milspouse you know, you can still enter.  Can't wait to show you all what I am giving away!

STAY TUNED.....