Eloise at Five Months

WEIGHT: 12 pounds 4 ounces
CLOTHES SIZE: 0-3 Months and 3-6 months (but only a few things in the bigger size)
DIAPER SIZE: One

LIKES:
 - Lightbulbs and light fixtures (especially the one above her carseat in the car and the one in our bedroom)
 - Anything involving Dustan, but especially big smiles for him when he gets home from work!
 - Mirrors
 - Sucking on her fingers constantly
 - Peek-a-boo
 - Baby cereals mixed with pureed food (favorites so far are apples, sweet potatoes, and bananas)
 - Feeling of falling
 - The great outdoors--especially waterfalls
 - Buzzing lips, beatboxing, and whistling
 - Always standing while holding onto our fingers
 - Raspberries/nibbling on her tummy (giggles most at this!!)
 - Baby gym with hanging toys
 - Scratching/playing with her hair
 - Doorway jumper
 - Being tickled on her ribs and neck

DISLIKES:
 - Baby cereal mixed with formula or sweet peas
 - Sound of her baby wipes container being ruffled and used
 - Needing to burp/poop while nursing
 - Tummy time (still, ugh)
 - Not being fed immediately
 - Falling asleep and going down for naps, especially when overtired
 - Someone singing/making loud noises while nursing
 - Constipation (ugh again, nightmare this month)

FIRSTS/MILESTONES:
 - Eating "real" food--baby cereal mixed with pureed fruit (17 weeks)
 - ACTUAL GIGGLE SO CUTE--my face hurt from smiling so big (18 weeks)
 - Playing "games" (18 weeks)
 - Transitioned to an arms up swaddle--the LoveToDream Swaddle (18 weeks)
 - Reaching for and grasping objects mostly successfully (19 weeks)
 - Spins around in complete circles while on her back (20 weeks)
 - Rolling onto her side from her back (20 weeks)

RANDOM NOTES:
 - Kicks her legs and flails her arms when happy/excited, and sometimes even shrieks.
 - Third cold this year :(
 - Far less smiley and playful when around anyone other than Dustan and I or when in unfamiliar places. She gets more quietly observant and a little fussy.
 - Still has very little interest in rolling over. Has rolled over front to back over a dozen times since 6 weeks old, but very inconsistently.
 - Rarely pouts anymore when upset. I miss that face!!
 - Easily distracted while nursing, especially when Dustan is nearby.
 - Eats baby food with much vigor!
 - Eloise's hair AND my hair started falling out this month *insert crying emoji*, I'm so bummed. More about her hair than mine though...

Blueberry face!

As I briefly mentioned in Eloise's Four Month blog post, we had an appointment with our pediatrician at four months. Though overall Eloise is happy, alert, and active, she's been gaining weight more slowly than the doctor would like. She had significantly and consistently gone down in weight percentile since birth. Dustan and I were instructed to find a way to get Eloise more calories each day to try and fatten her up! We made a game plan and tried to stick to it. First, we introduced formula and rice cereal into her diet (which led to other problems I'll mention later, haha). I continued to breastfeed Eloise at the same times I had been, but after a couple feedings each day, I also gave Lou 2 to 4 ounces of formula to drink as well. Then around dinner time, we would give her some purees mixed with baby cereal. And ever since about mid-March, I had felt my milk supply start to dip. Once we introduced formula and solids, I felt like it took a big hit. So the second half of this month has also been a challenge in trying different methods to increase my milk supply with little to no results so far. That's a work in progress! But as you can see with her weight above, she has gained weight twice as fast this month compared to the previous months. Yay! And though Eloise was such a happy and energetic baby girl already, we feel like this increase in calories has only made her happier and she is developing more quickly. I'm grateful for our pediatrician!

"GIVE ME SWEET POTATOES OR GIVE ME DEATH"

Supposedly babies hit a four month sleep regression and growth spurt? Right when she turned four months old (literally that night), Eloise started waking up once in the middle of the night every night starving, something she hadn't done since she was two months old. She'd nurse for about 30 minutes before being content and going right back to sleep on her own. This lasted for about two weeks. She's still waking up a couple times a week in the middle of the night to eat, but is sleeping well overall. In fact, her naps have actually been getting better. Eloise is falling asleep more quickly and fusses less in the middle. If this is the dreaded sleep regression, I'll take it!!

We did have one crazy night where Eloise woke up about every 20 minutes screaming all night long. It terrified us at first because nothing was working to help her--she wouldn't eat, holding her didn't help, and neither did a warm bath, which she typically loves. We eventually got her to calm down and really fall asleep around 5 am, which made for a long night. We realized a couple days later that this night was probably due constipation, which has been an ongoing struggle since starting foods, haha.

We think that Eloise is naturally shy and a bit nervous around anyone who is not Dustan or me as of late. We've had family and friends babysit a few times and Eloise has cried a majority of the time with them, which is so abnormal for her. She seems to get especially frantic when we leave while she naps and then someone else wakes her up. Even when we are around, Lou seems to get a bit nervous unless she knows we are close by.

We feel like this month Eloise has become so much more aware of her surroundings and little details and actions of others. She loves looking around and observing people. She prefers us to others and often makes that known. She hears sounds and tries to figure out where they are coming from. She tracks us as we move across the room.  She gets fixated on one little thing and will concentrate on it for a while. She will play little games with us (by which I mean she will pay attention and react the same way to repeated sounds/actions, like peek-a-boo). She grabs objects and brings them to her mouth. We are so impressed with how much she has grown this month! Aside from tummy time, which is apparently the worst thing ever and causes Lou to flail all limbs, face plant, and scream most times haha.

This month brought giggles!! They are still far and few in between, but they are the cutest and most wonderful sound. Though more often, Eloise will often shriek and squeal with happiness than actually giggle. She giggles most often when we are nibbling/blowing raspberries on her tummy while tickling her sides and my hair is on her face (she loves my hair), or when we give her the falling sensation.

On top of the "Y"!

Eloise is just SO FUN. We can't wait to see how she changes in the upcoming months! And we are so excited for the warmer weather hitting Utah so we can get out with our adventure buddy a little more!!

Stewart Falls Hike - Lou loved the waterfall