Five Months

Hayes is now five months old and so much fun!  He is developing more and more of a little personality and it is so exciting to watch him change every day!

Hayes now eats every 2 1/2 hours during the day (part of our "bulking up" program) and wakes up twice to eat during the night.  I will be glad when I'm able to wean him off the nighttime feedings, but until we get his weight up, Dr. Mahan said I should continue to feed him at night.

Aside from waking to eat, Hayes usually wakes up at least two other times during the night.  Trent handles some of these, as it usually just requires us to stumble across the house to Hayes's room and give him his paci.  Sleep training is over - until he's up to a good weight.  Then, we will start working on it again.

Hayes goes to bed around 8 pm and gets up between 6 and 6:30 am.

Hayes takes two to four naps each day, ranging from 30 minutes to 2 hours.  He is totally inconsistent with his napping.

Hayes still sleeps in his swaddler, but we leave both of his arms out.

He recognizes people who are in "his circle."  This includes mama and daddy, Aunt Jen, Mimi, my dad, and his teachers.

Hayes still likes his bouncy seat, Bumbo seat, ocean playmat, and swing.  He hangs out in his bouncy seat each morning while I get ready.  He is able to really reach for and grab hold of the toys that hang down from the bouncy seat and playmat now.  He can grasp objects, and everything goes straight into his mouth now!

He found his feet!  He likes to hold onto them, which makes diaper changes a whole lot of fun, let me tell you!  He hasn't gotten them into his mouth yet.

Hayes has rolled over from his tummy to his back.  So far, it's just been a one time thing, but at least we know he can do it if he wants to!  He still rolls from his back to his side a lot, but he doesn't go on over to his tummy.  He hates tummy time so much that I don't really expect him to voluntarily roll to his tummy.
He has started laughing out loud a lot more, and he can blow raspberries.  This involves a lot of spit, so his face and shirt are always wet!

Hayes had his first sick day off from school.  The stomach bug went around his classroom, and his teacher thought he caught it.  I think he just had some tummy problems from his antibiotic and that she took his temperature right after his nap because when I got him home, we had no problems.  But he still had to stay home the next day too!

Hayes is on round 4 with his ear infection.  We thought he kept getting new infections, but now think that it is just one really bad one that took four rounds of antibiotics to clear up.
He has started sitting in high chairs when we go to restaurants.

He weighs 12 pounds 5 ounces.  This is right at the 3rd percentile.  We are working on getting him to gain more weight.  Obviously, since he hasn't put on any weight to speak of since his 4 month post, he is still in size 3-6 month clothes and size 1-2 diapers.

Fantastic New Little Business!

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My sister has created a business that indulges her love for gift-giving.  She carries a product by Dabney Lee that includes items like personalized notepads, coasters, paperweights, luggage/diaper bag tags, stickers, and more!  It's all very cute and very reasonably priced. 

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Rice Cereal

After his appointment with Dr. Mahan where we were informed that he had a double ear infection, Hayes was not very interested in nursing.  I decided to give him some rice cereal so that he would at least be getting something to eat.  He did pretty well with it, but we still ended up with a lot more of the cereal on the bib than in Hayes's tummy!

Ear Update & Putting on the Pounds

We had a big weekend planned the first week of May.  Hayes turned five months old, it was Mother's Day, and Hayes was being dedicated at church.  What I didn't plan for was yet another trip to the pediatrician for Hayes's ears!

On Friday night, Hayes was up a lot between 8 and 11 pm, so I knew his ears were bothering him again.  I ended up just letting him sleep in the swing so that his head would be elevated, and I slept on the sofa.  I called for an appointment as soon as it opened, and I was so glad to hear that we would be seeing Dr. Mahan.  We saw her for Hayes's first several well-child appointments, and I really like her.  She confirmed that both of his ears were infected.  She also was the first doctor who made any sense when it came to his weight.  This appointment was almost exactly two months after his first ear infection appointment, and during those two months, he really only gained two ounces.  It had me really worried because he had dropped below the 3rd percentile on weight.  She actually listened to me and helped me come up with a plan to get some weight on him. 

Dr. Mahan wanted us to come back in ten days to recheck his ears.  When we returned, she thought they still looked a little infected, so she wanted us to see an ENT.  He was able to get us in that day, and he gave us the good news that Hayes's ears actually were clear!  He said that we may still have to consider tubes if Hayes gets more ear infections in the fall, but for now, we aren't going to do them.

The best news of the day though was that Hayes gained one pound in those ten days!  I felt so much better about his weight.  He's still only in the 3rd percentile, but at least he is making progress.

High Chair

Hayes has started sitting in high chairs when we go out to eat now.  It makes life much easier; when we kept him in the carseat, all he wanted to do was get out.  Now, he can sit up, look around, and feel like he's part of everything.  He looks like such a big boy!

Ear Infection Strikes Again!

Trent was out of town this weekend, and Aunt Jen stayed with me and Hayes.  His teacher said that he was extra emotional on Friday afternoon, and then he slept really badly on Friday night.  He was up at 10:30 for about an hour and then every two hours after that!  At 5:30, I finally got up and put him in his swing, hoping that we could all get some sleep.  During the night, I didn't put it together, but once I woke up, I decided that we had another ear infection on our hands.  I made an appointment for Hayes and sure enough, his left ear is infected!  The doctor said that he's not quite ready for tubes yet, but he is on track for them if he keeps this up.

He has just not felt good at all yesterday and today.  He has been extra crabby and not eating well.  I guess that he has to suck really hard to nurse and it hurts his little ear.  If I give him ear drops, he does better at eating.  Today, he took several little catnaps and a marthon two and a half hour nap this afternoon.

I'm hoping that he sleeps better tonight!

Here is a sweet picture of him sleeping on his daddy!

Shades

Hayes got some sunglasses for the beach!  I think he likes them; when I put them on him, he didn't even act like there was anything on his face or that it had suddenly gotten darker.