5 Months

So Atticus is already 5 months old!  And well, he's pretty good looking.

 

We had a month filled with summer fun around here.  Atticus is learning to be social and to be okay with being mauled by other tiny hands as he spent a great deal of time with all of his cousins this month.  He's started doing his baby talk a ton.  He's constantly squeeling and squeaking and jabbering.  We love it.  Sometimes he reminds me of my dog Cotton Ball who would put a rock in his mouth and bark, because Atticus will stick his fist or a toy in his mouth and jabber away.  He's very good at grabbing what he wants on the first try and then it immediately goes in his mouth.  He's figured out his jitter toys too.  He knows that if he pulls on them, they will shake and he does it a lot.  

He still fights his naptime.  At least one nap a day he screams when put down and then many times he'll wake up and scream more about 45 minutes into the thing (and about half those times, he never goes back to sleep).  But we're forcing him to take naps for an hour and a half these days, even if he wakes up.  I know, we're mean making him cry it out when he's just so little but it really is helping him.  He used to only nap for 20-30 minutes every 3 hours.  Now he's getting at least an hour for every three hours and he's sleeping better at night too.   We tried rocking him to sleep but he'd wake up when put down.  And we tried going in to comfort when he cried but that just made him madder.  Now he goes down without a binky or anything.  Hopefully he'll keep getting better at sleeping.

He's eating about 5 ounces every 4 hours and wonder of wonder(!) he's letting me eat dairy again AND chocolate!  Without screaming, painful, tummy troubles!!  That was five months of pure torture without my two favorite food groups.  We also sadly started him on solids a little bit.  I wanted to wait until six months, but the doctor said it would help with his reflux and we wanted to see how it might affect his schedule before I went back to work.  So we give him cereal at night right now.  And it's still not consistently every night.

I did go back to work.  Sadly school starts every fall.  He goes to a babysitter in Plymouth about 15 minutes from my school.  I really like her so far but I hate how little time I have with him.  I have him in the morning for an hour while he eats and we get ready.  Then in the car for half an hour which barely counts as time with him.  Then a half hour on the way home.  Then it's his naptime for the next hour-ish.  Then he's awake for 2-3 more hours before bedtime and that's it.  It's only been three days but I hated it and missed him like crazy.  I don't know if I can last all year.

Thanks to some friends at work, we are now doing some neck stretches with Atticus.  LaDawn and Heidi at work pointed out that when he holds his head up, it tilts to the left and they suggested I tell the doctor.  I had noticed this in pictures but I guess hadn't paid any attention to it.  He apparently just favors the one side and so the other muscles are becoming weaker.  So we have to basically hold him down and stretch his neck in different ways plus give him lots more tummy time, which he generally hates.  The doctor will check his neck again at his 6 month appointment.  Also, thanks to my sister, Stefanie.  We noticed that his feet are actually two different sizes.  That's going to be real fun when it comes time for me to buy him real shoes or ya know, when he needs to be coordinated...

Oh and his feet are crazy.  He practically folds his feet the way you would fold your hands to pray.  And the other day, he couldn't reach something with his hands so he grabbed it with his toes and brought it to his mouth.  I have a monkey for a child.

The boy loves his Grover.  He loves his nose and he loves to cuddle with him.

 His other favorite toys this month

 

 We blew bubbles and he pulled a McKayla Maroney-Not impressed.

 He loves playing with his dad

 

 

 Including video games... (Now I'm not impressed)

 

These are his sad faces that I can't resist.  If he does this when I put him down for a nap, I have to run and hide so that I don't pick him back up.

 

And this is what mad looks like around here.

He loves his cereal.  He gets so excited he tries to take the spoon from me and he opens his mouth for more before swallowing.

 

 And yes, that is cereal in his hair.

Anna loved giving him kisses...

...He loved eating his own flesh.

 

 

 

 This is his shy smile.  I love it.  He tucks his chin down all bashful-like.

He learned to drive this month.  (The car is not running people)

 He hung out with best friend Henry and Aunt Janna.

 We decided to cut off the random tuft of newborn hair he still had that was about 3 inches long.  Seen here.

 He was not pleased.

Best thing ever.

Summer-Cousins

As always, be prepared as this will mostly just be a million pictures.

My older brother, Jonathan, is currently living in Denver with his family while attending medical school.  He's just started his third year.  I can't think of what it's called but in the third year they sort of shadow different types of doctors for about a month at a time (I think that's right).  And they could be sent anywhere for this.  He's lucky and I think most of his assignments are close to home but he jumped on the chance to take an assignment in Provo these last few weeks.  So we got to see him quite a bit while he was here along with Stefanie and her family as well.  Atticus got mauled by his cousins and it was lots of fun.

 Anna got to hold the baby while Jersi fed it.  Anna quickly decided the baby was full.

 Jonah climbed in and out about 18 times.  Oh and apparently the little boys of our family don't wear clothes.

I was accused of being the one with the stinky diaper.

 Atticus and grandma.

 Jonah faces.

 Jonah and Jersi

The older cool cousins.  And James and Dan.

 They thought this was the greatest thing to ever be.

 Anna is showing off her "tat".  And there's a bag of garbage.

 So my parents were not home for this one and it took a good 20 minutes to figure out how to put the table back together.  Hilarity ensued.

Megan's face is the winner!

 Anna cleaned up all the cards we spilled.

 Story time with Uncle Jonathan.

 Anna only like him in 2-minute increments.

 Jonah and grandpa.

 I like this one.  Not sure if it's love or a lecture, but I like it.

 It's just fun to follow him around and see what he does.

 "Holding his hand and playing."

 Grandma is so funny!

 Practicing his Steve face.

 Trying to get a picture of three babies together is difficult....

 

Oaklee, Kyndi, and Atticus.

 Sisters.

 Best face ever.

 Playing with grandma.

 This is what cousin time looks like.

 This is how Auntie Sammy handles it.

 CAKE!!

 More of my half-naked son.

 We're a family of lookers.

 My mom is cute though.