Luke: 5 Months

(Second child problems: the monthly update almost never gets posted on time. Sorry kiddo!)

Weight: 14 lbs. 0 oz. 

Height: 26 in.

Luke is a living emoji. 😜😜

This was a big month for both of us! We FINALLY stopped using the nursing shield!! 🙌 It's such a relief to not have to keep up with that thing anymore and make sure we have one with us at all times. Luke nurses much more quickly now--maybe 10 minutes total and he's done. 

He also started sleeping in his own bed, which was a huge relief for me. He's not sleeping through the night, but he is usually only up twice a night and goes back to sleep fairly quickly. A typical night schedule looks like this:

8:30 in bed asleep

12:30 awake, eats, back asleep by 12:50

5:00 awake, eats, back asleep by 5:30

9:00 awake for the day

When I stopped co-sleeping with Luke, I decided to try allowing him to sleep on his tummy, since he seemed to be outgrowing swaddles, and his flailing arms were waking him up pretty frequently. This made a huge difference in his sleeping patterns!  I think one of the biggest reasons is that the mattress helps hold the pacifier in his mouth. He could not keep one in before now, so he can self-soothe and go back to sleep while sucking on the pacifier. 

Luke still takes 3 naps per day: mid-morning, afternoon, and a shorter one in the evening. If I can time it right and pay attention to his "sleepy cues", it's pretty easy to get him down to sleep. I turn the sound machine on, lay him on his tummy with a pacifier, put blankets on his back, and leave him to fall asleep on his own. Sometimes, he needs some pats on the bottom to help him settle down and get to sleep. 

He is wearing size 2 diapers and 3-6 month clothes. He's so long and lean that pants are often too short for him while still being way too big around the waist. Peter was in cloth diapers at this age, so he had a lot more diaper to fill out these pants than Luke does with the disposables. 

Some of his current favorite things:

*Spitting/blowing bubbles

*Tummy time

*Grabbing/pulling my hair

*Standing up

*Eye contact from anyone

*Tickles on the bottom of his feet or under his chin

His bottom two teeth popped through this month! He didn't even fuss or cry in the days leading up to it, so it was fairly easy. However, after they came in, he had a lot of teething symptoms. I can't see any others close to the surface, but I'm sure they'll be coming in before too long. 

Luke has just started getting up on his hands and knees and rocking back and forth. He hasn't figured out crawling yet, but I don't think it will be long until he's mobile. When I set him down on a blanket, he always gets off it quickly because he rolls around and spins himself in a circle while on his belly. 

If I lay him down on his back, he pretty much immediately rolls over onto his belly. It's so fun to watch him as he watches Peter and tries to figure out how to keep up with him. Luke has to be a tough baby to endure the "love" that Peter showers on him every day.