Unsurprisingly, the month flew by and I’m late on my 5 month update.  Averie has continued to  grow way too quickly and no matter how much I try to enjoy our time together, I still want more.  It’s especially tough because this is also the busiest time of year for me at work, so even on weekends and days off it’s hard to fully immerse myself in the moment and enjoy her company because I find my mind drifiting off to work-related issues more often than not.  How do other working moms deal with this?  I’m having a hard time trying to maintain some sort of balance.

Anyways, back to updates.

Sleep: Not much to report except that naptimes were still a struggle for most of the month.  However, we reached a breakthrough at the end of month 5 (late February/early March) where her daytime sleep took a turn for the better.  The routine I tried establishing of 2-3 naps ~9am, ~12-1pm, and ~4pm started to work.  Before, she’d cry and cry if she wasn’t rocked or nursed until passed out, and even then oftentimes she’d wake up after 10-20 minutes and start wailing.  Magically, something clicked and she started going down more and more easily starting this time.  Though things are still not perfect, it’s getting better by the day. Nighttime sleep continues to be good – down around 6:30pm with 1 night waking and up around 6:30-7am.  She had her first sleep through the night the first weekend of February (yesss!) which got me super excited.  It’s happened only a few more times since, but honestly I don’t mind our nighttime nursing sessions…they won’t last much longer and I’m going to miss them 😦

Eat: Averie continues to be a champion eater via bottle and breast.  Fortunately she’s been amenable to both and hopefully this will continue.  Pumping is still a pain in the !@#$%^ and I worry that my supply is decreasing but I’m going to plug away for at least another few months.  Developmentally she seems ready for solids and I think I’m going to try her out on cereal this weekend, even though or pediatrician recommended waiting until 6 months.  Close enough.

Milestones: I’m amazed by how much she’s changing on a daily basis.  She’s getting better at playing independently, though she gets anxious if someone isn’t nearby and will start fussing a bit.  She loves the playmat and grabs at the little toys attached to the arms.  Her funny “huh-huh” laughs never cease to crack us up.  Towards the end of the month, she started rolling from back to tummy and it’s just so darn CUTE to watch.

Everyday I think there’s no way I can love this baby more, only to find myself even more in love the next day.