Grady- 5 Months

5 months old.  How did we get here already?  I love this age, but it has come quickly.  Grady is a happy little boy with big smiles and belly giggles.  He is a big eater and not so great sleeper.  Give and take, give and take.  I know he will sleep eventually, or maybe he won't.  I hope he does, but I have learned that I can function on little to no sleep.  My body is slowly adjusting to this new normal.

Grady is sporting some new headwear these days.  It is called a Doc Band and he wears it 23 hours a day and 7 days a week.  Why does he need it?  Grady was born with torticollis (stiff/wry neck on one side) and this caused him to turn his head constantly to one side.  Especially when sleeping, he would find his "sweet spot" with his head turned to the left.  Despite repositioning, neck stretches and more tummy time, a flat spot continued to worsen on the left side of his head.  The Doc Band will help the flat spot and improve some other issues that have started to arise due to the flat spot.  I will post more info and updates soon!

 Now for Grady @ 5 Months

Weight: 18lb 3oz (a really BIG boy all of the sudden!)

Height:  Not sure, I am thinking Ryan and I should measure him to get an estimate for this month.

Clothes: Grady is in a mix of 6 month and 6-9 month clothes.

Diapers: We are still using cloth during the day and a disposable at night. The disposable is a 3 diaper.  This month I learned about "stripping" the diapers.  They were starting to leak a lot and were stinky even when clean and it turns out it that it was from detergent build up.  I am now using a better detergent for the diapers (Charlie's Powder) and had success from stripping the diapers.  Stinky diapers no more!

Sleep:  Yikes.  Grady is actually just getting over croup so the last couple nights have been really rough.  But on a typical night he is still getting up two to three times.   Grady typically sleeps until 8 or 8:30 in the morning and takes 2 shorter morning naps and one long afternoon nap. 

Eating: Grady is doing great with the nursing .  He is still exclusively on milk and won't start solids until he turns six months.  Only one more month, I can't believe it.

Likes: Grady loves his baths, pacifiers, links, light up toys, the walker (he goes backwards in it) and clings to his lovie when he sleeps.  He also likes playing peek a boo, especially with Layla.

Dislikes: He really does not like being overtired or hungry (pretty typical baby stuff) but also does not like having his Doc Band taken on and off and doesn't love his neck stretches that we do with him at diaper changes for his torticollis (not so typical baby stuff).  Oh, and the crib would so not make his top ten favorite places to sleep list.

New tricks: Grady has been developing his little hands and is getting better at grabbing objects and toys.  He is making nice sounds with his talking.  For a couple days, he was saying "ma" and I was so excited.  It was not intentional and just Grady playing with sounds...but oooh I got excited!!  He is also SO close to rolling from back to belly but not quite there yet.

12 month onesie and birth length golf club photo



Layla likes to do projects...even on Grady's belly :)