The Jersey Mama: May

Another month ended. Time for another post.

I'm really failing at blogging so far this year. I completely missed my annual thankfulness month. I did have an excuse (new baby and all that) but I was kind of bummed that I missed it. Maybe I'll do a month this summer. I have two or three other posts going that I hope to eventually publish!

I'm also failing at recording the baby stuff. Not that Mr. A has been doing THAT much, but really, I've gotta get it together.

He turned 3 months 3 weeks ago. I don't know how heavy he was then. I weighed myself last week holding him and not holding him and the difference was 16 pounds. Even if not exactly right I think it's pretty close. I do know that he fits nicely into 3 and 3-6 month clothes. He even wears a few 6 month things that were handed down so probably have shrunk a bit. He's becoming more and more responsive, smiling and cooing and "talking" to us when we talk to him. Sometimes I'll glance at him and he is smiling at me for no reason. He is ticklish but just can't quite get a real laugh or chuckle out -- he just squirms and grunts. Ha!

He still usually sleeps one nice long stretch at night, from between 9 and 10 p.m. to sometime between 4 and 5 a.m. He wakes to eat, sleeps another couple of hours, then wakes to eat again. I usually changed his diaper at that first early morning feeding but I stopped doing it a couple of weeks ago. He's been more and more restless in the early morning and finally that cartoon lightbulb went on over my head -- he was uncomfortable! Well, duh. So I've gone back to changing him and he sleeps better afterward.

He has consolidated his daytime sleep into 3-4 naps. He isn't on a consistent schedule -- I'm going to work on that over the next few weeks.

I've been trying to help him learn to go to sleep on his own. He used to fall asleep anywhere, anytime, but I unknowingly sort of messed that up, so I'm trying to fix that before it gets any worse. One day last week I was letting him fuss a bit in his crib and he started getting really mad -- it turned out that he had rolled from his back to his belly! He's done it several more times since. He hates being on his tummy so it makes for an angry baby. In the last couple of weeks he has also started bearing weight on his legs and trying really hard to sit upright when he's in his swing, bouncy seat, or on our laps, so today I put him in the walker. His toes barely touched the floor so we put a pillow under his feet and wedged him upright in the seat with a blanket, just like we did with the girls when they were about that age. He is the eighth cousin to use that walker -- it certainly has made the rounds.

Pops came to visit us this month! It was AWESOME and I will do a separate post about it soon.

The Boogie is just about finished with school. Yesterday was supposed to be our last day but we didn't do any work so we still have a lesson to complete in each subject. God really blessed and first grade went so so well. I'm very impressed with all that the Boogie learned and retained. We'll do lots of reading and some hands-on math this summer and be all rested and ready to go into second grade in the fall. I already have most of her curriculum for next year, thanks to online sales and eBay! I'm a little apprehensive already about second grade. It seems like she will have a lot to do each day. However, I haven't really looked that closely at the curriculum so maybe it won't be as much as it seems.

One day after she got dressed I had to tell her that her shirt didn't match her skirt. "I think it matches perfectly!" she insisted. Well. Okay, then. In today's fashion world I guess it does.

She is so good with Mr. A. I can always count on her to distract him for a few minutes at a time. This morning she read him some stories. He loved it!

Peabody has learned to write her name this past month. She loves to do "school". One day she brought me some flashcards to do with her -- she could read the problem and then I would tell her the answer. She seems really ready for more constructed work so I've assembled workbooks and promised her that when the Boogie starts second grade, Peabody will be in preschool. She is so goofy. She still makes us laugh every day. She is very affectionate, too, and randomly will say, "Mama? Well, I love you." She still calls me Honey but it's about 50/50 with Mama now.

She likes to do her own hair nowadays. She and the Boogie should start their own hair and apparel business -- they'd really go places!