Austin at five months old

I love having a baby boy. Love it. Oh, he’s just so cute and I remember all those years being all, “I’m glad I have girls because I wouldn’t know what to do with a boy.” Now? I love me some little baby boy.

Austin has been doing so well this month. He’s becoming more and more aware of his surroundings and is such a chill baby.

Stats

Nicknames: Little Man, Austie

Weight: ?

Length: ?

Diaper size: 1

Clothing size: 6, 6-12, 6-9 months / size 1 shoes

Eating

We’re still chugging along with nursing. How easy it is now. Those 6 weeks of around-the-clock pumping are long behind us and he’s just doing so well. I still don’t truly know how much the tongue tie clipping has helped in the grand scheme of things, but he’s growing and loving nursing and I’m just happy things have worked out.

He of course continues to be distracted and nurses the best when I take him away into his room in the glider to nurse without any distractions.

I’m still leaking, which seems to me the longest I’ve leaked milk of any of my babies, so I have to keep continuing to wear pads. Luckily, I found some reusable ones at the kids’ consignment sale, so I’ve been using those and then the disposable ones when I run out and need to do laundry (which OMG the neverending laundry. Laundry for five people now is like… a lot of laundry.

I’m also rarely pumping now. Even with the girls going back to school earlier in the month, I’m not pumping in the mornings like I assumed I would. I’m sure it has a lot to do with all the pumping I did in his early days and I’m just done with it.

Also, can I just add that this baby is wearing the same Miracle Baby shirt his sisters wore? I mean, the girls, you know, there was the IVFs and donor eggs and trying and trying and trying against all odds and then Austin? He just snuck in. But he’s wearing his Miracle Baby shirt because he deserves to wear it too and he came against all odds. Plus, he looks so cute in it.

Sleeping

Oh, I love it when he sleeps. I have so many photos of him sleeping on me and I know this time is just so so limited. Sometimes I can still even get him to fall asleep upright on my chest which is my favorite position for him to sleep in because his head is right there to kiss. I know it’s not going to last much longer because it’s SO hard to get him to fall asleep that way.

But my new favorite thing is after the girls have been dropped off and I’ve had breakfast, I sit downstairs on the couch and watch TV (apparently, it’s been My 600-lb Life don’t ask me why) and swaddle him up tightly, put the Boppy pillow around me and nurse him until he falls asleep. Then he takes his morning nap on me while I sip coffee and watch TV and generally avoid work for 1.5 to 2 hours.

Austin loves being swaddled. More than girls ever did. I’ve been swaddling him long after I usually would, but he just is so content being swaddled. So far, while he’s getting close, he hasn’t rolled over yet, and his bedside bassinet is pretty tiny, so he doesn’t have much room. I’m still swaddling his arms at night. There were a few nights here and there where we unswaddled one arm, especially during naps, but for the most part, he sleeps the best snug and swaddled. So we continue to do it.

He’s been sleeping pretty well at night. He goes down between 6:30 and 7:00 pm and usually just wakes once at night. Most nights lately, it’s been around 1 to 2 am, which is way more rough than when he sleeps until 4:30.

The naps have been going okay overall. He sleeps the best in the morning on me. Sometimes he’ll sleep for three hours which means I hardly get anything done, but it’s worth it. When he’s in his crib it’s a hit or miss. But we put him down for 2 naps a day.

Milestones

Austin found his toes mid-month and brought them right up to his mouth to happily suck on. He was so proud of himself. Oh my gosh, I love this milestone.

He’s also noticing Toby more. I’m sure it’s his black and white contrasting fur that makes him so delightful to look at, but Austin is all about him now. He loves to stare at him from the bouncer when Toby sits beside him.

He’s also been moving around more on the floor. I don’t know exactly how he’s doing it, but I think it’s just a lot of wiggling around. There was one night he was on his activity mat and suddenly he wasn’t and was like three feet away from it. And he’s so close to rolling now onto his tummy. He’s been trying, and he’s so close.

We started physical therapy at the end of August and he’s been going every two weeks. This is a good thing because I remember initially with Emelia, we were going weekly. His torticollis was deemed mild and he has some right-sided weakness and stiffness that we need to work through. I took him to Emelia’s old PT and she was so happy to see me again with baby #3. I just love her. It was hard saying goodbye to her back in 2020 and now I’m going to be sad all over again when the time comes because she’s just so wonderful.

She said Austin was doing great and gave us some exercises to work on. We’ve seen her 3 times now and he’s been making improvements. She’s also been happy with his head shape overall since he’s been spending more time on his tummy now.

And finally, he’s continuing to babble and hold conversations with me back and forth. He just loves talking and expressing himself and he’s very animated.

Personality

He still continues to have that inquisitive look on his face and just loves life. He smiles so much and loves being around people. Overall, while he has his fussy moments, he really is just a chill baby. He very much has an easy-going personality.

Health

Austin continues to be healthy and happy. He’s been doing great with gas and reflux, which I guess is a weird way of saying he doesn’t have those issues anymore. There were a few times when he was inconsolable trying to go to bed at night where we gave him some gas drops thinking it was gas pain, and he would calm down and go to sleep after. But I haven’t been doing much of his nightly routine tummy massages before bed.

He still has a lot of drooling, but I don’t see anything going on in his mouth, no swollen or red gums, so I don’t think it’s technically teething.

Likes

Going for walks in the stroller. Watching his sisters and Toby. Playing under his activity mats. Nursing. Watching TV (don’t judge). Sleeping on me. Playing with his toys and putting them in his mouth. Baths.

One night, I stripped him down and laid him on a pad on the floor and he had naked tummy time (and didn’t even pee). And he thought it was the best thing ever. It’s the end of September and I don’t know why this was the first time I did that, because of course, the weather is going to cool down and I won’t be able to anymore.

Dislikes

Huh. There isn’t much this baby really doesn’t like. Perhaps being put down when he doesn’t want to be?

Undecided about

Sleeping in his crib for naps. I’d say his car seat and car rides, but while he doesn’t fully enjoy his car seat, he doesn’t seem to mind it so much. Getting his nails clipped. Strangers. Though with enough coaxing, he usually will smile at them.

Looking forward to

I’m looking forward to this baby rolling. I think he’ll nap better and go down easier once that happens. Also, progressing through physical therapy. And Austin getting to wear his costumes. Yes, he has two. One is a skeleton and one is a monkey and I’m hoping Halloween is mild this year like it was last year.

However I can’t say I’m looking forward to fall which is technically my favorite season because fall is also Sick Season and I have two kids in school who are currently bringing home germs. So far so good, but I know it’s coming.

See also:

Austin at 4 months

Austin at 3 months

Austin at 2 months

Austin at 1 month