Starting Solids!

We plan on starting Eli with solids when he turns 6 months (only 2 weeks away!). Last night, I bite the bullet and ordered all the things we will need for that:

I couldn't believe how expensive highchairs are. There are a lot of different options out there but the ones I like are all $200+. After extensive research, we decided to get the Keekaroo High Chair with infant insert:

Here is a popular baby food maker on amazon that I bought. It's definitely not a necessity because you can just use a blender or any food processor to make your own baby food. We don't have a food processor and the thought of cleaning our blender isn't exactly what I want to do frequently. I like how this Beaba unit is small and easy to clean. Also, it's supposed to do all the steaming and pureeing all at once:

 Eli will probably make a mess eating solids so I got these water proof Bumkins bibs :)

 Aren't these Munchkin fresh food feeders so cute? They are great for feeding Eli fresh fruits that are otherwise considered to be choking hazards:

 I also got these OXO Tot Baby Block Freezer Storage units to store away the baby food:

Last but not least.... these soft spoons :)

Can't wait to start Eli on solids!

Eli's First Tooth!

I wasn't going to blog until Eli's 6 months update but so much has changed already so here I am :)

Right after I blogged about how Eli doesn't use his hands to grab his toys... the very next day or so- he started reaching and grabbing his toys! Nowadays, he reaches for pretty much anything that you put in front of him and immediately puts it in his mouth.

I've been suspecting that Eli is teething because he's been drooling a lot and he seems to love chewing on his teething toys. I didn't think he was really teething though because he had no other symptoms... then suddenly this past Saturday morning when I was changing his diaper... I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw a little bit of whites on his gum! I got sooo excited and pretty much jumped up and down laughing and that got Eli excited so he started to laugh too! Here is a picture of his first tooth (or teeth?) with Daddy's help :)

Eli is getting good at rolling! He used to only able to roll onto his right side. What I used to do was put him all the way on one end of floor matt and lay on the other end (on his right side). He would eventually roll all the way to me and then I would put him back again haha but now he is able to roll onto either side, there is no need to do that anymore.

I've been sick with a cold for over a week now. As soon as I got the symptoms, I wore masks and washed my hands 100x a day while taking care of Eli. Luckily, he hasn't gotten sick from me yet and I am at the end of my cold so hopefully he won't catch anything from me. Danny mentioned the other night that it is hard to believe that he did not get sick from me and it's truly a miracle! Must be all those prayers (plus masks plus hand washing) :)

His naps are becoming more regular again. He usually takes 3 naps a day with one long nap in the morning (either his first or second nap). On a typical day, his schedule looks like this:

6:00am- wake up, feed (with dada), play (with dada and mama)
7:45am- first nap (usually a 30 - 40 minute nap)
8:30am- wake up, play with grandma
10:00am- feed (with grandma), and then nap around 10:30am (usually a long nap ending around 12:30pm)
12:15pm- wake up, play (with grandma)
1:50pm- 3rd time feeding (with grandma), then go down for 3rd nap around 2:30pm
3:15pm- wake up and ready to play (I'm usually home around 3:15 and my MIL leaves for the day)
5:00pm- bath, nighttime bottle, bedtime stories, asleep usually between 5:30 - 6:00)

Eli can stay up for 2 hours nowadays in between naps. His total nap time is about 2.5 hours to 3 hours these days. He sleeps at least 12 hours at night. A well rested baby = a happy baby.

It's so much fun taking care of Eli nowadays. He is just so smiley and happy! He understands games now so we can tickle him, play peekaboo, airplane, and much much more. He even holds his arms up for you to hold him when he wants to be held or when you initiate holding him ;) oh the joy of having a 5 months old.

5 Months Update

Eli will be 5 months this Saturday! I am writing this post a little early.

Unswaddled!

Month 4 is a big month for us since Eli changed so much! He got out of his swaddle on January 1st (that's his new year's resolution! =P) and he is doing wonderfully without it. We did not have a problem swaddling him but we notice that Eli's head is getting flatter and flatter... we think that it's because of his sleep position. Since he is swaddled, he doesn't get to move around a lot when he sleeps and since he sleeps so well (12 hours at night), the back of his head is so flat. During my winter break, I was obsessing over his flat head and I couldn't even sleep well thinking about how I've ruined my son's head! So we decided to try napping him during the day w/o his swaddle... at first, it was a disaster because he would startle himself as he is falling asleep with his failing arms and most of the time, I have to go back in and swaddle him back anyway. But then after a few days of trial and error, we noticed on January 1st that he was able to nap w/o it! So that night, we did the unthinkable. We decided to go cold turkey! To our surprise, Eli slept so well per usual that night and ever since then, we never looked back. His naps however, became shorter but he makes it up by sleeping an extra hour or so at night and he is slowly getting back to his usual self for naps. We are so proud!

Rolling Over

Eli started to roll to his back while on his tummy back in November when he was only 3 months old. Then suddenly, he stopped doing that all together and would only roll onto his tummy while on his back. He didn't know what he was doing really because he hates being on his tummy and he would always cry for help whenever he rolled onto his tummy and can't seem to roll back. In our attempt to correct his flat head, we've been trying to put him on his tummy as much as possible and give his little head some much deserved rest while he is awake. Because of this, he has had plenty of opportunities to practice rolling over to his back while on his tummy and he mastered it this week! Nowadays, tummy time has been so much harder because as soon as we put him on his tummy, bam! he is on his back. It's effortless for him now to roll onto his back from tummy... he just turns his head and puts all his weight on that side and it's a matter of a second before he's on his back again. Also, since he finally "realized" what he was doing when he was rolling from back to tummy.. he no longer does it! Since he hates being on his tummy and he just outright refuses!

Sitting Up

We finally used our bumbo and at first, Eli hated it. But after a few more tries, he got used to it and he spends a few minutes every day on his bumbo :) 

We also got a jumperoo and Eli absolutely loves his jumperoo! It keeps him entertained and occupied so it frees us up when we have to do some work around the house. I usually put him in there when I am warming up a bottle and preparing him for his bath. He is jumping up a storm in his jumperoo :)

Feeding

Eli was on a feeding strike last week and we thought he was sick! But we brought him to the doctor's and they can't seem to find anything wrong with him. Later, we realized that he was constipated and it affected his appetite -.-

But ever since that episode of constipation, his appetite hasn't been the same. Some days, he eats fine, but some days, he would refuse his bottle after eating only 6 oz out of the 8oz he normally eats. We learn to respect his wishes and not force him to eat anymore. I used to worry that he is not getting enough food since he dropped all of his nighttime bottles since 3 months old. But I learned to not worry because he weights over 17 lb and he is already wearing size 12-18 months clothing! He is definitely not chubby though... more lean and long.

His Hands

Eli is obsessed with his hands. He always has them in his mouth! Sometimes he would make these loud sucking noises that cracks me up. I am worried that he is not grasping his toys yet. He knows how to bring the toys to his mouth when I place them into his hands. But he is not very good at reaching for them yet :( I hope he reach that milestone soon.

My Favorite Month

This is by far my favorite month. 

My favorite time of the day is bright and early in the morning. Eli always greets me with a giant grin and he is always so happy! My second favorite time of the day is when I come home from work in the afternoon. He is usually up from his last nap of the day and ready to play :) He is more and more social and he expresses his happiness more outwardly now. There is nothing like your baby's smile and babble when he first sees you when you come home from work. It melts my heart and I am just so happy to see him! Lastly, I love our time together right before his bedtime. He loves his baths so I love bathing him too. After his bath, if he is not too tired, I would sit on our glider with him on my lap and we would read a few books together. His favorite book is Mr. Brown Can Moo! Can You? By Dr. Seuss. When we get to his favorite pages, he would smile and look at me, and then look at the page again. Sometimes he would even imitate the sounds I am saying! 

This month has been so wonderful. I love our little Eli and I am loving being a mom! It still is full of new challenges every day but it's all worth it :)