Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Griffin is 5 months old!

Griffin has continued to amaze us with how awesome he is these last two months. He is getting bigger and bigger. Every day we see more and more lights flashing to the on position in his head. Watching him accomplish something new for the first time is so exciting.




He fits 6-9 month clothes now and started wearing size three diapers right around the time he turned 4 months old. According to our Dr appointment on July 9th he weighs 16lb 11 oz and is in the 50th percentile for his weight as well as height (26 inches) and head circumference (17 inches). Griffin also got his second set of shots at his appointment with the Dr. He just screamed his little heart out when the shots went in but calmed down within a few minutes after it was all over. He was extra sensitive and sleepy the rest of the day and ran a low grade fever for about 3 days after his vaccines. Luckily the worst is over and he is back to his old self now.



Griffin has been rolling tummy to back on his own since he was bout 2 months old and finally just a week before he hit 5 months he went back to tummy on his own. It is still hard for him but he can do it now.



Right after Griffin turned 4 months old, he laughed for the first time!!!! I was pretending to "eat" his tummy and I guess it tickled because he laughed, so I did it again and he laughed again… I was so happy, what a sweet sound :) Now there are multiple things that will make him laugh, sometimes when daddy makes funny noises, or when I jiggle his arms just right, but the best way is still to nibble his tummy, it's hilarious apparently ;)



He is still quite the talker constantly letting the world know how he feels about things! His favorite sounds are Gah, Bah, ooo ahhh, ahhh lah, ooo wah, and he also likes to blow air through his lips to make a wet fart noise, and the newest one that makes us laugh is that he is constantly making gurgling noises in the back of his throat lol :)



Another of the interesting ways Griffin expresses himself is his "fake cough" when he wants something or gets irritated or even sometimes I think he does it just to get my attention if I am doing something else. He will make these cute little eh eh eh noises, like the saddest fake cough ever… the look on his face is so funny when he does it too! I always say "oh you got a little fake cough huh?" and then he will smile. What a goober!



Griffin has really started to develop a little temper. If he wants something, for instance to come out of his jumparoo. He will be happy bouncing and kicking one second and then full on yelling and angry screaming two seconds later. The second I take him out it's all better and he will smile and coo, even with the tears still in his eyes. We are working on this because yikes, if he is already doing this at 5 months old what will he be like when the terrible twos hit!



Since Griffin was born I have always tried to make sure he is not watching TV but he seems to be drawn to the flashing lights and colors. He is constantly straining to see the TV if it is on, sometimes trying to turn his head a full 360 degrees to see what is going on! I just started letting him watch about a 1/2 hour of an educational show a day. I put him in his swing and he rocks, sucks his paci and watches. I usually do this when I am trying to get laundry done and folded.



Around 4 months old Griffin decided to start fighting sleep, previous to this when he got tired, If I was holding him and rocking him , he would normally just drift off. Now he will fuss and strain for a few minutes even when I know he is tired. Finally after making sure I know just how irritated about it he is he will let go and sleep.



Griffin now has a bedtime. Jeremy and I bought a baby monitor and now between 9-10pm he gets put to sleep and laid down in his bed. He also takes naps in his bed in the bedroom now. He sleeps much better in there with his own bed, and his white noise going.



We started baby food at 4 months. First was baby cereal, then squash. Previous to this when we had tired baby food, Griffin was not ready for it. He would make faces and spit it right back out. Now he LOVES it. He opens his mouth wide and lunges for the spoon. He will even fuss at me if I am not getting the food to his mouth fast enough!



One of the things I have VERY mixed feelings about is that we gave up breast feeding right after Griffin turned 4 months old and switched to formula. I called it quits so much earlier than I wanted to. I am sad, but also relived. He has always been a bit of a fussy eater but it just kept getting worse and worse, and all he wanted was the bottle. From 3-4 months it had been a full on tantrum just about every time I tired to nurse him often taking 10-15 minutes just to get him to finally give in and latch to eat. He was also biting really hard (ouch) and although he doesn't have teeth yet it still hurt, and I couldn't figure out how to get him to stop. I was getting so frustrated and mad, he was getting frustrated and mad too. I also developed mastitis twice in the last month which is VERY painful so for my sanity as well as Griffin's we made the switch.



It has been going fine with the formula, it's funny because Griffin doesn't even seem to notice that the milk tastes different, and he likes his bottles a lot. One benefit is that he is only drinking milk twice during the night now, and when I was breast feeding he would sometimes wake up 5-6 times a night to nurse. I do miss being able to nurse Griffin but things have been much more peaceful since the switch so I think it was the right decision.



Griffin has gotten much better at grabbing things and aiming his swats lately. We call his swatting clawing because if you get in his way he will claw you with his little talons! One of the funny things he does is when he is done drinking his bottle he will smack it. He pushes it away and yells at it and then boxes his bottle. I always say "Griffin stop beating up your bottle!".



Griffin's favorite toys are his science experiment duck and his rubber giraffe Sophie.



Griffin is teething full on, so he has become the drool monster and also wants EVERYHTING in his mouth, anything in his reach he is trying to shove into his mouth, including his own hands, mommy's hand, mommy's hair, toys and blankets. I have to be very careful because those little hands are quick and I usually have my hair pulled several times a day if I don't put it up.



When I rock Griffin to sleep I usually sing to him. I adapted the rock-a-bye baby song with my own words. Here is what I sing.



Rock-a-bye Griffin in mommy's arms

Rock-a-bye Griffin so full of charms

Rock-a-bye Griffin you are so cute

And mommy loves you

Yes, yes I do!



One thing that has been good about Griffin getting older is that he is becoming a bit more independent. I can let him play for 10-15 minutes on his own so that I can fold some laundry, or vacuum, ect. So it has made getting things done a bit easier.



Jeremy is still an awesome dad. He takes such good care of Griffin and loves to play with him. Griffin always looks at Jeremy like he is just the most fascinating thing ever and Jeremy keeps it that way by showing Griffin a good time when they play together. Jeremy plays on the floor with Griffin, helps him practice standing and sitting balance, and sometimes even lets Griffin watch him play a racing game on the play station which of course Griffin loves, but Griffin's favorite thing to do with his daddy is dance. Jeremy will stand him up in front of him and make beat box noises and bop Griffin around and Griffin just gets the biggest grin on his face, and squeals with delight, it is the cutest thing to watch!



I love it when I walk into the bedroom to get Griffin when he wakes up from his nap and the second he sees me he just gets a huge smile on his face and starts to coo… he knows I have come to rescue him from the torture that is naptime ;) It melts my heart when he puts his hands on my face and just looks up into my eyes and "talks" to me. Even though he is a feisty one he is just so sweet and so much fun.



We love our little Griffin and can't believe he is 5 months old already! :)
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