Dear Doster- 5 Months

Dear Doster,

This month was absolutely a favorite.  We had so much fun doing “fall activities” with you, and you seemed to have a fun time too.

The transition back to work has been a little rocky for me.  I think I still cried every day that I dropped you off at school last month (not because I’m worried about you, mostly because I miss you!).  You LOVE your school; you smile at the teachers every day!  I just get sad that they get to be with you all day, and I only see you in little spurts.  I definitely appreciate my time with more than I used to, and I just try to soak in every moment.

One of the biggest challenges this month was your first ear infection.  A few days ago, your teacher called me and told me that you were running a fever—I freaked out!  Luckily, we snagged you a doctor’s visit and Dr. Bartlett came to the rescue.  It broke my heart thinking about my little man in any type of pain.  You seem to be feeling better now, though you never even acted upset or fussy in the first place. 

Size:

Big boy!  You weigh in at 16lbs and 4 ounces.  You’re in 3-6 months clothing, and occasionally you wear a 6-9 month outfit. You are still in size 2 diapers during the day, and a size 3 diaper at night.

Feeding:

Mostly this month, you continued on your bottle schedule.  You’re still on a mixture of formula and breast milk.  I started producing a little bit more, but pumping is still a challenge at work.  A few days ago we started on rice cereal.  You weren’t so hip to it your first time, but you slowly growing more accustomed to it. We try a little in the morning and a little at night.

Sleeping:

You are still an amazing sleeper, THANK YOU!!!  You are now very easy to put down at night, and you usually sleep for 11 or 12 hours.  Lately, you’ve been waking up at 5:30 and “talking” to yourself for a few minutes.  You go back to sleep, but it definitely wakes me up.  I only get annoyed when it happens on the weekend.

Your napping has improved as well!  You take about 3 naps during the day, anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour. 

Personality:

Happy Happy Happy!  Your teacher at school told me that you are the happiest baby.  She said, “If I had five more Dosters in here, my job would be a lot easier!”

What a big compliment!

You really like looking around and holding your toys.  You love walking around outside, and you absolutely adore being around Brighton.  You smile when you see people that you know, and you are just so content. 

You have been a little fussier now that you are sick—the stuffiness makes it harder for you to sleep.  You are also not a big fan of having your nose cleaned. Sorry Kiddo.

Development:

Checking out those fingers!

You love grabbing, rolling, cooing, laughing, swatting, and holding.  You get a little frustrated if you are on your tummy for too long and can’t figure out how to roll back over.  You love to make funny noises, and laugh when other people do them.  Dr. Painter said that you have excellent head control, and I think so too!  Lately, you’ve been very interested in your fingers. They are adorable, I can’t blame you!

You are such a little charmer and you make me so happy!  Thank you for being such a good baby.  I’m so proud to be your mom. 

Falla' Back, Y'all!

October was such a fun month for our little family and I wanted to take a second to quickly document some of our fall fun.

As I’ve said before, I’m not the most organized gal.  So this blog has to serve as my little digital scrapbook.  There are so many little things that I want to always remember.

Like, Doster’s first Halloween party…

We found out about the Halloween Block Party via one of our favorite stores, KD’s Treehouse.  There was music (a local band for kids, “Lunch Money”), games, food, and fire engines.

Doster seemed to really love his first concert.  He also really enjoyed seeing his reflection in the fire engine.

The next day, we took Doster to the pumpkin patch at Trenholm Road Methodist Church.  Doster was a pretty good sport and seemed to enjoy checking out the pumpkins.  It was such a beautiful day and, as always, Doster loved being outside.

On Halloween, we dressed our little Ninja Turtle for school.  Uncle Thomas dubbed him “Dostertello”, which I thought was adorable.

We trick-or-treated at a few houses near ours, which of course made Doster happy (again, anything outside is a happy time!).

We had visitors as well—my dad, mom, sister and brother came over to enjoy a little Halloween time with Doster.  He was very overwhelmed and over-stimulated at that point.   He fell right to sleep and slept for over 12 hours.  All and all, a pretty good Halloween!