Essential Wellness Ottawa: Cooper's 5 Month Update...GROWING SO FAST

So Cooper turned 5 months on March 17, 2015. He is growing up so fast. We had a doctor's appointment on March 12, 2015 and he has grown a lot in the last couple of months. He was 15.5 lbs and 24 3/4 inches long and his head circumference was 42 cm at his doctor's appointment. He was in the 45 th percentile for weight, 40 th percentile for length and the 60 th percentile for head circumference. His doctor was amazed by his growth and I am pretty pleased with it as well. I am not sure what contributed to his growth spurt...maybe because I started taking Fenugreek again and drinking A LOT of water...who knows.

He has started to grow out of his 3-6 month clothing but he still fits in most of his clothes. I may have to get him some swim shirts/shorts in 6-9 months because we only have swim shirts/shorts in 3-6 months and I am worried that they will be too small when we go to Florida in a few weeks. We shall see...

This month we got him the Baby Einstein Jumperoo which he loves to play in. I was so excited to get it for him and I thought he would LOVE it the first time we put him in but again this kid is cool as a cucumber. However, to be fair, he was a bit small when we first got it for him and now he is learning how to play with all the toys on it. He really likes the music. I also just saw a post on Pinterest where you put sensory bins under the Jumperoo filled with different stuff such as sand or rice and the baby can play in it with their feet. I thought this sounded so fun so I bought a couple bins. I will try this once his feet touch the floor fully. Right now his feet only touch the floor if he leans forward a lot.

As far as new activities go, we took Cooper to kinder-gym a couple weeks ago which is held at the recreation complex up the street. There is a gymnasium and they set up a bunch of baby toys such tunnels, slides, baby sized sports equipment etc. I think Cooper was a bit too young. It would be great once he is crawling and walking but we took him on the slide and chatted with a couple of the other parents. I think I will take him again once he is bigger.

Another fun activity that we did this month was an Easter Photoshoot. One of my mommy friends got a nice camera as her "push present" and she thought it would be fun to practice taking pictures so she held a little Photoshoot. The photoshoot was so much fun. There were about 10 babies and everyone brought a couple of Easter props and a snack. We all took turns having our baby's picture taken. Most of the babies cooperated pretty well and we got some really cute pictures of Cooper. I will post a couple below. If you are in the Ottawa area and interested in getting baby, family, or pet pictures taken, check out her Facebook Page:
https://www.facebook.com/bethanyamandaphotography

Milestones...he is gaining a lot of leg strength and is standing a lot when propped up. A few weeks ago he didn't really put a lot of pressure on his legs when we propped him in the standing position but now he does and will stand for almost 1 minute at a time. We work on this a bit each day. We are also working on sitting up. He still only sits up for about 10 seconds by himself but he is able to do this several times per day now. He still doesn't roll over by himself. We are working on it though. I roll him over and he thinks its so funny but he isn't really interested in doing it himself for some reason.

Cooper likes to yell now. Not because he is upset but rather he is figuring out he has a voice...its pretty funny. He also started playing this little game when I rock him to sleep. He tucks his head into my chest like he is going to sleep, then turns his head back, arches his back, and looks at me with a big smile on his face like he is saying "just kidding". It's SO funny. I actually laugh out loud which makes him do it more! So lets just say it is taking a bit longer to get him to sleep!

Oh I almost forgot...my baby or should I say big boy started sleeping in his crib overnight. We started this a few nights ago. I was planning on waiting until we got back from Florida to start him in his own crib but I think he has outgrown his bassinet. We transferred him to the bassinet when we went to bed. However, recently he started waking up when we transferred him and it would take a while to get him back to sleep. Plus he started waking several times a night which I think was in part due to him stretching at hitting the sides of the bassinet. He still wakes up to feed during the night but otherwise he is able to sleep soundly for several hours at a time. Realistically, I think he will still need to feed at least once through the night which I can handle but waking 5-8 times was becoming a lot.

I also bought him the Zipadee Zip. We started using it and it was hit or miss whether it worked. Sometimes I thought it helped a lot but other times he would still wake up. Plus, I don't like the fact that it is "fire resistant" and he constantly puts it in his mouth. I realize that most children's sleepwear is fire resistant but I still don't like the idea of Cooper being exposed to these chemicals. I am trying to avoid it so I think I will stop using the Zipadee Zip and try something else.

This weekend we celebrated Cooper's first Passover and his first Easter. We had a lovely Passover dinner at my sister-in-law's house last night and tonight we are having an Easter dinner at my mom's house. Since he is still so small, we didn't do an Easter Egg hunt or get him any Easter candy but we plan to do that next year!

Here are some pictures of Cooper that were taken over the last month...I swear this kid is growing up way too fast but I LOVE him!