5.5 month update

So little one is about 5 & 1/2 months old now.

He is now eating 3 meals each day. He's been through tons of fruits now (after a lot of veggies) & seems to love them all. I make about 95% of his meals myself & keep a couple of jars around for making life easier if I have to feed him outside the home or just to give myself an occasional break. If I had more freezer space it would be a much easier task to make a lot of food at a time, but I have very little freezer space to store the food, so I am making food quite often. I do enjoy it though & love giving him so much variety & knowing that I'm giving him healthy foods. So far the only jarred food I've bought is "earth's best" brand & they are organic. He's had bananas & pears from them & liked them both. I was surprised to find that it's cheaper at Mother's market than it is at WalMart. There are a couple of other organic brands, though, I'm gonna check them out too. They all have no additives, which is good. The varieties of food get much more interesting at the 6 month mark.

So little one has been a big boy since very early on. He is still wearing size 9 month clothes for now, but some of them are already starting to show signs of almost not fitting (the snaps in the crotch & the length of legs in the pjs)--so I don't think he'll be in this size too much longer, maybe one more month at best.

So most of his stuff he has has a max weight of 20-25 lbs on it. He is now over 21 pounds, might be 22. His bouncy seat has a max of 20 lbs, but I still use this seat for feeding him bottles. It doesn't appear unsafe to me, but I am watching closely. His jumper has a max weight of 25 lbs, but it still appears safe for now, I am watching closely.

His car seat has a max weight of 22 lbs & his legs are sticking way out of it & his head is to the top. Now this is one product that I'm not gonna push my luck on because it is involving car safety & his safety if we get into a car accident. So my dilemma is that if we move him to the next car seat (which doesn't have a carry handle, stays in the vehicle, & fits him up to age 4) is that he needs to sit in grocery carts. Hubby doesn't think he can do it, but I do. This weekend we're gonna give it a try & see how he does & swap out the car seats. I do have a cover to put in the cart to protect from all the germs & it also goes in restaurant highchairs too.

My other big issue has been the swing. It had a max weight of 25 lbs on it. In the past months I kept asking hubby what we were gonna do when he maxed out the weight on the swing. We still use the swing quite often. For naps & if he wakes during the night & can't fall back to sleep easily. So even though he's not 25 lbs YET (close, but not quite) the swing was barely swinging now, it's just too much weight for the little motor on it.

Sooooo when we went to buy him a walker (& we got one that goes up to 30 lbs, it was the highest weight we could find) we also took a look at the swings. Some went up to 20 lbs, most went up to 25 lbs. There were a few that went up to 30 lbs. And then we found ONE (only one) that goes up to 40 lbs. Not only did it go up to 40 lbs, but it was the cheapest swing they had & the seat comes out & can be either an infant seat (great for feeding) or a toddler rocker. We couldn't believe what a great deal this was so we grabbed it & the next day we returned the old one (that was soooo noisey & only had one speed & was barely swinging now). Also a plus: the old one would auto shut off after 2 hours (to save on battery I guess)--which was a real pain at night when we were asleep, we had to remember to wake up & restart it. This one doesn't turn off ever, until you turn it off. And the batteries haven't died yet! Really great product IMO. I still don't know why they can't make a swing that gives you the option of plugging in or using battery though.

So he loves the new swing (even the position of the seat looks so much more comfy than the old one & this one plays music too) & the walker. So far he only walks backwards (& turns) in the walker.

I usually start his day with breakfast, then a bath, then a bottle. Then I put him in the swing for a nap. When he wakes he goes in the rainforest gym & crawls around. Once he's worn himself out there he goes in the jumper. Somewhere in there he'll have a bottle & then continue with one of those activities. Then hell take a nap. Then he'll wake for lunch. Then he'll have a bottle & then go in the walker. Later on dinner, another bottle & later bedtime. And sometimes I squeeze a walk in there or another outdoor activity too. That's just an average day. But without all three of those (gym, jumper, walker) he tends to get bored. The walker has been a great help & I love that he can go outside in it too!! He soooo loves the outdoors.